The New York Yankees announce their Arizona Fall League roster: An Overview

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 New York Yankees who are on the Mesa Solar Sox this fall. The team will consist of players from the Athletics, Chicago Cubs, Miami Marlins, and the Tampa Bays Rays as well.

New York Yankees:

Bryce Cunningham RHP: The Yankees 2nd round pick in last year's draft Cunningham spent his first pro-ball season in High-A and pitched well when he wasn’t injured. He missed basically all of June and July with an undisclosed injury. He was able to make 12 appearances and pitched 54.1 innings for a 2.82 ERA and 3.54 FIP. He struck out 25% of batters and was able to keep his walks to 8.6% less than every season he pitched at Vanderbilt. Cunningham throws a mid 90s fastball that can top out at 97 mph and he locates it well at the top of the zone. He also has a mid 80s changeup that has a ton of fade and sink, it's easily his best pitch when he can command it. He also throws a solid upper 80s slider that he locates alright. He still has a lot to grow into in his 6’5” frame and can easily become a rotation guy for the Yankees in a few years. 

Brady Kirtner RHP: After being drafted in the 12th round by the Mets in 2023 Kirtner decided to stay in college at Virginia Tech and ended up going undrafted in the 2024 draft and quickly was picked up by the Yankees. He started his Yankees career in Low-A this year and pitched well in 41.2 innings with a 2.59 ERA where he struck out 26.7% of batters and walked 11.4% out of the bullpen. He was promoted to High-A at the end of the season and pitched 5 innings giving up five hits and two earned runs with 5 strikeouts and a walk. He has some great stuff out of the bullpen. His fastball might be his worst pitch sitting in the low 90s. His secondary stuff is nasty though, he has a slider with 16.8 inches of horizontal break that had a 42.3% whiff rate in Low-A this season. He also has a curveball with 7.4 inches of induced vertical break and 15 inches of horizontal break; it plays off his other pitches really well. He has the stuff to move up quickly and will show it off this fall.

Hueston Morrill RHP: Another undrafted Yankees pitcher Morrill has been in the organization since 2023 and after 43.1 innings out of the bullpen in High-A this season he made his AA debut. In High-A he was a dominant reliever with a 0.42 ERA and a 25.5% strikeout rate. He gets a ton of ground balls with a 49.5% groundball rate this year. He had the lowest ERA in all of minor league baseball in High-A but his college years at Oklahoma State were very different because he was mainly a position player only making 17 appearances in all of college but the Yankees saw something and signed him. Looking at his pitching data from Low-A last year he has two fastballs: a sinker that sits in the mid 90s and a cutter that sits in the low 90s. The sinker gets very weak contact. He also has a slider in the mid 80s that gets a good amount of chase and works well off the sinker against right handed hitters. He’ll look to keep throwing this fall after a bad AA debut where he walked 5 in 4.1 innings and gave up two runs.

Cade Smith RHP: After three dominant seasons at Mississippi State Smith was taken in the 6th round of the 2023 draft. In his first pro season mostly spent in Low-A he was good with a 3.65 ERA and striking out 30.6% of batters but walking 11.1%. After dealing with a shoulder injury for most of the season Smith made two rehab starts in the Complex League and one in Low-A before returning to the High-A rotation at the end of July. He ended up making eight starts pitching 32.2 innings in High-A and pitched well with a 2.76 ERA. He struck out less batters and walked more but was able to get weaker contact than 2024. Smith doesn’t have overpowering stuff but a heavy arsenal and a ton of spin make him hard to hit. His fastball sits in the low 90s and touches 96 mph but at times he doesn’t command it well. His slider and curveball get a ton of chase and whiffs especially when the fastball is working. He has a changeup but rarely ever throws it. He doesn’t have the highest ceiling but has a good floor to at least be a multiple inning reliever. 

Adam Stone RHP: Another undrafted reliever Stone was picked up by the Yankees after the 2022 draft and made his pro debut in 2023 Low-A throwing 20 innings for a 7.20 ERA. The weird thing is Stone hasn’t pitched since then missing the last two seasons with an undisclosed injury. Looking at his Statcast data from 2023 he throws a lot of pitches. He mainly threw cutters and fastballs that sit in the low 90s and he wasn’t able to throw them for strikes often. He also had a distinct sweeper and slightly harder slider that sat in the low 80s that got some chase but weren’t great. The sweeper did get 15 inches of horizontal break. He also threw 12 sinkers during the season that, like the other fastballs, sat in the low 90s and he wasn’t able to locate well. In total he only was able to throw strikes 44.1% of the time. I’m intrigued by what he’s been working on over the last two years. 

Manuel Palencia C: It’s been an interesting season for Palencia after spending the 2024 season at Low-A before an injury ended his season he started the year in the Complex League where he excelled slashing .312/.380/.422 for a 126 wRC+ in 121 plate appearances. He was then promoted to High-A skipping Low-A and played in 16 games hitting .250/.286/.300 for a 75 wRC+. Even with those disappointing numbers the Yankees needed a catcher in AA and he was promoted again where he hit even worse, slashing .230/.253/.284 for a 57 wRC+ in 21 games. He’s been a good framer in the minors but doesn’t have a strong arm and rarely is able to throw runners out. This seems like a roster addition because like in AA Mesa needed a catcher. 

Coby Morales 1B: Since being drafted in the 18th round of the 2023 draft all Morales has done is hit. In his first full year in last season he hit .253/.364/.320 between Low-A and High-A for a 107 wRC+. This season he started in High-A where he picked up right where he left off hitting .251/.332/.385 for a 114 wRC+ He was walking less than last season but striking out less and hit for more power in 23 less games. He was then promoted to AA where he struggled through the end of the season. He played in 26 games and hit .211/.260/.244 for a 53 wRC+. He struck out 32.3% of the time and only walked 6.3%. His contact numbers were always a bit concerning but this year he only made contact on 72.3% of swings. He’s able to play first but also the corner outfield positions decently well and will need to have a good end to the season to offset the bad month he had in AA.

Enmanuel Tejeda 2B: Signing with the Yankees out of the DR in 2022 Tejeda broke out in the DSL hitting .289/.463/.493 and was moved state side to the CPX league at 18 years old and again hit great with a 149 wRC+. In 2024 He was promoted to Low-A but was injured and missed May and after coming back for June was again injured at the start of July and missed the rest of the season. Still he showed some great stuff with a 108 wRC+ to go along with 24 stolen bases in 43 games. It took awhile for Tejeda to recover from that injury starting 9 rehab games in the Complex League in July before moving back up to Low-A on June 22nd. He looked great in 35 games to end the season hitting .242/.389/.342 for a 118 wRC+. He showed a great knowledge of the zone with a 17.4% walk rate compared to his 13.4% strikeout rate. He made great swing decisions, rarely chasing and making high contact especially in the zone. He has been able to transfer it to the game but his raw power is actually pretty good especially for a 5’9” 158 lbs second baseman. His average exit velocity was 87.3 mph this season with a 37.1% hard hit rate and he reached 110 mph exit velocity at one point. A very underrated prospect as he just ended his 20 year old season and could turn into a great hitter. 

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