Arizona Fall League Roster Breakdown: Salt River Rafters

As Minor League Baseball wraps up, it is time to turn our attention to the Arizona Fall League. All Single-A and High-A affiliates are done, and Double-A and Triple-A playoffs are in the championships.

I will be out in the desert the second week of the AFL season to cover the league and the players there. So now is the time to break down each team’s roster and to give thoughts on players who could see their stock increase in the prospect world.

We will go team by team, alphabetically. So today, we start with Peoria. The team is comprised of prospects from the Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels, and Pittsburgh Pirates

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Salt River Rafters Roster Breakdown

Pitchers

Best Arm

Luis Perales has always been known as a solid pitching prospect, but he took a major step forward in 2024 before an arm injury ended his year with Tommy John. In 33.2 innings between High-A and Double-A, Perales posted a 2.94 ERA with 56 strikeouts to 12 walks.

Returning to the mound late this year, Perales pitched 2.1 innings but will take his rehab out west to the fall league.

The fastball averaged near 98 mph this year and touched 100 mph while showing elite IVB of 20 inches. Perales cuts the pitch, but it plays exceptionally well with the velocity and release point at which Perales throws it. You could argue a 70-grade fastball here.

Perales’s 88-91 mph cutter sets him up nicely to get weak contact. It gets around four inches of cut with six inches of IVB.

The splitter is nasty and one that Perales snaps off exceptionally well. Sitting in the 85-88 mph range, the pitch misses many bats thanks to its late fade and dropping action. While it was primarily used against lefties, Perales also showed the ability to drop it in on righties.

Perales rounds out his arsenal with an 84 mph slider that plays more like a curveball at times. Given his release point, it is tough to spin a slider, and it has three to five inches of sweep and decent depth.

The arsenal is impressive, grades out exceptionally well on stuff plus models, and the strike-throwing has improved significantly in 2024. Usually, it takes a player time to get the command back after Tommy John, so what he looks like in Arizona will be interesting to watch. The arm talent is that of a top-five pitching prospect, though.

Arm Who Could Increase Stock

David Hagaman was drafted in the fourth round of the 2024 draft by the Rangers, but had some serious buzz before needing to get an internal brace leading up to draft time. Returning this season, Hagaman looked quite good with the Rangers, but was ultimately traded to the Diamondbacks as part of the Merrill Kelly trade.

Outside of a 2.2 inning start last time out in which he hit three batters and walked two, Hagaman has been pretty impressive this season. He has a 2.98 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP with a strikeout minus walk rate over 30 percent since joining the Diamondbacks org.

The fastball is sitting 94 mph with 18 inches of IVB from a 5’8” release height, but it plays up even more thanks to seven feet of extension. He gets good arm-side run as well on the offering. He plays off it with a gyro-shaped slider that has missed bats at a high rate.

The curveball is probably his best offering, sitting around 84 mph with a ton of depth and eight inches of sweep. He has used it less than ten percent of the time this year, and it is a pitch I would like to see incorporated more often.

Hagaman also has a heavy-fading changeup that sits in the mid-80s. The three secondaries are strong, and Hagaman has good enough traits on his four-seam fastball to have a legit four-pitch arsenal. Having a 69 percent strike rate and legit command helps Hagaman become a legit starting pitcher.

Sleeper Arm

Ben Shields had a long journey to his MLB Draft date in 2023. After beginning college in 2018 at the University of Massachusetts, Shields spent four years there before transferring to George Mason for the 2023 and 2023 seasons. Going unselected in the 2023 draft, Shields signed an undrafted free-agent deal with the Yankees.

Making his pro debut in 2024, Shields pitched 104.1 innings between High-A and Double-A, posting a 2.94 ERA while striking out 136 batters. He missed most of 2025 due to an arm injury, but Shields pitched 55 innings, posting a 2.78 ERA with a 30 percent strikeout rate. Unfortunately, Shields was traded to Colorado, which is like the kiss of death for pitchers.

The stuff with Shields is good, and he throws strikes at an impressive clip. Despite being older throughout his career trajectory, Shields can be fast-tracked and has proved he is durable and can handle innings in the past.

He starts with a four-seam fastball that gets 6’7” of extension and sits around 92 mph. The fastball lacks standout traits, but Shields gets good arm-side movement on the pitch and has registered as high as 18 inches of IVB from a lower 5’6” release height.

The slider was used nearly as often as his fastball, sitting 81-82 mph, the same velocity band as his curveball. The two pitches are distinct, though, as both pitches have strong sweeping action, but the curveball has much more depth.

It pains me that Shields is now in Colorado. He should have a good fall league, but as he moves up the ladder and finds himself in Colorado, it’s just hard to rely on him as a pitcher.

Hitters

Best Bat

Charlie Condon has had an interesting pro career so far since he was selected third overall by the Rockies after putting up one of the best collegiate seasons in the BBCOR era in 2024. At Georgia, Condon smashed the BBCOR home run record with 37 in 60 games. In the process, he slashed an impressive .433.556/1.009; yes, that is a 1.009 slugging percentage.

Condon had a rough debut in 2024, which can be traced back to a hand injury. This year, while he did not put up elite numbers, Condon had a strong season. With the majority of his plate appearances being in Double-A Hartford, Condon had 433 plate appearances. He hit 14 home runs and slashed .268/.376/.444 while striking out 26 percent of the time.

The power is still there, as we saw Condon hit quite a few home runs over 110 mph this season. His 90th percentile exit velocity of 105 mph is not elite, but it is pretty good and above the MLB average.

While the contact rates fell in Double-A, Condon still finished the year with a 71 percent overall contact rate and an in-zone mark that was near 83 percent. All this led to a 131 wRC+, a highly impressive mark.

Over his final 28 games of the season, Condon hit nine home runs and added two doubles and triples. Sure, he hit just .225, but it came with a .344 OBP and an .893 OPS. Condon has rebuilt some stock, and he has a chance to have a huge fall league and really boost his stock.

Bat Who Could Increase Stock

Raudi Rodriguez was one of the buzzier prospects early in the year as he got off to a blazing hot start. Through April 24, Rodriguez was slashing .379/.455/.667, but the profile was largely unsustainable. He slowed down significantly, but wound up finishing the year on a high note.

From August 5 forward, a span of 29 games, Rodriguez slashed .411/.500/.625 with four home runs and 13 extra base hits. Rodriguez even stole 11 bags over that span to push his total to 38 to end the year. The power outbreak was notable as Rodriguez hit 14 homers in 560 plate appearances.

As a 22-year-old in Single-A, we need to see some improvements and performance at higher levels before we can count on him as a solid prospect. The contact is a question mark still, as well as how much game power he will actually get to as he moves up

Sleeper Bat

Esmerlyn Valdez looked set to break out when I saw him this spring, and breakout he did. Blasting 26 home runs over 529 plate appearances, Valdez put up massive power numbers as he also had 25 doubles and two triples. Valdez slashed .286/.376/.520 while splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A.

Sure, Valdez's home park in Greensboro is hitter-friendly, but posting exit velocities as high as 115 mph with a 90th percentile in the plus or better range will play anywhere. For a 21-year-old, Valdez already is showing plus or better power, and he made major strides with the hit tool.

Valdez saw the rolling contact rates improve all year, and things looked better in Double-A as he cleaned up the approach and made contact on 74 percent of swings. After striking out in over 30 percent of plate appearances in 2024, Valdez saw that number drop to just 24.5 percent this year.

It may feel weird to call Valdez a sleeper, but im not sure there is enough hype around him. This is a legitimate bat who could have a big-time power outbreak in the desert.