Arizona Fall League Recap: 10/6/2026

Mesa Solar Sox (Beck)

Braylon Payne, OF, Milwaukee Brewers (2-5, 3B, BB)

Payne picked up his first two hits of the fall campaign on Monday evening, including a first inning triple that initially registered as a 110.6 MPH exit velocity but has since vanished from Baseball Savant’s scoreboard. He’s capable of that kind of pop — that was the biggest revelation in the 20-year-old’s breakout campaign — so I’m willing to accept the fleeting Hawkeye read as gospel.

Payne finished his 2026 campaign with 467 plate appearances split between Wisconsin (A+) and Biloxi (AA) and a .277/.358/.552 slash. There’s admittedly little for him to prove in the desert circuit given it’s a hitter’s environment and the pitching is less than stellar, so the focus will likely be on bat-to-ball and potentially preparing him for Nashville in 2027. As such, it’s unlikely a strong performance moves his fantasy value in a meaningful way unless it’s paired with headline-grabbing award nods.

Matt Wood, C, Milwaukee Brewers (2-3, 2 BB)

Wood was a fourth round pick out of known baseball powerhouse Penn State (I’m being facetious, apologies to the Nittany Lion enjoyers), where he slashed .379/.480/.667 with 12 home runs in his platform year. He was lauded as a disciplined hitter with strong barrel control, both of which have materialized in professional ball. He finished with an OBP just south of .400 (.398) and considerably more walks than strikeouts in 386 plate appearances with Biloxi this year. He’s likely a back up catcher at best, especially given Milwaukee’s stable of backstops, but his under-the-hood data is compelling; he finished with a 10% in-zone miss rate, 19% chase rate, and roughly average 90th percentile exit velocity. He’s Rule-5 eligible this winter and may be playing for his last opportunity to make the Brewers 40-man roster.

Monday was his first fall league appearance and he collected two base hits and two walks.

Surprise Saguaros (Rhys)

Zion Rose, OF, Kansas City Royals (1/5 SB)

Normally a one-for-four outing doesn’t get things started here, but Zion Rose is hitting his way up FYPD ranks, and at this point someone is gonna rank him as their top FYPD bat. In this outing alone, despite going one-for-four with a single and a stolen base, he posted 4 hard-hit batted balls, with a 109 mph groundout, a 102 mph lineout, and two 97 mph batted balls, including his single. This is what he did during his time at Louisville, as he posted a 90th percentile EV in the 104 mph range, while pairing that with an 87% zone-contact rate.

Rose has a chance to start creeping up FYPD lists. He already is a top 10 pick, but with a hot AFL he could cement himself within the top 5, and maybe usurp someone like Drew Burress. There is easy plus speed, if not plus-plus, and he should be given the green light when he reaches the majors. The Royals allow their athletes to run on the basepaths, and if Zion Rose can continue to get the ball in the air, there is a chance here for a routine 20-homer type bat with 30+ steals a year, hitting atop the Royals lineup.

Welbyn Francisca, SS, Cleveland Guardians (2/5 2B)

Two games with two doubles for Welbyn Francisca, who still kinda lives in that better-in-real-life bucket of players for me. But if you are looking for a guy who might post solid batting averages and play all the time for the Guardians, this is your guy. They really just might keep making Brayan Rocchio-type clones.

After missing a large portion of the season with a shoulder injury, it was nice to see Francisca show off a little bit of power this past season with 19 long balls split across the complex, High-A, and Double-A. Do I fully buy the power? No, not really. He seems like a prime candidate to benefit from the minor league ball that was flying out like nobody’s business this season. But it was nice to see him rebound from a dreadful 2026 where he only hit 3 homers. That said, it is encouraging to see him pop a 107 like he did yesterday.

Paxton Kling, OF, Texas Rangers (4/5 3B 2B)

I liked Paxton Kling coming into last offseason's FYPDs; he's a good athlete with what might be above-average game power and above-average speed. I love taking chances on these high-upside athletes who might not have been in the best player development setups in college, and Penn State University falls into that bucket. The problem with Kling is he does hit the ball on the ground a decent amount, posting a 42% ground-ball rate this past season.

Kling had a four-for-five day at the office, showing off some speed and legging out a triple. There is still a lot of untapped offensive upside here. He needs to get the ball in the air more to let his power come into play more consistently, as he does post solid EVs here and there, like his 104 mph batted ball on his single.

Kling does a good job of getting on base and allowing his speed to come into play. He stole 40 bases and was caught 11 times. There are enough raw ingredients here that if Kling cuts back on the ground-ball rate, there is a chance for a breakout. While he posted a .383 OBP, posting a .361 slugging percentage is not what you want to see.

Salt River Rafters (Chris)

Dax Kilby, SS, New York Yankees (3/4 2 2B)

After doubling in his first Fall League game on Saturday, he returned to action on Monday and put together an incredible performance. Two doubles and a single as well as a sac fly led all hitters in Salt River’s game. Kilby handled velocity incredibly well with a 105.4 mph double coming off a 98 mph fastball. He also hit a 95 mph fastball for a 105 mph exit velocity. The sac fly produced a bat speed of 79.2 mph, which is elite range.

Kilby missed substantial time this season due to a hamstring injury and was up and down in his 164 plate appearances during the regular season. The .427 OBP was strong, but Kilby had just a .403 slugging percentage with four home runs, four doubles, and two triples.

The AFL is an important time for Kilby to prove he can be a high-end prospect like we saw after he was drafted in 2025.

Demetrio Crisantes, DH, Arizona Diamondbacks (3/5 2B)

Crisantes did not light up the exit velocity leaderboard, not registering a hard-hit ball, but he still had a strong three-hit day. Leading off the game with a ground ball single, Crisantes followed it up with a fourth-inning double in the gap before having another ground ball single in the sixth.

Getting a late start to the regular season, Crisantes wound up spending most of the season in Triple-A, and between all levels he slashed .292/.377/.477 with ten home runs and 25 doubles.

Crisantes has shown impressive contact skills and a good feel to hit. He did not hit the ball overly hard this year, but did create ideal launch angles. Seeing a strong performance here could be finishing school and lead to an early 2027 debut for Crisantes.

Glendale Desert Dogs (Rhys)

Charles Davalan, 2B, Los Angeles Dodgers (1/5 2B)

Good ol’ Chuck Davalan. He is now playing second base out in Arizona, which does make him that much more appealing of a fantasy prospect, because we all know who we had to start at points at second base this past season shudders.

Plus, for the Chuckie heads out there, this does ever so slightly provide a clearer runway to getting Charles Davalan to the Major Leagues. In the sense that the Dodgers can move him around to a few different spots now, they can have him play either corner-outfield spot and second base if he shows he can handle the position. Which would be great for us in daily moves leagues because the Dodgers are a team that, while they might not give him the quantity of plate appearances we want especially in the early going, if he is good enough, they will shoehorn guys into matchups because they are trying to maximize the quality of plate appearances they can dish out. Or he could just get traded to a spot where playing time is easier to project as the Dodgers go star hunting.

Charles Davalan provides a relatively safe floor for a prospect. There is more than enough hit tool to go along with more than enough power. It’s not quite 60 hit and 60 power, but it is 60 hit and 55 power, which definitely plays in the corner outfield if he doesn’t prove he can be a cromulent second baseman. Please, please, please just be good enough at second base to play there, because that sort of bat would be a top 5 option at that spot.

Jhonny Severino, 3B, Pittsburgh Pirates (1/3 HR)

"Here's Jhonny" is what I hope he says after he smashes a batted ball, which he did last night when he hit a ball 106 mph off the bat for a home run. Severino hit plenty of hard-struck balls this past year in Greensboro. He had the quietest 30+ homer season in the minor leagues this year, but keep in mind that Greensboro is a launching pad, and the ball flew out of the park this past season.

None of that is to diminish what Severino did, as he has always had solid power. However, spending an entire season at Greensboro with the current ball is a recipe for success. In 2025 he hit 10 home runs, and in 2024 he hit 16, so 31 home runs is a major jump.

Severino does a good job of pulling the ball and putting it in the air. That combination, mixed with the hitter-friendly environment the AFL usually provides, can lead to quite a few home runs. Someone I know on a team who has seen plenty of Severino told me, "It's never a question of whether Jhonny will damage batted balls; it's how much he will be able to bring that power into games."

Peoria Javelinas (Chris)

Vancy Honeycutt, OF, Baltimore Orioles (2/4 HR, BB)

Honeycutt ended the season on a high note, blasting five home runs with five doubles over his final 13 games. While being an incredibly streaky hitter, Honeycutt hit 15 home runs on the season but stole an impressive 38 bases in 341 plate appearances. The issues revolve around strikeouts as Honeycutt ran a 38.4 percent strikeout rate with an uninspiring zone contact rate. While things improved in Double-A, it is hard to know if that was just a small sample size.

On Monday, Honeycutt blasted a 106.6 mph home run and also had a deep flyout that left the bat with a 96 mph exit velocity. He did reach base two other times via a walk and a single. The most important stat of the night is that Honeycutt did not whiff on any of his eight swings.

Sammy Hernandez, C, St. Louis Cardinals (2/5 3B)

Hernandez got just 253 plate appearances this season in High-A, but he made the most of his time, hitting 11 home runs with 18 doubles. Hernandez even added 21 stolen bases while slashing .279/.411/.529. He showed an impressive feel to hit and approach, having a 23 percent chase rate and an 87 percent in-zone contact rate. While the exit velocities were not off the charts, Hernandez does create good launch angles.

On Monday, Hernandez smashed a triple down the left field line at 97.5 mph and also added a single in the first inning. Hernandez also had a long fly out to left-center in the fifth inning.

It would not be surprising to see Hernandez really see his stock rise in the AFL with a solid performance.

Ike Irish, 1B, Baltimore Orioles (2/5)

Irish’s season ended early in 2026, shortly after the All-Star break. He hit 16 home runs and had 20 doubles in 343 plate appearances. Irish even swiped 20 bases but was caught ten times. Before his injury, Irish was showing good power and a solid approach but was really held back by inconsistent launch angles.

While Irish had just two singles, we got some elite bat speed numbers from him as Irish registered an 81 and 79 mph bat speed on batted balls. All three of his batted balls were hard-hit, including a 103 mph single.

Scottsdale Scorpions (Beck)

Cole Conn, C, Sacramento Athletics (2-5, 2B, 3B, SB)

Cole Conn did not appear in many pre-AFL players to watch articles. At a cursory glance, his 2026 campaign was solid: he slashed .286/.389/.463, hit 13 home runs, and stole 28 bases in 474 plate appearances between Double- and Triple-A as a switch-hitting catcher, but he played in the Texas League before graduating to the even friendlier Pacific Coast League. In those environments, Conn’s performance graded more good than great. Still, he’s off to a hot start after finishing his first contest of the circuit with two hits, both of which for extra bases, and with his first stolen base. The upside is likely capped as a backup catcher, but that’s pretty good for a 12th-round selection.

Arjun Nimmala, SS, Los Angeles Angels (2-5, HR)

Nimmala, selected in the first round of the 2023 draft and later traded as the headlining return piece for Jose Soriano at the 2026 trade deadline, logged the only home run for either team in Monday’s contest (which ended in a 6-6 tie, by the way). His third-inning blast had no recorded exit velocity or distance data, so the default assumption is “hard” and “far.” Nimmala played in 27 games for Rocket City (Double-A) after the trade and accumulated a .260/.389/.577 slash with 17 extra-base hits (eight home runs and nine doubles). His focus this fall should be on shoring up his bat-to-ball against breaking pitches (38% miss rate against them in the regular season) and putting the ball in the air (18.6% fly ball rate), where his power (107.9 mph EV90) will be maximized.