Quite a lot of several types of gamers get despatched to the Arizona Fall League by their mum or dad golf equipment: prospects who’ve misplaced time on account of harm, org arms there to take in sufficient innings for the league to operate, guys eligible for the Rule 5 Draft whose groups aren’t but offered on placing them on the 40-man roster, and, very often, essentially the most proficient and thrilling gamers in minor league baseball. It’s a wealthy and sturdy tapestry.
Now that the league’s motion has commenced, one use of the AFL is to offer a kind of decontextualized have a look at among the gamers whose sturdy efficiency in 2025 was already trigger for some re-evaluation. Right here’s one participant from every AFL roster who arrived with some helium, prompting us to ask in the event that they’ve modified their scouting report, or are simply progressively bettering into the participant we anticipated.
Glendale Desert Canines
Sam Antonacci, 2B, White Sox
2025 FV: Honorable Point out
Not solely did the White Sox commerce for Chase Meidroth months after giving Antonacci a barely over-slot bonus within the fifth spherical of the 2024 draft, their Double-A Birmingham affiliate gained the Southern League whereas slotting Antonacci in because the third straight feisty little bat-to-ball maven on the prime of their lineup behind Rikuu Nishida and William Bergolla. At six ft, he’s a bit taller, however just like Meidroth, below-average thump and a dearth of the athleticism essential to drive a shortstop projection cooled early scouting reads for Antonacci, and he was an honorable point out for us on the White Sox record in April. Regardless of solely taking part in his junior season there after two years of Division II ball, Antonacci is so Coastal Carolina-pilled that 35 hit by pitches type a considerable a part of the .433 OBP he held over his first full professional season. (That he has but to be plunked in his first three AFL video games needs to be, one would think about, a supply of deep private disappointment.)
Antonacci’s swing is unsurprisingly compact and wristy, utilizing a small leg kick from a barely open place simply to load into his bottom, as he’s extra considering liberating up his arms to govern the barrel across the zone than he’s in creating separation. He’s compactly constructed with out a lot projection to enhance his below-average uncooked energy, however he’s additionally the kind of hitter to choke up on the bat even when he’s forward within the depend in a spot the place a single scores a run. He’s able to some jailbreak sprints a shade below 4.2 seconds out of the left-handed batter’s field, however he stole 48 baggage with largely common run occasions. Sustaining third base versatility is vital for his profile, however Antonacci’s arm is stretched there and it exhibits up within the type of rushed actions, although his vary can also be below-average on the keystone.
His contact charges are good, however he’s a little bit too susceptible to velocity up and away to mission Antonacci to be a 90% or higher in-zone contact specialist. He chased round 20% at Birmingham, however might want to preserve his Caleb Durbin-levels of plunking absorbance to dwell as an OBP machine with restricted defensive worth. Antonacci already has a status for the sort of relentless motor that minor league skippers love, and that will probably be wanted for him to transcend a bench function. A groundball that doinked off the second base bag and into proper area in the course of the Southern League playoffs, leading to a throwing error prompted by Antonacci’s hustle double try, is sort of his recreation in a nutshell.
Verdict: He’s carried out so effectively that he nearly needs to be a 40, however his instruments are too restricted to push him additional till he performs some extra.
Mesa Photo voltaic Sox
Bryce Cunningham, SP, Yankees
2025 FV: 40+
Cunningham sprinkled in two star activates the Cape between his three seasons at Vanderbilt, then was popped by the Yankees for round $2.3 million within the second spherical of final summer season’s draft, so a visit to the AFL doesn’t essentially represent a brand new stage of scouting publicity for the 22-year-old right-hander. However between not pitching after the draft final yr and lacking over two months this summer season with shoulder irritation – necessitating the Fall League innings – Cunningham is a little more of an unknown commodity than his origins would recommend.
Two months into 2025, Cunningham was working 92-96 with massive time extension and pitching his approach into High 100 consideration. He ran a 1.93 ERA in Hudson Valley by way of 46 2/3 innings, putting out 25.7% of Excessive-A hitters with only a 6% stroll price earlier than happening the IL in early June. His velocity was roughly comparable, however his supply much less constant, upon returning for 4 abbreviated and disjointed outings, and he struggled together with his secondary command whereas getting dinged for 4 runs in his two-inning AFL debut. Cunningham throws from a three-quarters slot however is so large (6-foot-5, 230 kilos) that his launch peak remains to be roughly six ft, including some downhill aircraft to a fastball that was homer susceptible at Vandy. However the pitch has fine condition with almost 18 inches of induced vertical break, it missed bats at an above-average price in Excessive-A, and he’s proven some capability to command it on the prime of the zone. His high-spin changeup is exclusive however monstrous, racking up a 48% miss price this yr.
Cunningham was a 40+ FV in January, largely on account of some wobbling in his strike-throwing and the necessity for a brand new breaking ball. Characteristically, the Yankees have had Cunningham work on a sweeper that has produced stable outcomes. However as somebody who already had rotationality in his supply, opening his entrance toe barely to the primary base facet, it bears monitoring how Cunningham’s newer breaking ball performs alongside his efforts to regain his early-season command. His first outing for Mesa additionally discovered him sprinkling in a growing curve.
Cunningham remains to be monitoring effectively as a no. 4 starter long-term, however you’ll be able to dream on extra if his first-half type pops up within the desert.
Verdict: There’s potential for a grade soar right here quickly, however Cunningham’s post-injury type didn’t look fairly able to safe it and he was roughed up in his AFL debut.
Peoria Javelinas
Luis De León, SP, Orioles
2025 FV: 45
Unfastened and projectable with bat-missing secondaries, De León entered 2025 inside vary of pitching his approach into 50 FV consideration by season’s finish, however his begin was delayed till Might by a proper elbow impingement. He returned sitting about 94 mph and confirmed sufficiently improved strike-throwing to earn a three-outing cameo in Double-A, the place he carved up Jap League hitters to the tune of a 1.69 ERA and 35.3% strikeout price in 16 innings. He isn’t Rule 5 eligible till subsequent winter, however the AFL gives him the possibility to construct upon the roughly 87 innings he’s now thrown in back-to-back seasons. He was stretched out to 4 innings in his debut for Peoria on Wednesday and appeared incredible, putting out seven and strolling two behind wipeout secondaries.
De León’s whippiness is actually evident once you watch him plant his entrance foot and explosively rotate round it. It provides nasty lefty crossfire motion to his slider and changeup, which every ran miss charges within the mid-40s all yr, together with his command of the latter nonetheless standing other than the remainder of his arsenal. His arm motion remains to be lengthy, however added energy has introduced extra stability to De León’s supply, which is seen in each his higher and decrease halves. Relatedly, the ten.9% stroll price he held throughout three ranges this yr was a profession finest. His sinker has heavy working motion, matching the remainder of his east-west arsenal, and he can discover himself spraying it large when his arm is late at foot strike, however it actually retains the ball out of the air. De León has allowed simply 5 residence runs in 256 2/3 professional innings and has but so as to add any to his tally this season.
Theoretically, this affords LDL all of the instruments required to dodge the worst elements of the charnel home that’s pitching in Arizona. Extra performances like Wednesday’s, and extra flashes of the 95-97 mph vary he’s proven at occasions, would actually tie collectively a case for inclusion within the High 100. However the continued plus efficiency of all three elements of De León’s arsenal, together with some extra palatable stroll charges, has already earned him a backend starter projection.
Verdict: I believe LDL could be a 50, however I’ve to go in again and ask my supervisor first.
Salt River Rafters
Esmerlyn Valdez, OF/1B, Pirates
2025 FV: Honorable Point out
The hulking Dominican slugger, listed at a wildly implausible 6-foot-2, 181 kilos, was an honorable point out on our Pirates record within the spring on account of hit instrument considerations and a primary base projection. A 26-homer marketing campaign in 2025 (with the ultimate six hit in Double-A), together with a six proportion factors discount in his strikeout price (24.6%), would have compelled us to present Valdez extra acknowledgement even earlier than he whacked two tape-measure pictures in his opening week with Salt River. A mixed .286/.376/.520 line as a 21-year-old merely deserves extra regard, even when that comes with extra hit instrument scrutiny. Valdez switched from an enormous leg kick to a extra moldable toe faucet as half of a bigger injection of rhythm into his operation, which has him syncing up his first transfer with the pitcher earlier within the course of, and he’s seen incremental positive aspects in his swing choices, nudging his contact price over 70% together with it.
However Valdez nonetheless masses his arms late, a final little gathering transfer on the finish of a full-body effort to swing very arduous. Accordingly, he’s very susceptible within the higher third of the zone, particularly towards velocity. So whereas there’s the potential for 70-grade uncooked pop right here with actual really feel for pulling and lifting arduous contact, particularly when he can catch secondaries out entrance just like the hanger he whacked 114.4 mph the opposite day, there’s nonetheless a reasonably clear guide on how higher stage pitching will neutralize Valdez’s energy. Defensively, Valdez spent extra time within the outfield this yr than final, however he’s nonetheless too uncooked in his route-running and struggles an excessive amount of with the footwork crucial for making correct throws to mission him to stay on the market.
That places a lot of massive hurdles between Valdez’s large juice and a path to being a daily, and even simply the choice to guard him from the Rule 5 Draft; his burly begin to the AFL is approaching the eve of the Pirates having to make a 40-man roster choice. We see Valdez monitoring extra like a slow-burn bench bat with a number of whiffs, like a right-handed Daryle Ward, however that’s already a significant step up from this time final yr.
Verdict: You hit 26 homers — er, 28 now — as a 21-year-old, you get added to The Board, even if you happen to can’t play a lot protection.
Scottsdale Scorpions
Ethan Petry, OF, Nationals
2025 FV: 40
Specializing in two hulking right-handed sluggers with hit instrument limitations and first base projections wasn’t the unique design, however in a world the place Nacho Alvarez Jr. is taking part in within the AFL regardless of having over 200 main league plate appearances to his title, Petry making the identical journey in his draft yr was too attention-grabbing to miss. The Nats popped Petry for simply over $2 million within the second spherical, however he obtained barely the fourth-largest bonus Washington issued as they unfold across the wealth of a well-under-slot take care of first general choose Eli Willits. There’s a sure logic to juicing the tempo with Petry, a bodily mature slugger who hit 54 residence runs in three years at South Carolina however missed the ultimate weeks of his junior season with a shoulder harm.
However a sub-70% contact price means that even the gathering of higher stage org arms scattered throughout the AFL may supply a considerable studying curve for Petry, and the primary couple days have appeared appropriately tough. Usually hitters will undertake a toe faucet as a shorter different to a leg kick, however that Petry makes use of the previous to load up a smaller model of the latter displays the size in his operation. For all of his size and problem monitoring spin in his professional debut, his strikeout price didn’t instantly explode (24.5%) within the Carolina League, and he flashed a extra contact-heavy method in his closing season at South Carolina earlier than the harm. The holes in Petry’s hit instrument loom bigger as a result of at his super dimension (6-foot-4, 235 kilos) and associated lack of pace, staving off a transfer to first base will probably be an uphill climb (he’s anticipated to play some first within the AFL).
Petry has 70-grade uncooked juice and a historical past of actualizing a very good chunk of it, with the kind of sturdy construct that implies a transition to a extra compact and stabilized loading motion is feasible. It’s not like there isn’t a path to influence right here, however his median final result remains to be trending towards bench bat.
Verdict: It’s a risky 40 FV due to how early it’s in his professional ball journey, however Petry nonetheless seems like a 40, a minimum of at this stage.
Shock Saguaros
Marco Dinges, C/DH, Brewers
2025 FV: 40
I used to be supposed to jot down up Dinges in Might and cried uncle after a couple of days of watching him, unable to determine what to do with this hyper-twitchy bat pace service provider who not often pulls fastballs, this athletic however undersized school catcher who had barely caught. Dinges has long-term hit instrument considerations, however was additionally posting Mitch Jebb-level strikeout charges within the Carolina League. His rotational explosiveness gives engaging uncooked pop, however he additionally maintains a reasonably stage swing aircraft. Contradictions like this abound for Dinges.
Eric shook it out to a 40 FV backup catcher grade, with concurrently extra danger and extra ceiling than that label usually portends as a result of Dinges would possibly hit a good deal greater than such a label suggests and in addition might not catch in any respect. Shortly after the Brewers record was printed, Dinges acquired a promotion to Excessive-A, which introduced efficiency suggestions extra fashioned to his ability set. He nonetheless hit a powerful .273/.371/.483 in 51 video games within the Midwest League, however his contact price slid under 70% because the anticipated in-zone whiff points got here residence to roost, albeit over the identical timeframe that noticed him swat 10 homers.
In the midst of this was a left hamstring pressure that knocked Dinges out for over a month, restricted him to 47 video games caught on the season and made an epilogue within the AFL appear interesting. His first week again from harm contained the worst of his whiff points. Dinges makes use of his bat pace as a chance to remain closed deep into his load, earlier than swinging open like an unlatched gate in a gale. Not coincidentally, he produces good swing choices for an offensive profile that’s heavier on athleticism than really feel to hit, bristling with bat pace greater than it’s optimized for energy manufacturing. It’ll be simpler to attend for Dinges’ offensive instruments to win the day if his catching improvement buys time.
To that finish, Dinges is agile sufficient and has the uncooked arm energy to provide plus pop occasions, however the consistency of his footwork is uncooked, and his slim base serves to make his glove actions a little bit jerky for framing and provides him a small goal window for maintaining blocked balls in entrance of him. The principle gadgets of want listed here are reps and added bulk, and outside baseball in Arizona is barely good for a kind of.
Verdict: In the event you learn the textual content above and assume I do know what to say about Dinges, I don’t know what to say to you both. However he bears watching.