Top prospects in Arizona Fall League: Pipeline Inbox

The Arizona Fall League begins its 30th season in less than two weeks. Jim Callis and Jim WIlliams will be covering the league daily. They have an entire episode of the MLB Pipeline Podcast dedicated to the AFL. Jordan Walker is the top-ranked prospect heading to Arizona.

Some prospects will benefit most from participating in the Arizona Fall League. The biggest category of players who can benefit are those making up for lost time because of injuries. MLB's No. 20 overall prospect Henry Davis played in just 59 games this season because he had wrist issues. Brennen Davis had back surgery and missed most of the 2021 season. Heston Kjerstad had myocarditis and was out for three months. Luis Matos, Will Bednar, Deyvison De Los Santos and Tink Hence had a bad season and are trying to recover.  Kumar Rocker, Nick Yorke, Zac Veen are not included in this list.

Kumar Rocker is in Arizona Fall League this year. He has good stuff and is a good prospect. The one thing that is unknown is his health. He had shoulder surgery. It will probably take him going out every five days in 2023 for me to feel strongly about adding him.

Nick Yorke was a first-round pick in 2020. He was No. 96 at the end of 2021 and at No 55 at start of 2022. Zac Veen has struggled since his promotion to AA. He is only 20 years old. His sample size is growing, but it's still small. Venn played more baseball than he ever had in his life. It's not enough to put too much weight on a good or bad performance. The sample is small, too. There are many reasons why Vernon struggled. But he will improve. he was 3.8 years younger than the average hitter in the Eastern League.