If you’re not already familiar with the goings-on in the minor league, the AFL is a great place to start. Keeping an eye on what’s going on down on the farm, on who is on a hot streak and who is the next Roger Clemens, is very important as a major league baseball fan. Its always exciting to watch a player come up through the minors and make it on the Yankees, a feat we Yanks fans don’t get to experience very often (Steinbrenner would prefer to purchase an aging player – ahem – than groom a minor leaguer for major league status). I keep hoping that will change, though, especially looking at the prospects that we currently have in the minors.

The AFL is a fall league made up of six mega-teams. Each major league club sends six of their top boys to create the six larger teams. The Yankees’ players join players from the Twins minor league club, as well as players from the Mets, Rangers, and Marlins to play as the Grand Canyon Rafters. Got all that? Good. There will be a quiz later.

Get used to hearing the names “Dave Parrish” and “Eric Duncan” - - these are two of our top prospects. Parrish, who serves as catcher on the AAA Columbus team, hit .314 this year with eight homers, while Duncan, who played third for AA Trenton this year, hit .326 in the regular season and is hitting .425 for the Rafters. Whew! Not to mention little TJ Beam, who is still just a single A pitcher (for now); Beam has allowed only three earned runs in eight outings during the AFL. Tracking these guys makes me very excited for the future of the our team, especially as our star players get older and the net amount of cartilage on the field keeps heading towards zero.

Curiously, the Rafters are in last place in their division in the AFL, despite the prime Yankee players. I’ll blame the Rangers.