Friday's top prospect Fall League performers

October 21st, 2023

Here's a look at Friday's top performers from the Arizona Fall League.

Blue Jays: Ricky Tiedemann, LHP (MLB No. 31), Surprise Saguaros
Damiano Palmegiani, 1B (No. 18), Surprise Saguaros
The No. 1 Blue Jays prospect just continues to deliver every time he steps on the mound. On Friday, matched up against Jobe, Tiedemann spun five one-run innings, fanning five for Surprise. In addition to improving his record to 2-1 in the fall, the second-ranked left-hander raised his season strikeout total to 23 in the Fall League, giving him the lead among pitchers. The start was the final of the fall for Tiedemann, who totaled a 2.50 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in four appearances. More »

In a matchup of the top two pitching prospects in the Fall League, Palmegiani stole the show. The righty slugger walloped his third big fly of the fall league en route to finishing a triple shy of the cycle. The performance raised Palmegiani’s batting average by 45 points and he is now slashing .289/.410/.556. In addition to swatting a two-run homer in the third, the Canada native also cracked a double in the sixth and recorded a sac fly in the first. Palmegiani has now posted two three-hit games in 13 fall league starts, just one less than his output from the regular season between Double-A and Triple-A.

Cardinals: Inohan Paniagua, RHP (Unranked), Scottsdale Scorpions
The 23-year-old only had one scoreless outing of at least four innings during the regular season, and now he's already done so in his third Fall League outing. Paniagua struck out three batters and did allow two singles but erased them both with double plays. With only one walk across his three outings, the Dominican native is third in the AFL with 8.0 K/BB.

Giants: Carter Howell, OF (Unranked), Scottsdale Scorpions
Howell was the engine behind Scottsdale's 7-2 win on Friday afternoon as he came through with four big at-bats. He hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, his third of the season, and also drove in runs on a sixth-inning force out and an eighth-inning single. The non-drafted free agent out of Division II Augustana (S.D.) added a ninth-inning double for good measure, which raised his Fall League slash line to .324/.378/.676. More »

Mets: Kevin Parada, C (MLB No. 89), Glendale Desert Dogs
JT Schwartz, 1B (Unranked), Glendale Desert Dogs
The Mets' No. 5 prospect sent the ball far and way ... not once but twice. A solo home run and a bases-clearing double added up to a four-RBI night for the backstop. While the four RBIs marked a career high for Parada, he collected multiple extra-base hits five times this season, all with High-A Brooklyn.

23-year-old slugger JT Schwartz continued his hot streak with a 2-for-5 night on Friday. With two doubles, Schwartz extended his hitting streak to seven games while also capturing a share of the Fall League lead in doubles (6). He is now batting .349 on the season with a 1.011 OPS. During the MiLB season, the Mets prospect reached Double-A for the first time, batting .302 over 66 games with Binghamton.

Rays: Dominic Keegan, C (No. 9), Peoria Javelinas
The Vanderbilt product has been smoking the ball all Fall League -- and now he can stake a claim to doing it better than anybody this year. Keegan struck a third-inning single at 117.7 mph, which is the hardest-hit ball measured by Statcast in the AFL. The 23-year-old added a single to lead off the sixth and finished the day with a team-leading 1.297 OPS.

Red Sox: Tyler McDonough, OF (Unranked), Glendale Desert Dogs
For the second consecutive night, McDonough reached base four times – on Thursday, he added a walk to three hits, and tonight, those numbers were reversed. He stole two bases and scored three of the team’s 11 runs as the Desert Dogs defeated the Solar Sox. McDonough stole 24 bases this MiLB season, all with Double-A Portland. He finished the season with Triple-A Worcester.

Tigers: Jackson Jobe, RHP (MLB No. 54), Salt River Rafters
Prior to his fourth start of the fall on Friday, Jobe was as steady as they come on the mound. In each of his three starts, the former first-round pick posted four innings, with four punch outs per outing. In his fourth outing, he finally eclipsed that number fanning a whopping seven batters in 3 2/3 innings. Jobe had his full complement of pitches working, tallying four of the strikeouts with the fastball, two with the changeup and one via the cutter. The start was the final in the desert for the 21-year-old now, who finishes with a 2.87 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. More »

White Sox: Bryan Ramos, 3B (No. 7), Glendale Desert Dogs
Ramos turned up the heat in the desert. Going four-for-five, he cranked a two-run home run in the second inning -- his first of the Fall League -- in addition to three singles. In the past week, the infielder put up a team-leading .556 batting average. Friday was the first time since the 2022 season that the 21-year-old Cuban had a four-hit game.

Yankees: Caleb Durbin, DH (Unranked), Mesa Solar Sox
Durbin entered the Fall League after two IL stints during the MiLB season. He capitalized on the opportunity to get some extra at-bats tonight, going 2-for-3 with two walks in between. He leadoff the game with a home run, his second of the AFL season. He finished his night with a single in the ninth. After this performance, he is batting .366 with an OPS of 1.192. More »