Recapping Week 1 of the 2025 Arizona Fall League Season

The first week of the 2025 Arizona Fall League season is in the books. As far as the standings go, Surprise (3-0) and Peoria (3-1) are in the top two of the league. And, pitchers from both teams made impacts during the first week.

Espino strikes out two in scoreless outing

Guardians pitching prospect Daniel Espino started on October 7 for Surprise, marking his second appearance in an in-game setting this season. This one went much better, compared to his lone outing in Triple-A Columbus when he gave up three earned runs and couldn’t get out of one inning.

Espino threw a scoreless inning against Mesa for Surprise and struck out two. The right-hander netted five swinging strikes and three called strikes.

As for the velocity, Espino peaked at 99 MPH but sat in the 97 MPH range.

Lowder makes up for lost time

Reds pitcher Rhett Lowder struck out three over two scoreless innings for Peoria this past week. As noted in our prospect watch list last week, Lowder didn’t pitch in the Majors this season thanks to forearm and oblique injuries.

Lowder only gave up one quality batted ball, which turned into a double courtesy of Jack Hurley. He topped out at 96 MPH but sat mostly in the 93-95 MPH range.

Neely makes pro debut

Red Sox pitching prospect Brandon Neely made his first pro appearance with the organization after missing all of 2025 on the injured list. Neely struck out one and gave up two hits across three innings. He surrendered two runs with Salt River but neither was an earned run.

Neely didn’t elicit a swing-and-miss. However, he picked up nine called strikes. The former Florida product sat in the low-to-mid-90s with his sinker.

The hardest thrower award belongs to…

Cubs relief pitcher JP Wheat.

Wheat, a 16th-round pick by the Cubs in 2025, clocked in at 102 MPH with a two-seamer on October 10. The 23-year-old is Rule 5-eligible this fall but the righty has been dogged by walk problems. And in his lone outing for Mesa this past week, Wheat walked three and gave up four runs,

Aside from Wheat, Braves pitching prospect Jhoncarlos Lara, Red Sox prospect Luis Perales, and high-end Astros prospect Anderson Brito were among the notable names to get to triple-digits down in Arizona.

Righty Tyler Cleveland (Mariners) and left-hander Zander Sechrist (Twins), meanwhile, had the slowest fastballs. The two operated as low as 84 MPH.

Statistical standouts

Here’s a look at notable performers from Week 1:

• P Luis De Leon (PEJ/BAL): seven strikeouts, 0.00 ERA over four innings
• P David Hagaman (SRR/TEX): five strikeouts, 0.00 ERA over three innings
• P Hagen Smith (GDD/CHW): four strikeouts, 0.00 ERA over three innings
• INF Cutter Coffey (GDD/TOR): six hits, 1.038 OPS over three games
• INF Seaver King (SCO/WSH): five hits, one home run, six RBI over three games
• C Owen Ayers (MSS/CHC): five hits, one home run, 1.447 OPS over three games
• C Walker Janek (SCO/HOU): five hits, 1.174 OPS over three games
• OF Wuilfredo Antunez (SUR/CLE): two home runs, 2.071 OPS over two games
• OF Esmerlyn Valdez (SRR/PIT): two home runs, six walks over three games