Last week, action in the Arizona Fall League wrapped up, ending the last of MLB-affiliated professional baseball in 2025.
From October through early last week, the Peoria Javelinas team with prospects from the Orioles and five other teams played to a 12-15 record.
Four of the O’s prospects played well enough to qualify for the Fall Stars Game, the All-Star celebration for the league.
Performance in the AFL is not a guarantee of future success or failure once players go back to their organizations next year.
These are all small sample sizes to the extreme.
The AFL leader in plate appearances went to the plate 104 times, which is around 15 percent of a full season of hitting for an MLB player.
It’s better to get excited about positive small samples than to rationalize why negative small samples aren’t that bad.
With that in mind, here’s how the Orioles minor leaguers performed out in the desert.
Enrique Bradfield
AFL batting: .221/.341/.312, 17 stolen bases in 18 attempts
It’s unusual to see a player who’s already reached Triple-A get assigned to play in the AFL.
For Bradfield, this was probably about getting extra development time after being limited to just 65 appropriate-level games in the regular season.
At 23, he was older than the average competition by more than a year.
Things were going well for Bradfield for a few weeks out in Arizona, which is why he was named to the Fall Stars Game.
However, his hitting really collapsed over the final stretch of games.
The Orioles aren’t going to judge him on his batting line; they probably had development goals for him to work on.
One thing we can safely say is that Bradfield isn’t going to be the Orioles Opening Day 2026 center fielder.
The team will have to find one from elsewhere.
Bradfield won the Defensive Player of the Year award for his spectacular center field play and baserunning.
He made one of the most memorable plays when he robbed a home run against Mesa on October 28.
Ethan Anderson
AFL batting: .300/.398/.443 in 19 games
Anderson was also named to the Fall Stars Game.
This was some nice hitting for the catcher/first baseman.
For comparison, Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle, the Number 2 prospect in the game, batted .362/.500/.710 hitting five homers in 19 games.
Still, this is a nice outcome for Anderson.
He spent much of the season lumped in with the “cursed Orioles 2024 draft class” narrative at High-A Aberdeen.
Struggles by him and outfielder Austin Overn got lumped together with the mega-struggles of Vance Honeycutt.
Overn and Anderson rebounded and got promoted by season’s end.
Anderson having a decent time in the desert doesn’t hurt his case for showing he was better than what happened at Aberdeen.
He probably needs to find more power if he is going to be a major league catcher/first baseman.
Anderson has seen time at catcher, first base and corner outfield positions.
Thomas Sosa
AFL batting: .170/.240/.244 in 13 games
Just 20 years old, Sosa was one of the younger players in the AFL, about two years younger than the average competition.
Not much positive spin to put on this, except that since he’s still young he’s got time for things to change.
Sosa struck out in 30 percent of his plate appearances after going at a 25 percent rate in the regular season.
The Orioles have been fairly aggressive in promoting him through the minors.
He did participate in the AFL Home Run Derby and hit three homers in the competition.
The 6-foot-3 outfielder has a loose and impactful swing that excites the organization.
Luis De León
AFL pitching: 2.76 ERA, 1.347 WHIP in 16.1 innings
The 22-year-old lefty De León was the most interesting pitcher the Orioles sent to Peoria.
He showed the good and the bad in his limited AFL action.
He strikes out a lot of guys—22 in his 16.1 innings, which probably got him into the Fall Stars Game.
He also walked way too many guys, issuing 12 free passes in the same stretch.
Similar to Bradfield, there may have been some intention here, with the Orioles wanting De León to work on specific things in real-ish game action.
The learning time is more important than the results.
De León did make some strides with his walk rate in the regular season compared to his younger years.
Hopefully, that will carry over to 2026.
Carson Dorsey
AFL pitching: 3.68 ERA, 1.409 WHIP in 22 innings
Dorsey, also 22, was drafted by the Orioles in the seventh round a year ago.
He threw more innings than any other pitcher in this year’s AFL.
He also had an elevated walk rate, issuing 13 walks, and does not have many strikeouts going in his favor.
A 7.0 K/9 isn’t getting anyone’s attention.
Good job for him getting through the AFL.
The Orioles will probably send him to High-A next year and see how he does there.
Tanner Smith
AFL pitching: 3.52 ERA, 1.307 WHIP in 7.1 innings
Smith is a reliever, so everything about small sample sizes applies even more to him.
This was seven outings’ worth of work, maybe 12 percent of a regular season for a trusted major league reliever.
He struck out 13 of the 33 batters he faced and didn’t do too badly with walks (3.5 BB/9).
The Orioles got the Harvard-educated Smith as one of six players in the mega-trade with the Padres in July.
He’s only got four High-A games under his belt, so the team might start him at that level again next year.
Smith rounded out the Orioles quartet of Fall Stars.
Sayer Diederich
AFL pitching: 2.75 ERA, 1.174 WHIP in 7.2 innings
Undrafted and unsigned out of college, Diederich was pitching in independent ball when the Orioles signed him.
He pitched for Low-A Delmarva this year, where, at 24 he was way older than the competition.
He pitched fairly well there, which must be taken with a grain of salt, but good for him.
His time in the AFL is similar.
The Orioles of a year or two down the road will probably be looking for relievers.
If Diederich can figure out higher-level competition, he could get himself in the mix.
Brandon Downer
AFL pitching: 1.00 ERA, 0.778 WHIP in 9 innings
Downer was a 13th-round pick by the Orioles last year.
By season’s end, he’d pitched five games with Delmarva.
You would have to go pretty deep on a list of Orioles prospects to reach him.
Can’t complain about anything he did in this stint in Peoria’s bullpen, though.
Some good things were going on among this group from players who could make an actual impact on the big league Orioles in the future.
It’s hard to say this was a smashing success without the highest-profile prospect (Bradfield) finishing with his results in a good place.
Peoria was below .500 but made the championship game, where they came up short.
For the Orioles prospects, hopefully this was a good learning experience they will carry into the next regular season and continue their development.
