IBC

1. Sam Antonacci, 2B, White Sox

Team: Glendale Desert Dogs
Age: 22
Why He’s Here: .692/.765/.923 (9-for-13), 5 R, 0 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 4 BB, 2 SO, 5-for-6 SB

The Scoop: While Antonacci may lack the prototypical power of an AFL standout, his blend of contact, approach and speed was very much on display last week. The 22-year-old was an impossible out, as he reached base in 13 of his 17 trips to the batter’s box. Once on base, he put his wheels to good use, stealing five bases. The former Coastal Carolina standout enjoyed a breakout season in 2025, hitting .291/.433/409 with 48 stolen bases across 116 games. Antonacci lacks the impact typical of an everyday regular, but he’s showing a nice combination of plate skills and speed that could soon earn him opportunities in the majors. (GP)

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... -10-27-25/

Milwaukee Brewers

Marco Dinges, C

Drafted out of Florida State in the fourth round in 2024, Dinges is talented hitting catcher with an outside shot to stick behind the plate long term.

Dinges put himself on the prospect radar this season with a strong performance across Low-A and High-A, hitting a combined .300/.416/.514 with 13 home runs over 77 games. There is some swing-and-miss in his game, as he ran a 21% in-zone whiff rate this season and could see that number climb when he reaches the upper minors.

Despite the hit tools concerns, Dinges shows plus game power with an encouraging blend of plus exit velocity data and good launch angles. His 107.2 mph 90th percentile EV places him among the top 95% of hitters in the minor leagues.

As an above-average hitting catcher, if Dinges can replicate his 2025 production next season at Double-A or higher, he could jump into Top 100 conversations.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... 0d01561394

According to his manager, Troy Melton will be a starter.

Melton will not have to handle another move next year. And as the Tigers revisit questions about their rotation for next season, Melton — who totaled 129 1/3 innings in the Minors, regular season and playoffs — is a potentially big part.

“He’s a starter,” Hinch said.

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/mining-the-news-10-29-25/

Of all the moves the Tigers made leading up to the Trade Deadline three months ago, one of the most impactful involved a player already on the roster.

Scott Harris didn’t have to give up anything to get reliever Troy Melton -- except starter Troy Melton. The shift in role, made after just two starts for Detroit, shaped how Harris attacked the Deadline, from the starters he added -- Chris Paddack was acquired the day of Melton’s second start, with Charlie Morton coming a few days later -- to the relievers he added (Kyle Finnegan, Rafael Montero, Paul Sewald, Codi Heuer) and didn’t add.

“We realized that one of our better relievers might be Troy Melton,” Harris, the Tigers’ president of baseball operations, said at the time. “We should give him a chance to be there.”

In providing that chance, the Tigers opted for Melton over potential trades that likely would’ve required giving up Melton, who rose through the Tigers’ farm system and became a popular name in trade talks.

“It was a big need for us to add more swing-and-miss to our 'pen,” Harris said last week. “And we had a young player with high-octane stuff that could pitch in a multi-inning role, get some really big outs for us and [bring] a new dynamic to [manager A.J. Hinch’s] 'pen, so that when he looked down on the card, he had multiple paths to get to the finish line.”

How did it turn out? There were times that the Tigers badly missed Melton as a starter, a loss exacerbated by the struggles of Paddack and Morton. The lack of rotation depth played a role in Detroit’s late-season collapse, and it was notable that the Tigers called on Melton for a spot start in Cleveland in the final week of the regular season to help shore up a postseason spot.

While Melton posted a 2.14 ERA over the final two months, allowing just 19 hits over 33 2/3 innings, he wasn’t quite as much of a swing-and-miss pitcher in relief as he was as a starter. But come the postseason, Melton’s versatility was a big reason the Tigers came as close to an ALCS berth as they did.

After giving up four runs in his lone appearance in the AL Wild Card Series against the Guardians, taking the loss in Game 2, Melton pitched in three of five games against the Mariners in the Division Series. His four-inning start helped the Tigers take the series opener in Seattle. His three scoreless innings of relief in Game 4 bridged the gap from Finnegan to closer Will Vest and earned Melton the win that helped force Game 5, where he pitched a scoreless 10th inning.

Melton delivered eight innings of one-run ball against Seattle with three walks and eight strikeouts. Only Finnegan pitched in more games in the series, and only Tarik Skubal pitched more innings.

As Harris tackled questions about their Trade Deadline strategy last week at the Tigers’ end-of-season media session, Melton was a move he felt good about.

“He got really big outs for us,” Harris said last week, “and he handled the transition from the rotation to the 'pen as seamlessly as any young player we have seen since I’ve been here.”

Take Finnegan out of the equation, and Melton delivered more postseason appearances and innings than the rest of the Tigers’ trade acquisitions combined. He also, Harris strongly hinted, outpitched some of the pitchers the Tigers could have traded Melton to get.

“I would tell you that the players that were most closely connected to us via the media would have cost either a player on our postseason roster, plus additional pieces, or one of our top prospects plus additional pieces,” Harris said. “In some cases, with those deals that were most closely connected to us, those players -- some of them -- didn’t perform at all down the stretch, would’ve been a free agent in two months and would have cost a player on our postseason roster that actually performed better than the player we [would have] acquired ...

“I don’t regret those deals at all. I actually am proud of our group for evaluating the players we had well and thinking, ‘Hey, these players are going to help us this year and in the future, and get some really big outs for us in the postseason.”

Melton will not have to handle another move next year. And as the Tigers revisit questions about their rotation for next season, Melton -- who totaled 129 1/3 innings in the Minors, regular season and playoffs -- is a potentially big part.

“He’s a starter,” Hinch said.

https://www.mlb.com/news/troy-melton-ex ... s-rotation

Here’s a look at several other Giants prospects who could be poised to make big leaps in the years to come:

C Jesus Rodriguez (No. 15)

Rodriguez -- another Trade Deadline acquisition -- showed off his intriguing bat-to-ball skills by hitting .322 with an .800 OPS and two home runs over 39 games at Triple-A Sacramento this year. He saw limited time behind the plate due to a shoulder injury. The 23-year-old Venezuelan doesn’t have a ton of catching experience since he has bounced around defensively in the Minors, but the Giants believe he has the ability to stick there in the long run, which could put him in the mix to serve as the Major League backup next year.

“I think we were all pleasantly surprised by the way he caught behind the plate,” Winn said. “I think it’s just kind of getting reps. I thought he did a nice job framing. I thought he did a nice job calling the games in terms of reading swings and making adjustments.”

https://www.mlb.com/giants/news/giants- ... ch-in-2026

The ball flies in Arizona. Prospects love hitting in the thin air, as they're perpetually rewarded for tapping into loft and crushing pitches a long ways. But sometimes, you have to get creative.

Dante Nori's first Fall League home run during Surprise's 8-0 win over Salt River at Salt River Fields on Thursday night traveled 414 feet off the bat ... and then a whole bunch more in the direction from whence it came after it caromed off the top of the right-center-field fence. Somehow, some way, despite coming off the bat at 101.8 mph with a 29-degree launch angle, the ball stayed in the yard. So Nori, the Phillies' No. 6 prospect, took things into his own hands.

"As soon as it left the bat, I knew it had a chance," said Nori. "I was like, 'I don't know if it'll barely squeak out.' I hit it to the deepest part of the ballpark, but I knew I got it. All of a sudden, it just hit off the wall and I was halfway to second. I saw where the ball was. It was no man's land, so I was like, 'All right, here we go.'"

Nori logged a 29.5 ft/sec sprint speed (anything at 30 and above is considered "elite"), his 13th time doing so in the AFL and fifth in the past week. Despite a relatively modest home-to-first time of 4.69 seconds (maybe somewhat understandable after thinking he likely had a home run off the bat), Nori wound up circling the bags in just 14.76 seconds.

Only Boston's Jarren Duran (14.71 seconds) posted a faster home-to-home time during the 2025 Major League season. Zooming out further, since 2019, just a handful of the big league's premier speedsters -- Pete Crow-Armstrong, Bobby Witt Jr., Corbin Carroll, Byron Buxton, TJ Friedl and Duran -- have posted faster marks on inside-the-park homers.

Buildings in the greater Philadelphia area bear the name Albert Einstein, who is credited with the saying, "nobody achieves anything alone." Such was the case for Nori, who needed to rely upon Surprise manager and third-base coach Jesus Azuaje for word on whether or not he should go for his first inside-the-park home run in as long as he can remember.

"Halfway to third, I look up and I see Skip giving me the round, so I was like, 'Let's try it,'" Nori said.

Nori slid safely under the relay throw on a bang-bang play at the plate. He needed each tenth and hundredth of his 14.76-second mad dash.

Nori is not known for his home run pop. He collected 127 hits across 125 regular-season games between Single-A Clearwater, High-A Jersey Shore and Double-A Reading this season, just four of which went over the fence. But his wheels have long earned him recognition. He finished tied for third in all of the Minors with 12 triples and placed second in the Phillies’ system with 52 stolen bases, trailing only No. 2 prospect Aidan Miller (59).

The 21-year-old first reported to spring camp in Clearwater, Fla., in February. Even after a minor injury sidelined him early on in the Fall League, he had no intention of packing his bags and calling it a year. It's month No. 10 of baseball for the 2024 first-rounder, who has his eyes already locked on everything that's to come next.

"You know, I was very satisfied with the year I had," said Nori. "Three levels in one year, [my] first [full] professional year, so it was a success by itself alone. To finish out here just playing with the boys and just having some fun was very important to me to finish the year strong."

https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/phillies- ... e-coverage

5. Troy Melton, RHP, 25, 6’4”/210, MLB

Melton was an unheralded prospect out of San Diego State who landed in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. Pitching just five innings that season after the draft, Melton came into 2023 without much hype, but that began to change as he pitched at a high level in Single-A before improving even more in High-A. The 2024 season was a big drop-off, but Melton rebounded in a huge way in 2025.

After tossing 75.1 Minor League innings with a sub-three ERA, Melton earned a promotion to Detroit, where he dominated in his 45.2 innings there and even made two playoff appearances.

The fastball sits around 97 mph, touching 100 with 16+ inches of IVB and seven inches of horizontal movement. Melton locates it well up in the zone and throws it for strikes at a high rate while throwing from a lower 5’5” release height and nearly seven feet of extension. He also mixes in a two-seamer in the mid-90s and a cutter around 91 mph.

Melton’s slider sits in the mid-80s with nearly ten inches of sweeping action and good depth. The curveball generates more sweeping action, sitting in the upper-70s with a true two-plane break. Melton’s split-changeup shows nice fading action with low spin, diving off late and generating whiffs.

A heavy strike thrower, Melton pounds the zone with each of his pitches, which led to a 66 percent strike rate, showing above-average control. It showed in the walk rate as he walked just 6.5 percent of hitters he faced in the minors, which jumped to 8.3 percent in the majors. The stuff is there for Melton to be a mid-rotation starter.

FFG: SP4

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: 160 IP/3.40 ERA/170 K

Variance: High

Buy/Sell: Buy

https://www.thedynastydugout.com/p/detr ... 75a9d34b88

White Sox general manager Chris Getz told reporters that Grant Taylor is expected to work as a multi-inning reliever in 2026.

Taylor forged a 4.91 ERA and 54/15 K/BB over his 36 2/3 innings with the White Sox in 2025. The right-hander has the stuff to be a starter, but it sounds like Chicago is more comfortable using him out of the bullpen at this stage of his career. Unless it’s pitching at the end of games, there’s very little fantasy appeal; even with the ability to miss bats.

https://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/grant-taylor/271790

Blue Jays: Victor Arias, OF (No. 9)

It’s taken Arias a little while to get going, spending two summers in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League and not gaining much traction until 2024, when he posted an OPS of .833 across two levels of A ball. He got off to a hot start back with High-A Vancouver to start 2025, but managed just a .624 OPS in 33 Double-A games. There’s upside here, but he might be too far away to have to worry about protecting him at this time.

Royals: Gavin Cross, OF (No. 24)

This isn’t what the Royals had in mind when they took Cross with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2022 Draft. He spent his second straight year at Double-A and has a career .747 OPS to go along with a strikeout rate around 26 percent. It remains to be seen whether his hot July and August this past year (.301/.370/.528) provided enough hope to earn him a roster spot.

Nationals: Tyler Stuart, RHP (No. 28)

Stuart led the Minors with a 2.20 ERA in 2023 and went from the Mets to the Nationals in exchange for Jesse Winker at the 2024 Trade Deadline. He battled elbow issues for much of 2025 before having Tommy John surgery in August, which figures to sideline him for all of next season. When healthy, he leans heavily on an 82-85 mph slider that he sets up with a 92-95 mph sinker.

https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/toughest- ... e-coverage

Peyton Pallette, RHP

After their pitching development took a step forward this year, the White Sox have a crowded group of intriguing arms eligible for Rule 5 protection. Pallette sits in the second tier of that group. Drafted in the second round in 2022 as a starter, he’s now a full-time reliever who split the season between Double-A and Triple-A. Pallette was solid early but struggled following a late-May promotion, seeing his strikeout rate dip by more than 10 percentage points and his groundball rate cut in half.

His fastball sits in the mid-90s but has long been hittable, and he’s relied more on his secondaries. In Triple-A, he still threw his fastball just over 50% of the time, but its generic shape limited effectiveness. His secondaries—a high-spin curveball, changeup and slider—all generated whiff rates above 35%. As we’ve seen in the playoffs, MLB teams want velocity and fastballs that miss bats out of the bullpen, so Palette might not be an ideal fit, but his combination of pedigree, performance and secondaries will force the White Sox to think long and hard.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... -mlb-team/

10. Cristofer Torin, SS

Ht: 5'10" | Wt: 155 | B-T: R-R

Age: 20
BA Grade/Risk: 45/Average

Adjusted Grade: 40

Track Record: When he signed out of Venezuela for $240,000 in January 2022, Torin was an advanced defender whose actions in the field were reminiscent of Javier Baez, who happened to be his favorite player as a kid. Torin is still regarded as a strong defender and a likely shortstop by most, but he also has shown a knack for putting together tough at-bats, making contact and making winning plays. After a rough season at the plate for Low-A Visalia in 2024, he bounced back in 2025, hitting .291, primarily for High-A Hillsboro, while adding nearly 50 points in slugging despite playing at a higher level.

Scouting Report: Starting with a slightly closed stance before striding to neutral, Torin generates a simple righthanded swing geared for contact. He has a low chase rate and a low whiff rate, particularly on pitches in the zone. He shows good game awareness at the plate with things like a two-strike approach and knowing when to sell out on an aggressive swing. Torin walks about as much as he strikes out, but he doesn’t hit balls hard consistently, raising questions about his ultimate impact. He hit six home runs in 2025 and likely will struggle to reach double digits in the majors. Torin is a smooth shortstop with good hands and a strong arm. Evaluators were worried he might have to move off the position because of his short, thick build, but those concerns have quieted as he has stayed on top of his conditioning and looks more athletic. He also plays second base. Torin is a below-average runner.

The Future: Whether Torin hits enough to be a big league regular remains to be seen, but even if his outcome is more of a Miguel Rojas utility type, many evaluators see a decent likelihood that he enjoys a long career in the majors.

Scouting Grades Hit: 55 | Power: 30 | Run: 40 | Field: 60 | Arm: 60.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/teams/2 ... =preseason

Nestor German pitched like a future rotation candidate in 2025

The former 11th-round draft pick checked a lot of developmental boxes in a season that saw him pitch at three minor league levels.

Under Mike Elias, the Orioles are yet to invest major assets into big league pitching. Yes, they made the trade for Corbin Burnes heading into 2024, and they have ponied up some cash for one-year free agent deals, but those are relatively low stakes in the modern game. Pair that with a draft strategy that prioritizes hitters above pitchers, and you have a rather narrow lane for dependable mound work in Baltimore. If that approach is going to work, they will need to routinely transform flawed, late-round talents into contributors at the highest level. Nestor German is proving to be a great test case.

German was selected out of Seattle University with the 331st overall pick (11th round) of the 2023 draft. His junior (and final) season at Seattle saw him compile a 5.97 ERA and a 1.430 WHIP with 74 strikeouts over 78.1 innings, most of those frames coming as a starter. It was rough, but the Orioles were intrigued enough by his jump in velocity and prototypical size (6-foot-3, 225 pounds) to make the pick. Two years later it is looking like a wise choice.

In 2024, German pitched at two levels. Between Low-A Delmarva and High-A Aberdeen, he had a 1.59 ERA and struck out 90 across 73.2 innings. His velocity increased and his reportoire evolved. Here is his writeup from FanGraphs:

In his first pro season, he enjoyed a velo bump and sat more 93-95, added a second breaking ball to his mix, and increased his split/change usage compared to college. Each of those new weapons generated its own plus miss rate in 2024, and across 21 piggyback outings (73.2 innings) German was dominant, posting a 1.59 ERA and 11-to-2 K-to-BB ratio

That same scouting report added that if German is able to maintain that sort of performance and velocity, he would climb into the “45 tier” for future value on the 20-80 scale. For FanGraphs, that equates to the ceiling of a major league-caliber pitcher that can work as a number five starter or a useful bullpen piece. That may not sound too exciting, but for an 11th-round selection that got a mere $150,000 signing bonus, it’s fantastic value. It’s the type of development that fuels an organization and may save them from signing a veteran innings eater for $15 million.

So, did German make the jump?

You bet he did. The 23-year-old played at three different levels in 2025, starting back at Aberdeen for six starts, jumping to Double-A Chespeake for 18 games, and finishing up with a pair of starts for Triple-A Norfolk. The performance degraded a bit from level to level as you would expect, but the overall stats are still quite solid.

In total, German tossed 123.2 innings, had a 3.93 ERA, struck out 143, walked 46, and had a 1.181 WHIP. Perhaps the most important bar for him to cross was durability. His innings load jumped by 50 from his debut season, and he stayed off of the IL entirely.

The righty showed some resiliency as well. He was dominant in June, posting an opponent OPS of .491, but then struggled in July when it jumped to .822. Those poor starts didn’t snowball, though. German bounced back to a .560 opponent OPS in August, which led to his late season promotion to Triple-A.

That was enough for FanGraphs to give him the “45” bump, and they now place him as the Orioles’ eighth-best prospect overall and second-best pitching youngster behind Trey Gibson.

MLB Pipeline’s current list is not as juiced on German, but it is not worlds apart. They have him 14th in the organization overall and sixth in the pitching department. And it’s important to note that Pipeline tends to lag on updating their lists outside of “Top 100” types, so it is possible that he jumps up a few notches in their pre-season rankings for 2026.

Pipeline’s bottom line is essentially identical to the one at FanGraphs:

[H]is collection of at least average offerings and relative polish give him the ceiling of a back-end starter if he can build up his workload.

This season that just passed was the most crucial for German. He stayed healthy and survived the promotion from High-A to Double-A, a transition that is widely considered the toughest in minor league baseball. Not only that, but the Orioles also gave him a taste of Triple-A before the season was out. That is an approach they often take with the prospects they hope to put in the fast lane towards Baltimore, and German made the cut.

That does not mean that German will be in the mix for a rotation spot with Baltimore this spring. He’s going back to Triple-A to begin 2026. But it does mean that he could see some early-spring innings with the major league squad. And it puts a promotion to the bigs at some point in 2026 within reach. He won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until next offseason, so the Orioles will want to keep him off of the 40-man roster for as long as they don’t see a need for him in Baltimore.

If/when German is called up, he will go into the rotation depth mix that is currently occupied by Cade Povich, Brandon Young, and Albert Suárez. That feels like more of a 2027 proposition unless Elias fails to properly improve the pitching staff this winter. Could you imagine?

https://www.camdenchat.com/baltimore-or ... erman-2025

4. Miguel Mendez, RHP

Born: 2002-07-01
B: Right/T: Right
H: 6′ 2″ W: 165 lbs.

History: Signed February 2021 out of the Dominican Republic.
Previous Ranking(s): NR
Major-league ETA: 2027

Year Team Level Age W L SV G GS IP H HR BB% K% K GB% BABIP WHIP ERA DRA
2023 LE Lo-A 20 2 3 0 15 15 54.3 50 5 13.3% 20.2% 50 39.4% .292 1.53 5.96 5.72
2024 LE Lo-A 21 3 5 0 22 20 81.7 68 4 14.9% 23.4% 86 40.3% .302 1.51 3.86 5.72
2025 LE Lo-A 22 1 0 0 3 3 11.3 11 0 8.0% 36.0% 18 56.0% .440 1.32 3.97 3.44
2025 FW Hi-A 22 7 3 0 12 12 61.3 38 3 9.8% 28.6% 70 34.3% .250 1.01 1.32 3.92
2025 SA AA 22 0 4 0 6 6 22.3 22 4 15.9% 28.0% 30 37.5% .346 1.75 8.06 4.62

The Report: Mendez was an overaged IFA signing in 2021 who had a middling season in the DSL that summer as an 18-year-old. He pitched in relief in the complex and Low-A, after that and looked like just another org relief arm. He spent two years starting in the Cal League after that, and you’d be forgiven for thinking he was on the border of a roster cut given the 165-player limitations. He started 2025 back at Lake Elsinore as a double repeater, but everything took off after that. The 22-year-old was one of the best pitchers in the Midwest League, striking out almost 30% of the batters he faced while posting a 1.32 ERA. Mendez is no pitchability righty either, he sits mid-90s, touching 100 with the arm speed to back it up. The heater can really jump on guys—or at guys with the arm speed isn’t under control—and he backs it with a bat-missing tight slider and crude, but functional change-up. This is the first season Mendez has posted a sub six per nine walk rate stateside—and the control will never be even average I’d guess—so there’s certainly a lot of reliever signal, but in a quiet, shallow Padres system, he made a lot of noise.

OFP: 55 / no. 3/4 starter or (more likely) late inning reliever

Variance: High. Mendez’s strikethrowing took a step back during his brief time in the Texas League, and I won’t be particularly confident in an above-average MLB outcome (in whichever role) until he conquers that level.

Jesse Roche’s Fantasy Rundown:

Top-500 Dynasty Prospects: UR

Potential Earnings: $0-5

Fantasy Overview: Mendez is a power arm that primarily works with a plus fastball-slider combo. His stuff is arguably the best in the system. However, his command leaves a lot to be desired. As such, Mendez looks the part of a future reliever, albeit a potentially good one.

Reckless Fantasy Comp: Jeff Hoffman

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/pros ... prospects/

White Sox INF prospect Sam Antonacci was named to the AFL All-League team.

A fifth-round pick in 2024, Antonacci hit .378/.505/.541 with eight extra-base hits and 11 steals in the AFL. The White Sox’s 11th-ranked prospect worked his way up to Double-A in 2025 and could start there in 2026 as well. There is little power in his bat, but he has shown plus contact ability and good speed, and the ability to play multiple positions on the infield.

https://www.nbcsports.com/mlb/sam-antonacci/272358



Jim's initial AFL update found Antonacci scuffling through his first 36 plate appearances against what he admits are "a lot of better arms," and slashing .226/.333/.387 in Arizona's nutty offensive environment.

Just 46 plate appearances later, Antonacci is putting up Coastal Carolina numbers again to earn Fall Stars honors, with a .379/.506/.515 overall triple slash and a couple of homers that show even his contact-oriented brand of offense (he has 14 walks and 10 strikeouts) has the ability to enjoy the transition from Regions Field in Birmingham.

"The ball flies a lot better," Antonacci said, smirking slightly as he uncoiled the following line. "Some balls that you know you get actually go outside the fence, rather than an outfielder coming in."

Antonacci didn't feel like there was any great adjustment period he went through that aligned with the uptick in results. And since this is probably the fifth or sixth time in his life where he was supposed to encounter a new level of talented opposition and just kept on chugging and putting up numbers, he doesn't recognize his AFL success as an especially meaningful benchmark.

"I would say it’s no confidence booster because you’re not in the big leagues putting up these numbers," Antonacci said. "I don’t really want to be known as a good Fall League player. I want to be known as a productive big leaguer that brings a championship here to Chicago. But, it’s obviously better than not succeeding here."

Obviously if Antonacci is just a true talent .400 OBP guy in the majors, his positional fit will work itself out in time. But at the current state of affairs where his prospect projection has him closer to a Chase Meidroth variant, Antonacci's defense will need to continue to improve. As during the season, he's mixed in at three different spots on the infield dirt in Glendale, but seems best suited for second base long-term and has been observing and picking elements from the different pre-pitch setups of his teammates in the AFL.

Fortunately, a hallmark of Antonacci's progression is that the work ethic can be trusted to be there, and will probably be asserted with at least one borderline scary quote, or two.

"Obviously I'll probably take a few days off just because I've got to drive home," Antonacci said of his offseason plans. "A lot of people say they want to take a week off or take a month off, but I just like to keep going. I don't believe in burnout."

https://soxmachine.com/2025/11/white-so ... ars-honors

4. Miguel Mendez, RHP

Ht: 6'2" | Wt: 165 | B-T: R-R

Age: 23
BA Grade/Risk: 55/High

Adjusted Grade: 40

Track Record: Mendez had only been pitching for six months when the Padres signed him out of the Dominican Republic for just $10,000 in 2021. He began to show signs of blossoming in 2024, when he posted a 3.86 ERA with 86 strikeouts in 81.2 innings for Low-A Lake Elsinore. In 2025, he worked a minuscule 1.32 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 61.1 innings for High-A Fort Wayne. Mendez earned an August promotion to Double-A San Antonio, where he didn’t quite have the same success but still managed to punch out 30 in 22.1 innings.

Scouting Report: Listed at 6-foot-2 and 165 pounds, Mendez has a slender, projectable build with some length in his lower half. His athleticism is evident on the mound, and he has a dynamic delivery with a degree of explosiveness. Mendez attacks hitters out of a slightly lowered three-quarters slot with no shortage of arm speed and features a fastball, slider and a changeup. Mendez’s heater sits in the mid-to-upper-90s with both run and ride through the zone. It jumps out of his hand and plays especially well in the top half of the strike zone, which is also where it generates the vast majority of its swings and misses. Mendez’s tight mid-to-upper-80s slider regularly generates empty swings. It flashes plus with sharp two-plane tilt, though against righthanded hitters it will sometimes have more length than depth. Mendez used his upper-80s-to-low-90s changeup just 8% of the time, but its results were encouraging. It garnered a 37% miss rate while flashing effective tumble and fade. His command is still a work in progress, but he decreased his walk rate from 14.9% to 11% between 2024 and 2025.

The Future: Mendez has one of the higher ceilings of any pitching prospect in San Diego’s system and—assuming his command and control improve—could make his major league debut as soon as 2026.

Scouting Grades Fastball: 55 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 45.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/teams/2 ... =preseason