The Phillies top position player prospect, Aidan Miller, was not among the nine players that the Phillies announced would be playing in the Arizona Fall League starting next month. That doesn’t mean that he won’t be playing alongside some of the highly touted young players who play in the league every season.
Miller actually provides an example of how it could happen. A year ago he was set to head to the AFL, but his lingering back issue caused the Phillies to pull him back and substitute Bryan Rincon in his place. Teams can adjust their list of players going to the AFL between now and the start of the fall season, which is October 3rd.
The Phillies are being cautious right now with Miller, who is with Reading for their playoff run. Basically, they’re hedging their bets and keeping him off of the list for now to see how he feels after playing regularly for the Fightins.
If there are any concerns about his health or his ability to stay healthy playing in Arizona, then they don’t add him and go with the list that they have. If he feels fine and he and the Phillies both feel he can handle the rigors of an AFL season – where he would probably be handled cautiously – then they put him on the roster and send him off to play for the Surprise Saguaros.
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There are actually two ways for Miller to be added to the AFL. The first is to simply swap him out with one of the position players that they have on their list. The second – and this may be an option for the Phillies to consider – is that they could add him to the Saguaros taxi squad. Players who are added to the taxi squad can play a maximum of twice per week in the AFL. The Phillies could use that to get him some, but not too much, playing time if they want to be cautious with him.
AFL rosters are made up from a “position draft” that the MLB teams making up a particular AFL roster agree on. Every MLB team generally sends a baseline of seven players (typically four pitchers and three position players) to their assigned AFL squad. To ensure that an AFL team, which is made up of prospects from five different MLB organizations, has a balanced roster, the player development directors of those five clubs coordinate who will provide catchers, middle infielders, or outfielders. Those allocations can change as the rosters are put together.
This season, the Phillies are sending five pitchers and three position players to the Surprise Saguaros’ roster. A number of the players they have chosen missed time during the 2026 season and the Phillies are hoping to get some additional innings or at-bats for those players in the AFL. Obviously, Miller would fall into that category. If he is deemed completely ready to go, the taxi squad option might not be the way the Phillies decide to go since they would want him to have as many opportunities for at-bats as possible rather than playing just twice a week. Philadelphia is sending a ninth player, catcher Luke Davis, to the Scottsdale Scorpions, because that team had a roster spot open for a catcher that they were unable to fill from the MLB teams – Detroit, Houston, Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Tapa Bay – that fill that roster. If one of those teams does decide to send a catcher, it’s likely that Davis would be removed from the roster or moved to the taxi squad.
The AFL season begins on October 3rd and runs through November 14th when the AFL Championship game is played.
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