Padres' De Vries youngest to homer in Fall League since Harper

Leodalis De Vries hasn't completed a full year as a professional yet, but he has already amassed an astounding list of firsts and the “youngest-to” designations in 2024.

During Peoria’s 12-5 loss to Surprise on Thursday afternoon at the Peoria Sports Complex, he added another:

Youngest player to homer in the Arizona Fall League since Bryce Harper in 2010.

At 18 years and 20 days old, De Vries entered elite company on the prospect showcase scene as he jogged around the bases during his first fall roundtripper. Just five players have homered during an age-18 Fall League stint, including De Vries' teammate Ethan Salas (SD No. 1/MLB No. 19). Harper nudged De Vries by six days, homering when he was 18 years and 14 days old.

The latest addition to that rarified air was no wallscrapper either.

Facing Guardians right-hander Zak Kent (a hurler more than eight years his senior), De Vries worked the count to 2-2 before unleashing his crisp left-handed swing on a hanging curveball. The ball traveled a Statcast-projected 415 feet and left his bat at 104.4 mph, his third hit in the past seven days to produce an exit velocity north of 100 mph.

That De Vries is still playing baseball at this time of the year is a testament to his competitiveness. While spending the entire 2024 season at Single-A Lake Elsinore (bypassing the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League and the Arizona Complex League), De Vries was more than four years younger than his average competitor. That number has been bumped up to more than five years in the AFL.

The 17-year-old acclimated to the rigors of pro ball after an understandable adjustment period, and things began to click as the season wore on. De Vries slashed .318/.442/.694 with eight homers in July, and maybe most impressively for a player the same age as a high school senior, he walked as many times as he struck out (18). But he jammed his right shoulder on a late-season dive for a ground ball, and his first year appeared over -- until the Fall League arrived.

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“That guy wants to win more than anybody,” Lake Elsinore and Fall League teammate Harry Gustin said of De Vries. “He's a great teammate to have. I would not like to face him.”

While it will be nearly impossible to replicate Harper’s overall success from his 2010 AFL run (a .343/.410/.629 slash line across nine games), De Vries continues to prove his advanced gifts were worthy of the hype of being the No. 1 international prospect in 2024.

• 2025 Top 50 International Prospects per MLB Pipeline

Seven years ago, Julio Rodríguez was an advanced prospect from the Dominican Republic; he made it to the Fall League more than two years later. The most recent player to get consistent action in the AFL as an 18-year-old, the Mariners star could be providing a road map for the Padres’ No. 2 prospect -- one that De Vries might breeze right on past.