Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
This past Saturday, the Arizona Fall League played host to a tripleheader, with start times staggered enough to see at least most of all three contests at the various ballparks in the eastern part of the Phoenix metro area. My notes and thoughts on the standouts from that day, as well as Monday’s solo game in Peoria, are below. You can find the end-of-year reports and grades on the 2024 Fall Leaguers on the Fall League tab of The Board.
Andrew Painter, RHP, Philadelphia Phillies
This was the 21-year-old Painter’s first competitive action since undergoing Tommy John surgery in late July of 2023. Like most Tommy John rehabbers, the first thing to return for Painter has been his velocity. He sat 98-100 mph across his two innings of work, in line with the peak velocities he showed as a first-year pro in 2022. Painter’s fastball runs downhill because of his height and high arm slot, which narrows its ability to miss bats to the area at very top of the zone and above. Here is his entire outing, with muted video during his warmup to accommodate a copyright claim on “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”:
On Saturday, Painter’s secondary stuff (a slider in the 86-90 mph range and a curveball in the 83-85 mph range) wasn’t as crisp and deadly as it was before his surgery, but it’s simply too early to worry about that. Command and secondary pitch quality tend to arrive later for TJ rehabbers. If Painter goes all six weeks of Fall League without showing nasty breaking stuff, there might be something more concrete to take away from his performance. For now, let’s see how he looks as he goes deeper into games and reclaims feel for his breaking pitches.
Ethan Salas, C, San Diego Padres
Salas had two doubles Monday and popped sub 1.9 seconds on throws to second base several times, including some 1.84-1.89 times that hosed two runners. Catchers also typically aren’t great to evaluate during Fall League. They’ve played all year and tend to be gassed, and they have to learn how to work with an entirely new staff of pitchers for six weeks while sharing time with several other catchers. Getting into any kind of rhythm out here can be challenging, and I don’t necessarily think Salas has to light the league on fire with his bat to remain a top 10 overall prospect or “bounce back,” so to speak.
Zyhir Hope, OF, Los Angeles Dodgers
Hope was traded to the Dodgers as part of the Michael Busch deal in January, just six months after he was selected as the Cubs’ 2023 11th-round pick. Hope’s tools are for real. He has become tremendously strong since turning pro and generates ridiculous power for a hitter his age, and in a short mechanical distance. This is a very exciting, high-variance prospect.
Josue Briceño, 1B/C, Detroit Tigers
Briceño, a Pick to Click entering the season, homered three times on Saturday. The wind was blowing out to right field, which aided two of Briceño’s bombs, but it’s still a special thing to see a guy go deep three times in one game. Here they are:
