The Arizona Fall League was supposed to give Detroit Tigers prospects Zyhir Hope and Bryce Rainer a chance to keep sharpening their games. Instead, both have run into rough patches with the Scottsdale Scorpions.
Hope entered the fall with plenty of momentum behind him. Since Max Clark made his MLB debut, Hope has become Detroit’s top prospect, and after the Tigers traded Tarik Skubal to the Los Angeles Angels, he stood out as the centerpiece of the three-player return. The expectation was that he’d keep building on that buzz.
He opened the first six games of the Fall League hitting .286 with a .873 OPS, along with five walks, eight strikeouts and five RBIs. He even left the yard in his seventh game.
But the production has stalled since then. As of Sunday, Oct.
25, 2026, Hope is batting .227 with one home run, seven RBIs, nine walks, 14 strikeouts and a .295 SLG. He has not added an extra-base hit beyond that homer, a disappointing stretch for a player known for solid power.
Rainer’s fall has been even tougher so far. The former first-round pick finally got a full season of professional baseball after an injury in 2025, and he finished the 2026 minor-league regular season at .271 with 18 home runs, 67 RBIs and an .863 OPS. That regular-season work hasn’t carried over to Arizona.
Through Oct. 25, 2026, Rainer is hitting .148 with two doubles, two walks, 11 strikeouts and three RBIs.
The concern with his game remains the same: too much swing-and-miss. At West Michigan, he struck out 151 times in 362 at-bats, and the Tigers can’t afford another middle infielder with those kinds of strikeout issues.
Rainer is still only 21, so there’s room to clean things up and get back on track. A greater focus on contact would help him more than chasing extra-base power right now. For Hope, the path is a little different: a better batting average and a couple doubles could help him rediscover his rhythm and get his confidence rolling again.
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