Right here in Arizona we are actually by two weeks of play within the Fall League, with some schedule alterations (a number of days of cancellation and a doubleheader make-up effort Tuesday) attributable to the impression of tropical moisture arising by Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Although roughly 60% of the slate stays, there are already some particular person gamers who’ve moved the scouting needle both for me, or for the various of us right here braving Bell Street and walk-prone pitching to sharpen their membership’s understanding of those guys. I’ve pushed a bunch of updates to the 2025 Fall League tab on The Board, and under have a Map Key so you may shortly parse the fundamentals of these updates, as properly some scouting notes on the gamers whose grade or projection has modified.
Pattern Column Map Key
You’ll discover the “Pattern” column on The Board. There are a number of (principally self-explanatory) symbols there to offer you an concept as to the way in which a participant has appeared. The “Up” arrow signifies somebody has performed properly sufficient, or seems completely different sufficient, for me to have upped their FV grade from prior reporting. It’s potential the upward pattern will proceed all through the Fall and that the participant’s grade will increase but once more throughout offseason org checklist work. Within the circumstances the place the participant is struggling so badly as to have earned a “Down” arrow, I haven’t nerfed their FV grade at the moment as a result of, traditionally, there are many nice gamers who struggled within the AFL due to fatigue, indifference, or another purpose impartial of their expertise.
The goal “🎯” signifies both gamers whom I haven’t seen but, or gamers who is perhaps Up arrow guys in the event that they reinforce a very good early look with extra of the identical. At a sure level (like a weekish from now) the video games I resolve to attend on a given day might be dictated solely by who’s left on my goal checklist. The “New” tag signifies gamers who weren’t on The Board beforehand, and the Band-Assist “🩹” designation signifies both gamers whom I haven’t seen, or those that aren’t taking part in because of harm.
New Faces
Esmerlyn Valdez, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
Owen Ayers, C, Chicago Cubs
Hudson Leach, RHP, Houston Astros
Valdez had a stellar 40-man platform yr (.286/.376/.520 with 26 residence runs) in a 2025 season cut up between Excessive- and Double-A. He’s gone nuclear right here within the Fall League and hit his eighth homer yesterday in his ninth recreation. The massive piece of Valdez’s 2025 was the dip in his strikeout fee. He went from punching out 30% of the time in 2024 to only 24% of the time this yr. The advance coincided with a mechanical change (his palms arrange extra vertically than in 2024) so there’s at the least some visible proof that Valdez has really modified, although he nonetheless swings beneath a ton of fastballs. There’s extra in his up to date report on The Board, however in brief, he seems loads like Randal Grichuk (pull-heavy righty nook outfield cog) and ought to be contributing to Pittsburgh’s outfield combine by late in 2026.
Pirates prospect Esmerlyn Valdez hit 26 homers in 123 video games this season.
And he introduced the ability to the AFL ?
Take a look at his homer from his fall league debut ?? pic.twitter.com/mLEXmtokqG
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) October 8, 2025
Ayers has an unimaginable arm, he has the lightning-fast trade of an undefeated late-1800s gunslinger, and has routinely popped sub-1.9 for me this Fall with throws proper on the bag. The opposite points of his catching protection usually are not nice, however Ayers is a latest small-school draftee ($50k out of Marshall in 2024) and deserves time to develop again there. Can he hit? He carried out as an old-for-the-level hitter at Low-A in 2025 (Ayers is 24) and has appeared good in opposition to principally dangerous pitching in Arizona, with roughly common uncooked energy however vulnerability to elevated velocity. He’s positively on the prospect radar now, however his function and projection are nonetheless fairly fuzzy and depending on him enhancing as a receiver.
Hudson Leach is a possible energy reliever who has the perfect pure breaking ball I’ve seen thus far this Fall. Take a look at his recent report on The Board for extra.
Within the Combine as Main League Starters
Luke Sinnard, RHP, Atlanta Braves
Spencer Miles, RHP, San Francisco Giants
Anderson Brito, RHP, Houston Astros
One of many fascinating thought workouts whereas scouting all the Fall League is, “Which of those guys will be main league starters?” There are some years the place there are a number of good guys, and some with just one or two. This yr’s contingent had a number of candidates from the soar (like Luis De León, Jake Bennett, Jose Corniell, and Hagen Smith, all of whom I believe you can also make a coherent argument belong on this offseason’s Prime 100 checklist) and a handful extra are rising, together with the names above.
The 6-foot-8 Sinnard solely started taking part in baseball throughout his senior yr of highschool. He began his school profession at Western Kentucky, then had a sophomore breakout at Indiana when he set the college’s single-season strikeout file with 114 in 86 1/3 innings. He blew out throughout his Regional begin on the finish of 2023, had Tommy John, and was again in time to throw some scouted pre-draft bullpens in 2024, together with on the Mix. Sinnard appeared ok in these settings for the Braves to make use of a 3rd rounder on him, then he noticed his first professional motion in 2025 and labored an environment friendly 72 innings cut up between Low- and Excessive-A. He missed roughly six weeks in June and July recovering from an elbow stress response, which is why he’s within the Fall League choosing up innings. He’s added a splitter that wasn’t there in school, he can combine breaking ball shapes from cutters to curveballs, and he’s commanding a 92-96 mph fastball with unusual precision for a man his measurement.
Miles and Brito have extra reduction danger. Miles is constructed like a starter at a strapping 6-foot-3, and has a starter’s four-pitch combine, however he’s barely pitched since turning professional in 2022 because of a number of accidents, and he has principally zero innings basis. He’s Rule 5 eligible this offseason and is fairly prone to find yourself in a bullpen if he’s rostered this offseason. If the Giants don’t roster him and no one drafts him in December, his probabilities of beginning (thanks to a different yr with purely developmental focus in 2026) enhance.
Little Astros righty Anderson Brito (whom I’ve seen as soon as dangerous and as soon as superb) is just 5-foot-10, 160 kilos or so. There are various extra relievers who appear like him, bodily and mechanically, than there are starters. However Brito has one hell of a curveball, throws actually onerous for a 5-foot-10 man, and nonetheless has a number of years to develop as a starter as a result of he isn’t Rule 5 eligible till 2027. If you would like energetic precedent for a man this little succeeding as a starter, Sonny Grey offers some quantity of it, however he’s possibly the one one from the final decade or so to have a protracted profession as a starter at 5-foot-10. For each Sonny Grey there are various extra David Robertsons (if Brito have been to turn out to be a career-long setup man like Robertson, that’d be an amazing end result) and Deivi Garcias. I believe it deserves creating Brito as a starter simply to see what occurs, however he’s the one in every of this group I’m least satisfied will stick in that function.
Rebounding After Uneven Seasons
Seaver King, SS, Washington Nationals
Jared Thomas, OF, Colorado Rockies
King, the tenth decide within the 2024 draft, posted a .244/.294/.337 line mixed at Excessive- and Double-A in 2025, good for under an 87 wRC+. Scouts assume his swing nonetheless wants polish to actually take full benefit of his athleticism, however King has appeared superior on either side of the ball out right here, and has made it simpler to dismiss his 2025 mediocrity as anomalistic. Jared Thomas’ strikeout fee ballooned to over 30% after he was promoted to Double-A Hartford throughout the second half of 2025. His palms are so alive with energy for a reasonably skinny, projectable, left-handed hitter that, at the least throughout my in-person seems, I’ve extra pleasure than concern in regards to the make-up of his offensive skillset. Each of those guys are sensational athletes who’re nonetheless simply 22 years outdated, in levels of each bodily and technical improvement that invite projection greater than they do trepidation.