SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- After struggling in his first two years at Vanderbilt, Bryce Cunningham emerged as the Commodores' best starter in 2024, when he displayed some of the best pitch metrics in college baseball. The Yankees pushed him down to the second round of that year's Draft and signed him for a well over-slot $2,297,500.
Cunningham (NYY No. 5) broke into pro ball by dominating High-A hitters to start this season, posting a 2.14 ERA with a 44/10 K/BB ratio in 42 innings through his first seven starts. But he came down with right shoulder issues in mid-May, missed two weeks before making a brief return in early June, then sat out the next two months. He made four short starts at the end of the season before heading to the Arizona Fall League to build up more innings in hopes of a healthy 2026.
"It was really frustrating, especially with the momentum that I had going," Cunningham said. "But I just felt like it kind of taught me a lot throughout that process, so in some ways I think it was maybe good. I feel like now it is starting to get back to the comfort level that I was at, so everything's feeling good."
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In his first outing for the Mesa Solar Sox, Cunningham yielded four runs on five hits in the first inning against the Surprise Saguaros. He started using his best pitch, his lively changeup with impressive depth, more often during a scoreless second inning and departed after walking the leadoff hitter in the third.
Cunningham's pure stuff looked like it usually does but he had trouble commanding it, throwing 30 of his 51 pitches for strikes and generating just three swings and misses. His fastball sat at 93-94 mph and topped out at 96, though it got hit hard, and he had difficulty putting his mid-80s slider and mid-70s curveball where he wanted. His changeup ranged from 83-90 mph and induced two of his six outs even though he deployed it just seven times.
Some scouts believed Cunningham's changeup was the best in the '24 Draft. He said he learned his cambio from his dad when he was a youngster.
"He wouldn't let me throw a breaking ball until I could hit him in the chest every throw, is what he told me," Cunningham said. "So fastballs and just focusing on the changeup. He made me do it every day.
"It has always been a weapon. I probably didn't use it as much as I should have early on, so I just learned to use it more now."
Yankees hitters in the Fall League
Coby Morales, 1B/OF: An 18th-round pick out of Washington in 2023, Morales batted .243/.318/.355 with 17 steals in 116 games between High-A and Double-A. After going deep seven times during the regular season, he blasted a 402-foot homer in his AFL debut.
Manuel Palencia, C/1B: Palencia hit .272/.319/.350 in 66 games between Rookie ball, High-A and Double-A. He signed for $187,500 out of Venezuela in 2019 and features solid arm strength as his best tool.
Enmanuel Tejeda, 2B: Signed for $40,000 out of the Dominican Republic in 2022, Tejeda is a contact hitter with solid speed and a career .424 on-base percentage in the Minors. A right knee injury in July '24 kept him out of games for a full year and he slashed .242/.389/.342 with 12 steals in 35 Single-A games this season.
Yankees pitchers in the Fall League
Cade Smith, RHP (No. 19): Smith has good feel to spin with a plus mid-80s slider and a solid low-80s curveball, and he sets up his breaking balls with a 92-94 mph fastball that touches 96. The '23 sixth-rounder from Mississippi State missed time with right shoulder issues this season and compiled a 2.50 ERA, a .170 opponent average and 42 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings between three stops, mostly in High-A.
Brady Kirtner, RHP: Drafted in the 12th round out of Virginia Tech in '23, Kirtner logged a 2.70 ERA, a .189 opponent average and 52 strikeouts in 46 2/3 innings between two Class A levels in his pro debut. He works with a 91-95 mph fastball and low-80s slider.
Hueston Morrill, RHP: Morrill posted spectacular numbers between High-A and Double-A, with a 0.76 ERA, a .118 opponent average and 42 strikeouts in 47 2/3 innings. Signed as a nondrafted free agent out of Oklahoma State in '22, he spent most of his college career as a middle infielder. He generates a lot of weak ground-ball contact with a low-90s sinker while using an upper-80s cutter and mid-80s slider to miss bats.
Adam Stone, RHP: Signed as a nondrafted free agent from Harvard in '22, Stone has missed all of the last two seasons because of a right shoulder strain followed by Tommy John surgery. In his first AFL outing, he leaned heavily on an 86-92 mph cutter while ranging from 93-96 with his fastball.