ACL Starts Saturday!

[Madhawk23]

If the MILB calendar is accurate, it looks like ACL games start this Saturday morning. With the boring Monday off-day for the org, I figured we could at least take a look at some of the names to get excited about this summer in AZ.  

I'll let other more knowledgeable folks chime in here, but some names that I'm excited to hopefully see this summer:

Brailyn Antunez - the hype surrounding him in ST this year has reinvigorated my excitement for this kid

Frank Cairone - this one goes without saying, but pretty cool that he's already back in AZ and I've got to figure he'll get some innings in the ACL at some point

JD Thompson - maybe get a rehab outing or two before going up to full-season ball somewhere?

Josh Flores - could he follow in the footsteps of Josh A-ski and Letson?

Sean Episcope

Hayden Vucinovich

CJ Hughes

Luke Roupe

Rylan Mills

Chase Bentley

Ma'Kale Holden

Joey Broughton - '24 draftee that was injured all of last year

 

Who am I missing? Does Fenelon get the bump up stateside this year or is he back down for year 2 in the DSL?  Were there other guys from last year's DSL season that we should be on the lookout for?  

[jay87shot]

Excited to see Antunez, I thought with a rough DSL he would stay there again. I would think Fenelon and Arias would both be good candidates to come state side with a good month or so in the DR. I am excited to see what CJ Hughes and Rylan Mills can do, over the past few years we know the HS pitchers are pretty solid but the HS bats we have drafted (Josh A, Payne, Pratt, Bitonti) have been really exciting. From the pitching side Episcope is the guy I think I want to see the most. If he was in the upper 90's last spring and there is any potential to be gained in our org. he could be that Woody, Burnes, Hardin, Wichrowski style college arm that takes off quickly in our system.

[Madhawk23]

27 minutes ago, jay87shot said:

Excited to see Antunez, I thought with a rough DSL he would stay there again. I would think Fenelon and Arias would both be good candidates to come state side with a good month or so in the DR. I am excited to see what CJ Hughes and Rylan Mills can do, over the past few years we know the HS pitchers are pretty solid but the HS bats we have drafted (Josh A, Payne, Pratt, Bitonti) have been really exciting. From the pitching side Episcope is the guy I think I want to see the most. If he was in the upper 90's last spring and there is any potential to be gained in our org. he could be that Woody, Burnes, Hardin, Wichrowski style college arm that takes off quickly in our system.

Yeah, really excited to see if any of those 10-20 rd '25 HS draftees pop right out of the gates in the ACL this year....like we saw last year with Dorchies, Dub-wicz and Renz. And yes - can either Hughes or Mills (or both) follow the path of those four guys you listed?  

Of course, Antunez is the guy that comes in with the most hype. Admittedly, I had already kind of written him off a bit after he struggled so much in the DSL last summer, but with the reports we started to hear about him in ST - my intrigue is definitely back there with him. 

[CheeseheadInQC]

While a lot might have changed since then (or they might have felt compelled to get the new arrivals stateside more action), it feels based on the spring training lineups that you’d be looking at Antunez, Frias and Fenelon as the primary outfielders, three of Hughes, Acosta, Martinez and Liao at 2nd, SS and 3rd, Mills behind the plate, with some other interesting names manning the first base and backup spots. Hoping some of remaining players from the absurd Made/Pena led class can make their presence felt (Martinez, Rangel, Paulino, possibly a few others).

Excited to see Diustin Mayorquin making his stateside debut as well.

[ARobsBrewCrew]

Just a few reminders going off of OP’s comments:

RHP Joshua Flores is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in mid-March.

RHP Sean Episcope will almost certainly make his pro debut on a rehab assignment with the team, but that will likely come later in the ACL season.

CF Kenny Fenelon is stateside already (as another commenter eluded to) and, like Antúnez, the organization was never too concerned about the DSL results/struggles.  They are still very high on the duo as well as Alexander Frías who is my personal favorite of the three to follow.

[Spencer Michaelis]

Very excited for some ACL ball, especially because I imagine there will be a *lot* more Statcast data than in the past with all the teams spring stadiums having it installed now. 

Frias and Antunez are my two guys that have legit breakout potential down there on the offensive side. Mayorquin and Bryan Regalado are two international arms I'll be keeping an eye on, and of course the healthy draft picks from last year.