Arizona Fall League Recap: 10/7/25

Mesa Solar Sox

Max Muncy, 3B, Athletics

Muncy reached base three times on Tuesday night, including a home run that he blasted 104.2 mph off the bat. Considering we are talking about a player who has 63 games of MLB experience under his belt, it would not be surprising if Muncy dominates in Arizona and is not there for the entire season.

Owen Ayers, C, Chicago Cubs

Ayers is a player I was going to keep a close eye on in Arizona. A former 19th-round pick out of Marshall who got just a $50k bonus, Ayers was respectable in his time on the field with Myrtle Beach this year. Hitting six home runs in 273 plate appearances, Ayers also added 14 doubles and five triples. He has a sound approach with respectable contact skills.

Last night, Ayers blasted a home run that left the bat with a 99.3 mph exit velocity. He struck another ball well, but right at the centerfielder for a flyout. Given that Mesa is the Cubs’ home complex, it would not be surprising to see Ayers get plenty of run this AFL.

Fenwick Trimble, OF, Miami Marlins

Trimble had just one hit on the day, but he checked in with the hardest-hit balls of any player in the game with three. His double was smoked to the pull-side over the head of the left-fielder, and his hardest-hit ball was a groundout at 105.8 mph.

Trimble put together a good season between High-A and Double-A in 2025 despite missing nearly two months with a hamstring injury. I liked Trimble a lot coming out of college in 2024, largely thanks to a friend who worked with him at James Madison. Trimble was selected in the fourth round and struggled with his assignment to Single-A Jupiter.

Trimble was great to begin 2025 in High-A before the injury and even better after coming back in Double-A. While he did hit just seven home runs in 356 trips to the plate, Trimble was successful on 31 of 35 stolen base attempts. He showed an impressive approach and slashed .253/.372/.402.

Aidan Smith, OF, Tampa Bay Rays

Smoking a ball 106 mph with a 23-degree launch angle that traveled 412 feet, Smith somehow did not leave the yard. The shot to centerfield turned into a triple for him on a 91.2 mph fastball. Smith also added a single with a 90.2 mph exit velocity.

Through the end of May, I saw Smith show major whiffs against fastballs up in the zone and also struggling with breaking balls down and away. In those 169 plate appearances, Smith was striking out 32.5 percent of the time and had nearly identical on-base and slugging percentages (.349/.350). Smith had hit just three home runs and added four doubles.

An .854 OPS in June saw the strikeout rate drop to 31 percent, but the struggles picked back up in July. But something clicked for Smith in August, and over his final 25 games, he blasted four home runs and stole 12 bases while seeing the strikeout rate drop to 27 percent. Smith hit .280 and had a 133 wRC+.

Surprise Saguaros

Sebastian Walcott, SS, Texas Rangers

Walcott, like quite a few in the Mesa/Surprise game, put up two-hit performances. What stood out about Walcott, though, were the statcast metrics we got on him. Walcott put up the highest exit velocity in the game, checking in at 110.1 mph, a number that he is no stranger to. Additionally, he added a 104.1 mph single and a smoked lineout that left the bat with a 92.8 mph exit velocity.

The bat speed was silly for someone who is 19 years old. His lineout had a bat speed of 84.3 mph, which is elite. While it was just one swing, Giancarlo Stanton led the Majors with an average bat speed of 80.6 mph, and the highest recorded swing speed in 2025 was 88 mph.

Wuilfredo Antunez, OF, Cleveland Guardians

The only home run of the day for Surprise belonged to Antunez. While it was just a 97 mph exit velocity, the ball traveled 381 feet, showing that if you get the ball in the air in Arizona, it can travel. It was Antunez's only hit of the day, but he drove in three runs and also drew a walk on the day.

Antunez had his best season to date in 2025, hitting 18 home runs and stealing 16 bases while splitting the year between High-A and Double-A. He also posted an impressive .275/.335/.521 slash. Once regarded as an up-and-coming prospect, Antunez has a chance to showcase in Arizona that his performance in 2025 was legit.

Marco Dinges, C, Milwaukee Brewers

Dinges is sure to garner some buzz while in Arizona. Hopefully, you added him back in April when we started hyping him up. He was the only player on Surprise other than Walcott to record a hard-hit ball, and he had three of them. His double left the bat at 107 mph and carried to the warning track. Two other batted balls traveled to the outfield with exit velocities of 98.5 and 96.6 mph. He did have a fly out that had an exit velocity of 93.2 mph.

Dinges has held high in our prospect rankings for some time and he is coming off a highly impressive season in which he slashed .300/.416/.514 with 13 home runs and 27 extra base hits in just 77 games. The statcast data is elite as well.

Daniel Espino, RHP, Cleveland Guardians

One of the pitchers to watch closely in Arizona is Espino. He was an arm that I was honestly not sure would pitch in a game again. Prior to a Triple-A appearance in September 2025, the last time we saw Espino pitch in a game was April 2022. Unfortunately, the 2022 season ended after 18 innings due to a knee injury, and he missed all of 2023 due to a shoulder strain that led to anterior capsule repair surgery, a dangerous one for pitchers. He had a second shoulder surgery in Spring Training 2024 on his capsule again and rotator cuff.

Espino struck out two across a scoreless inning of work, and he flashed a high-end fastball that averaged 97.2 mph and touched 98.6 mph. He spins it well and averaged nearly 19 inches of IVB last night. Getting 6’9” of extension and throwing from a 5’9” release height, Espino creates tough looks on the electric fastball.

The fastball plays well with a slider that sits around 87-88 mph with nice depth and shorter horizontal, generating plenty of whiffs. When hitters start trying to cheat on those pitches, he changes their eye level quickly with a 12-6 curveball in the mid-70s. Espino’s changeup almost plays like a two-seam with high carry, but having 14 inches of arm-side movement while sitting 89-90 mph.

Salt River Rafters

Luis Perales, RHP, Boston Red Sox

Perales logged just 2.1 innings in 2025 with two short appearances in Portland and Worcester. He’s returning from the Tommy John procedure he underwent last July — the traditional surgery rather than the internal brace — and his velocity is already back. He sat 99 mph with his four-seamer and sprinkled in a cutter, slider, and changeup. He’s an excellent arm talent, but reigning his control back in will be critically important. He exited his one inning of work without surrendering a run despite a hit and three walks in the frame.

Jared Thomas, OF, Colorado Rockies

Thomas opened 2025 with a hot start in Spokane, slashing .330/.427/.495 with 11 home runs in 342 plate appearances. He struggled upon promotion to Hartford, as is customary for Rockies farmhands, slogging his way to a .245/.347/.374 line over 45 games to close the year and leaving him in prospect limbo. The Arizona Fall League circuit figures to be friendly to him as an experienced college bat in the arid launchpads of the desert. He finished with three extra-base hits in five plate appearances, two doubles and a triple on Tuesday.

Esmerlyn Valdez, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

Valdez might be a little overshadowed by Tony Blanco Jr., especially when playing at home where the latter has the possibility of putting up a 118 mph EV on any given night. Tuesday belonged to Valdez, though, as he accounted for one of two Salt River home runs. His left the bat at 108 mph and came on a 81.2 mph swing. Valdez hit 26 homers between Greensboro and Altoona largely because of his bat speed, and he remains a more interesting fantasy prospect than Blanco Jr. irrespective of the exit velocity readings.

Glendale Desert Dogs

Jhancarlos Lara, RHP, Atlanta Braves

Lara had a no good, very bad 2025. It cemented him as a reliever after he made 19 starts in 2024, primarily because he regularly walked the ballpark. He carried a strike rate 10 percentage points below the minor league average and issued three or more free passes in 12 of his 34 appearances, which is sort of remarkable given his average outing lasted just six outs.

He’s in Arizona as a reliever and exited his first appearance with a clean frame and two strikeouts. Should he iron out his control issues — which is a very large task — he could be an interesting leverage reliever in Atlanta.

Caden Connor, OF, Chicago White Sox

Connor was a 19th rounder in 2024 out of Cal State Fullerton and an inconspicuous 2025 campaign that concluded with him sporting a .724 OPS, seven total home runs, and 13 stolen bases between High-A, Double-A, and Triple-A. He’s an inconspicuous 6-foot-1, 200 lbs, and is often tucked inconspicuously in a corner outfield spot.

He was, for lack of a better term, conspicuous on the Baseball Savant page on Tuesday. He failed to pick up a hit but generated a 110 mph exit to pair with two other hard hit balls (97 mph and 100 mph). I was unaware he had that sort of juice and I’ll be watching his raw data as the AFL wears on.

Pat Clohisy, OF, Atlanta Braves

An 11th rounder out of St. Louis University last summer, Clohisy was one of the most prolific thieves in MiLB this year. He swiped 79 bags in 131 games split between Rome (A+) and Columbus (AA), making him a real contender to challenge Caleb Durbin’s circuit record of 29 set just last fall. He kept up the act on Tuesday, logging his first of the campaign.

He’s not particularly imposing, but his underlying data tells a more compelling story about his power potential than his slugging percentage did. He finished with a 104 mph EV90, a smidge above Major League average, but his tendency to put the ball on the ground (45% GB rate in the regular season) limited him to just seven home runs.

Peoria Javelinas

No Game Yesterday

Scottsdale Scorpions

No Game Yesterday