Tour 2023: Camelback Ranch (AFL)

All photos of Arizona State University and Camelback Ranch available on Flickr.

My Thursday began with a way too early wakeup call due to the 2-hour time change and just generally not knowing how to sleep in anymore.  I took advantage of this extra time in my day by enjoying the weather before the desert sun got too hot.  I took a nice relaxing swim in our luxurious rooftop pool, grabbed a shower and a coffee, and then took a nice long stroll around the Arizona State campus.  Our hotel was right in the middle of ASU and across the street from some of their major sport venues - so close in fact that the visiting Stonehill College men's hockey team was staying at our hotel.  It was a beautiful campus and a peaceful walk, and I enjoyed analyzing what architecture looks like in a hot and arid climate while also trying to remember what it was like to be in college.  I picked up Erik at the airport around 11am, and not surprisingly he also wanted to take a dip in the pool.  By this time however, it was packed to the gills with teenage hockey bros, so after a few minutes we got dressed and hit up a couple of breweries before our ballgame that evening.  Four Peaks Brewing Company had some delicious food and we also thoroughly enjoyed Pedal Haus Brewery's outdoor space.

Our first game together of the trip was in Glendale for a 6:30pm first pitch.  It was quite a stark contrast from nearly 50,000 people at Chase Field the night before to generously 100 people in Glendale.  This was my third visit to Camelback Ranch and I've had wildly different experiences all 3 times.  The first time was when I was young and untethered on a scorching hot day with Phil in 2011, the second time was with my wife and 1-year old daughter, and this visit was on a cool and eerily quiet night for a Fall League game.  All three visits have netted the same result, and that is that Camelback Ranch was and remains my favorite Cactus League/AFL park.  It's admittedly hard to judge the merits and ambiance of a stadium in this league given the low attendance and laid-back atmosphere, so I'm glad I had been to Camelback before in a Spring Training environment.  But this was the only AFL park of the week that I had already been to, so it was interesting to contrast the two leagues.  Spectators at the Cactus League are really just looking to get out of whatever cold weather state they live in, get ripped, and have good time while seeing a few familiar faces.  The Arizona Fall League is not for the faint of heart and it truly meant for those few dedicated fans that are really up on their farm systems and are keen to all of the subtle nuances of the game.  Most of the parks only keep one concession stand and one small souvenir stand open and the focus is entirely on the game.  It offered Erik and I a lot of time to just relax and talk baseball and not having to stress about much of anything.  About half of the people in attendance at this game were scouts, and also Tony LaRussa was there for some reason.  He was trying to go incognito by wearing a backwards cap and being sober, but I still found him in the sea of the 12 people in our section.  The one bummer of AFL versus a Cactus League game is that the back complexes were all closed and only the main stadium was open, but nonetheless it was great to be back at Camelback Ranch again.

The Glendale Desert Dogs walked off the Peoria Javelinas with a grand slam in the 9th inning to complete a 9-5 victory.  Glendale and Peoria are two of six teams in this league, and each of the 6 teams is represented by prospects from 5 major league clubs, usually with a minimum of 6 guys from every club.  The types of prospects that get sent to this league typically range from players who were just drafted, to big name prospects that are getting a reward for a good season, or sometimes it is just a minor leaguer that may have been hurt or scuffling a lot of the year and the parent club wants to see them get some more work.  There was a wide array of all these types in the game, as the player ages ranged from teenagers all the way to 27, and from Low-A all the way to AAA.  This game represented a bullpen game of sorts for both teams, as the starters only went 2.1 and 3 innings respectively.  Kala'i Rosario was the star of the night and also one of the most impressive players of the entire weekend.  He is currently in High-A for the Twins and crushed a 2nd inning homer, and he would later go on to win the AFL Homerun Derby on Saturday - more on that in a later post.  There were a total of 5 homeruns in the game, including the walk-off slam by Bryan Ramos of the White Sox organization.  It was his 4th bomb of the year and he had an .833 OPS as of this game.  One of the bigger names in the game and the highest ranked prospect was Colson Montgomery of the White Sox/Desert Dogs.  He went 1-3 with 2 RBI out of the 3-hole.

After the game, we enjoyed a night cap at a nearby Twin Peaks, which is kind of like a classy Hooters.  Mostly we went there because we assumed Mr. LaRussa would be there, but he must wisely do all of his drinking at home these days.  We had one of our many long drives back to Tempe from the western edge of the PHX metro area, and rested up for a long day on Friday.

park rankings and statistics - unchanged
(see last post from 03/11/19)

starters - Patrick Wicklander (PEO) v. Josimar Cousin (GLE)
opponent - Peoria Javelinas
time of game - 2:36
attendance - 198
score - 9-5 W