Top Rule 5-Eligible Performers From The Arizona Fall League
Image credit: Sammy Siani (Photo by Bill Mitchell)
Just two games remain in the 2024 Arizona Fall League: the play-in game and the championship. After that, the season is in the books and ballfields from Glendale to Scottsdale will go dark until the spring.
The league serves many purposes. It’s a finishing school for some of the game’s best prospects and a source of innings and at-bats for players who were injured during the regular season. It also provides one last chance to dance for players eligible for the upcoming Rule 5 draft.
Before the season, Baseball America previewed the players from this year’s AFL who needed to land on their (or any) team’s 40-man roster ahead of the protection, which this year falls on November 19.
Now, here’s a look back at some of best performers among this season’s Rule 5-eligible Fall Leaguers.
Denzel Clarke, OF, Athletics
Clarke has long been one of the toolsiest prospects in the Athletics’ system. Whether he could turn those tools into skills has been a more difficult question to answer. His stat line in the AFL looks like a player a team wouldn’t want to let slip away. He finished his time with Mesa with a slash line of .382/.495/.566 with two doubles, three triples, two home runs and nine stolen bases. Most important, he struck out at a clip of just 23.6%, an improvement of more than 5% from the regular season mark he posted at Double-A.
Caleb Durbin, UTL, Yankees
Were it not for injuries, Durbin might have made his big league debut this past season. Instead, he was limited to 90 games, the bulk of which came at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In the Fall League, Durbin made history. The versatile infielder swiped 29 bases in 30 tries, breaking the league’s stolen base record in the process. Durbin’s total was five better than the previous mark, set by Rick Holifield in 1994. Of course, to steal bases, one has to get on base, and Durbin did so in spades. He finished the fall with .312/.427/.548 line with five doubles, five home runs and more than three times as many walks (17) as strikeouts (six).
Luis Mey, RHP, Reds
Mey was the Fall League’s hardest thrower, but he also came to the desert with a reputation for volatility. If he could command the ball even marginally better, he would have a chance to make an impact. Mission accomplished. He finished his turn in the AFL with a league-best six saves and sparkling line, overall. Mey allowed just one hit in 8.2 innings across six games while walking two and striking out eight.
Max Acosta, 2B/SS, Rangers
Acosta, the former top prospect whose career has gone through a number of peaks and valleys, put together a big-time rebound season in 2024 at Double-A Frisco thanks to improved strikeout and hard-hit rates. Those trends continued in the Fall League. With Surprise, Acosta, who turned 22 on October 29, was one of the best performers among the Rangers’ contingent. His .338 average was ninth in the league, and his eight doubles were second only to Mariners top prospect Colt Emerson. Overall, Acosta hit .338/.413/.521 with eight doubles, a triple and a home run.
Sammy Siani, OF, Pirates
Siani is already known as the best outfield defender in the Pirates’ system. Now, he’s trying to add a bit of offense to his game. The brother of Reds big leaguer Mike Siani, Sammy adjusted his bat path and found plenty of success in the desert. His .375 average ranked fifth in the league, his .457 on-base percentage was seventh, his .550 slugging percentage was tenth, his 30 hits tied for second and his 44 total bases were tied for seventh on the circuit.
Jake Miller, LHP, Tigers
On the surface, Miller didn’t have a stellar Fall League. He finished his time in Arizona with a 9.18 ERA and 26 hits allowed across 16.2 innings. Most of that damage came across a pair of disastrous outings in the first half of the six-week season. His final three outings, starting on Halloween, were much better: 9.2 innings, seven hits, two earned runs, one walk and 18 strikeouts. Miller mixes a lively low-90s fastball with a nasty sweeping slider and changeup. The final results were three walks and 24 strikeouts, which tied for the third most in the league.
Alex Santos II, RHP, Astros
Santos was drafted by Houston in the second round of the five-round 2020 draft but has found limited success during his time in the minor leagues. Over parts of four seasons, the righthander has gone 5-25, 6.06 with a walk rate of 5.7 per nine innings. Injuries limited Santos to just 23 innings in the regular season. He added 17.2 more frames in the Fall League, where his 26 strikeouts were tied with Reds righty Connor Phillips for the top spot on the circuit. He regularly brought his fastball into the upper 90s and complemented it with an array of promising off-speed pitches.
