The following are prospect notes based on live looks from the Arizona Fall League and the Arizona Complex League from Fall 2021:

Slade Cecconi, RHP:

Cecconi was a breath of fresh air among the Fall League. The league’s pitching is never quite as refined as its hitting, and that tends to result in an abundance of walks and then some. Cecconi is not a command and control artist—he walked over three per nine in High-A this year and even more in the Fall—but in contrast to his AFL peers, his control was somewhat reasonable.

His renowned weapon, a slider with sharp, vertical break, showed up the evening I went to watch him and got opponents to whiff once an inning. However, there was still some inconsistency in the pitch’s break. The fastball, resting around 93-95, had some moderate run but tended to be put into play quite often. His changeup was pleasantly surprising but still needs development. Overall, the slider remains a dominant weapon, but the rest of the arsenal needs to step up to project anything higher than a bullpen role.

Buddy Kennedy, 3B:

I won’t be able to write too much on the hitters because of the limited number of games I was able to see. (The Fall League has a rather annoying tendency of scheduling games in the middle of the day during the week, but I digress.) So it’s important to note that I only saw Kennedy once, and among the thousands of games that he has played during his lifetime, I witnessed his very worst one. It was bad enough that I was quite concerned about his prospect pedigree until the very next week when he went on to win AFL Hitter of the Week. So, take this with a grain of salt.

Kennedy went 0-5 with five strikeouts and an error before being graciously pulled before what would have been his final plate appearance. Maybe he wasn’t seeing well that day or maybe he didn’t sleep well. After a performance like that, perhaps the best takeaway is that it merely wasn’t his day. But what was most concerning about that performance is that he mainly struggled because he was late on fastballs. He whiffed at eight of them on the day. After a Double-A campaign where he whiffed at over a quarter of pitches that he saw, it seems fairly clear that his hit tool still needs improvement before he’ll be major league ready, especially without a significant defensive contribution propping up the profile.

Keegan Curtis, RHP:

Curtis, who was acquired in the Tim Locastro trade, has a fairly flat fastball that runs up around 95 mph. His slider is deadly when he’s locating, but that doesn’t happen as often as it needs to, and when he’s not, the pitch loses its nasty sting. The Arizona Fall League was a nice bounce-back campaign for him, who struggled after coming over from the Yankees. Still, until he figures out his control issues, he remains merely an intriguing wild card for a bullpen spot.

Juan Corniel, SS:

Among the things I wasn’t expecting to find in the Arizona Complex League (the lowest level of the American minor league system) was a legitimate shortstop on the defensive side whom I had never heard of. But Corniel, signed out of the Dominican Republic for 325K, fit that bill. Since then, his notoriety has increased somewhat; Fangraphs ranked him 30^th in the D-backs’ system, and I largely concur with their report.

Corniel was not short of defensive opportunities the day I saw him, and he seemed to make it to the ball every time. His footwork is lightning quick, and while his hands will get smoother with more reps, there is obvious shortstop potential there. From what I saw, his arm was strong and fairly accurate. He made some silly mistakes that prevented him from completing a few highlight reel plays, but at 19 years of age, there’s plenty of time to work on that. On the offensive side of the ball, his hacks are some of the most aggressive that I’ve seen, but on the season, he didn’t seem to find the ball too much. With his defensive capabilities, however, he’ll be given plenty of time to figure things out with the bat.

Miguel Gil, RHP:

Gil, a 6’1” righty in the Complex League, had one of the better breaking balls that I saw. It rests in the low-80s with consistently deep break, and he uses it often and aggressively. The pitch can, however, be inconsistent, but even the bad ones have some depth. His fastball is more pedestrian, sitting at 91 mph, and it got knocked around a bit, largely due to his poor control. 

Mauricio Bascunan, RHP:

When scouts use the word “projectable”, I’m pretty sure they’re referring to Bascunan. The righty is listed at 6’4” and has plenty of room left to fill out. If he does, his 90 mph fastball could gain some ticks, making him a more formidable prospect. He gets the occasional whiff on the heater anyways, and his slider is quite useful when he keeps it down. Unfortunately, “keeping it down” is the exception rather than the rule, and when it’s left up, it loses much of its break. There’s some considerable progress necessary to put Bascunan on the prospect map, but some healthy weight gains and a breaking ball improvement would go a long way.