DBacks Factoids

My #26 – Slade Caldwell. Short, ultra-fast OF. Dominated Visala (161 wRC+) in his debut, but struggled after being promoted to Hillsboro, where he was the youngest player in the league. Struggled again this year at Hillsboro, although he was still 2.4 years young for A+. He’s been dealing with a herniated disc for a while, and finally had surgery in September.   Swing rate was 29% in Visalia. For reference, there were only 6 qualified MLBers this year with a swing rate even in the 30s!He swung more this year (35.6%), which still would’ve been 3rd lowest in MLB, but it’s progress. If he can return to his pre-injury form after surgery, he will *rocket* up lists.

My 27 - Jose Mejia. The third part of the Blaze Alexander trade, Mejia dominated at Visalia, but struggled after being called up to Hillsboro, partly due to some bad batted ball luck, partly because he was 2.4 years young for the level. Kept his contact % about 82% all year (75% is avg). Versatile guy to keep an eye on.

It's fun to look at these lists and pick out a few targets, but I have to remind myself that we're cutting payroll, by an unknown amount. Which is fine and understandable, but unless we can trade some excess $$ away, I can't imagine we're going to be in the market for much.

My #28 is Leonardo Sevilla, a switch hitting, high contact, speedy shortstop out of Cuba that we signed for the “deal” price of $750,000 because he signed late in the year. He walked almost twice as much as he struck out this year. Lottery ticket for sure, but high pedigree guys (the international bonus amount is the equivalent of the draft bonus/sot of domestic players; so he's a first round pick, sorta) who go out and perform, especially with good contact numbers, get ranked.

Thought to be a reach or big underslot bargain to save $$ for later picks on draft day (BA had him ranked 467 – we took him 64th), we still paid him nearly $1M, almost slot, meaning there was a market for him near that pick and he was underrated by the public (like Carson Kerce this year). Luciano more than held his own in A ball this year, playing 2 years young for the level. FG called him hit over power last year, but he slugged .441 at Visalia this year, and increased that to .465 in Hillsboro to end the season (avg .410). FG also said evaluators love his defense. And this Baseball America feature on him really makes you root for the guy.

My #30, Cristian Mena. He should be way higher - when he went down with a shoulder injury in June '25, he was off to a great start. (The umps wouldn't call the game, forcing him to pitch, probably in an altered form, which may have contributed to his injury). At any rate, he was a high K prospect who needed to add velo. He did, and was doing great when he debuted in the bigs. But his shoulder injury derailed his '25 season AND '26 when it returned, eventually leading to surgery. If he can return to health, he should be a rotation mainstay.

My #31 is Dylan Ray. Fangraphs called him velocity-dependent. Not a coincidence that he had a great deal of success late in the year in the bullpen in shorter stints when his velo was up to 96.8. Already of the 40-man roster, he’s already on the shortlist for a major league spot when an arm is needed.

My #32 Spencer Giesting. Drafted in the 11th round, but as is standard for 11th rounders, paid more, like a 5th rounder in this case. Was a crafty lefty with 5 pitches, some good spin rates, but gained velo this year after moving to the bullpen and kept getting better all year. Has to be added to the 40-man roster, so he’ll be in the big leagues sooner than later.

I keep seeing these kinds of posts. The other day we had one of the smallest groups. Today it’s one of the biggest. And from real sources. Not sure what to make of it.

My # 33, Yu-Min Lin. A top 100 guy by Baseball Prospectus in’24 because he posted some elite numbers when he first came to the US as a teenager. As he climbed the ladder, he struggled some, as pitchers often do in Amarillo and Reno and dropped off the prospect radar. Classic underrated D’Backs prospect. Still 5+ years young for AAA, pitching in Reno (i.e., the moon) but clicking “late.” OK fastball, loud delivery, but elite secondaries with great spin rates. Wouldn’t be surprising to see him in the bigs next year.

Super toolsy outfielder who was drafted in June ’25, but Tommy John surgery delayed his start to August ‘26. Flashed in Visalia, and is in the AZ Fall League, with mostly AA and AAA guys.

Evaluating DSL guys is weird. They can't sign until they're 16, but they come to agreements to sign years before. It's understandable to be wrong about a 14-year old kid's future. So even tho Villarroel was almost an afterthought on signing day, he's already jumping off the page with a .985 OPS, the next in a long line of great, often undersized, catchers that the D'Backs are developing.

My # 36 is Connor Foley, a RHP drafted out of Indiana. He got 3rd round money when we drafted him. He is a high ceiling/low floor possible closer who struck out 16 per 9 (!!) this year, which was 14th best in all of the minor leagues for guys with 20+ IP. legendsondeck.com/arizona-di…

I love these lists, and I love BA, but if your stuff+ model has the Mariners and Braves this bad, it might need to be reconfigured. "Stuff" is hard to measure/quantify, but it seems unlikely that the Mariners went from the universally best pitching development org to the worst.

Described as “raw and gangly,” by Fangraphs, he is notable for trying to be the first Orthodox Jew to make the big leagues. springtraining.jou.ufl.edu/2… But with his electric potential, his unique background could become more of a footnote than a headline.

This is surprising - I guess we're doing more with less? But it would be nice to see if beefing up the nerd staff helped. It's cheaper than adding to the major league payroll and couldn't hurt.

My # 38 - Sawyer Hawks. Relief pitchers with no pedigree virtually never get ranked, which is weird because they're every bit or more as impactful as any other player. But still, that's how this works. Having said that, Hawks made Fangraphs preseason list last year because they were too scared he's going to find his way to the big leagues. And he killed it in Hillsboro after that.

My # 39 is Paul Schoenfeld, an 8th rounder out of West Virginia. Prospect ranking is basically pedigree (draft spot) x early success. Schoenfeld has no pedigree - an 8th round college guy who wasn't on BA or Pipeline's pre-draft list (BA goes out to 500). And his limited professional wasn't *that* good (it was pretty good). But watching him, he was electric. So, a bit of a personal cheeseball but whatever.