The Padres are sending eight prospects to the Arizona Fall League, and the group includes some of the more interesting young names in the system.
Headlining the group is catcher Ty Harvey, San Diego’s No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline and the club’s player to watch in the AFL, which opens Oct. 3. MLB.com staffers Jim Callis, Sam Dykstra and Jonathan Mayo pointed to Harvey’s power upside and the chance for him to get more reps after an injury-shortened season.
“Ethan Salas is the shining star of the Padres’ catching contingent, but Harvey - a 2025 fifth-rounder with serious power potential - is a solid No. 2 option in the San Diego system,” the trio wrote. “The right-handed slugger was limited to only 46 games with Single-A Lake Elsinore this season due to a hamstring injury and a broken left hand, and the latter may have affected his performance down the stretch in the California League. More distance from the break could help him show off that pop more consistently in the desert, and exposure to a multitude of arms on the Peoria roster could be beneficial for his defensive work, too.”
Harvey will be joined in Peoria by seven more Padres prospects: right-handed pitcher Kannon Kemp (No. 13), right-handed pitcher Winyer Chourio (No. 15), outfielder Alex McCoy (No. 26), infielder Justin DeCriscio, left-handed pitcher Igor Gil, right-handed pitcher Francis Pena and right-handed pitcher Jordan Valenzuela.
Three of those players - Kemp, Chourio and McCoy - also rank among San Diego’s Top 30 prospects, giving the Padres four Top 30 names in the AFL when Harvey is included.
DeCriscio earned his own spotlight from Callis, Dykstra and Mayo as San Diego’s “sleeper” prospect to watch. In his first full professional season, the 2025 10th-round pick out of N.C.
State moved from Single-A Lake Elsinore to High-A Ft. Wayne and then finished at Double-A San Antonio.
He spent most of his time at shortstop, but also logged innings at five different positions, a versatility that helped him earn the utility label early in his career.
Batting right-handed, DeCriscio produced contact at every stop and finished the year with a .270/.358/.425 line, 13 homers and 22 steals in 121 games. MLB.com’s trio described him as a player who could profile best as a hit-tool-forward option with the ability to fill multiple roles off the bench, and noted that would be a strong outcome for a former senior sign who signed for $15,000.
The Peoria roster will also feature prospects from the Cardinals, Mariners, Orioles and Reds organizations. For San Diego, the AFL group adds another layer to a farm system that already has Ethan Salas in the spotlight and could help shape the next wave behind players like Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts.
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Craig Stammen challenged the call, but the umpires let it stand under the parks ground rule, which treated the ball as fair after it hit the roof. It was the kind of play that can feel unique to one stadium, one postseason game, and one unlucky sequence, especially since the balls path probably would have played differently in most major league parks. [Read more 🡒]