The highly touted Lawlar hit .263/.366/.474 in 89 games at Double-A Amarillo before he was quickly promoted up the rest of the ladder for a September call-up to Phoenix. The Diamondbacks only gave him about a week and a half of regular at-bats before he shifted into a pinch-running and defensive replacement role down the stretch and on Arizona’s playoff roster. They perhaps should have given him more runway to adjust to big league pitching with the hope that Lawlar could quickly become a more threatening hitter than Evan Longoria and Emmanuel Rivera were in October, but the Snakes was fighting for their playoff lives and didn’t have the luxury to roll the dice. Lawlar ruptured a ligament in his thumb during 2024 spring training and his initial recovery timeline was eight to 10 weeks, which would put him on pace to return in June.

Lawlar posted career-best strikeout rates at Double- and Triple-A in 2023, but he still has a pretty grooved swing and his underlying contact data on the season is near the very bottom of the everyday shortstop population (73% contact rate, 81% z-contact%), so we’re sticking to a below-average hit tool projection here. But Lawlar does everything else very well. He’s a stellar shortstop defender with premium range and defensive athleticism. His throwing stroke to first base can sometimes look a little odd, but he finds all kinds of crazy ways to contort his body and send the baseball where it needs to go, which is especially true of his feeds to second base. He has rare power for a shortstop (let alone a really good defensive one), plus plate discipline, and what is approaching elite baserunning speed. Not only did Lawlar show top-of-the-scale sprint speed in the big leagues (not our favorite way of assessing runners, but still), but his swing’s natural jailbreak, à la Rickie Weeks Jr., puts his home-to-first times in the 4.10 second range pretty regularly. His hit tool isn’t enough of an issue to threaten the rest of his profile — Dansby Swanson‘s contact rates in 2023 were nearly identical to Lawlar’s combined stats, but he plays great defense and hits for power, and Lawlar should too.

With Eugenio Suárez now entrenched at third base, it will be interesting to see how the Diamondbacks integrate both Lawlar and Geraldo Perdomo into their big league lineup assuming both are healthy at the same time later this year. Ketel Marte could be deployed as a DH more often, and Perdomo could move around (he has more experience doing so than Lawlar) as well as sit against lefties. Lawlar is a foundational player who should be a multi-time All Star and one of the faces of the franchise for the next five-plus years.

Troy was a really fun little high school prospect whose perceived inability to play a pro shortstop was a big part of why no team would pay him to eschew his commitment to Stanford. He went to school and raked, slashing .339/.411/.603 while building experience at a variety of positions (second, short, third, left) before transitioning to third base full-time during his draft year. He was one of the more well-rounded and proven prospects from a loaded 2023 draft, and fell deeper (12th overall) than players of his caliber tend to because of the class’ depth up top. Troy spent about a month at High-A Hillsboro after signing and was assigned there again to start 2024. As of list publication, he has a career OPS hovering around .730 and is striking out more than he was in college. He is currently on the IL with a hamstring injury.

The Diamondbacks have deployed Troy at shortstop, but he doesn’t look great there. He’s very tightly wound, a much more explosive athlete than an elegant and fluid one, and he can’t put his body in position to make all the throws a shortstop has to make. He looked like he was getting very comfortable at third base toward the end of the 2023 college season. He plays lower to the ground when his hips get to be square than when he has to flip them to range laterally as a middle infielder, and his throws are crisper and more accurate from third than shortstop. It might be worth it to give Troy some reps in center field. He’s a flat out 80-grade runner and, in our estimation, has a better shot of developing into being a good center fielder than he does of becoming a passable shortstop.

Offensively, you can get Troy out by executing breaking stuff away from him, which he either rolls over or swings inside of entirely. He otherwise has really excellent plate coverage and packs surprising punch for a hitter his size, which has been a feature of his profile since high school. His scissor-kick swing is geared for banging high fastballs into the opposite field gap. Troy’s ceiling is highest if he can play an up-the-middle position, but his most direct path to the bigs is probably via exclusivity at third base. He’s projected here as an everyday third baseman, perhaps transitioning from a superutility debut into being the everyday guy at the hot corner when Eugenio Suárez’s contract is up.

Luis was one of last spring’s complex-level revelations, a projectable switch-hitting shortstop with premium hand speed. Luis has a chance to mature in the Goldilocks Zone, where he adds power while remaining at short. He’s an above-average athlete who plays low-to-the-ground defense, his hands are fine, and his arm should be sufficient for the left side of the infield at maturity. Luis’ hands are incredibly explosive, and he still has room to add mass and find more power. He has an aggressive approach and a low-ball swing that is often underneath fastballs. Barring pretty significant late develop to his hit tool (some amount of it is likely considering that Luis is such a young switch bat) there is going to be strikeout and chase risk here, but the power ceiling on a switch-hitting shortstop like this is incredibly rare and exciting.

Earlier during the international scouting process, Radney, who signed for $1.85 million, looked more like an Eloy Jiménez type of prospect, a huge-framed corner outfielder who might grow into enormous raw power. As signing day 2024 approached, Radney became a sleeker, speedier athlete, and now has a better chance to become a true center fielder than was anticipated. He still carries with him substantial power projection, and he has a non-zero chance of maturing in the Goldilocks Zone as an athlete who retains the speed to play center field while also developing big power. International scouts are also fairly bullish about Radney’s bat-to-ball ability, or at least there aren’t proactive doubts surrounding his hit tool. Radney is one of the few prospects from the 2024 class who has a chance to do at least a little bit of everything (and a lot of some things), and he’s also one of the youngest. He’s slated to begin his pro career in the DSL.

Cecconi got his feet wet at the major league level in 2023, tossing 27 innings over four starts and three appearances out of the bullpen while also covering 116.1 frames in Reno, where he struck out 23.3% of hitters compared to a 7.1% walk rate in the unforgiving PCL.

Cecconi has a four-pitch mix, and all of his offerings are average or better. So far in 2024, his fastball has ranged between 92-95 mph and touched 98 mph with running action and a hint of carry when he works it up in the zone. It’s not surgical command, but it projects to be a tick above average and gives him a solid fastball grade overall. Cecconi’s slider, which he has advanced feel for locating down and away to righties, ranges from 83-87 mph with big depth and late tilt. His curveball is a deep, vertical breaker that doesn’t maintain the consistent tightness his slider does. Cecconi’s changeup has taken a noticeable step forward both in terms of its usage and quality. So far in 2024, he has thrown the pitch 14% of the time between his time in Triple-A and Phoenix, compared to only 5% in 2023. He’s very effective at mimicking his fastball arm speed when throwing the changeup to give it additional deception, and its late fade and depth gives him another tool, especially against lefties. Cecconi is a big league-ready back-end starter who might factor in the D-backs’ postseason rotation if they play in October.

Diaz is a high-octane relief prospect with a mid-90s heater and a plus curveball. In 2023, Diaz struck out 31.8% of batters while carrying a bloated 13.2% walk rate. He’s been deployed as a starter so far in pro ball, but with a frame and delivery like his, he’s almost certainly destined for the bullpen.

Diaz has a lean, medium frame with fair physical projection. He throws from a high three-quarters slot with a medium arm circle that does have a stab in the arm path and an elevated front arm throughout his delivery. Every pitch he throws features maximum effort, and he falls off to the first base side quite dramatically. Yilber’s carrying fastball sits in the mid-90s and touches the upper-90s. It consistently misses bats but is held back a bit due to his inconsistent control of the pitch. His slider ranges between 84-87 mph; it has both vertical and horizontal break, and regularly shows plus tightness (2,800 rpm). Rounding out Diaz’s mix is a curveball (78-81 mph) that varies between 12/6 and 11/5 shape, with both versions having significant depth along with plus spin (2,800 rpm). The harder breaking ball is newer, and ticks one of the developmental checkpoints mentioned in last year’s report (the need for a third pitch) on Diaz’s developmental road as a starter. It has improved his chances of being a starter long-term, but he’s still more likely to be a late-inning weapon, maybe even at some point this year. It’s plausible that the D-backs will consider him one of their 12 nastiest arms late in the season and, at least temporarily, shift him to the bullpen for the stretch run. Even if they don’t, Diaz is a virtual lock to be added to their 40-man after the season and be in the rotation/swingman mix the way Drey Jameson and Ryne Nelson were early last year.

The 5-foot-5 Barrosa became the shortest player in the majors when he debuted due to Alek Thomas‘ injury early in 2024; he was previously over-listed at 5-foot-9 by a Diamondbacks franchise that overreported several other players’ listed heights until the ABS implementation in the minors forced a correction. Skilled and entertaining as hell, Barrosa is a plus runner and outfield defender with plus bat-to-ball ability from both sides of the plate. He slugged .456 at Triple-A last year and has 13 homers in each of the last two seasons, but that is likely a caricature of his power created by the hitting environment at Arizona’s upper-level affiliates.

This is a slash-and-dash style hitter who sprays light contact all over the place. He makes in-flight adjustments to breaking balls, is naturally short to elevated fastballs, and can get deep into his legs to dip and impact pitches in the lower third. While Barrosa’s somewhat elaborate footwork can sometimes disrupt his timing, it’s essential to him winding up his body and swinging hard, and his stroke is otherwise short, direct, and flat, which is conducive to making contact all over the zone. From the left side, the momentum of Barrosa’s swing naturally carries him towards first base, and he can get down the line in under 4.10 seconds. This is a good player who does everything but hit for power. He projects as a good team’s fourth outfielder.

Groover was among the 2023 draft’s more volatile and exciting prospects, and it felt as though 2024 might be a breakout season for him (he was a Pick to Click, after all), but an early-season surgery to repair a displaced radius fracture suffered in a collision with a baserunner will cause him to miss three or four months of the season.

A transfer from UNC Wilmington, Groover raked for two years at NC State but was a mistake-prone third base defender. He has rare hand speed and demonstrated plus rates of contact at NC State and then in 100 PAs at High-A Hillsboro after the draft, where he struck out just 9% of the time. He might be a swing tweak away from a huge offensive breakout. Groover’s swing isn’t always connected and it can look awkward when he’s slicing down at low pitch, but his hands rip through the zone in the blink of an eye and his contact rates are shockingly good for how hard he swings. He is a very dangerous hitter to all fields and was only vulnerable to swings and misses at NC State when he would chase, which wasn’t often. His feel for the zone was evident after the draft as well. On defense, Groover often looks rushed and his throws frequently pull the first baseman off the bag, but his range and overall athleticism give him huge long-term ceiling with the glove if those issues can be ironed out. He got hurt playing first base, which he’s new to.

Groover’s profile is magmatic, and a lot of it still might shift and change. The core of it — his combo of bat-to-ball feel and bat speed — gives him an everyday player’s projection if he can tap into the pop. He’s a 2024 Arizona Fall League candidate.

Is Barriga a Rafael Marchán sequel, or is he Jose Altuve in knee savers? There is a gap between those who believe the lilliputian catcher is too small to withstand the beating of the position and those who think he has an exceptional toolset and rare athleticism for a backstop. Barriga is indeed remarkably twitchy for a squat 5-foot-6 or so (he’s listed at 5-foot-9, but he ain’t that), and he can really run for a catcher. His quickness is most evident on defense, where his mobility and explosion leaving his crouch are both impressive. Barriga was limited to just 10 regular season games on the complex last year because of a gruesome compound fracture to his femur, which he suffered while simply rounding first base. People in attendance at that game describe the injury as sounding like a broken bat.

Barriga is back with a vengeance and looks great again this spring, but we simply don’t know whether his little body will be able to withstand the grind of catching across a full season until he actually does it. The same applies to his offense, which will be subject to the wear and tear of catching. Barriga has performed well from a bat-to-ball standpoint in a small sample and looks hitterish to the eye, especially when it comes to snatching pitches at the top of the strike zone. He has all-fields doubles pop, which will be more than enough for him to profile as a catcher if he can retain a plus hit tool and on-base skills. Even without any kind of physical projection, the tools and skills of a primary catcher are here, it’s just that Barriga would be defying convention in a meaningful way by attaining that role, as most big league backstops are hulksters. It’s more likely Barriga becomes an Austin Barnes or Garrett Stubbs type of backup, but there are definitely scouts who like him more than that. He’s perhaps the most fun prospect in this entire system.

Mena was signed in 2019 out of the Dominican Republic and his pro debut was delayed due to the pandemic, yet when he took a minor league mound for the first time in 2021, he was still just 18 years old. In 2023, at age 20, he was the youngest pitcher in baseball to reach Triple-A, but most of his season was spent at Double-A Birmingham, where he posted one of the lowest swinging strike rates in the minors. As is often the case with Latin American starting pitcher prospects, Mena was added to the 40-man while he still had developing to do, and he is currently rostered at a young age 21 and scrapping with older hitters at Triple-A. The Diamondbacks acquired him from the White Sox in exchange for Dominic Fletcher just before the season in what felt like an no-brainer trade for Arizona, an org loaded with tweener outfielders.

Mena has good breaking stuff but his low-90s fastball lacks life and is very vulnerable. He’s gone from having a curveball to both a curve and a slider, the latter of which is also effective due to Mena’s consistent glove-side command. Both pitches share the 81-86 mph velocity band and are trending a little harder than that lately. You can project on Mena’s changeup (which is currently firm, about 88 mph) because he’s a terrific on-mound athlete with a super short, clean arm stroke. Because his fastball is light, we’re probably looking at more of a backend starter profile here, with Mena’s upside coming from the possibility that a change of scenery and physical maturation will help coax more arm strength out of him over time. It’s pretty likely that he pitches in the big leagues at some point in 2024 and he could challenge Tommy Henry for the last starter spot next spring.

The soft-tossing Lin had resounding success through the lower minors before he was knocked around a little bit at hitter-friendly Double-A Amarillo in the second half of the 2023 season. Changeup artists like Lin tend to be high-probability prospects, especially when they throw left-handed and have a dominant weapon that neutralizes right-handed hitting. Indeed, Lin’s low-80s cambio is an impact offering, generating a plus-plus miss rate in 2023. He commands it with remarkable consistency, as he does his entire repertoire, and sells it with arm speed that mimics his fastball. The rest of his repertoire is much less dastardly, starting with a fastball which averaged 89.5 mph last season. Bruce Edler was the only qualified starter in 2023 to have a fastball that slow. Lin’s command and his fastball’s underlying traits should allow it to be a viable pitch even though it has what nowadays constitutes 20-grade big league fastball velocity. Pitch models like the movement on Lin’s breaking stuff, but he doesn’t get great results with them, even against left-handed hitters. It’s fair to project a little on Lin’s velocity because he’s a skinny 20-year old and a graceful athlete; if it ticks up, he could move into the Top 100. His current look is more like an efficient no. 4/5 starter on a good team and he’s tracking for a late 2025 debut. Lin was struck by a line drive in the dugout a few days ago and fractured his jaw in several places, which will knock him out until the latter portion of the season.

De Los Santos didn’t play well enough during spring training to make the Guardians’ 2024 roster as a Rule 5 Draft pick. He was sent back to the Diamondbacks, who have returned Deyvison to Amarillo, where he spent all of 2023 and slashed .254/.297/.431; he’s out the gate hot so far this season and is on a 35-homer pace as of list publication. Now that he’s back with Arizona, there’s potentially a looming path to playing time, as star first baseman Christian Walker is in his contract year.

De Los Santos has had plus-plus big league raw power since he was 19, but the rest of his game has been sushi raw. For basically his entire time as a prospect, including right now, De Los Santos’ future has hinged on whether or not he’ll get to enough power to support a lower-OBP first base profile. His selectivity at the plate and infield defense have ranged from “immature” to “god awful,” and the former was a big part of why he had a below-average all-around offensive season at Amarillo last year despite hitting 20 bombs.

De Los Santos is kind of a freak, comparing physically to former NFL running back Michael Turner more than he does anyone else in baseball. He does not get cheated and swings as hard as he can at every opportunity. His slider recognition is awful; he chased them at a 49% clip in 2023, per Synergy. Christian Encarnacion-Strand has been a free-swinging canary in the coalmine for this kind of profile and things haven’t gone especially well for him; a deeper look back at hitters of this ilk produces comps like Ryon Healy 힐리 and C.J. Cron. De Los Santos is way more fun to watch swing and hit oppo bombs than that, but realistically, he’s on a similar path. If he continues to rake at Double-A and maybe during a second half at Reno, then he’ll probably be a 40-man add.

De La Cruz took a leap in his second DSL stint and came to the U.S. before the end of the 2023 minor league season. The Diamondbacks outfielder contingent in Scottsdale looks like it could be USC’s wide receiver room and De La Cruz is arguably the most well-made of the bunch. He is built like Michael Irvin and has an enormous power ceiling if he continues to fill out as he matures. Despite his lever length, De La Cruz is fairly adept at staying short to the inner third of the zone and making contact in there, though he often strides toward the third base line in order to do this and might be vulnerable to well-located sliders as he climbs.

De La Cruz has shifted from playing the infield to the outfield in 2024 extended spring training. It would be interesting to see a long strider like this developed in center field, but his feel for the position is predictably raw. There are others (Catuy, Alpuria) from the complex-level group who have more speed and experience and are clearly better fits out there right now, so it might be tough for Abdias to develop in center; we have him projected to a corner. Even toward the bottom of the defensive spectrum and with only a fair hit tool, there’s still everyday upside here if De La Cruz comes into as much power as we think he will. This is one of the more exciting young prospects toward the bottom of Arizona’s system.

Martinez was peaking in the upper 90s before his 18th birthday, but his command, fastball shape, and the lack of a true plus secondary pitch marred his early-career performance. So too did injury. Martinez had Tommy John in 2021, which put him in a bit of a developmental bind since he came back in the middle of 2022, his 40-man evaluation year, and only had a couple months to earn a roster spot. He did. After moving to the bullpen post-surgery, Martinez saw his sitting velo leap into the 97-100 mph range, and a brand new splitter not only gave him a plus secondary weapon, but might end up being even better than that. He made his major league debut for Arizona in 2023, throwing 10 innings after striking out just under 30% of opposing batters he faced in his 49.1 frames in the PCL. He began the 2024 season in Reno, but a rash of injuries to Arizona’s pitching staff has foisted him into one of the more meaningful roles in the Snakes’ bullpen.

Martinez throws from a three-quarters slot and his plus arm quickness allows him to generate elite velocity with seemingly minimal effort. While the fastball is hard, Martinez doesn’t consistently produce plus carry or riding life on the offering, and his command likely has a below-average ceiling at best, limitations that will impact his fastball’s overall quality. His splitter comes out of his hand with bullet spin (but barely any spin at all), which sometimes makes it look like a slider when it finishes to his glove-side, though it often just has bat-missing sink. There are even times when Martinez will mis-release his splitter and it accidentally tails back over the glove-side corner of the plate, freezing hitters. It’s easily Martinez’s best secondary offering and is extra deceptive because of the arm speed that he maintains when throwing the split. At present, his feel for the offering is mixed at best, and it’s not uncommon for him to produce multiple uncompetitive ones during an at-bat. The last pitch in Martinez’s arsenal is a slider that relies more on how late it moves rather than its amount of movement; it has slight tilting action and average bite. He’s been mixing it in early in counts to keep hitters off his fastball. Martinez’s pure stuff is that of a high-leverage reliever, but his control will need to improve more in order to achieve that role.

Torin is a bat control savant with limited power and defensive ability. He was barely 18 when the D-backs promoted him to Visalia in the middle of 2023 and Torin’s hit tool held up enough for him to post a 91% in-zone contact rate throughout the season. He’s off to a hot surface-level start again in 2024, but his lack of explosion and his look on defense has us rounding down a bit on his projection from last list cycle.

Torin uses very simple, conservative footwork and lets his hand-eye coordination and bat control do the work for his offense. He hits a lot of choppers and grounders and makes a ton of soft contact, posting the second-lowest hard-hit rate among D-backs prospects at full-season affiliates last year. There are glimpses of exciting rotational ability, especially when Torin has to tuck his hands in and barrel stuff in around his naval. But in general, his quality of contact is light and Torin is a smaller guy without the overt physical projection that would indicate he’ll eventually have real power. Torin has also plateaued as a defender. He has a quick exchange and lovely arm stroke, but his agility, range and hands are all below average for a shortstop. He’s playing a mix of both infield spots right now but projects to second base for us.

The bat-to-ball skill here is pretty special and Torin is very young. We want to leave room for improvement and we value his profile, but barring an unexpected leap in his explosiveness, Torin is likely to produce akin to Luis Urías. He needs to either develop defensive versatility or power to play a more meaningful big league role.

Jones’ pro career has yet to truly get off the ground both because of multiple injuries and because his feel to hit is much, much greener than was anticipated when he was drafted. He has been held to fewer than 50 actual games across his first year and a half of pro ball due to a labrum tear, which occurred pretty much right after he was drafted and required surgery, and then quad and hamstring issues that plagued his 2023. When Jones has played, he has looked good on defense but wholly overmatched and uncoordinated at the plate.

Jones’ swing has been a mess so far as a pro. He has difficulty recognizing sliders and is struggling to pull the ball even more than when he was in high school, often inside-outing pitches around his hands to the right side of the infield. As of list publication, Jones’ swing is so ill-timed that he has whiffed twice as often as he’s put balls in play. For context, an even ratio would be concerning. It’s possible that rust from his time away due to injury is part of why Jones’ issues at the plate look so severe, but they are rather concerning and badly need to improve if he’s going to be an impact big leaguer. Thankfully, Jones is still such a good center field defender that, even if his bat has bottomed out for good, he’ll likely still eventually play a meaningful big league role in the Brenton Doyle/Trayce Thompson vein, and someone like Michael A. Taylor would be a comp for what we think his best power seasons could still look like. His range, ball skills, arm strength and arm accuracy are all fantastic, and so long as his 6-foot-4 frame doesn’t slow down too much as he matures, Jones is going to be a special defender. This situation might start to have a Ben Simmons vibe if things don’t get better soon, with the online hype machine bearing some of the blame for setting expectations too high with comparisons to Druw’s dad and click-churning viral clips.

Chalas is a projectable relief prospect who was quickly moved from the DSL to the Arizona complex last summer, and pushed pretty aggressively again to Low-A Visalia when camp broke in 2024. Of all the young, hard-throwing relief prospects in Arizona’s system, Chalas is the one most likely to pitch in late-inning situations down the road. He has the most prototypical body and athletic looking delivery. His fastball is blowing past Low-A hitters and his breaking ball is flashing plus two-plane movement and depth when Chalas finishes it. This is an exciting arm who is one of the quicker moving pitching prospects from the 2023 international amatuer class across all of baseball.

Rivera is a projectable speedster with a clean lefty swing. His footwork in the box isn’t always great, but Rivera’s hands are smooth and authoritative for an athlete his size. Among the 2024 international signees, Belfi has one of the better chances to retain his plus speed and stay in center field. His route to an everyday role is more likely to come via a balanced hit/power combo rather than a truly plus offensive tool. He signed for $1.8 million.

Ray only threw 31.1 innings (all in relief) in college because of a Tommy John surgery and entered the D-backs system as a tip-of-the-iceberg sort set to be developed as a starter. Ray dominated High-A and reached Double-A last year, his first full pro season. He ended up working 113.1 innings (more than double his 2022 output across Alabama, the Cape, and pro ball combined) and tallying 138 strikeouts and a 1.24 WHIP. Ray began 2024 on the 60-day IL with forearm tightness and hasn’t pitched as of list publication.

Ray’s repertoire is impressively deep for someone who hasn’t been starting for very long. He works a riding fastball (with as many as 20 inches of induced vertical break) at the letters and has a deep, vertical curveball that pairs well with the fastball. Last year he added a slider, which averages 8 mph of velo separation from his curveball and became Ray’s most used secondary pitch. He has very consistent glove-side command of the pitch, which garnered above-average rates of chase and miss last year, while his curveball was relegated to strike-stealing duty. But the biggest 2023 development for Ray was the emergence of his splitter as his best bat-misser. It has enough sink and tailing action that it misses bats despite often finishing in the meat of the zone.

He isn’t the caliber of athlete we typically associate with a starter, but the short-levered Ray has a consistent and repeatable arm stroke that gives him starter-quality control. Despite its carry, his fastball is a little too light to forecast him as an impact rotation arm but, other than his current injury, he’s a stable backend starter/swingman prospect in the Matt Andriese mold. Ray doesn’t have to be put on the 40-man until after the 2025 season, but the minute he shows he’s healthy and effective at Amarillo this year, he is effectively in big league range. For the next season and a half or so, he’s in position to provide injury depth without having to occupy a 40-man roster spot.

Alexander showed no ill effects from an early 2023 thumb injury and had another successful season at Triple-A Reno. He is now a career .276/.371/.454 hitter in the minors and had a hot 2024 spring training, which, along with Jordan Lawlar’s injury, helped him break camp with the major league club. Like Pavin Smith and Jake McCarthy, sudden buzz around Alexander should be taken with a healthy grain of salt. His tools are going to enable him to play a utility role, and he’s currently in a timeshare with Kevin Newman as a result of Arizona’s many injuries, but he probably isn’t a late-breaking everyday shortstop prospect.

Alexander has average raw power and is capable of doing extra-base damage the other way when he’s late on a pitch (which is fairly common). He also has plus plate discipline and an all-world arm (with inconsistent accuracy) that is often the difference between turning a double play or not. Where Alexander struggles is with contact. Despite his minor league batting average track record, Alexander’s late load and longer swing make him very vulnerable to high fastballs. He ran a 65% contact rate in 2023, which would rank him last among big league shortstops who saw at least 150 PA last season, right below Paul DeJong and Javier Báez, in large part because he swings underneath those heaters. Viable shortstops with this much power are valuable and Alexander is playing the injury stopgap role his tools suggest he should. His long-term ceiling is likely that of a bench utility infielder.

Hurley is in the Jake Fraley mold, a perhaps miscast center fielder who is otherwise pretty toolsy, plays hard, and projects as a part-time outfielder. Hurley is often a bit overzealous on the field, whether it’s what he decides to swing at or how often he decides to show off his arm. He can move the bat head all over the zone, it’s just that Hurley’s swing isn’t always well-connected when he does. He tends to poke grounders up the middle when pitchers locate at the bottom of the zone. He’s also a little bit chase prone, which impacts Hurley’s contact quality more than it causes him to swing and miss. At the top of the strike zone, he is dangerous to all fields.

Eric’s pre-draft eval thought Hurley ran well enough to stay in center field (at Virginia Tech, he ran some 4.00s with a jailbreak, usually a max-effort 4.15) and has the arm to be an all-around impact defender in right if he has to move. He’s played a lot of left field so far in 2024, which may partly be due to a minor leg injury (from which Hurley quickly returned) and the presence of developmental center fielder Andrew Pintar in Hillsboro. That’s a situation to monitor, but for now, Hurley remains projected as a viable center fielder. His approach creates some risk, as Hurley likes to swing, but lefty sticks with this kind of power/speed combo tend to find their way into an oft-used part-time role. Hurley projects as a modern fourth outfielder who gets 350 or so annual plate appearances as part of an effective timeshare.

Pintar had a rare power/speed combination for an up-the-middle college draft pick, especially one from a smaller program, but a shoulder injury that required multiple surgeries to correct caused him to miss most of his junior year and to fall in the draft. Healthy Pintar would run 4.10 home to first and hit searing doubles into the oppo gap. Back to start 2023, Pintar played at Visalia for just a couple of weeks before he got hurt again, this time rolling his ankle over a bunted ball. The ball slipped just under his glove as he bent to field it and rolled right beneath his foot. It was a gnarly, severe-looking injury to the foot/ankle that caused him to miss two and a half months.

His arm strength sapped from the shoulder issue, Pintar is realistically a second base-only defender on the infield. His speed gives him a shot to play center field and he’s now being developed there at High-A Hillsboro. He’s made some tough plays there despite his inexperience but at other times looks a bit tentative, as you might expect considering how recently he converted. Pintar’s time off may also cause him to be rusty on offense. His hands start and stop and start again, and his entire operation could use some smoothing out. The tools that made him a good college prospect are still here and injuries have just delayed the pace of his ascent, which was probably always going to come as a power-driven part-time outfielder.

Grice was an effective two-way player at Clemson and hit .288/.398/.560 during his career there, but when the Diamondbacks drafted him, he was announced exclusively as a pitcher. He struck out 101 hitters in 78 innings as a junior, mostly because of his secondary pitch quality. That has continued into the start of his pro career, as Grice is leading Arizona’s entire org in swinging strike rate even though his fastball continues to sit 90-91. Both Grice’s upper-70s slider and mid-80s changeup can miss a bat, but his slider is especially nasty, bending in with tight two-plane movement. At times, he shows obvious arm deceleration on his changeup, which might impact its performance against more experienced hitters who can spot it on release. It’s plausible that Grice could experience a velo bump as he focuses solely on pitching but that hasn’t happened so far, and he continues to carry his predraft back-of-the-rotation starter projection.

Catuy’s precocious center field defense and ideal physical projection make him a potential long-term power/glove dynamo. He slashed .288/.361/.441 in the 2023 DSL, stole 18 bases in 20 attempts, and only struck out 17.2% of the time. In his early 2024 backfield evaluation, Catuy, the youngest hitter on Arizona’s extended spring roster, has had a defense-first look. His reads and routes look easy and comfortable, as Catuy glides into the gaps and catches the baseball with uncommon ease. We haven’t really seen him turn on the jets and haul ass into the gaps yet, but his speed is evident on the bases. Catuy has nearly average bat speed, which is good for an 18-year-old with as much room for muscle as he has. His swing is pretty simple and not especially dynamic; he typically cuts through the middle of the zone with gentle loft and right now just looks like he’s trying to be on time. His swing could get more athletic and incorporate more movement as he gets comfortable with better pro stuff. This is a pretty exciting tools package without the overt bat-to-ball skill we want to see in order to stuff someone like this already.

Yan has had an uncharacteristically wild start to his 2024 season and a couple of nuclear meltdowns have him walking more than a batter per inning as of list publication. We’re chalking it up to early-season small sample and perhaps April temperatures and conditions in the Northwest, and aren’t making a change to his grade from last year. Yan is an extremely projectable low-slot righty with a sinking and tailing fastball and two secondary pitches that will flash plus. He’s only sitting in the upper-80s and low-90s, but he’s so lanky and loose that he might yet throw harder. The divergent lateral action of his fastball and slider is similar to Tanner Houck, though Yan doesn’t have that kind of arm speed. Guess wrong and you’re either whiffing at the slider, which at times has huge two-plane wipe, or the fastball is going to run into your knuckles mid-swing. The run on Yan’s heater isn’t crisp yet and it’s not nasty enough to be a good big league pitch at this velocity; he needs to throw harder. His changeup finish in inconsistent, but Yan is so loose and whippy that it’s very likely he’ll be able to sell it with his arm speed as he gets feel for it. He’s a good low-level starting pitching prospect who has the floor of a “look” reliever.

Hitt is a lefty with above-average breaking stuff who had Tommy John in April of 2023 prior to being drafted. As of 2024 list publication, he is still rehabbing. He had walk issues all three years of college, and his feel for release is not especially sharp, weirdly pushing back onto his tippy toe as his delivery finishes over his front side. Of course, Hitt didn’t have a ton of college reps as a starter. He was in the bullpen as a freshman and only made eight starts in 2023 before his elbow blew out. Healthy Hitt brings low-90s heat with a little bit of natural cut at times, not really missing bats at the top of the zone despite the vertical look of his slot. His breaking balls run the gamut from upper-80s cutters to mid-70s curveballs, all with bat-missing finish when located. He’s a breakout candidate if, during rehab, the D-backs find a way to make his fastball play a little better in the zone and can help a solidly average big league athlete (Hitt moves really well getting off the mound) with a typical frame and build find a way to have starter-quality command. He projects as a fifth starter, with fastball quality Hitt’s most influential developmental variable.

Cerda came over from Tampa Bay in the 2022 David Peralta trade. He’s a fiery on-field leader with enough impact tools to overcome what will probably be some pretty serious contact issues as a result of his low-ball swing. Cerda’s defense and arm strength (especially the latter) look better this year than in the past. He’s popping right around 1.90 pretty consistently, and usually on the bag. His is still not a great receiver, but he’s been slowly improving in this area for two years (he was pretty bad before the Peralta trade). His ball-blocking is still pretty bad and needs to improve.

Cerda checks a lot of the visual scouting boxes for a catcher with his big frame, on-field leadership (which is currently more about big energy than field awareness), and above-average bat speed, which makes Cerda a dangerous low-ball hitter. Cerda has also posted multiple years of high-end walk rates and his underlying data suggests he is indeed a very discerning hitter. His issues getting on top of pitches in the upper half of the zone will probably cause his walk rate to come down as he climbs the minors because pitchers have an area of the strike zone they can attack with impunity; they won’t need to nibble. This is a fair developmental catching prospect who has prospect clout due to industry inventory at his position. He’s probably going to be a very slow burn.

Santana looks a little heavy-footed on defense in the season’s early going, so while he has the arm to play third base, a lack of range has put him at risk of moving to first. He is otherwise a good power-hitting prospect with nearly average big league raw power right now. Aspects of Santana’s swing, which is like a choppier version of Julio Rodríguez’s, are poorly timed. He stops and starts, and lacks fluidity in the box. Santana does put quite a charge into the baseball and does so in a short mechanical distance. He’ll sizzle pitches in the upper two-thirds of the zone, but he has some issues getting to stuff at the bottom. He’s going to perform against low-level pitchers by virtue of his immense physical ability and be tested (and probably forced to adjust) by more mature arms. He projects as a J.D. Davis type of corner role player.

Jarvis has sustained the 2020 velocity spike that helped him become a first rounder and he should throw even harder now that he’s moved to the bullpen full-time in 2024. He’s sitting 96 early on, but the line on his fastball is hittable and it only missed bats at a 17% clip last season when he was sitting 94, mostly as a starter. Jarvis’ slider gives him one actual bat-missing pitch, but he needs to command it more consistently to avoid it getting whacked; it’s very vulnerable when it backs up on him, which is often. His starter pedigree and repertoire depth should allow him to play a low-leverage bulk relief role.

Among the most physically projectable athletes in the 2023 IFA class, Zapata is a typical Diamondbacks international prospect in the Alvin Guzman mold, with premium physical projection and hit tool risk. You can dream on how much power Zapata will grow into while also hoping that he’ll stay in center field, though his rocket arm will be an asset in right if he eventually has to move. He signed for just shy of $1 million and hit .254/.364/.522 in the 2023 DSL, but he did not come to the US for 2024 extended spring training and seems poised to spend at least part of another summer in the DSL. This is somewhat of a surprise given Zapata’s pedigree and surface performance, but his contact rate last year (only 62%) is fairly suspect and needs to improve. On tape Zapata is still not very strong with the bat. He takes a lot of long, awkward swings and looks stiff in the lower body. He’s a high-variance prospect still five years or so away. He remains in the same FV tier he was in last year, though he’s now preffed toward the bottom of it.

Albright is tracking like a post-2024 season 40-man add, missing bats at Double-A with his combination of deception and riding fastball life. He spent the entirety of the 2023 season in Amarillo’s starting rotation, tossing 112 frames with a 26.5% strikeout rate and a 13.4% walk rate on the way to a 5.46 ERA (windy Amarillo is tough on pitchers). He began the 2024 season back in the Double-A rotation but has recently started appearing out of the bullpen. He’s only sitting 92-93 mph, but he hides the baseball forever and generates nearly seven feet of extension. We like the athletic projection of Albright’s lean, high-waisted frame, which still has plenty of room for added weight, and especially in shorter relief bursts, he might throw harder. His fastball averaged 92.9 mph in 2023, but the offering’s above-average carry gives it a higher perceived velocity than its radar gun reading. Ultimately though, the offering plays closer to average overall due to the lack of control he has of the pitch. The headliner of Albright’s mix is a downer curveball that features plus sharpness to its break and has a significant velocity separation (79.5 mph in 2023) from his fastball. He’ll also show a cutter that has a tendency to back up on him and turn into a spinner. Some of those pitches still freeze opposing hitters, even when they back up. His volatile strike throwing ability will probably limit Albright’s ceiling to single-inning middle relief, where he’ll likely tap into a few extra ticks of velocity working in shorter bursts and lean heavily on his curveball.

Signed out of Mexico in December of 2023, Gutierrez looks like a fast-track middle reliever. He is commanding a 93-95 mph fastball to his arm side, a mid-80s slider to his glove side, and missing bats with a changeup that he has less consistent feel for. Undersized but athletic, Gutierrez’s delivery takes him directly to the plate and helps him fill the strike zone. He became more efficient in Mexico across the last couple of seasons as his innings count climbed, and his breaking ball looks like it has more depth now than when he was with Mazatlan. He doesn’t have late-inning stuff but should be a stable middle inning option in relatively short order.

The 2023 season felt like it was a step backwards for Walston. He threw 149.1 innings (a meaningful demonstration of durability) at Reno, but he struck out just 15.6% of batters and walked 14% while averaging only 91 mph on his fastball. As of this writing, Walston’s best average fastball in any of his 2024 starts has been 91.6 mph, while his worst has been 89.4 mph. Walston still has an uber-projectable frame, but he’s a below-average athlete and has had this level of arm strength for a while now. We saw more velocity from him during his senior year of high school and first year of pro ball, but we think this 90-91 mph version is more indicative of where he’ll be long-term. His fastball doesn’t have plus life or movement, which will force him to find a way to pitch around the offering as much as possible. Walston still has the two distinct breaking balls. His curveball will show both 12/6 and 1/7 shape with depth and average bite, while the slider will feature two-plane shape with average tightness. At times Walston’s changeup (83-87 mph) has late vertical depth that can slip under bats, but the pitch is also frequently devoid of any action at all and turns into a batting practice fastball. Without a significant velocity spike, Walston looks on track to be an up/down emergency starter or a bulk long-relief role. He was called up for the first time just before list publication.

Soler is a bat control wizard who hasn’t met a pitch he didn’t think he could hit, and a lot of the time he’s right. He posted the best combination of contact and power TrackMan data from Arizona’s 2023 DSL group, and while Soler presents an atypical athletic look and lacks physical projection (and probably a defensive position), he does have freaky feel for the barrel. Soler’s TrackMan data from last year is eye-popping. His contact rates (92% in-zone, 5% swinging strike) and measured power (31% hard-hit rate) are absurd given the context of his two-strike chase rate (55%!), and while all of that feels unsustainable, Soler has showed no signs of slowing down during 2024 extended spring training. He attacks pitches all over the place and sprays hard contact everywhere. Soler’s swing is very handsy — there isn’t a lot of athletic stuff happening with the rest of his body. This carries to defense, as he isn’t a very good third baseman. This feels like a Miguel Andujar skill set without quite the same level of bat speed. Righty-hitting corner profiles with this kind of plate discipline are dicey, but Soler does the thing we care about most very well (he hits), and it’s possible Arizona’s strength and conditioning program can help him improve some of the other areas of his game.

Patiño didn’t turn many heads with the bat in his hands in 2023, as he posted a .723 OPS as a 21-year-old playing primarily in the Northwest League, though he was 54-for-64 in stolen base attempts. He continues to develop as a defender in center field, where he projects to be a plus glove due to clean routes and the ability to go after balls in the gaps with controlled aggression. Offensively, he hits out of an upright, high-hands setup, and he utilizes a toe tap trigger that he has trouble getting on time with. He lacks comfort and consistency in his hacks. He has fringy bat speed and a flat path through the zone, which is reflected in his 58% groundball rate in 2023, and he generates below-average in-game power production. Patiño’s defensive chops and ability to swipe bags with plus speed has him tracking as a defensive specialist bench player who his manager can also utilize as a pinch-runner late in games.

Del Castillo raked as a freshman at Miami while playing some third base and right field in addition to catching. He followed that up with a good summer on Cape Cod and a strong start to his COVID-shortened 2020 sophomore year, then had a rough pre-draft spring and first full pro season before he rebounded in 2023 with a .263/.369/.445 slash line over 424 plate appearances at a combination of Amarillo and Reno.

Del Castillo has an all-fields-oriented approach with a bat path that is geared more for gap doubles than it is consistent over-the-wall juice. His stroke is more smooth than explosive. He can golf down-and-in pitches to his pull side and tends to work the oppo gap against fastballs that catch the meat of the plate. It’s fair plate coverage that’s bolstered a bit by a discerning eye for the zone, fine for a reserve catcher. On defense, Del Castillo is fair across the board. His arm strength is a tick below average, but his clean and consistent release allows him to produce average pop times with real feel for accuracy on his throws. His receiving around the edges of the strike zone is usually quiet and clean, and Del Castillo is a suitable ball-blocker when moves his feet, though he still tries to backhand pick too many pitches to his right. Without a plus tool on offense or defense, Del Castillo is more likely to be a third catcher on the 40-man who will try to earn a long-term backup job over time.

Giesting (rhymes with bee sting) was a young-for-the-class over-slot 11th rounder from UNC Charlotte who had some dominant outings late in the 2022 college season. He has a prototypical pitcher’s frame, a plus breaking ball, and he struck out a batter per inning last year despite his fastball only sitting about 88-92 mph. Giesting’s walks were inflated in 2023 and he’s back at Hillsboro to start 2024. His delivery is a little stiff and violent, and Eric had him projected as a reliever coming out of college. He’s still starting, but a lefty specialist type of role is Giesting’s most likely outcome.

Arizona’s big league injuries at shortstop have caused dominos to fall in such a way that Corniel was promoted from High- to Triple-A because he’s as sure handed a defender as the D-backs have in the org. He’s an average shortstop with a huge arm, and a plus glove at second and third base. For a little while in the low minors it looked like Corniel might develop enough of a bat to be a high-end utilityman, but he’s not once had an above-average offensive season in the minors. His contact ability is fine, it’s just that a majority of it is soft and on the ground. He’s going to be on and off big league rosters because of his defense à la Sergio Alcántara.

Fernandez is similar to former prospect, and current Reds Triple-A shortstop, Erik González. He has a glove-first skill set (his hands and actions are sensational) and a prototypical baseball frame that invites sizable power projection, but his feel to hit is not good. He’s late on lots of fastballs and has slightly worse-than-average breaking ball chase, really only able to damage hanging breakers. Because we’re talking about a plus infield defender who can play a premium position, Fernandez has likely big league utility, but his offense makes it tough to project him as anything more than a glove-oriented bench player.

D’Orazio was one of the two Players to Be Named Later who came back from Toronto in the 2021 Joakim Soria trade. He finished the 2023 season in Double-A Amarillo after a successful 67 game run in Hillsboro, and slashed .276/.333/.422 over 440 plate appearances between the two levels. D’Orazio has a simple swing that tends to work to the opposite field, and his in-game power will show up more in the form of oppo doubles than homers. On defense, he works bottom up with his glove, and his receiving ability has taken a noticeable step forward from years past, but he does have a tendency to get loud with his head movement trying to sell borderline pitches. His lateral blocking range suffers from his one-knee setup because of how wide and low he sits in the position, and he tries picking balls in the dirt a little too often, but it hasn’t hindered his ability to throw out baserunners, which he did 27% of the time last season. We love his footwork on defense, which is a big part of his success in controlling the run game. If he outperforms our offensive projections, then he’ll be a good backup catcher, but it’s more likely he ends up in a up/down third catcher role.

Castillo is a big-framed, defense-oriented catching prospect with middling bat speed. He’s a skilled and dynamic receiver who’ll go to one knee while he receives the pitch rather than start on one knee and remain static. His size and comfort back there are both very promising, while Castillo’s arm strength and accuracy are solid. He needs to improve as a ball-blocker, but he’s only 19 and has the frame to absorb errant pitches. On offense, Castillo has a swing driven by his bottom hand and doesn’t do a ton of damage. At his age and size, he has a chance to develop more power, but realistically he’s a good backup catching prospect.

A walk-prone relief prospect at High-A in 2023, Morrillo was recently rehabbing in Arizona and appeared totally healthy; he was also working on a split/change in the 88-91 mph range that he hasn’t really thrown in the past. Morillo has been sitting 95-97 and peaking at 98 in extended spring training, often with some natural cut. His 85-88 mph slider has variable shape but usually moves enough to be effective. This is a central casting middle reliever whose stuff plays down a bit due to poor control.

Alpuria is one of the couple of 2023 D-backs DSL hitters who have come to the U.S. for 2024 extended spring/FCL action. He’s a very athletic center fielder with plus speed and a messy, high-effort swing. Many of Alpuria’s hacks are out of control, but his explosion and bat speed, as well as an effective bat path, are all evident. Alpuria has the speed to play center field, but his reps there are limited by the presence of other young potential center fielders, most notably Pedro Catuy. For now, Alpuria is a tooled up dev project with pretty substantial hit tool risk. On our end, there’s more scouting work to do on his defense, which is probably going to be an important aspect of his profile.

Melendez has one of the most impressive physiques in baseball and the power to match. He has titanic, plus-plus raw juice that plays to all fields, the kind of pop where he doesn’t even have to get all of it to hit a ball out. After he wasn’t drafted high enough to sign in 2021, Melendez returned to Texas in 2022, cut his strikeout rate from 26% to 16%, led the NCAA in homers, and won the Golden Spikes Award. He began the 2023 season at High-A and had graduated to Double-A by the end of the year. In 426 plate appearances between the two levels, he ran a 34.3 strikeout rate and only a 7.3 walk rate but was still able to produce a .272/.345/.578 slash line.

Once a catcher, Melendez is now playing both corner infield spots. In the early going of 2024, he is still mostly playing third base, but his hands and fall-down range are clearly better suited for first, where he presents a huge target and is great at stretching for throws that end up short of the bag. Because he’s played other spots and missed most of 2020, his long-term ceiling as a first base defender could be very high once he focuses solely on the position. In the box, Melendez works out of a slightly open stance with a high-hands setup. He has a simple leg lift stride, and a profile that’s oriented more to bat strength than bat speed. His bat path has significant loft and length to it, and because he doesn’t have above-average bat speed, he consistently gets beat by velocity that’s not down in the zone and right into his path. His below-average plate discipline (34.8% chase in 2023) and on-base ability mean nearly all of his value relies on his game power, which is hard to see him fully tapping into because of the hit tool and plate discipline issues. Melendez profiles as a power-oriented bat who’ll be relegated to a bench role due to his lack of hit and/or on-base ability and his limited defensive value.

Roberts and the D-backs should keep trying like hell to improve his defense behind the plate, because Roberts’ bat would be meaningfully good if it turns out he can. He didn’t catch very much in college, in part because of the pandemic. His reps back there have increased to about 30 starts per season each of the last two years while Roberts has played a myriad of other (mostly corner) positions. So far in 2024 Robert is splitting time evenly between catcher and DH, and nothing else. He is still pretty rough back there in all facets of catching defense. Roberts is a career .252/.362/.431 hitter in the minors. His hitting hands have real life to them and he’s a dangerous all-fields hitters in the middle two-thirds of the zone, but he doesn’t cover the outer third as well. Ideally Roberts will improve enough as a catcher to play a David Fry type of role where he catches once in a while but is also deployed at a corner position or two.

Vukovich spent all of 2023 in Amarillo, where he hit 24 home runs and went 20-for-29 in stolen base attempts while posting an .818 OPS as a 21-year-old. But there were some red flags, such as a strikeout rate that approached 30% (28.4%) and a limited number of walks (9.1% walk rate). The experiment that saw him transition from third base to center field last year seems to be over, and Vuk has been playing the corner outfield in 2024. He’s still a big, strong, athletic looking mover, but a righty-hitting corner profile like this needs more actualized offense. Vukovich is grounder-prone even though his swing looks like it should be producing lift. His middling plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills give him a bunch of tools that appear to be settling south of average, limiting him to a post-hype bounce back valuation here.

Saalfrank played a meaningful bullpen role for the Diamondbacks during the stretches of 2023 when he was throwing strikes. He has a pretty standard low-leverage lefty relief fastball/curveball combination when he’s going good. Deception and extension helped his 2023 fastball play better than its 91-93 mph velocity, but his heater is down two ticks at the start of 2024, and so far, that pitch is missing bats at one-third the rate it did last year. His low-80s curveball is still getting results. A lack of control was probably going to limit Saalfrank to up/down duty anyway and now his waning velo adds an element to the profile that needs to rebound for him to be rostered comfortably. He was optioned to Reno just before list publication.

Steinmetz is still in a holding pattern as a somewhat young, big-framed developmental project. While he was still reaching back for 95-96 on occasion in 2023, he more often sat 90-92 with poor control. His size and the natural length of his breaking ball continue to make him a good prospect to monitor, but until he throws strikes for a sustained period of time and leaves Low-A (where he’s assigned again to start 2024), this is where he’ll reside on our Arizona pref list.

Isea was the closer on Arizona’s runner-up Complex League team in 2023. He’s an erratic relief prospect with among the best arm strength in the system. There are times when Isea will reach back for more velocity when he gets frustrated with himself, the umpire, etc. He was living at 96-97 during an outing last year and then, after getting squeezed on a call, he suddenly reached back for 101 on his next pitch (multiple radar guns showed 101). Isea also has a slider and splitter, but he struggles to get into the counts when they can be deployed comfortably, and both of those pitches tend to sail on him. He’s a dev project with arm strength at the bottom of the system.