Welcome to the 2025 Arizona Fall League

The 33rd Arizona Fall League season opened last night with a single game in Scottsdale. There are future stars in the Fall League every year, as well as many more workmanlike players who are competing for a 40-man roster spot on next year’s club. It’s a wonderful league for teams to develop and scout prospects because of the cross section of talent it tends to include (there are usually lots of good position player prospects), its timing (which allows players who were injured during the regular season to catch up on reps), and its structure (which allows for six weeks of steady looks). Teams almost always take the AFL seriously and send players here who they want to see more of, or who they want to test. Being on the roster is, on its own, a flare. It’s an indication that a player is worth paying attention to from a scouting standpoint even if I didn’t know the guy’s name until I saw a roster.

Previewing this league with prospects’ scouting reports risks putting the cart before the horse because the scouting part has yet to happen. I want to give you the reports I already have, to play the hits and make sure you have Kevin McGonigle and Josue De Paula reports and tool grades in front of you (don’t worry, you will), but a huge part of the pro scouting exercise that is the Arizona Fall League is mining for the deeper cut prospects, and I can’t tell you who those guys are going to be just yet. But I can show you the initial steps I take to prepare to go to the field and try to systematically unearth these guys, give you the tools to do so on your own, and, in the process, let know you who it is I’m most curious and excited to learn more about for the next six weeks.

The players who become scouting “targets” tend to fall into a handful of categories, namely: Famous Players, Potential Dudes, Surface-Level Statistical Performers, TrackMan Performers, Players Who’ve Walked a Unique Path, and Players in a Key Roster Situation.

The Famous Players are Top 100 prospects somewhere if not at FanGraphs; they were high-bonus guys when they signed or have already broken out, and you probably know who they are. Potential Dudes are prospects with burgeoning talent who might soon join the ranks of the famous as the industry becomes more confident that the player indeed profiles as an everyday big leaguer. This is arguably the most important subset of player in the entire league. I’m going to list and touch on the Famous Players and Potential Dudes for each Arizona Fall League roster below, but for in-depth scouting reports, tool grades, and video on these guys, you’re going to want to bookmark the 2025 Arizona Fall League tab on The Board, which Sean Dolinar and I have assembled for your convenience. These are pre-existing reports that I’ll add to and update throughout the next six weeks.

The Surface-Level Statistical Performers are the guys who had impressive back-of-the-baseball-card stats this season. You can use the custom features on our Minor League Leaderboards to isolate the players on rosters and even create your own statistical categories of interest, just as I’ve done in the leaderboards linked just below this paragraph. Again, I’ll touch on the players who stood out in this regard for each Fall League squad below, but now you have the ability to access all of that data very easily. I’ll be referencing these on my laptop or phone throughout the fall (especially early on) as a way of familiarizing myself with how the deeper cut players did the during regular season. Remember, once you open the links, you can play with the leaderboards yourself, even if it’s just to isolate who your favorite team sent:

2025 Arizona Fall League Pitchers Stat Leaderboards
2025 Arizona Fall League Hitters Stat Leaderboard

TrackMan Performers are players who stand out because of a different type of measurable. Rather than their batting average or stolen base totals, here we’re looking at what I’ll call “talent assessment metrics,” data that illustrates physical prowess instead of on-field performance. Who throws hard? Whose pitches move a lot? Who has a funky release point? Who hits the ball the hardest? These are integral aspects of contemporary player evaluation, but there’s no comprehensive public leaderboard for this stuff; it’s just a thing you have to find a way to access as a pseudo-journalistic analyst. The data of this sort that my friends and sources might send me can be vast. At the bottom of this post, I have assembled tables with what I consider to be the most basic, relevant subset of this type of data, and of course I touch on some standouts in the team sections below.

The last two player categories are subjective in nature. Players in Key Roster Situations might include guys who are potentially being showcased for trade because of a logjam at their position, de-facto rehabbers who need innings in preparation for a big league role next year, players who’ll be exposed to other teams via the Rule 5 Draft this offseason if they aren’t added to the 40-man roster, or players who have been sent to Arizona to stay active in the event that their ring-chasing parent club suddenly needs them due to injuries. They’re players who a pro scouting department would care about more than they would in a vacuum because of these particulars. Unique Path players might include older guys signed out of Indy ball, or guys who are kind of a black box because they’ve been injured a lot, or have recently switched positions or sports. Basically, something related to their personal background indicates that they still have developmental ceiling.

Other Stuff For Your Toolkit

The Fall League rosters are here and are changing all the time. Even in the brief window between when I started writing this piece and published it, the rosters changed and some of the tables below have a superfluous guy or two. Unfortunately, we don’t have Arizona Fall League stats available on FanGraphs. For those you should go to the AFL’s website, which has other cool stuff like pitching probables and links to their live streams so you can watch the games. Now let’s touch on players from each AFL squad who fall into one of these categories. Please note that some players appear across multiple categories.

Glendale Desert Dogs (Braves, White Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals, Blue Jays)

Famous Players
Josue De Paula, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
Hagen Smith, LHP, Chicago White Sox
Braden Montgomery, OF, Chicago White Sox

De Paula is a statuesque 20-year-old outfield prospect with elite plate discipline and exciting long-term power projection. This month I’ll be scrutinizing his plate coverage (most of his good contact comes on pitches right down the middle) and defense, which has been shaky for me in the past. Smith was a top five draft pick out of Arkansas in 2024. He has a killer fastball/slider combo, but he struggled with walks and injury in 2025. Is he improving in this regard, or is it time to project him as a reliever (William Shatner In the UnXplained dot GIF)? You’ll find more on Montgomery below.

Potential Dude(s)
Chen-Wei Lin, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals

Lin, 23, was a notable Taiwanese college pitcher who gained stateside exposure via the Northwoods and MLB Draft Leagues before he signed with the Cardinals for $500,000 in 2023. He’s a sky-scraping 6-foot-7 righty who’ll touch 100 and has a great splitter, but his strike throwing really backed up this year. He has mid-rotation stuff and is a feasible late bloomer as a strike-thrower because of his size.

Surface-Level Statistical Performers
Venezuelan Blue Jays righty Yondrei Rojas, 22, missed nearly three months with injury this year, but he posted a 0.88 WHIP and 1.43 ERA in the 37.2 innings he threw, and wrapped his season at Double-A New Hampshire. His fastball sits about 96, and Rojas’ super long arms help him generate six-and-a-half feet of extension even though he’s only 5-foot-10. His slider isn’t great, and he needs a good second pitch. Whether one can be developed here might dictate whether he ends up rostered by Toronto this winter. Braden Montgomery led all AFL hitters in regular season doubles with 34. Blue Jays infielder Cutter Coffey slashed .273/.359/.427 during the year, while White Sox 1B/OF Caden Connor (6%) and Cardinals outfielder Travis Honeyman (7%) had low swinging strike rates. White Sox infielder Sam Antonacci had nearly as many walks as strikeouts and a 155 wRC+ in a season split between High- and Double-A; he also stole 48 bases. Braves outfielder Patrick Clohisy stole 79 bases this year, 20 more than any other Fall Leaguer.

TrackMan Performer
Braves infielder Jim Jarvis has a notable contact (80%, above average) and power (40% hard-hit, just below average) combo. Atlanta right-hander LJ McDonough is generating seven feet of extension and also has a release height just under five feet, and I’m really excited for an in-person peek at what his delivery looks like from the side.

Key Roster Situation
The promotion pace of hard-throwing Cardinals righty Randel Clemente was accelerated this season, as he climbed three levels to Double-A in his 40-man platform year. He has huge stuff, loud enough that he might be of interest to teams in the Rule 5 Draft if he shoves for six weeks and is left unprotected, but he struggles with command to the point where he may not stick on a roster even if he’s taken. Blue Jays infielder Josh Kasevich, one of the better pure contact hitters in the minors, is looking to rebound after a bad season and put himself in the Blue Jays infield mix for next year in the event Bo Bichette moves on in free agency.

Unique Path
Braden Montgomery, a White Sox Top 100 prospect, was arguably the top unsigned high school prospect from his graduating class. He was an exciting two-way player at Stanford who eventually transferred to Texas A&M, where he focused on hitting and cut his strikeouts enough to solidify his early-first round status. He became Boston’s first round pick, then was quickly a key aspect of the Garrett Crochet trade. He’s a switch-hitting outfielder with plus power and a show-stopping arm, but Montgomery strikes out a lot, and I hope to use the next six weeks to better understand whether this issue will worsen against big league velocity.

Mesa Solar Sox (Athletics, Cubs, Marlins, Yankees, Rays)

Famous Players
PJ Morlando, OF, Miami Marlins
Brailer Guerrero, OF, Tampa Bay Rays
Aidan Smith, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

Morlando had the best present power among the high schoolers in the 2024 draft, absurd BP pop for a hitter his age that allowed him to make big league parks look small with a wood bat. He signed for $3.4 million rather than go to South Carolina, and so far his pro career has been beset by injuries. A stress reaction in his back ended his short pro debut in 2024, then Morlando needed ulnar nerve transposition surgery in the spring of 2025 before straining his hamstring in May. Let’s see how he looks the further he gets away from those injuries. Both of the Rays outfielders have either been on my Top 100 (in Guerrero’s case) or on others’ in the past. Both have big tools (Guerrero is built like an NFL prospect and has big power, while Smith is sinewy and long-levered with plus speed and long-term power projection), but their swings are so long that I’m worried both are going to strike out a ton. You could just as easily include them in the next group.

Potential Dude(s)
Karson Milbrandt, RHP, Miami Marlins
Bryce Cunningham, RHP, New York Yankees

Milbrandt signed for just shy of $1.5 million in the 2022 third round rather than head to Vanderbilt. His development hasn’t been linear, but the now-21-year-old set a career best for innings (90) and K% (29%) this year and reached Double-A. Do his mechanics and feel for location look starter-y? Cunningham was the Yankees’ second rounder in 2024 but failed to exceed his junior year innings total this season due to injury. His changeup played like a plus-plus pitch this year. Does he have enough of a breaking ball to be considered a mid-rotation starter prospect?

Surface-Level Statistical Performers
Infield prospect Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, 22, was the Athletics’ 2024 third rounder out of Rutgers and K’d just 9% of the time this year. Assessing his potential defensive versatility will be key this Fall League, as he may not have the power to profile as an everyday second baseman. Cubs catcher Owen Ayers, a 24-year-old out of Marshall, has among both the highest pull rates (55%) and lowest groundball rates (37%) in the AFL. Yankees righty Hueston Morrill had a 0.76 ERA on the season.

TrackMan Performers
Rays righty Jadon Bercovich has a fastball with nearly 19 inches of induced vertical break and it’s coming from a lower-than-average release point, if only by a little bit. Brailer Guerrero had a 50% hard-hit rate but averaged just two degrees of launch because of the nature of his swing. Marlins outfielder Fenwick Trimble hovered around the big league average in both contact rate and his power metrics.

Key Roster Situation
Athletics infielder Max Muncy was added to the roster on Opening Day. With Jacob Wilson slated to handle everyday shortstop duties for the A’s, Muncy is slated to compete with Darell Hernaiz and Brett Harris for playing time at second and third base. The industry will be watching him this fall with that in mind. He’s on the mend from a hand injury and might not have his typical power just yet.

Unique Path
Rays righty Mason Auer was a two-way prospect who had a nomadic amateur career (Missouri State, San Jacinto) and became a 40+ FV prospect as an outfielder after a breakout 2022 season. The following year he really started to struggle making any kind of contact, and toward the end of 2024, the Rays moved him back to the mound. He threw just shy of six innings this year, a pitch sample so small that it doesn’t meet the minimum threshold for inclusion on the TrackMan data I pulled to prep. This guy is a black box for me right now. I put a 70 on his outfield arm in high school and want to see how he looks airing it out an inning at a time as a reliever.

Peoria Javelinas (Orioles, Reds, Twins, Padres, Mariners)

Famous Players
Rhett Lowder, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
Alfredo Duno, C, Cincinnati Reds
Enrique Bradfield Jr., Baltimore Orioles
Jonny Farmelo, OF, Seattle Mariners

Lowder, the seventh overall pick in 2023, is picking up innings after missing time with forearm and oblique strains this season. Duno is a toolshed teenage catcher who is coming off a great Low-A season during which he was finally healthy and productive. The Reds didn’t promote him to High-A toward the end of the year, so this is a de facto promotion and will be a test of Duno’s plate discipline. Bradfield is a classic leadoff hitting center field prospect who became a household name during his days at Vanderbilt. With Cedric Mullins gone, could he compete for time in center field next year? Farmelo is only 21 and is quite young for this league both in terms of his age and minor league experience, as injuries have limited him to 75 games since he was drafted in 2023. He has a rare combination of power and speed, but his bat-to-ball ability has been tough to nail down because he’s missed so much time. Are his struggles with strikeouts actually a talent issue, or are they a small sample anomaly or perhaps the result of yet unshaken rust?

Potential Dude(s)
Brandon Winokur, UTIL, Minnesota Twins
Cam Collier, 3B, Cincinnati Reds
Luis De León, LHP, Baltimore Orioles

Winokur is a 6-foot-6, 20-year-old shortstop and center fielder who hit 17 bombs this year. He still hasn’t totally grown into his body, and should add both strength and coordination as he matures. Hopefully with that will come fewer strikeouts. His K% has slowly been trending down each season. He’s a long-term project with big ceiling. Collier signed for $5 million in 2022 and has special lefty raw power, but it hasn’t been actualized in games and he hit just four dingers this year even though his underlying TrackMan power data (115 mph max, 48% hard-hit rate) are excellent. De León is a high-ceiling’d 22-year-old lefty with a very projectable 6-foot-3 frame who was sitting in the 95-97 mph range during the spring of 2025 before he was shut down at the start of the season with an elbow impingement. His fastball has uphill angle and tail, but De León has very little feel for locating it or his plus-plus slider. Though he has a ton of relief risk, in part because his arm stroke is so long, the way De León is built and moves is indicative of a starting pitcher. He has the ceiling of a mid-rotation arm with rare lefty starter velo and two plus secondaries, while his floor looks like Génesis Cabrera.

Surface-Level Statistical Performers
Alfredo Duno had a 164 wRC+ on the season and hit .287/.430/.518 with 52 extra-base hits. Billy Amick, the Twins’ 2024 second rounder, had a 150 wRC+ and hit .307 in 54 games at Cedar Rapids. Outfielder Hendry Mendez (traded from Milwaukee to Philly, then later to Minnesota) posted a 5.9% swinging strike rate this year, among the best of all Fall Leaguers. Orioles pitcher Tanner Smith generated a ridiculous 67% groundball rate in 37 innings.

TrackMan Performers
Cam Collier hit a ball 115 this year and had a 48% hard-hit rate even though he only hit four homers; continuing to understand what’s going on there and how it might get fixed is a big deal. Hendry Mendez had a 91% zone contact rate this season. Righty Johan Moreno’s slider generated a 52% miss rate.

Key Roster Situation
The Mariners have a host of pitchers on the 40-man fringe here. Marcelo Perez is a strike-throwing 25-year-old out of TCU whose curveball and cutter spearhead a backend starter profile. Stefan Raeth is a deceptive, slider-heavy reliever who throws a ton of strikes. Tyler Cleveland is a funky, submarine relief righty with a big sweeper. Any of them could move the needle with a dominant fall.

Unique Path
Orioles lefty Sayer Diederich began his college career as a pitcher at Nebraska, then became a two-way guy at Southern Nevada for a season before transferring to LSU Shreveport (NAIA) for his final collegiate season. He went undrafted and played Indy ball for a year before the Orioles signed him. He’s 24 but only made his affiliated debut this year, striking out 43 in 33.2 innings thanks to a good slider.

Salt River Rafters (D-backs, Red Sox, Rockies, Angels, Pirates)

Famous Players
Charlie Condon, 3B/OF, Colorado Rockies

Condon had one of the best college seasons ever in 2024 and was the third overall pick in that draft, signing for over $9 million. I was somewhat skeptical of Condon’s bat-to-ball ability before the draft and he struggled so badly immediately after he signed that he slid out of my Top 100. That fallow period was explained away due to injury, and while Condon was much better in 2025, he still K’d at a 28% clip at Double-A, and I still think he has a volatile offensive forecast even though he clearly has big power.

Potential Dude(s)
Tony Blanco Jr., 1B, Pittsburgh Pirates
Jansel Luis, SS, Arizona Diamondbacks
David Hagaman, RHP, Arizona Diamondbacks

Blanco has some of the best raw power in all of pro baseball even though he’s only 20 years old. He’s already hit a ball 120 mph and had a 113 mph EV90 in 2025, second in pro baseball behind Oneil Cruz. Will he be Aaron Judge? Chris Carter? Or will Blanco make so little contact that he turns into a Franmil Reyes type of fringe big leaguer? Luis is a projectable switch-hitting 20-year-old infielder with awesome hand speed, but his Epicurean approach at the dish has tended to impact his production. Hagaman came to Arizona in the Merrill Kelly trade. He fell in his draft year due to TJ and only returned to affiliated ball a few weeks before he was traded. He is both built like and moves like a big league starter, will flash three good pitches, and threw strikes in a relatively small sample after he was back from surgery.

Surface-Level Statistical Performers
Angels righty Benny Thompson, an undrafted free agent from 2023, had a ridiculous 39% K% in 61.1 innings this year. Granted, he’s an older guy who spent the year in A-ball and he walked a ton of dudes. To my recollection, I’ve never seen Thompson, so I have no idea how he’s doing this. His age and wildness make him a lower-priority target, but a target nonetheless. Angels outfielder Raudi Rodriguez had an amazing 14 triples in 125 games and stole 38 bases in 44 attempts. Pirates outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez hit 26 homers this year, most among Fall Leaguers.

TrackMan Performers
Angels righty Najer Victor had a 60% miss rate on his slider this year, while the sliders of Ryan Costeiu, another Angels reliever, and D-backs rehabber Drey Jameson had slider miss rates just shy of 50%. Salt River doesn’t have anyone on the roster with a contact rate over 76%, a mark owned by Jansel Luis. And of course, I mentioned Tony Blanco Jr.

Key Roster Situation
Drey Jameson, a former Top 100 prospect, graduated from rookie status in 2023, but his career has been beset by injuries since then. The vacuum created by injuries to Corbin Burnes, A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez, plus the looming potential turnover in Arizona’s rotation due to Zac Gallen’s free agency, makes it particularly important for Jameson to hit the ground running and play a key role on the pitching staff of an otherwise competitive D-backs roster. His look in Arizona will help determine what kind of role — Starter? Long reliever? Late-inning guy? — he might compete for when camp kicks off next spring. Red Sox righty Luis Perales is in a similar situation after returning from surgery late in the year. He might be a big part of Boston’s 2026 bullpen.

Unique Path
Pirates outfielder Will Taylor comes from a family of decorated athletes in South Carolina and has one of the nuttier high school athletics résumés you’ll ever see. He lettered five times in baseball, five times in track & field, four times in football and four times in wrestling, he was a three-time state champion in wrestling, and he won state titles in football and track. He went to Clemson as a two-sport athlete and became the first football and baseball player at the university since Lions defensive lineman D.J. Reader, but he tore his ACL in 2021 and had just one productive baseball season. He was drafted in the 2024 fifth round and had a big power output uptick in 2025.

Scottsdale Scorpions (Tigers, Astros, Mets, Giants, Nationals)

Famous Players
Kevin McGonigle, 2B, Detroit Tigers

You’re no doubt familiar with McGonigle, who is one of the very best prospects in baseball thanks to his elite feel for contact. A great Fall League would tee him up to replace Gleyber Torres as the Tigers’ everyday second baseman next year should Torres leave in free agency.

Potential Dudes
Jake Bennett, LHP, Washington Nationals
Walker Janek, C, Houston Astros

Bennett is a 6-foot-6, 24-year-old lefty who throws a ton of strikes and has a great changeup. He doesn’t throw especially hard, but lefties with great command of great changeups tend to outperform their projections. We could see Bennett in the bigs next year. Janek is a super athletic catcher with rare pull power for his position. He strikes out a good bit, but he’s a small school player from Sam Houston State who might just need more time to adjust to pro pitching.

Surface-Level Statistical Performers
Sean Paul Liñan, a 20-year-old righty who came over from the Dodgers in the Alex Call trade, is not only one of the youngest couple of pitchers in the league, but he K’d 33% of opposing hitters this year, second most among AFL pitchers who threw at least 70 innings during the season.

TrackMan Performers
Kevin McGonigle checks every box in at least an average capacity. Astros outfielder Joseph Sullivan had a microscopic 13% chase rate. Sean Paul Liñan’s changeup features 2,600 rpm and generated an elite miss rate this year. Tigers pitcher Kenny Serwa has a splitter with a triple-digit spin rate.

Key Roster Situation
Tigers lefty Jake Miller looked great in last year’s Fall League, but he spent most of 2025 on the IL and only threw 20 innings. The Tigers’ big league roster is absolutely stacked with good pitching, and it might crowd out Miller to the point where he generates trade or Rule 5 Draft interest this offseason.

Unique Path
Giants infielder Parks Harber began his college career at Georgia, then transferred to North Carolina and was eventually an undrafted senior sign by the Yankees in 2024. He was off to a hot start in 2025, then got injured a few weeks before he was traded to the Giants as part of the Camilo Doval deal. He hit .323 this year in limited action and has the overt physicality of a big league 3B/1B, but how real is the hit tool?

Surprise Saguaros (Guardians, Royals, Brewers, Phillies, Rangers)

Famous Players
Daniel Espino, RHP, Cleveland Guardians
Blake Mitchell, C, Kansas City Royals
Sebastian Walcott, SS, Texas Rangers

Espino looked like the next Gerrit Cole before multiple full-season injuries derailed his career. He’s been back for a bit, and touched 102 on the backfields before he was briefly sent to an affiliate during the regular season. He looks a lot like Ryan Helsley now; let’s see how he and his stuff hold up (or maybe progress) through the fall. Mitchell has been famous since he was a high school sophomore, a lefty-hitting catcher prospect with big power and arm strength. Poor plate discipline threatens to turn him into a lefty-hitting Jorge Alfaro, useful but flawed. Walcott has maybe the best long-term power projection in the minors. He’s a strapping 6-foot-4 and has performed as a young-for-the-level player with each assignment.

Potential Dudes
Josh Adamczewski, 2B/LF, Milwaukee Brewers
Dylan Dreiling, OF, Texas Rangers

Adamczewski has plus lefty bat speed but really struggles on defense. It’s plausible he’ll hit enough to be a good left fielder, a position where he saw increased reps during Instructional League and likely will again in the AFL. The Rangers have totally overhauled Dreiling’s swing. His angle of attack has changed — his bat is pointed more vertically when his hands load — and he’s been given a bigger leg kick. He made a plus rate of contact in 2025, and this fall will be used to determine how well he can time fastballs.

Surface-Level Statistical Performers
Phillies prospect Dante Nori (52) and Royals prospect Carson Roccaforte (43) were near the top of the stolen base leaderboard across all of the minors. Brewers 1B/3B Luke Adams has a career .423 OBP in four seasons. Royals right-hander A.J. Causey had a 0.88 WHIP and 1.72 ERA this year.

TrackMan Performers
Guardians outfielder Wuilfredo Antunez doesn’t have big top-end power, but he’s averaging an absolutely wild 23 degrees of launch, which might be too extreme for him to be productive. Marco Dinges (who you’ll read about shortly) is pacing this group with a 107 mph EV90. Rangers pitcher Joey Danielson generated an absurd 42% miss rate on his 95-96 mph fastball.

Key Roster Situation
The Rangers have three pitchers in Arizona who could conceivably play key roles on next year’s big league team. Winston Santos is an athletic, strike-throwing 23-year-old righty with a 94-97 mph fastball. He missed time in 2025 with a stress reaction in his back. I wrote about Jose Corniell in August. And finally, righty Emiliano Teodo will exceed triple digits with his fastball, but its shape and movement aren’t conducive to missing bats.

Unique Path
Marco Dinges began his college career at Tallahassee Community College where, during his sophomore year, he developed Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis, a potentially fatal autoimmune disease where white blood cells are produced in excess and attack healthy tissues and organs rather than an actual invader, like a virus. For weeks, Dinges had a fever of 105 or so and was literally fighting for his life, in and out of different hospitals before he was properly diagnosed and treated by a pediatric rheumatologist and professor at the University of Florida. Ironically, after Dinges recovered and was ready to resume his baseball career, he transferred to Florida State for his junior year. He’s a really toolsy (bat speed, arm strength) if undersized catcher coming off a year with an OPS over .900.