The 34th Arizona Fall League season opens today with three games staggered across the Phoenix metro area. There are future stars in the Fall League every year, as well as many more workmanlike players who are competing for a 40-man roster spot on next year’s club. It’s a wonderful league for teams to develop and scout prospects because of the cross section of talent it tends to include (there are usually lots of good position player prospects), its timing (which allows players who were injured during the regular season to catch up on reps), and its structure (which allows for six weeks of steady looks). Teams almost always take the AFL seriously and send players who they want to see more of, or want to test. Being on the roster is, on its own, a flare for people like me who are looking for future big leaguers. It’s an indication that a player is worth paying attention to from a scouting standpoint even if I didn’t know the guy’s name until I saw the roster.
Previewing this league with prospects’ scouting reports risks putting the cart before the horse because the scouting part has yet to happen. I want to give you the notes I already have, to play the hits and make sure you have Jarlin Susana and Arjun Nimmala reports and tool grades in front of you right now (don’t worry, you will), but a huge part of the pro scouting exercise that is the Arizona Fall League is mining for the deeper-cut prospects, and I can’t tell you who those guys are going to be just yet. Still, I can show you the initial steps I take to prepare to go to the field and try to systematically unearth these guys, give you the tools to do so on your own, and, in the process, let know you who it is I’m most curious and excited to learn more about for the next six weeks.
The players who become scouting “targets” tend to fall into a handful of categories: famous players, potential dudes, statistical performers, and players in a key roster situation.
The famous players are Top 100 prospects somewhere, if not at FanGraphs; they were high-bonus guys when they signed or have already broken out, and you probably know who they are. Potential dudes are prospects with burgeoning talent who might soon join the ranks of the famous as the industry becomes more confident that the player indeed profiles as an everyday big leaguer. This is arguably the most important subset of player in the entire league. I’m going to list and touch on the famous players and potential dudes for each Arizona Fall League roster below, but for in-depth scouting reports, tool grades, and video on these guys, you’re going to want to bookmark the 2026 Arizona Fall League tab on The Board, which Sean Dolinar and I have assembled for your convenience. These are pre-existing reports that I (and Brendan Gawlowski, who is currently here in Arizona for the first week of play) will add to and update over the next six weeks.
Statistical performers can fall into a couple sub-categories. There are surface-level stat stuffers, the guys who had impressive back-of-the-baseball-card stats this season. You can use the custom features on our minor league leaderboards to isolate the players on the Fall League rosters and even create your own columns with the statistical categories that interest you, just as I’ve done in the leaderboards linked just below this paragraph. Again, I’ll touch on the players who stood out in this regard for each Fall League squad below, but now you have the ability to access all of that data very easily. I’ll be referencing these on my laptop or phone throughout the fall (especially early on) as a way of familiarizing myself with how the deeper-cut players did during the regular season. Remember, once you open the links, you can play with the leaderboards yourself, even if it’s just to isolate who your favorite team sent:
2026 Fall League Pitcher Regular Season Stats
2026 Fall League Hitter Regular Season Stats
The other kind of statistical performer is the TrackMan darling, the players who stand out because of a different type of measurable. Rather than their batting average or stolen base totals, here we’re looking at what I’ll call “talent assessment metrics,” data that illustrates physical prowess instead of on-field performance. Who throws hard? Whose pitches move a lot? Who has a funky release point? Who hits the ball the hardest? These are integral aspects of contemporary player evaluation, but there’s no comprehensive public leaderboard for this stuff; they’re measures I’ve had to find a way to access every year as a pseudo-journalistic analyst. The data of this sort that my friends and sources might send me can be vast.
The last player category is subjective in nature. Players in key roster situations might include guys who are potentially being showcased for trade because of a logjam at their position, de-facto rehabbers who need innings in preparation for a big league role next year, players who’ll be exposed to other teams via the Rule 5 Draft this offseason if they aren’t added to the 40-man roster (though I doubt there will be a major league phase to the Rule 5 this winter), or players who have been sent to Arizona to stay active in the event that their ring-chasing parent club suddenly needs them due to injuries. They’re players who a pro scouting department might care about more than they would in a vacuum because of these particulars. I’ve also flagged players who took a unique path through the sport, including older guys signed out of Indy ball, and guys who are kind of a black box because they’ve been injured a lot, or have recently switched positions or sports. Basically, something related to their personal background indicates that they still have developmental ceiling.
Other Stuff For Your Toolkit
The Fall League rosters are here and are changing all the time. Unfortunately, we don’t have Arizona Fall League stats available on FanGraphs. For those you should go to the AFL’s website, which has other cool stuff like pitching probables and links to their live streams so you can watch the games. Now let’s touch on players from each AFL squad who fall into one of these categories. Please note that some players appear across multiple categories.
Glendale Desert Dogs (Braves, Dodgers, Marlins, Pirates, White Sox)
Famous Players:
Eduardo Quintero, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
Caleb Bonemer, OF, Chicago White Sox
Tate Southisene, SS, Atlanta Braves
Quintero is a 21-year-old do-everything center fielder who has been a Top 100 Prospect for a couple of years now. Bonemer fell from the top of the 50-FV prospect tier toward the bottom during our mid-season update because of how much he was whiffing, and how bad he looked at third base. He’s an extreme pull hitter who yanked out 37 homers this year and is going to give the outfield a shot in the AFL. Southisense is one of a handful of 2025 high school draftees in this year’s league and is among the youngest players in the league.
Potential Dudes:
Charles Davalan, 2B/OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
Easton Carmichael, C, Pittsburgh Pirates
Briggs McKenzie, LHP, Atlanta Braves
Davalan is a contact-oriented outfielder who packs a decent punch for a 5-foot-9 guy, but he lacks the power of a typical corner outfielder. He’s going to revisit second base in Arizona, a position he dabbled with at Arkansas. If he looks good there, it will make a meaningful impact on how he’s valued. Carmichael doesn’t have a plus offensive tool, but he might be an elite defender, which would make him a regular. McKenzie was also a 2025 high school draftee who had a breakout first pro season thanks to his excellent slider.
Stat Performers:
Chase Harlan, 3B, Los Angeles Dodgers
Wyatt Sanford, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates
Pierce George, RHP, Chicago White Sox
Brooks Auger, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
Harlan has crazy data for his age (109 mph EV90, 116 max), and his contact specs are good enough that he’s going to be a good player if he can sustain them. Visually, I’m skeptical of that, and also think he’s destined for first base. Sanford’s profile flipped this year, and he went from being a lighter-hitting, glove-oriented shortstop to a power hitter who struck out a ton. Then he got hurt. Which version of him is the real guy? George is the hardest-throwing pitcher on the roster, touching 101, while Auger generates well over seven feet of extension.
Key Roster Situation:
Sam Horn, RHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
Max Williams, OF, Miami Marlins
Luke Fox, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers
Horn is a former college quarterback who has yet to throw an official pro pitch. Williams is a power-hitting outfielder who was injured for much of the season but hit well in a small sample. Fox was also injured, but he pitched well at Double-A when he was healthy. He has a shot to debut next year and would be a more significant target this fall if there was actually going to be a Rule 5 Draft.
Mesa Solar Sox (Angels, Athletics, Blue Jays, Cubs, Red Sox)
Famous Players:
Arjun Nimmala, SS, Los Angeles Angels
Jake Bloss, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
Mesa’s roster isn’t especially sexy, and Nimmala and Bloss are the only players currently on the Top 100. How Nimmala, a power-hitting shortstop, looks this fall might impact whether the Angels revisit Zach Neto’s trade market. Bloss struggled upon return from Tommy John and was shut down again. He’s fighting to stay on the 100.
Potential Dudes:
Breyson Guedez, OF, Athletics
Davis Diaz, C, Athletics
Mason White, SS, Boston Red Sox
Guedez is a physical lefty-hitting teenage outfielder who skipped the complex level this year and was sent straight to full season ball, where he did well on the surface (.299/.342/.431). His numbers weren’t great in the context of the Cal League, and he has some underlying chase issues, but he can really swing it. Diaz is an infield convert with plus contact ability whose size may be a gating factor for his long-term ability to catch. White takes a huge lefty hack for a shortstop and maintained a reasonable contact rate (76%) in 2026, though his strikeouts exploded after he reached Double-A.
Stat Performers:
Peyton Olejnik, RHP, Los Angeles Angels
Jhon Cabral, RHP, Chicago Cubs
Harry Blum, RHP, Boston Red Sox
Aaron Parker, C, Toronto Blue Jays
The 6-foot-11 Olejnik worked 106.2 innings during the regular season, third among Fall Leaguers. Cabral is the hardest-throwing pitcher on this team and touched 100 during the regular season. Blum’s changeup is the pitch that missed bats with the greatest frequency, at a whopping 57%. Parker is a 23-year-old catcher who had a 52% hard-hit rate at Double-A.
Key Roster Situation:
Kenya Huggins, RHP, Athletics
Najer Victor, RHP, Los Angeles Angels
The A’s need arms and Huggins, who came over from the Reds in the Miguel Andujar trade, can put himself on the radar for spot start duty next year by throwing strikes in the AFL. The same is true of Victor, who is a pure reliever with late-inning stuff but potentially unplayable command.
Peoria Javelinas (Cardinals, Mariners, Orioles, Padres, Reds)
Famous Players:
Ike Irish, OF, Baltimore Orioles
Like Mesa, Peoria is light on big names, with Irish the lone player with a good chance to crack the offseason Top 100 list. Last year’s first round pick out of Auburn, the Orioles didn’t mess around with trying to develop Irish as a catcher and instead let him play the outfield and rake, which he did to the tune of a .286/.388/.528 line at High-A.
Potential Dudes:
Boston Smith, C, Seattle Mariners
Tai Peete, OF, St. Louis Cardinals
Smith is a pull-oriented catcher who the Mariners acquired from the White Sox in the Luis Castillo deadline deal. He isn’t a good defender yet, but at a certain point that was true of Liam Hicks, who as a prospect was also a small school, undersized guy who just had outlier pull data. Smith hit 31 home runs this year. Peete is the opposite, a projectable athlete who needs to refine his feel to hit. The former Mariner prospect (from the Brendan Donovan trade) cut his K rate some in an injury-shortened season spent split between High- and Double-A.
Stat Performers:
Adam Smith, RHP, Seattle Mariners
Carter Graham, INF, Cincinnati Reds
Francis Peña, RHP, San Diego Padres
Sammy Hernandez, C, St. Louis Cardinals
Smith is one of several Mariners (Calvin Schapira and Jose Geraldo are the others) with elite breaking ball spin, up around 3,000 rpm. Graham is a physical 25-year-old corner infielder who hit 29 homers and posted a 54% hard-hit rate split between High- and Double-A. Peña, a Padres relief prospect, will touch the upper 90s and had the highest groundball rate among Javs arms at 59%. Hernandez had a .411 OBP in the Midwest League.
Key Roster Situation:
Braxton Bragg, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
Tekoah Roby, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals
Bragg is a highly-graded (45 FV) starter prospect who didn’t pitch at all during the regular season as he recovered from Tommy John. He’s a 2027 debut candidate and arguably also belongs in the “potential dude” category. Roby is in the same boat, except he’s been injured several times before and is already on the Cardinals 40-man roster. He has plus secondary stuff, but he’s dealt with fastball playability issues when healthy.
Salt River Rafters (Diamondbacks, Nationals, Rockies, Twins, Yankees)
Famous Players:
Jarlin Susana, RHP, Washington Nationals
Dax Kilby, SS, New York Yankees
Susana is one of the nastiest arms in the minors and touched 104 in the Triple-A Championship game a couple weeks ago. He might be the best pitching prospect in baseball and can prove it this fall. Kilby was the Yankees’ first round pick in 2025, had a great debut, and then dealt with a severe hamstring injury for much of 2026. His pro track record is limited enough that his AFL look will have an outsized impact on how he’s viewed this offseason.
Potential Dudes:
Andy Perez, SS, Colorado Rockies
Core Jackson, SS, New York Yankees
Perez is a body-beautiful shortstop who can play defense and make contact. He’s also one of the more aggressive hitters in pro baseball, which adds volatility to his profile. Jackson is a toolsy shortstop with uncommon bat speed for a lefty-hitting infielder.
Stat Performers:
Yasser Mercedes, OF, Minnesota Twins
Antonio Gomez, RHP, New York Yankees
Sean Sullivan, LHP, Colorado Rockies
Jorgelys Mota, 3B, Washington Nationals
Jack O’Dowd, C, Colorado Rockies
Mercedes led all Fall Leaguers with 52 stolen bases during the regular season. Gomez is a converted catcher who touched 100 this year. Sullivan sits just 87 but generates an absurd 7.68 feet of extension. Mota has ridiculous power and hit a ball 116 mph this season. The son of former executive Jim O’Dowd, Jack’s .307 batting average was second among Fall Leaguers with at least 400 plate appearances.
Key Roster Situation:
Demetrio Crisantes, INF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Crisantes has dealt with hamstring and shoulder injuries throughout his career, but he has really hit when he’s been healthy, and how he looks in the AFL might help inform whether the D-backs feel comfortable trading Ketel Marte this offseason. He’s arguably the most important eval in the entire league.
Scottsdale Scorpions (Astros, Brewers, Giants, Rays, Tigers)
Famous Players:
Bryce Rainer, SS, Detroit Tigers
Zyhir Hope, OF, Detroit Tigers
Nathan Flewelling, C, Tampa Bay Rays
This is probably the most exciting roster in the league, and maybe the most jam-packed AFL roster in some time. Rainer is among the highest-variance prospects in the minors, as he wields huge power and arm strength for any player, let alone a young shortstop, but his swing is so long that he can’t turn on the baseball very often. Hope is a power-hitting corner outfielder who was acquired as part of the Tarik Skubal deal. Flewelling is a looming Top 100 prospect with rare lefty pop for a catcher, but he needs to improve on defense.
Potential Dudes:
Dakota Jordan, OF, San Francisco Giants
Nehomar Ochoa Jr., OF, Houston Astros
Braylon Payne, OF, Milwaukee Brewers
All three of these guys are toolsheds with huge talent, but they all have strikeout issues that threaten their entire profile. Jordan has plus-plus power and speed, but posted a sub-70% contact rate. Ochoa has an NFL body at 6-foot-4, 230 pounds and boasts huge power. Payne is a younger, speedier outfielder with a funky swing who just hit 28 homers and isn’t done getting stronger.
Stat Performers:
Luke Davis, C, Philadelphia Phillies
Brendan Summerhill, OF, Tampa Bay Rays
Matthew Wood, C, Milwaukee Brewers
Eric Bitonti, 1B, Milwaukee Brewers
Ryan Birchard, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
Davis was the most patient hitter among all AFL participants, chasing at just an 11% clip all season. Summerhill and Wood both had contact rates in the mid-80s, pretty comfortably the best on this roster. Though several other Scorpions I’ve already mentioned have ridiculous power metrics, Bitonti hit a ball 115 mph in the air this year. Birchard led AFL arms who threw at least 35 innings in K/9 during the regular season with 14.76.
Key Roster Situation:
Juan Bello, RHP, Houston Astros
Randy Rodríguez, RHP, San Francisco Giants
Jett Williams, INF/CF, Milwaukee Brewers
Bello was originally a Cub and was traded to Houston last year for Ryan Pressly. He didn’t pitch at all this season. Travis Ice and I put a big time late-inning relief grade on Rodríguez when he was a prospect, and it looked correct last season as he was dominant in the big leagues, then had a late-season Tommy John. It’s rare for someone this nasty and seasoned to be in the AFL when his team isn’t in the playoffs, and I wonder why Rodríguez isn’t pitching in Latin America this winter instead. Williams is a former top 100 prospect who has slid into the utility grade 45-FV area this year. He needs to find a defensive home if he’s going to play a regular role in Milwaukee.
Surprise Saguaros (Guardians, Mets, Phillies, Rangers, Royals)
Famous Players:
Sebastian Walcott, SS, Texas Rangers
Aidan Miller, SS, Philadelphia Phillies
Angeibel Gomez, OF, Kansas City Royals
Walcott might be the best prospect in baseball, a power-hitting shortstop built like Julio Jones who is coming off elbow surgery. After DH’ing until the very end of the season, how will he look at shortstop in Arizona? And is the improvement he showed lifting the ball during the regular season real or a small-sample mirage? Miller is also coming off nagging back injuries that prevented him from helping a needy Phillies team down the stretch. He’s got some of the widest error bars among prospects in the league because healthy Miller was a top 25 prospect. Gomez is 17 and attempting something I’m not sure a prospect has ever done: go from the DSL to the Fall League. The little bit I’ve seen of him so far during instructional league has been exciting in some ways (power) and not in others (athleticism, projection).
Potential Dudes:
Austin Charles, INF, Kansas City Royals
Zion Rose, OF, Kansas City Royals
Charles is a freaky 6-foot-5 infielder and former two-way prospect who has been injured for big chunks of the last couple of years. He looked to be growing more comfortable in his body this season, when he hit a career best .285. Rose was a top 10 pick this year and one of the best pure contact hitters in the 2026 draft. He is a converted catcher who mostly played left field at Louisville, but he might have the speed for center field, and the Fall League is a good place to try something like that out.
Stat Performers:
Boston Baro, INF, New York Mets
Welbyn Francisca, INF, Cleveland Guardians
Baro had the highest regular season contact rate of all Fall Leaguers at 88%. He has poor bat speed but is a lanky, projectable 22-year-old and might get stronger. A former Top 100 guy, Francisca was left off the Guardians list this past cycle because his 2025 output fell off a cliff. He rebounded in a big way in 2026, hitting .272 with 19 homers.
Key Roster Situation:
Calvin Ziegler, RHP, New York Mets
Aaron Davenport, RHP, Cleveland Guardians
Kyle Scott, RHP, Cleveland Guardians
Ziegler has looked like a potential Top 100 prospect in the past, but he has been injured too much to justify that kind of clout. He’s throwing hard (up to 97), but walked more than a batter per inning during the regular season. If he can get right in Arizona, he might be in the mix for a bullpen job next year. Scott and Davenport didn’t pitch during the regular season.
* This article was originally published here
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