The Arizona Fall League has reached the midpoint of its 34th season, and the Statcast numbers are starting to tell a pretty clear story: Jarlin Susana is overpowering hitters, while a handful of bats are leaving a serious imprint when they connect.
Susana, the Nationals right-hander ranked No. 66 on the Top 100 and the lone Top 100 pitcher in the AFL, has taken over the velocity charts. His 103.8 mph fastball is the hardest pitch recorded in the league, and he has thrown the 34 fastest heaters overall. He’s averaging 100.6 mph on his fastball, and Cubs righty Jhon Cabral is the only other Fall Leaguer to have thrown a pitch that hard.
That kind of heat is no fluke. Susana was already back in triple digits during September’s Triple-A National Championship Game after his lat surgery ended his 2025 season early, and he has been all over the AFL radar since arriving.
Of the 98 pitches in the league this fall that have reached triple digits, Susana has accounted for 82. He also owns the seven hardest fastballs ever tracked by Statcast in the Fall League.
Only four big leaguers topped 103.8 mph in the Majors this year: Jacob Misiorowski, Ben Joyce, Edgardo Henriquez and Mason Miller.
On the other side of the equation, the biggest damage has come off the bats of a few loud hitters. Confidan leads the league in average exit velocity at 98.5 mph, with McCoy right behind at 96.7 mph.
Brooks Bryan of the Royals sits third at 96.3 mph, followed by Braves No. 3 prospect and MLB No. 58 Tate Southisene at 95.5 mph and Giants outfielder Dalton Wentz at 94.8 mph.
McCoy still owns the most thunderous single swing in the circuit, with a 435-foot blast off an 89-mph sinker from Rays pitcher Marcus Johnson. That ball ranks as the fourth-hardest-hit ball Statcast has ever logged in the AFL, behind Tony Blanco Jr.’s 120.4 mph shot in 2025, Kemp Alderman’s 119.5 mph drive in 2024 and Eloy Jiménez’s 119.4 mph blast in 2016.
Among big leaguers this season, only Oneil Cruz and Yordan Alvarez hit balls harder. McCoy’s shot came in just behind a run of elite damage from Confidan, who has five balls hit at 110 mph or harder.
McCoy and Yankees outfielder Kyle West are the only other Fall Leaguers with as many as three. Confidan’s 98.5 mph average exit velocity is not just a league best; it sits ahead of Major League leader James Wood’s 95.4 mph.
Mota also made his first AFL at-bat count. He launched a mammoth homer off an 82-mph slider from Justin Lamkin, the Royals’ No. 8 prospect.
Only 40 major league homers traveled farther this season, topped by Lazaro Montes’ 474-foot blast. The longest homer ever recorded in AFL history remains Zyhir Hope’s 470-footer from 2024.
The league’s breaking-ball leaderboard has a different face at the top: Tyler LaPorte of the Braves with a 2,914 rpm slider. Jose Geraldo of the Mariners is next at 2,885 rpm on a knuckle curve, followed by Astros right-hander Railin Perez at 2,870 rpm on a knuckle curve.
Susana’s slider checks in at 2,848 rpm, and Seattle’s Adam Smith rounds out the top five at 2,837 rpm. LaPorte’s path here is unusual - he was primarily a shortstop in college at Baton Rouge (La.)
CC and Southern, then became a full-time pitcher in the independent Atlantic League before the Braves signed him in February 2025, two months before his 28th birthday. He has put up a 2.41 ERA across two minor league seasons and hasn’t allowed an earned run in five AFL appearances.
Speed and catching work have had their own standouts, too. Drake has shown off his wheels by stealing 97 bases in 277 minor league games and going 3-for-3 in 11 Fall League games. The fastest sprint recorded on an AFL batted ball belongs to Nick Morabito, who hit 33.3 mph on a double in 2025, matching the best big league sprint speed this season by Victor Scott.
Behind the plate, Julian Brock has controlled the running game. He owns the quickest pop time in the league at 1.81 seconds, and he has also recorded two 1.82-second pops and one at 1.83.
Sammy Hernandez, Cole Conn, Ty Harvey and Grant Magill also appear on the fastest list, all at 1.83. Brock has five of the league’s 10 fastest pop times and the two hardest throws, topping out at 87.4 mph.
Fall League basestealers have succeeded at an 86 percent rate overall, but only 76 percent of the time against Brock. Walker Janek still holds the AFL record at 1.71 seconds, while Patrick Bailey posted the best pop time in the Majors this year at 1.68.
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