GLENDALE – As the Arizona Fall League postseason starts and finishes this week, many minor leaguers are approaching the end of their baseball season, one that began almost nine months ago last February in spring training.
For some, it has been a long, grueling road to reach this point and the reward comes in enjoying down time at home. While most players in the Fall League will catch flights for the holidays, one athlete’s commute is just a drive on the Valley freeways.
Justin Chambers, a left-handed pitching prospect for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is an Arizona native who attended Highley High School in Gilbert for three years, and graduated from Basha High School in Chandler in 2023. After the Milwaukee Brewers selected him in the 20th round of the MLB Draft that summer, he was traded less than six months later to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It was a fortuitous move, allowing him to go from the Brewers facilities in North Phoenix to the Dodgers ballpark at Camelback Ranch. Until Chambers made his way out of the rookie-level Arizona Complex League to single A for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes last August, his entire baseball career was played in Arizona.
“It’s such a cool opportunity,” Chambers said. “I’m home, my parents can come to my games, my friends can come, and it’s only a 40-minute drive for them.”
Chambers was assigned to the AFL’s Glendale Desert Dogs, who play their home games at Camelback Ranch, about an hour drive from Basha High School Although Basha baseball coach Eric Albright wasn’t able to see Chambers pitch in the Fall League, he isn’t surprised at the southpaw’s rise.
“He was a dude. He threw hard, he had command and he wanted to be great,” Albright said. “He had a little attitude on the mound, too.”
In winter ball at Basha, the team played in a tournament in California. It was a typical high school baseball crowd: parents and other family and friends who made the trip sat behind the Basha dugout, while others watched over the fence in the outfield. What stood out to Albright was the 30 MLB scouts who were there to see Chambers throw. But an injury later in his senior season, followed by Tommy John surgery, ended his high school career.
“He was getting ready to commit to college and as all that was happening he tore his UCL, so we kind of thought the draft [selection] was not going to happen for him,” said Marianne Chambers, Justin’s mother.
The surgery and recovery didn’t prevent the Brewers from taking Chambers with the 602 pick in 2023, or stop the Dodgers from trading for him a short time later. Through seven games with the Desert Dogs, Chambers allowed just five hits before taking the loss Thursday in Glendale’s 8-7 division series game against Peoria. Chambers pitched 8.1 innings this fall and had hitters hitting just .161 in those innings, adding 10 strikeouts to his AFL resume.
That marks two seasons as a professional baseball player, still playing ball in his home state. Although most players’ goal is to get out of the Complex League, Albright knows how lucky Chambers is to have spent so much time playing in Arizona.
“I mean look at the weather right now, it’s 87 degrees and sunny in November,” Albright said. “You can train outside year round pretty much and work on your craft.”
Chambers relished his opportunities surrounding baseball and the Valley. Before he was a draft selection of the Brewers he was heavily recruited by Arizona State coach Willie Bloomquist to pitch for the Sun Devils.
“I definitely liked the staff [at ASU], and staying home, one of those where if you can do it and be at a good baseball program, it’s definitely something you should do I thought,” said Chambers, who committed to play for the Sun Devils before choosing to sign a MLB contract.
The Arizona Fall League is one of the many unique sporting spectacles in the state. Every autumn, baseball fans in the Valley get to see the next up-and-coming stars of tomorrow’s MLB. Chambers, now 20 and one of the youngest pitchers in the Fall League, was once one of those fans watching from the bleachers.
“I went to a few games here and there growing up, not really knowing what it was, but just a chance to watch more baseball,” said Chambers, having completed a full circle in the Fall League, in desert ballparks he knows so well.
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