A Full Breakdown of the Los Angeles Angels prospects headed to the Arizona Fall League

The Arizona Fall League rosters have been released this week with a lot of intriguing prospects on each team. There are six teams full of prospects from Major League teams that will play starting October 6th. I’ll be writing an article and making Twitter posts about each team’s roster. This will cover the prospects from the Los Angeles Angels who will be on the Salt River Rafters this fall. The team will consist of players from the Arizona Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, and Colorado Rockies as well.

Los Angeles Angels:

Ryan Costeiu RHP: After being drafted in 2021 out of Arkansas, Costeiu has slowly climbed the ranks throughout the years. He missed the 2023 season with an elbow injury but bounced back quickly in 2024 pitching 73 innings in High-A to a 2.84 ERA. This season hasn’t been as good for Costeiu as he started in AA Rocket City and really struggled throwing 14 innings in 5 games to a 6.43 ERA. His strikeout rate stayed at his career average at 22.4% but his walk rate jumped to 16.4%. He was getting hit hard giving up 3 homers and 16 total hits in the 14 innings. He was demoted and again was in High-A where he spent his last 2 healthy seasons. He struggled throwing 104.2 innings to a 5.07 ERA and 4.18 FIP. He was able to keep his strikeouts at the same level striking out 24.8% of batters and actually dropped his walk rate to 9.7%. Hitters made more contact off of him and 10% of his flyballs went out of the park. With no public data at all I’m not sure what Costeiu has been throwing especially recently but in the past he has been clocked around 95 mph with one of the best changeups in the Angels system.

Brandon Dufault RHP: Another 2021 draft pick by the Angels Dufault was drafted in the 16th round out of Northeastern and was climbing the minor league ranks getting all the way up to AA in 2023 before being shut down and having Tommy John surgery. He missed the entire 2024 season and played a bit in the Fall League last season. In 2025 Dufault started his season down in the Complex League where he made 6 appearances pitching 10.1 innings. After giving up 5 runs through an innings in his first outing Dufault only gave up 3 runs through his last 9.1 innings. He then was promoted to Low-A where he hadn’t been since after the 2021 draft and pitched the rest of the season there pitching in 16 games and in 59.2 innings. He pitched to a 4.53 ERA and 5.44 FIP striking out 16.7% of batters and walking 14.5%. He really struggled to throw strikes; the same thing happened last year in the Fall league. Something clicked for him at the end of the season. In his last 48.1 innings he threw to a 3.48 ERA striking out 38 and walking 29. Still with a walk problem but he was able to limit hard contact more. He has pretty good stuff with a fastball that sits in the mid 90s and a sinker around 90 mph. HIs slider and changeup are really good if he’s able to command his fastballs, The changeup had 18.7 inches of horizontal break in the Fall League. Dufault is definitely a pitcher who needs more work this fall.

Will Gervase LHP: Drafted out of Wake Forest in the 16th round of last year’s draft Gervase made his Angels organizational debut in the Complex league. He looked great in 5.1 innings throwing to a 3.38 ERA but his command was bad with a 20.8% walk rate. He was moved up to Low-A and continued that trend, walking 36.5% of batters. This goes back to college where he walked 38.7% of batters in 2024. With no public data this season I took a look at his Syngery from Wake Forest. Even though Gervase stands at 6’9” his fastball only sat in the low 90s and was a ball 59% of the time. He also throws a cutter, slider, and changeup that all sit in the low 80s and were thrown as balls over 70% of the time. He definitely still has a lot to work on.

Fulton Lockhart RHP: Drafted in the 13th round of last year’s draft Lockhart went to Low-A after the draft and looked great pitching 13 innings to a 2.77 ERA. He did walk 16.1% of batters but was able to leave runners on base. He started the 2025 season in Low-A again but after throwing 10.1 innings to a 10.45 ERA he went down with an undisclosed injury. He didn’t return from the injured list until July where he spent a month pitching in the Complex League as he worked to get back. He ended up pitching 6.1 innings there to a 8.53 ERA. He returned for the last month of the season and pitched 10.1 innings to a 7.84 ERA. In those 10 outings, if you take out an outing on August 14th where Lockhart gave up 5 runs in 0.2 innings, then he had 9.2 innings of a 3.91 ERA. He again struggled with walks throughout the year he walked 25.3% of batters but showed his big stuff striking out 29.2%. His fastball has been tracked up to 101 mph but with how fast his arm action is he has no control. His best secondary is an upper 70s curveball. He also throws a mid 80s slider and an upper 80s changeup that he hasn’t unlocked yet. Lockhart hasn’t pitched a ton throughout college and his injury caused hom to miss some crucial innings. There’s hope he can control some of his pitches eventually because the arm is electric. 

Najer Victor RHP: One of the only players in organized baseball from the US Virgin Islands Victor was drafted in the 14th round of last year’s draft as he has quickly impressed. Starting the season in Low-A he worked 20 innings out of the bullpen for a 5.40 ERA but he struck out 33% of hitters. At High-A it was the same thing he threw 20.2 innings to a 4.35 ERA and struck out 36.7% of hitters. His main knock is his command. He walked 16.5% in Low-A but dropped it down to 11.1% in High-A which caused his FIP to drop to 2.96. His fastball sits in the upper 90s topping out around 99 mph this year and he adds a plus slider to it. Victor easily has the workings to be an elite reliever in the Angels bullpen but he’ll have to keep his command to at least what he was doing in High-A this season. I’m excited to see his data this fall.

Juan Flores C: Signed out of Venezuela in the 2023 international class Flores has already moved up to High-A this season. His main skill is his glove. He has a plus arm and one of the quickest exchanges in all of the minor leagues. This has allowed him to throw out 37% of runners since coming to the states last season. He struggled this season though only throwing out 23% of runners. His ability as a receiver has already been getting better and is very advanced for a 19 year old. His bat is lagging behind though. In 80 games in High-A this season he slashed .207/.283/.341 for a 78 wRC+. He has shown some poolside power hitting 10 homers this year but is not very patient and chases a lot of pitches out of the zone. This has created a strikeout problem as Flores struck out 27.5% of the time this year. The Angels really like Flores as he’s been invited to Spring Training each of the last 2 years and will get more time against older players this fall.

David Mershon UTL: After being drafted in the 2024 draft in the 18th round the Angels have been very aggressive with Mershon. After the draft he played 29 games in AA before the end of the season. This season he started on the injured list before playing a few rehab games in the Complex League. Instead of being put back in AA he was promoted from the Complex to AAA at the end of May and struggled badly at the plate. Mershon played 14 games and hit .111/.232/.162 for a 2 wRC+ in AAA. He struggled to hit the ball hard and massively struggled with making contact in the zone which led to a 33.3% strikeout rate and a 31.1% whiff rate. Merson was then demoted back to AA where he continued to struggle. In 69 AA games he slashed .156/.307/.204 for a 69 wRC+. He was not swinging a lot which led to a 17.3% walk rate and he cut down on his chase but he wasn’t swinging because he was making little contact and whiff still on 30% of his swings. For a hitter that only stands at 5’7” with very little power his contact rate won’t play in the Majors. What he was known for in college at Mississippi was his speed and he showed it off a bit this year stealing 27 bags in 91 games between all three levels. He still hasn’t found a home defensively. He played shortstop in college and jumped between there and second so far but has a tendency to lose the ball on glove transfers causing him to have 15 errors this season most of them coming at shortstop. He’s also tried centerfield and third base a bit and will likely play them all this fall.

Raudi Rodriguez OF: Being drafted in the 19th round of the 2023 draft out of high school Rodriguez has taken it slow, only playing 41 games in the Complex League between 2023 and 2024. This season he was promoted to Low-A and broke onto the scene hitting .281/.372/.470 for a 130 wRC+. He showed off his power hitting 14 homers and 49 extra base hits including 14 triples. He also showed his speed stealing 38 bags. This was good enough to win the Angels Minor League Player of the Year from Baseball America. He is very patient, only swinging at 48% of pitches and walking 11.3% of the time but struggles to make contact only doing it on 70.8% of swings. Still when he is able to, Rodriguez is able to do damage. He’ll shoot up draft rankings this offseason especially if he can do damage against older pitchers this fall.

Thank you for reading for shorter breakdowns check out my Twitter @drew-durstock. Each day I'll release a new team's prospect breakdown.