As the Minor League season continues to wind down, it's time to turn our attention to one of the premiere prospect showcases of the year -- the Arizona Fall League.
With the release of the AFL rosters this week, it was only fitting that that was the topic on everyone's mind during the latest MLB Pipeline Podcast . Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, with host Jason Ratliff, explored seven storylines to follow in the desert this fall during the six week circuit.
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There will be 12 prospects from MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Prospects list participating in the AFL this year: Eduardo Quintero (No. 19), Zyhir Hope (27), Caleb Bonemer (29), Arjun Nimmala (37), Bryce Rainer (47), Tate Southisene (59), Nathan Flewelling (64), Jarlin Susana (67), Demetrio Crisantes (74), Dax Kilby (85), Charles Davalan (86) and Ike Irish (99).
The prospect experts discussed the prospects their most excited to see, the most loaded team, intriguing prospects returning from injuries, players who will be getting reps at new positions, pitchers on the comeback trail, 2026 draftees in attendance and predictions for who will take home hardware when it's all said and done.
Prospects to watch
Callis: I'm going to start with the top-ranked prospect, Eduardo Quintero (LAD No. 3). It feels funny saying the 19th ranked overall prospect in baseball is underrated, but he’s only the third-ranked outfield prospect in his own organization. So, like a lot of Dodgers guys, I think he gets overshadowed by the sheer amount of talent. He’s got a chance, on the high end, of being plus tools across the board. The Dodgers made him a full-time center fielder and he can do it all. He was the California League MVP and Prospect of the Year last year at age 19. Had another big year this year in the Midwest League. Promoted to Double-A to help Tulsa in the playoffs. Josue De Paula, the Dodgers' top-ranked prospect, is fantastic but he’s not nearly the well-rounded player that Quintero is.
Dax Kilby (NYY No. 2) only played 36 games this year, but he’s a career .281 hitter in the Minors. He’s got more walks than strikeouts. One of the best high school hitters in the ’25 Draft. There were a lot of shortstops in that Draft and he didn’t get nearly as much publicity as some of the other guys, like Eli Willits or Billy Carlson. But my Yankee prediction for this year was that Dax Kilby would perform so well that he would surpass George Lombard Jr. and become the Yankees' No. 1 ranked prospect by the end of the season. And I’m going to get that right because Lombard is going to graduate, but not the way I wanted to be. But I still believe he can be a slightly less wealthy man’s Kevin McGonigle. I just think he’s going to carve up the Fall League. I think he’s going to be the most exciting young player in the entire league.
And here’s a Missouri athlete, Sam Horn, who pitched 15 innings in three years at Missouri. Sam Horn comes out and pitches his freshman year there and is fantastic, people are saying this guy is definitely going to be a first-round pick in three years. Second time he pitches, he hurts his elbow. So he winds up having Tommy John surgery in the fall of 2023, misses all of 2024, doesn’t really ever get on the field much as a quarterback for the football team because they have other guys, so he pitches in the spring of ’25 and tosses 10 2/3 innings -- was up to 98 mph, lost some feel on his slider but did get some chases with it, throwing it 82-86, barely used a changeup and there was some question if he would return to school to play football or go to the Draft and he winds up sliding to the 17th round to the Dodgers. Still, he winds up going back to Missouri and he’s sharing quarterback duties, and on the first play of the fall, Horn has a designed run up the middle and breaks his tibia on the play and he’s done. So he has been recovering from that and I don’t believe he’s pitched at all. And I don’t think the Fall League counts as your official pro debut, but the first time he’s pitching in a game where they’re keeping score since being drafted will be in the Fall League. So I’m curious to see what that looks like because this could end up being a steal.
Mayo: I’m excited to see Arjun Nimmala (LAA No. 1) play. Came to the Angels in the José Soriano trade. He missed a little time, so he is making up for lost time, but he has been swinging the bat very well down the stretch. Seven homers in last 11 games, 12 homers in his past 30. He’s tapping into the raw power we all knew he had. I'm excited to see him get some reps at short and the ball tends to travel well at the Fall League. He’s one of the hottest hitters in the Minors right now going to the Fall League.
Nathan Flewelling (TB No. 4), although this is the end of his second full year of pro ball, he is still only 19 and won’t turn 20 until almost the very end of the Fall League season. He’s coming off a good year at High-A. You know, he came from Western Canada without much instruction, so there is still a high ceiling there as a catcher. But he had an impressive year at High-A considering how young he is. He had 21 homers for Bowling Green this year. And I think him getting the chance to work with more arms and work on his craft behind the plate will help him make that jump to Double-A. He already has the advanced approach at the plate, draws a lot of walks and there’s more power for him to tap into.
Going off of the Top 100, an arm I’m excited to see is Briggs McKenzie (ATL No. 8) from the Braves. He was their fourth-rounder in 2025. They gave him well over slot so that he would walk away from going to LSU. He had a bizarre start -- he was a little slow coming out and then quickly made it to High-A, and then was shut down. So it’s hard to figure out who he was but was off to a really good start. He’s an intriguing lefty with a ton of upside. I’m also excited because the fact that he’s on the roster means he’s healthy. He had nerve irritation in his left foreman that basically shut him down for most of the year. But he could be one of the better arms in the league. He was a guy that -- with how he was pitching out of the gate -- I was keeping an eye on as an addition to the Top 100.
Team to watch
Callis: Glendale is the most loaded team in the league. There are two teams that have five Top 30 prospects, according to our rankings, and they’re both on Glendale. It’s the Dodgers and the White Sox. They have the highest-ranked prospect in the league (Quintero), the third-highest ranked prospect in the league (Bonemer), they have the sixth-highest ranked prospect in the league in Tate Southisene. I feel like they should just reabsorb Zyhir Hope and welcome him back to hang out with his old Dodgers buddies, haha. But Charles Davalan is another Top 100 prospect. Briggs McKenzie is one of the better pitchers in the league. Pierce George is one of the hardest throwers in the league. Just a very deep roster. That’s a team that will likely have a ranked prospect at every position on the field most games.
Injured prospects coming back that intrigue us
Mayo: There are a couple from the 2025 Draft that really stand out. The first is Ike Irish (BAL No. 5). He was having a really good year in his first full season. He was at High-A, had a .916 OPS, 135 WRC+ over 76 games with Frederick. And if he hadn’t torn his meniscus shortly after the Futures Game, I believe he would have been bumped up to Double-A. But he’s back a little bit sooner than I thought he would be. But I’m glad to see that he’s going to be back and swinging the bat because he looked like the type of college hitter who would move pretty quickly.
The other is Tate Southisene (ATL No. 3). A little bit of a surprise when the Braves took him in the first round in 2025. And he was having a tremendous first full season, more impact than a lot of people thought he might have. He played his way to Double-A but then he got hit on the wrist by a pitch and broke it in his first game with Columbus. So it wouldn’t surprise me to see him have a huge Fall League season and that helps him get ready for the Double-A season and continues to move more rapidly than people expected him to.
Same faces, new places: Prospects working on new positions
Callis: Caleb Bonemer (CWS No. 2) was the Carolina League MVP last year in Single-A. Now he’s at Double-A, he’s moving very fast through the White Sox system and he came up as a shortstop but spent more time at third base this year. But the White Sox have a ton of infielders on their team. So Caleb Bonemer started playing some center field toward the end of the year and the White Sox want to get him more reps and look at him more in center field. But they’re going to need to figure out a way to get his bat into their lineup sooner rather than later and increasing his versatility is a way to do that.
Another guy who caught my eye is Charles Davalan (LAD No. 6), who was initially listed on the roster as an infielder but now they’ve switched him back to an outfielder. The Dodgers, as you may have heard, have many, many outfielders. But Davalan was one of the better pure hitters in college last year. He had a really nice year in High-A this year playing alongside Quintero. But again, they have a million outfielders, and as a freshman at Florida Gulf Coast -- before he transferred to Arkansas -- he split time between second base and the outfield. So when I saw him initially listed on the roster as an infielder, it made me wonder, might they get him some reps at second base?
Pitchers on the comeback trail
Mayo: I think it’s safe to say that Jarlin Susana (WSH No. 3) is the most exciting pitcher to see in the Fall League. He’s got a triple-digit fastball, his slider is a double-plus weapon. He had lat surgery last year, took him a while to recover. He only threw 17 2/3 innings this year but did strike out 34. So that should be a lot of fun.
And Brandon Clarke (STL No. 9), who had shoulder surgery during the offseason, came back in July and also can tip the radar gun easily into triple digits. He’s got a really good slider and is a lefty and this can help him launch into 2027.
And Sam Horn, as previously discussed. But, as you know, these are high-profile guys who need innings so hopefully they will get the ball regularly and we’ll be able to see them fill up some innings with some high-octane heat.
2026 Draftees in the desert
Callis: I feel like three is slightly more than normal. I feel like the past few years, it’s been one or two, if that. … The Royals took Zion Rose (KC No. 6) with the No. 6 overall pick out of Louisville and they’ve had him on the fast track since they signed him. They sent him to High-A and he held his own there -- he’s been in the Midwest League playoffs and now he’s going to come to the Fall League to expedite his development. He’s athletic, he can hit for average, he can hit for power, he can steal bases -- he should be one of the better all-around players in the league.
A guy who might have also factored into Jonathan’s intriguing injured guys coming back is Myles Bailey (CHC No. 8). He was the Cubs' second-round pick. He’s a first baseman. He had the best raw power, probably the highest exit velocities of anybody in the entire 2026 Draft. But he broke his ankle on a slide midway through the college season. He homered 13 times in 26 games before he got hurt. He has yet to make his pro debut, so this will be his unofficial pro debut. He can crush balls, so it will be fun to watch him.
There’s also Dalton Wentz, who was a later round pick, taken in the 16th round by the Giants. He was one of the better sophomore-eligible prospects in the Draft, has power from both sides of the plate, but he chases a little bit too much and has trouble with non-fastballs. So he didn’t quite have the season he was looking to have at Wake Forest and teams wouldn’t meet his asking price so he slid to the 16th round. But he did get an over-slot bonus from the Giants. They sent him to High-A for the last couple of weeks of the season and he performed well there. So he will get a trip to the Fall League to keep that development going, similar to Rose.
Predictions
MVP
Callis: Caleb Bonemer
Mayo: Ike Irish
Breakout Player of the Year
Callis: Braylon Payne (MIL No. 6)
Mayo: Bruin Agbayani (NYM No. 29)