Week 1 Arizona Fall League Standouts
- durstockd
- Oct 14, 2025
- 5 min read
It’s been one week since the Arizona Fall League started on October 6th and already a bunch of prospects have been turning heads. By the end of the season I’ll have a breakdown on how every prospect looked but for now here’s a list of five players who have been standouts to be so far.
Esmerlyn Valdez OF (Pirates): After a breakout season in High-A where he hit .303/.385/.592 for a 176 wRC+ and 20 home runs Valdez continued to hit in 51 AA games where he slashed .260/.363/.592 for a 126 wRC+. In 2025 he was able to cut his strikeout rate by almost 10% to 24.6% and dropped his whiff rate to a career low. Even though he’s only played in 3 games so far this Fall he’s shown out slashing .286/.615/1.143 with 2 home runs. He’s walked 6 times compared to only 1 strikeout. In his first game he hit his first homer of the season with a 108 exit velocity and 81.2 mph bat speed on a slider from Alex Amalfi. Game two was his best so far, he walked 3 times and hit another home run. This one was even more impressive with a 114.4 exit velocity. Sadly the bat speed wasn’t captured but I’m sure it was just as impressive. His worst game was on Friday where he went 0/3 with another walk. He grounded out twice and lined out but it seems Trackman wasn’t working well because there is no data on any of those at bats. Still this is a great sign for Valdez as his walk rate did drop this year from 2024 and he’s shown the ability to be patient while still killing balls.
Wuilfredo Antunez CF (Guardians): In my AFL roster previews I talked about not knowing why there was basically no hype around Antunez because he’s been amazing at every level of the minors. This season he hit .263/.336/.517 for a 135 wRC+ in High-A before being promoted to AA where he slashed .301/.333/.529 in 31 games. He has great raw power with 18 homers on the year plus adding 16 stolen bases. He’s not even a power hitter with a contact problem; he swings a lot causing a low strikeout rate and walk rate. He has continued to hit this Fall playing in only 2 games so far but slashing .500/.571/1.500 with 2 homers. In his first game and first at bat he started with a bang hitting a homer off the Solar Sox starter Bryce Cunningham. It seems the Trackman didn’t get turned on until the bottom of the first so there is no exit velocity on that one. His second game was even better as he went 2/2 with a 103.6 exit velocity homer in the 3rd off Zander Sechrist and a 107 mph single in the 1st off Johnathan Harmon. If he can continue hitting like I’m guessing he will, Antunez has a chance to be in Cleveland sometime next season.
Seaver King SS (Nationals): After a really disappointing first professional season where the 2024 10th overall pick slashed .233/.287/.313 for a 78 wRC+ in AA, King has gotten off to a hot start in the AFL. He’s already had 13 at bats in his first 3 games and is slashing .385/.467/.692 so far. He’s consistently hitting the ball hard even in his outs he only has one ball hit under 89 mph. His best game was on Wednesday where he went 3/5 against the Rafters. In his first at bat he hit a 108.7 mph double with a bat speed of 77.8 mph. Then he hit a 102.1 mph forceout in the 4th. He was back to getting hits his next two at bats with a 89.3 mph single and ending his day with a 103.1 home run off of Najer Victor. For someone who was just struggling against older pitchers in AA this is a huge step forward if he can continue this hot streak onto next Spring.
Luis De Leon SP (Orioles): So far the most talked about player in the entire league has been De Leon after an impressive 4 inning start on Wednesday. This season he got off to a slow start after an elbow injury but was impressive in 60.1 innings in High-A throwing to a 3.58 ERA and 2.70 FIP with a 26.7% strikeout rate. In his last three outings of the year he pitched in AA throwing 16 innings to a 1.69 ERA and 1.60 FIP upping his strikeout rate to 35.3%. In this one outing in the AFL he only gave up 1 unearned run while striking out 7. HIs slider and sinker combo was really working as he had 8 whiffs on those pitches plus 3 on his changeup. His slider has a ton of spin with 4.3 inches of horizontal break which makes it almost unhittable when he can throw it for a strike which he did Wednesday. His sinker was up to 98 mph but sat around 96 mph. Even though he only threw it for a strike less than half the time he was able to get a good amount of chase and nobody hit it hard. His changeup had some good whiffs but he rarely threw it for a strike and when it was left in the one it got hammered. Still a great outing for a pitcher who ended the season on a real hot streak.
Corey Avant SP (Athletics): Another big start was from Avant who threw 3 innings for the Solar Sox on Thursday where he struck out 7. He had a blow up second innings where he gave up two singles and 2 walks and Surprise scored 1 run off him but he still looked great. This season was his first as a full time starter throwing 106 innings in High-A to a 3.65 ERA and 3.34 FIP. He showed some strikeout stuff with a 22.4% strikeout rate but not at all what he showed in the AFL. He pitched 4.2 innings for AA at the end of the year which did not go well with a 17.36 ERA. In his outing Thursday he got 10 total whiffs on 30 swings and showed impressive stuff. His fastball sat around 96 mph with some elite movement and he was able to throw it for a strike often. His slider seems like his best pitch sitting in the high 80s with big spin but he wasn’t able to command it well. His changeup took a big step looking more like a splitter in the upper 80s while his curveball is probably his worst pitch but got 2 whiffs of its own. A very impressive arsenal for a former Division II reliever and someone who can jump up prospect boards soon.
That was your first week snapshot of AFL standouts so far. The plan is to make these more often, maybe even a couple a week. Obviously it’s early but the talent in this league is already massive. There’s plenty of more to come as everyone starts to heat up. Stay tuned for more breakdowns and check out my Twitter @drew_durstock for shorter breakdowns.
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