Arizona Fall League Recap: Fall Stars Edition

AL Fall Stars

Kevin McGonigle, SS, Detroit Tigers (0-2, R, BB)

Strictly speaking, McGonigle didn’t do much of substance on Sunday. Strictly speaking, neither did the rest of the American League roster short of winning an uneventful ballgame, but both require a recap. The Tigers top prospect (perhaps the top prospect in the sport depending on which way the wind is blowing) had a couple of hard hit balls that found gloves, a line drive at 109.2 mph and a 71 degree pop-up somehow clobbered at 100.3 mph, and managed to work a walk that put him on second base when ball four careened off the Sloan Park backstop. He’s been excellent for the entire circuit to essentially zero fanfare because it’s what was expected.

Blake Mitchell, C, Kansas City Royals (1-2, 2B, 2 R, BB)

Mitchell’s injury-softened 2025 is fairly well catalogued by now. He broke a hamate bone in February, missed the first month of the regular season, and then showed all of the usual knock-on effects of that particular injury. Neither his bat-to-ball nor previous power prowess returned in any substantive regard in the fall circuit, and any prognosis of his future performance is predicated on the evaluator’s relative confidence in a bounce-back once his procedure is 12 months in the rear-view mirror. He made the Fall Stars game largely by way of name value and capitalized on the opportunity, recording the only extra-base hit for either team and scoring two of the American League’s five runs.

Raudi Rodriguez, OF, Los Angeles Angels (2-3, 2 RBI, BB, K)

Rodriguez had a reasonably productive year as a 21-year-old in the Cal League and has outpaced that production with a standout .421/.507/.614 line in 17 AFL games. He hasn’t gotten much attention because of his age relative to the competition he was facing and some very fringy contact rates, but could blossom into a marginally interesting power/speed target for deep leagues. He stole 38 bases in 44 attempts and managed a staggering 14 triples in 2025. He led the American League in hits on Sunday with two, both of which left the bat at over 110 mph.

Luis De León, LHP, Baltimore Orioles (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K)

A total of 20 pitchers appeared in the Fall Stars game. De León drew the start for the American League, and once he departed after throwing just one inning on 10 pitches, it became clear there was a single-inning cap on any arm to appear thereafter. Fortunately, his brief start was a useful microcosm of his performance to date: his sinker was sitting comfortably 96-97 mph, his slider garnered two whiffs on four swings, and his seldom-used splitter looked sterling. He’s been excellent through 16.1 fall league innings, allowing just five earned runs and striking out 22 in the process. He’s in the conversation for top pitching prospect in Baltimore, though Trey Gibson or Nestor German may be more popular choices.

NL Fall Stars

Cam Collier, 1B, Cincinnati Reds

Collier has just two plate appearances in the Fall Stars game, coming in for Parks Harber, who started at first base. He collected the hardest hit ball of the day, a single registering 113.1 mph. Collier has hit the ball all fall, which is a good sign, but the launch angles still need to improve.

Playing first base, Collier will need to get to power. He hit just four home runs across 396 plate appearances during the regular season. While he has just one AFL home run, Collier has an 89.3 mph average exit velocity and a 115.3 mph max exit velocity. The 90th percentile exit velocity of 108 mph stands out in a huge way with elite bat speed.

The sweet spot percent of 23.5 percent led to just a 3.9 percent barrel rate despite the impressive hard-hit numbers. Collier will have a lot of pressure at first base to hit for power, so he may need to make a few swing tweaks.

Miguel Ugueto, OF, St. Louis Cardinals

Ugueto was a player I saw quite often as he spent two seasons in Greenville as part of the Red Sox organization before being selected by the Cardinals in the Minor League Rule 5 Draft. Injuries limited Ugueto to just 245 plate appearances during the regular season, with the majority of them in Double-A. He slashed .254/.282/.336 with just two home runs and 11 stolen bases.

While he has looked better in the fall league, he still has just a .789 OPS with one home run. In the Fall Stars game, Ugueto was a huge part of the NL team as he made the most of his time in the game, driving in two runs on a 94 mph single.

Ugueto is likely an org depth prospect based on my two years of live looks, but he gets a nod here as a strong performer in the game.

Josh Adamczewski, OF, Milwaukee Brewers

Adamczewski got on base in both of his plate appearances last night, walking and smoking a single off the bat at 107 mph on a line drive. Getting off to an early hot start to the fall league, Adamczewski has had some ups and downs, but still has a .995 OPS with four home runs and five stolen bases.

After running a ground ball rate of 52 percent in 2024, he dropped it substantially, down to 41 percent in 2025. The air rate is good, and Adamczewski has pulled the ball more consistently this season.

Adamczewski is in a better spot to hit than he was last year. The vertical bat angle looks so much better. Adamczewski’s hands are slightly lower during his load, and he is doing a great job of staying inside the ball more. A lot of things look similar here, but the minor tweaks might be paying off for Adamczewski.

The profile is fun, and Adamczewski has hit the ball quite hard in Arizona with a 91.6 mph average exit velocity and a 44 percent hard-hit rate. The contact skills are underwhelming despite high batting averages, but the approach is legit.

Karson Milbrandt, RHP, Miami Marlins

Milbrandt is one of the best arms in the Arizona Fall League and is a good example of why the stat lines don’t matter much in Arizona due to the environment. Having a 4.73 ERA across 13.1 innings, Milbrandt has also struck out 23 batters and walked eight. He started the game for the NL and struck out one and walked one in a scoreless inning of work.

The fastball and slider are the best pitches here as Milbrandt works 93-96 and has topped near triple digits. The slider is the best secondary pitch, sitting in the mid-80s, but Milbrandt also has a low-80s curveball and an upper-80s cutter. The changeup is a fifth offering, but the most important thing here is improved strike-throwing.

Jake Bennett, LHP, Washington Nationals

Bennett might be the arm that has moved up the most for me based on the Arizona Fall League. I don’t move players up rankings based on AFL performance, but here is why Bennett is making a move. He pitched a scoreless inning with two strikeouts on Sunday in the Fall Stars game.

After sitting around 89 mph in 2023, Bennett has seen a huge tick up in velocity. He has averaged around 94 mph in Arizona and has touched 96 mph. He can mix both a four and two-seam shape at times and is effective with locations.

The changeup averaged 85 mph and has over 15 inches of fade on average. The cutter worked 87-89 mph with two inches of cut action. The slider sits in the low-80s with good shape, producing a 100 percent whiff rate last night. Bennett rounds out his arsenal with an upper-70s to low-80s curveball with two-plane movement.

Carson Montgomery, RHP, San Diego Padres

Montgomery was selected in the 11th round of the 2023 MLB Draft and pitched just seven professional innings before having Tommy John surgery and missing nearly all of 2024 and all of 2025. Montgomery returned to the mound in the fall league and has pitched well. He has walked seven batters, but has a 1.74 ERA across 10.1 innings.

Working primarily with a fastball and slider, Montgomery does throw a four-seam and two-seam variation with a notable difference in shape. Both fastballs sit around 94 mph and have touched 97. The four-seam has below average extension and an average release height, but creates 16-17 inches of IVB and good arm-side. The sinker has around 13 inches of run and 13 inches of IVB, so a bit of a dead zone shape.

The slider is a strong pitch, working in the mid-80s. It has good depth and around six inches of sweeping action. The strike-throwing was good yesterday, but Montgomery still needs to show he can hold command over longer outings. That will come as he moves further away from surgery.