Esmerlyn Valdez, 1B/OF, Pirates: Last week, Valdez led the way on Baseball America's weekly Arizona Fall League Hot Sheet. With another outstanding day on Tuesday, it's clear he's gunning for a repeat performance. The slugging Valdez swatted yet another home run—his eighth of the fall—in the first game of Salt River's doubleheader with Mesa. The blast puts him six away from the league record, and there's still half the season to go. Valdez added a single and two walks on the afternoon, pushing his AFL-best mark to 15 in the latter category and upping his overall slash line to an absurd .545/.718/1.682. If you're doing the math, those numbers work out to an eye-popping 2.400 OPS.

Parks Harber, 3B, Giants: With a few trades this summer, the Giants revamped their farm system. One of those moves sent reliever Camilo Doval to the Yankees in exchange for four prospects: Pitchers Trystan Vrieling and Carlos De La Rosa, catcher Jesus Rodriguez and infielder Parks Harber. On Tuesday, as part of a doubleheader to kick off the third week of the Arizona Fall League, Harber put his name all over the box score. The North Carolina alum rapped out a pair of hits—including his second double of the AFL—and worked two walks. His single, which came off of another traded prospect, Orioles righty Tanner Smith, left the bat at 113.7 mph, making it the second hardest-hit ball of the day.

Braden Montgomery, OF, White Sox: After waiting a couple of weeks for a foot injury to heal, Montgomery was unleashed in the desert on Monday. He made quite a first impression. In his first at-bat of the day, the Texas A&M alum reached Rangers righthander Jose Corniell for a double. The ball was struck at 110.2 mph and traveled a projected 388 feet. For the rest of the day, Surprise was careful with Montgomery. He drew walks in each of his next three plate appearances, accounting for half the bases on balls issued by the Saguaros over the seven-inning contest.

Owen Ayers, C, Cubs: Historically, the Arizona Fall League is a hitter's league. Ayers is using the six-week season to showcase his defensive abilities. On Tuesday, he unleashed his ferocious throwing arm two more times. Ayers cut down another two of Salt River's three attempted basestealers and put up some outstanding numbers in the process. The two throws registered 81.2 and 81.4 mph and reached second base in 1.81 and 1.86 seconds, as measured by Hawk-Eye. Ayers, a 24-year-old Marshall alum, has now thrown out 31% of runners trying to steal against him in the AFL.

Luke Adams, 3B, Brewers: Adams continued his solid Arizona Fall League campaign on Tuesday by getting on base twice, including his second home run of the season, in a doubleheader against Glendale. The third baseman connected against Dodgers prospect Hyun-Seok Jang, redirected an 88 mph cutter to left-center field for a no-doubt longball. The blast traveled an estimated 424 feet and left the bat at 105.6 mph. He is 9-for-33 with eight walks thus far in the AFL season.

Editor’s Picks

Velocity Gains: Geoff Pontes sorts out minor league fastball velocity for 2025 to see which pitching prospects had the biggest jumps this season. Read more…

Where Did The No. 4 Starters Go? As MLB heads to the World Series, J.J. Cooper can’t help but ponder the postseason plight of an old mainstay—the durable No. 4 starter. Read more… 

Quick Hits

Prospect news and notes from around baseball…

• White Sox infielder Sam Antonacci had another impressive day. Between two ends of an AFL doubleheader, Antonacci racked up three hits, scored four runs, homered, walked three times and stole three bases.

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2027 1B Frank Thomas III commits to his father's alma mater 👀 #fyp #auburn #collegebaseball