Here are the Arizona Fall League's top Statcast performers

This fall, for the first time, the majority of Arizona Fall League stadiums are outfitted with Statcast technology. That enables us to peek under the hood and get a better sense of how some of the game’s best prospects are performing on the annual elite prospect circuit.

With that in mind, we decided it was a good time to take a closer look at those numbers and highlight the Statcast standouts from the first three weeks of fall ball.

Top exit velocities:

1. 119.5 mph – Kemp Alderman, MIA No. 12 (Home run)
2. 117.2 mph – DJ Gladney, CWS (Home run)
3. 116.8 mph – Alderman (Home run)
4. 115.8 mph – Otto Kemp, PHI No. 28 (Groundout)
5. 115.8 mph – Xavier Isaac, TB No. 2/MLB No. 36 (Home run)

Alderman got off to a walloping start with five homers in the first week of the campaign, and his 119.5 mph, 443-foot homer on Oct. 18 was the piece de resistance of that stretch. It was the hardest-hit ball by any Minor League player in a Statcast game this entire season, including in Triple-A and Florida State League games. Alderman’s also stands as the hardest-hit Statcast ball in Arizona Fall League history.

Top average exit velocities:
Min. 15 tracked batted balls

1. 95.8 mph -- Kemp
2. 95.5 mph -- Colt Emerson, SEA No. 1/MLB No. 27
3. 95.4 mph -- Creed Willems, BAL No. 22
4. 95.0 mph -- Alejandro Osuna, TEX No. 16
5. 94.1 mph -- Chase DeLauter, CLE No. 2/MLB No. 41

The names atop this list make sense. Kemp has been one of the AFL’s hottest hitters, while Emerson had about as good of a start to the season as a player can have. Emerson amassed 19 hits over his first 12 games (.358 average), including five in his debut on Oct. 8. Kemp, meanwhile, had four home runs and a .310/.488/.759 slash line through his first 10 games.

Top fastball velocities:

1. 101.8 mph -- Luis Mey, CIN
2. 101.7 mph -- Mey
3. 101.7 mph -- Mey
4. 101.6 mph -- Mey
5. 101.5 mph -- Mey

The 23-year-old Mey is turning heads as the Fall League’s most electric closer for Glendale. He doesn’t only own the five hardest-tracked fastballs, he owns the top 16. No other player has eclipsed triple digits from the mound this fall other than Mey.

Top average fastball velocities:
Min. 35 tracked 4-seamers/sinkers

1. 99.6 mph -- Mey
2. 97.5 mph -- Connor Phillips, CIN No. 15
3. 97.0 mph -- Andrew Painter, PHI No. 2/MLB No. 32
4. 96.5 mph -- Allan Hernandez, CLE
5. 96.3 mph -- Carlos Lagrange, NYY

The takeaway here is how encouraging this is for Painter, who returned to the Fall League for his first taste of competitive pitching after undergoing Tommy John surgery in early 2023. The 21-year-old was one of the most dominant pitchers in the Minors before the surgery, and he's proving he still possesses that kind of high-octane stuff as he gets his footing this fall.

Top average spin rates (breaking balls):
Min. 15 tracked breaking pitches

1. 2,950 rpm -- Eric Adler, CWS (curveball)
2. 2,884 rpm -- Gabe Mosser, SD (slider)
3. 2,838 rpm -- Adam Maier, ATL No. 17 (curveball)
4. 2,832 rpm -- Luinder Avila, KC No. 26 (slider)
5. 2,779 rpm -- Zak Kent, CLE (curveball)

The 22-year-old Maier entered the Fall League as a bit of an unknown quantity, with only 83⅓ career innings under his belt. Seems like that curveball of his legit. Avila ranked second in total innings through the first three weeks of fall play. Adler, meanwhile, is a reliever who spent most of the year at Double-A Birmingham.

Highest max sprint speeds (individual runs):

1. 31.0 ft/sec -- Kristian Robinson, AZ
2. 30.7 ft/sec -- Douglas Hodo III, BAL
3. 30.6 ft/sec -- Andrew Pintar, MIA No. 18
4. 30.3 ft/sec -- Ben Ross, MIN
5. 30.0 ft/sec -- Sean McLain, LAD

These are individual runs, not averages of a small percentage of each player’s best runs, which is how Statcast measures average sprint speed for Major Leaguers. But for context, Bobby Witt Jr. led all MLB players in that category this season at 30.5 ft/sec, and only seven players averaged speeds greater than 30 ft/sec. All five of these individual runs cleared that bar, meaning at the very least, these five dudes can fly.

Top personal-best home-to-first times (individual runs):

1. 4.08 seconds -- Tyler Callihan, CIN
2. 4.09 seconds -- David Mershon, LAA
3. 4.12 seconds -- Caleb Durbin, NYY
4. 4.15 seconds -- Nathan Church, STL
5. 4.17 seconds -- Douglas Hodo III, BAL

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Top personal-best pop times (to 2B):

1. 1.75 seconds -- Antonio Gomez, NYY
2. 1.84 seconds -- Ethan Salas, SD No. 1/MLB No. 19
3. 1.85 seconds -- Leonardo Bernal, STL No. 9
4. 1.85 seconds -- Carter Jensen, KC No. 5
5. 1.85 seconds -- Collin Price, HOU

Gomez, a 22-year-old backstop in the Yankees system, holds the five highest individual pop times so far in the AFL. But for variety’s sake, here are five different names with each player's best individual throw on this list. For context, 1.75 seconds to second base is really good for a pop time. In the big leagues in 2024, J.T. Realmuto, Korey Lee and Patrick Bailey tied for the fastest average pop time to second at 1.85 sec.

Highest max arm strength (individual throws):

1. 95.5 mph -- Brett Squires, KC
2. 94.4 mph -- Pintar
3. 93.9 mph -- Gabriel Rincones Jr., PHI No. 11
4. 93.8 mph -- Callihan
5. 93.5 mph -- Garrett Martin, NYY

Whether from the mound, the outfield or the dirt, 95.5 mph is pretty good. Squires is an infielder in the Royals system. Only one Major League infielder, Pittsburgh’s Oneil Cruz, averaged harder throws over the 2024 season. Pintar has emerged as a breakout offensive performer this fall, but he’s showing off some defensive tools too. The outfielder might deserve an upgrade from his arm's current 40 grade.

MLB.com analysts David Adler and Jason Bernard contributed to this report.