Arizona Fall League Recap: 10/30/25

Mesa Solar Sox

Enmanuel Tejeda, 2B, New York Yankees

Tejeda has had a rough go so far in the fall league, and even after hitting his first home run yesterday, his slugging percentage across 57 plate appearances still sits at .267. He did hit the ball hard several times in the game yesterday, with his home run leaving the bat at 106 mph and an additional batted ball at 107 mph.

While he is just 20 years old, Tejeda has shown decent flashes at times, including in the fall league. Spending the season between the complex and Single-A in 2025, Tejeda slashed .252/.392/.354 with three home runs and six doubles in 149 plate appearances.

Starlyn Caba, SS, Miami Marlins

After a relatively slow start ot the fall at both the plate and in the field, Caba has picked it up some. He collected three hits on Thursday, all singles, but a couple of them were hard-hit balls. The seventh inning single off Jojo Ingrassia left the bat at 104 mph, and he had an additional single hit at 97.4 mph.

Caba has his slash up to .298/.421/.383 with a home run and a double. Twelve of Caba’s 14 hits have been singles, but that is the essence of his game. The hit tool has been relatively strong, and for the most part, Caba has shown to be a defensive wizard.

The profile plays down in fantasy leagues, but if Caba finds any power, he suddenly profiles differently.

Surprise Saguaros

Alfonsin Rosario, OF, Cleveland Guardians (1-3, BB, SB)

Surprise didn’t do much of anything on Thursday. They failed to score a run, and the game ended in a 0-0 tie, which I can’t say I’ve seen before, even in this circuit. Rosario’s 1-for-3 night with a walk and a stolen base was, for better or worse, a standout showing in this game. He’s barely played, and his third-inning single was just his second in 22 plate appearances. It would be nice to get a larger sample from him — he played very well in High-A, hitting his way to a .268/.362/.490 line and 16 home runs in 82 games, but fell a little flat once in Akron. He does a great job getting the ball in the air and to the pull side but has issues with contact, and without an improvement in that arena he may not hit enough to be a productive bat against better pitching.

Blake Mitchell, C, Kansas City Royals (1-4, 2 K)

Mitchell got the AFL nod to accrue live reps after missing time with a broken right hamate suffered in February. He had the usual post-injury bugaboos: a distinct drop-off in power and issues with bat-to-ball, and those have continued into the fall. He’s managed just one home run in 63 plate appearances (14 games) and has struck out at a 30.1% pace. I wish he was featuring for better reasons, and I fully expect him to positively regress as he gets further from the injury, but that hasn’t come to fruition just yet. He featured in the back end of my offseason top 100 last March and will be on the fringe this year as I bake in hit tool risk and lingering injury effects.

Salt River Rafters

Tony Blanco Jr., 1B, Pittsburgh Pirates

To no shock, Blanco can mash. In our time in Arizona, Blanco blasted a shot over 120 mph and had a big-time home run as well while we were in the stands. Blanco homered again on Thursday, just a modest 100.7 mph shot that traveled 408 feet, but it had an elite bat speed of 82.2 mph.

After topping out at 119.8 mph during the regular season, Blanco has a 120.4 mph max in Arizona and has an absurd 112.2 mph 90th percentile exit velocity. During the regular season, Blanco had a near 114 mph 90th percentile.

The contact skills are still a major question mark, though, as Blanco ran a 57 percent contact rate during the regular season, which has slightly increased to 59.7 percent in Arizona. The zone contact is pretty bad as well.

The power is 80-grade, the contact skills are probably closer to 20-grade. If it clicks, Blanco’s profile could be a lot of fun.

Esmerlyn Valdez, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

Valdez has slowed down a bit, at one point having eight home runs in nine games. He is now up to 14 games and is still sitting at the eight home runs mark, but has an impressive slash of .421/.579/1.079 slash. While Valdez did not collect a hit on Thursday, he had three batted balls hit 99.6 mph or harder and showed elite bat speed.

Valdez is no stranger to high-end exit velocities, though, as he had a 108 mph 90th percentile exit velocity and topped out at 116 during the regular season. He also had a 114.4 mph exit velocity this fall.

He is not just a power hitter, though, as Valdez showed a strong in-zone contact rate of 85 percent this season. The approach is also strong, as he chased just 20 percent of pitches out of the zone. While he did not chase often, he did struggle with contact on pitches out of the zone.

Valdez has a well-rounded skillset that he has shown dating back to Spring Training, when I saw him. This is not an outlier performance in the desert; it’s a continuation of what has been a breakout season.

Glendale Desert Dogs

Sam Antonacci, 2B, Chicago White Sox (3-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB)

The Milwaukee Brewers were searching for answers at third base last spring. They eventually found one in former AFL standout Caleb Durbin, but Sal Frelick was taking infield reps before Durbin took command of the position. Antonacci is infield Frelick, and I mean that in the best way possible. He profiles as a points league standout, running extremely high OBPs and very rarely striking out, and while he doesn’t hit for much over-the-fence power, his stolen base prowess will make up for a bit of the missing value. He finished the season in Birmingham, making him just two steps from big league contribution, and I’d be unsurprised if he unseated Chase Meidroth at second base at some point in 2026.

Pat Clohisy, OF, Atlanta Braves (2-3, 2 R, RBI, BB, K, 3 SB)

Clohisy is doing everything in his power to chase down Enrique Bradfield Jr. for the AFL lead in stolen bases. While Bradfield took the night off, Clohisy was busy slapping singles, scampering from base to base, and working the count. He’s not supremely dissimilar to Antonacci, though he has a little less bat-to-ball aptitude and a lot more willingness to challenge the opposing battery. I’m higher on Antonacci than Clohisy, but they’re both fun players.

Peoria Javelinas

Jonny Farmelo, OF, Seattle Mariners

The Peoria/Surprise game was quite the dud. Ten hits combined between both teams, and no pitching dominated enough to warrant writing about. Peoria collected just six hits in the game, and Farmelo accounted for two of them, both singles.

The good news is that Farmelo struck all three of his batted balls well. The first inning single left the bat at 86.5 mph on a line shot to center. His fifth-inning single was another line drive at 101.1 mph. Then, Farmelo struck a deep fly out that traveled 343 feet. All three of the batted balls were hit at least 250 feet.

Farmelo is having a strong AFL after being limited by a rib injury during the regular season, when he was also coming back from a torn ACL.

Leo Balcazar, 3B, Cincinnati Reds

Balcazar was the only hitter in the Peoria lineup to collect two hard-hit balls during the game. He, like Farmelo, had two hits in the game, a double and a single. The first inning double was a deep shot that traveled to the wall in right field, leaving the bat at 99.5 mph and carrying 382 feet. His third-inning single was struck at 102.4 mph on a line drive between third and shortstop. Balcazar finished out his game with a bunt attempt that turned into a groundout.

Balcazar is having a great AFL and looks to be bigger and stronger than his listed 5’11” frame. While he does not have a home run, Balcazar does have six doubles and four stolen bases while slashing .375/.429/.469.

Scottsdale Scorpions

Nick Morabito, OF, New York Mets (2-4, 3 R, BB, K, 2 SB)

Morabito has been a spark plug atop the Scottsdale lineup for the last month. He’s running a .333/.434/.422 slash in 53 plate appearances and has stolen 11 bases, which is exactly the sort of production he’s provided for his entire pro career. It’s not uncommon for him to run on-base percentages higher than his slugging (he’s 5-foot-10 and has a knack for getting on base) and he swiped 49 bases over 118 regular season games with Binghamton, so his AFL performance thus far has been relatively unsurprising. High OBP center field defenders are good bets to get big league playing time, and he has the pesky contact-merchant profile to match. It would be nice if he got to a little more pop, but he’s a fun and likely valuable player as-is. His two thieveries on Thursday brought his AFL total to 11, good for third behind Enrique Bradfield (16) and Pat Clohisy (14).

Parks Harber, 1B, San Francisco Giants (2-5, 2B, RBI, 2 K)

Outside of Esmerlyn Valdez, Harber has been the biggest revelation of the AFL circuit. He was one of the return pieces the Giants secured in exchange for Camilo Doval and he’s positioned himself as a potential impact bat after putting up a .333/.454/.644 line with Eugene in 25 games post-trade. His underlying data really popped in Tampa; he posted a 107.9 mph EV90 (98th percentile) and a 21.3% barrel rate (99th percentile) in 20 games. He’s continued to hit the ball hard in the AFL — his double left the bat at 104.6 mph — and would be considered a top-200 prospect right now if he weren’t 24 years old. We’ll have to see whether he makes enough contact in Double-A and if he can adopt a more pull-oriented approach, but he has the potential to be a serious riser early in 2026. If everything clicks I suspect he’ll be a quick mover.