The 2024 Arizona Fall League got underway earlier this week, giving MLB prospects a chance for extended playing time to showcase their skills ahead of the 2025 season. You can follow all the latest stats from the league on MLB.com, so the Rotoworld Baseball staff weighed in on the players they’re most looking forward to watching over the next few weeks.
Chris Crawford
Leodalis de Vries – SS, San Diego Padres
There are some folks who I’ve spoken with who believe that not only is De Vries one of the best young prospects in baseball but maybe the best prospect at the shortstop position. The concern here is a player who struck out 84 times in 299 at-bats for Low-A Lake Elsinore, but it’s a little understandable for a player who played the entirety of the year as a 17-year-old. Every tool here has a chance to be plus, and his baseball acumen gets rave reviews. He could be the next big thing.
Matt McLain – INF, Cincinnati Reds
McLain isn’t technically a prospect, but he missed all of the 2024 season because of his rib and shoulder injury, so it’s easy to forget that in 2023, he was one of the best fantasy rookies in baseball with 16 homers, 14 steals, and a .862 OPS in his 89 games. I’ll be curious to see how the layoff affects him, and it’s nice that the 25-year-old is able to get onto the field against (relatively) decent competition before the start of spring training. There’s plenty of reason to believe he can be a fantasy factor as long as he’s healthy.
Colson Montgomery – SS, Chicago White Sox
Montgomery had a significant amount of helium entering 2024, but to say he underwhelmed is an understatement. He hit just .214 with a .710 OPS in Triple-A while striking out 164 times over 130 games. He did draw 66 walks in that timeframe, however, and it’s worth pointing out that prospect development is rarely linear; a bad season is far from a reason to completely write him off. Still, a strong showing in Arizona would go a long way in believing he still has a chance to be a fantasy contributor at some point in 2025.
Nick Shlain
Thayron Liranzo – C, Detroit Tigers
Liranzo has had an eventful season already. He began the year at number 70 on Baseball Prospectus’ top 100 prospect list, appeared in the Futures Games at the All-Star break, and was the headliner going back to Detroit in the deadline trade for Jack Flaherty. Once Liranzo got to the Tigers organization, he hit .315/.470/.562 with more walks (26) than strikeouts (20) in 115 plate appearances with High-A West Michigan. While his defense behind the plate is a work in progress, he just turned 21 in July. If Liranzo continues to rake in the Arizona Fall League, everyone can forget about his .700 OPS in the Dodgers organization to start the year.
Ethan Salas – C, San Diego Padres
Salas just turned 18 in June and is coming off hitting .206/.288/.311 in 469 plate appearances with High-A Fort Wayne. It’s certainly an aggressive move by the Padres organization to put the youngster in the Arizona Fall League, which is typically reserved for older players and players considered closer to the major leagues. A good showing would give Salas, one of the top prospects in all of baseball, some momentum heading into 2025.
Termarr Johnson – 2B, Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates don’t have a lot of position player prospects coming down the pipeline. Johnson, the best of the bunch, isn’t going to sneak up on anyone as the former No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. Johnson has a sweet swing and will draw lots of walks. He can steal bases but is yet to tap into his power fully. Johnson is 20 years old and has only 57 plate appearances above A-ball to his name. A strong showing in the Arizona Fall League would certainly look good on his resume.
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Eric Samulski
Chase DeLauter – OF, Cleveland Guardians
DeLauter won over a lot of fans during spring training when it looked like he was fighting for a spot on the Guardians’ Opening Day roster. DeLauter was sent to the minors and battled multiple foot injuries during the year and played in only 36 games. He hit seven home runs and drove in 23 runs in those 36 games and has the tools to earn a spot in the starting lineup for the Guardians in 2025.
Drew Gilbert – OF, New York Mets
Gilbert was limited to just 59 games due to injury in 2025, including 56 in Triple-A where Gilbert hit just .215 with ten home runs and three steals. The 24-year-old showed well in 2023, so if he’s able to shake of the injury woes and get back to that version of himself, he has a shot to crack the Mets Opening Day roster in the outfield.
Cole Young – SS/2B – Seattle Mariners
Young is the 38th-ranked prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline and played the majority of the year in Double-A, hitting .271 with nine home runs and 23 steals in 124 games while striking out just 15.8% of the time with a 12.1% walk rate. The Mariners are clearly searching for answers in their lineup, so a strong showing in the AFL plus a good spring training could give Ypung a shot to crack the lineup in 2025.
Matthew Pouliot
Xavier Isaac – 1B, Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays have gotten aggressive with Isaac, making him one of the AFL’s youngest players even though he struggled some after a late promotion to Double-A (.211/.346/.349 in 31 games). The 2022 first-round pick doesn’t turn 21 until December, so it wouldn’t be much of a setback if he struggles some against older competition here. However, if he does succeed, it makes a 2025 arrival in the majors a little more likely. Isaac is one of the game’s best first base prospects, and his fantasy potential is particularly high because of his success stealing bases (he’s 27-for-30 in 209 games as a pro).
Coleman Crow – RHP Los Angeles Angels
Crow was emerging as one of the Angels’ top pitching prospects in 2023 when he hurt his elbow. He wound up being traded to the Mets for Eduardo Escobar, undergoing Tommy John surgery afterwards, and later getting traded to the Brewers for Tyrone Taylor and Adrian Houser after going unpicked in the Rule 5 draft. Now, he’s finally back and ready to show what he can do in the AFL. He’s not a big-time upside guy because of an average-at-best fastball, but with plus command and two quality breaking balls, he’s pretty interesting, particularly while pitching for a team skilled at getting the most out of its pitchers.
Marc Church – RHP, Texas Rangers
Church, who made his major league debut with a scoreless inning at the very end of the year, is a threat to become the Rangers’ long-term closer. He was limited by shoulder issues this season, but he throws 94-98 mph and has a quality slider at his disposal. Perhaps he’ll top out as a setup man, but on a Texas team without a long-term ninth-inning option, he’s one to watch.
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