The Cardinals sent an interesting contingent to this year’s edition of the Arizona Fall League (AFL). That short season has wrapped up and we will look at how the individual Cardinal representatives performed.
Some time ago, the AFL was viewed as a finishing school for top prospects. That appears to be evolving. Now it seems like a place where some teams (like the Cardinals) send prospects who missed time during the season with injury and for under-the-radar prospects who are approaching the 40-man
roster decision point. And given that only 2 of the Cardinal players are even listed as prospects on the Fangraphs Prospect Board, perhaps just a few are roster fillers.
Who went?
The Cardinals representatives included:
Chen-Wei Lin – a fire balling right-hander who missed time in 2025 due to injury. He broke out, at least in a small way in 2024, but was unable to sustain success in 2025. He shows at 45+ FV prospect, so legit, especially if he can find that one refinement. He does not need to be protected on the 40-man roster this off-season, so it seems obvious this was an opportunity to extend his season to collect innings and work on some things. I think his focus is on overall command and adding a bit of velo to his slider.
Randal Clemente – another hard thrower who has the stuff to get MLB hitters out, but not the command. He shows as a 35+ grade prospect. I’m sure the Cardinals see his raw stuff and imagine a ceiling quite a bit higher. He finished at AA and is Rule V eligible. His lack of command makes committing a 40-man spot to him somewhat dubious. Maybe he convinces them otherwise in the AFL.
Darlin Saladin – a 22-year-old starter who pitched well at High-A in 2024 (2.67 FIP) and not so well this year (4.38 FIP). He’s been in the organization long enough to where he also is Rule V eligible, although the chances of him getting a 40-man spot appear remote. He is not listed on the Fangraphs prospect list. Repeating High-A a third time in 2026 seems unlikely. I believe he may be eligible to elect minor league free agency this off-season, as he signed as an IFA in 2019 and I believe that qualifies him (seven seasons, including the one he signed in).
From what I can gather looking at different reports, this year has been a year for him to really engineer his pitch shapes. He now has a lights out change-up and has added a couple of ticks to his fastball. I find him interesting. I hope they see enough to keep him. He is not on the Fangraphs prospect Board.
Tyler Bradt – an older prospect at 24 years old who made it to AA to finish 2025. He appears to have good swing-and-miss stuff, but not great command. He is not listed as a prospect. He really didn’t miss significant time due to injury, so he doesn’t perfectly fit the profile I painted earlier. My guess is, they don’t quite know what to make of him and perhaps want him to work on something specific. Hard to say for sure. He is not Rule V eligible and projects to return to AA to start the 2026 season.
D.J. Carpenter – a 25-year-old High-A pitcher probably can’t be thought of as a prospect. He missed both the 2023 and 2024 seasons due to injury, so he is way behind. He didn’t even get a full 2025 in, with only 37 IP. This is make-up time for him. His clock is running out. He is not listed as a prospect. He is Rule V eligible.
Travis Honeyman – a 24-year-old outfielder who has battled injuries since being drafted in the 3rd round of the 2023 draft. Missed time has left him behind. He has been a darling of some prospect watchers, but rates as a 35+ FV prospect, #42 on the list and going the wrong direction. He is not Rule V eligible. He fits the “making up lost time due to injury” profile.
Graysen Tarlow – not a guy I know much about, he has barely played since he was drafted in the 19th round in 2023. He is not Rule V eligible and is not listed as a prospect. He doesn’t fit on the Cardinals roster because of all the other catching depth. He finished this year at AA (backing up Bernal). This guy fits the “organizational soldier” profile. I’d guess he got an AFL assignment because he has fresh legs and they need catchers to catch all the pitchers down there.
Miguel Ugueto – a Rule V (minor league portion) draftee that came to the Cardinals from Boston last year, his prospect profile suggests a high power, low athleticism outfielder. The Cardinals played him at AA in CF, not a place you typically find anything but really good athletes. Mysterious. He didn’t show much power, with only 2 HR, and he doesn’t walk much. Doubly mysterious. he played 3 levels in 2025, often a sign of a player breaking out. He remains Rule V eligible and is not on the prospect list. If he remains in the organization through the winter pruning season, he goes on my list of players to seek out at Spring Training, which by the way, is less than 90 days out. If you are keeping score at home.
How they did
Chen-Wei Lin – At times, flashed utter dominance, including a 3.2 IP 5 K, 0 BB, 1 H performance in his second start. In Arizona. Against a line-up that featured some good hitters. Is that splitter new? He sports a fastball, slider, change and now maybe a splitter, so he may possess a starters arsenal if he can harness his command. To me, he has elite closer written all over him. He appears to have that moxie in him. He is fun to watch.
Lin tended to be really bad or really good in his AFL outings. There was enough good that he was selected to the AFL All-Star team. He did not appear in it, as he was placed on the “reserve list”. Who knew of such a thing? I hope he is not dinged up. 19 K in 12 IP catches the eye. Of course, so does 8 walks.
Darlin Saladin – In the first half, he held his own. Rang up a 0.00 ERA, with 10 K in 7 IP, muted by 5 walks. He more than held his own overall. .082 ERA for the AFL season. Command remains an issue for him, not uncommon with 22 y/o pitchers. 17 K and 7 BB in 11 IP.
Overall, Saladin put in a strong performance. He was selected to the AFL All-Star team and it was well-deserved. In a hitting rich league, he put up a miniscule ERA.
Miguel Ugueto – He started out with a mixed bag, with a BA close to .300, but only 1 XBH and only 1 BB (against 9 K’s) in the first half. His .728 OPS looked OK, until laid up against everyone else and it’s 30th percentile in that league. In the second half, he bumped that OPS up to .838 with a hot streak that included a whopping 3 doubles but that put him just over league average. The whole league benefits (or suffers) from the Coors effect.
Overall, this mysterious young player had a good AFL season and was selected to the AFL All-Star team.
Randal Clemente – He made 8 appearances, totaling 8 IP. 11 K and 7 BB. He got hit around a bit for 5.63 ERA. That’s the flip side of the Coors effect. Not only does it enhance OPS, but it can also bury an ERA. In a normal league 5.63 would be really bad. In the AFL? League average. 50th percentile among all AFL pitchers. Seriously.
Tyle Bradt – Had a rough time with more walks than strikeouts. Nothing to see here. Moving along.
DJ Carpenter – Only pitched 6 innings, so can’t make much from his stats. There are 25 pitchers on the Glendale roster and only 3 got less mound time, if that tells you anything. In a league that clearly evens out playing time.
Travis Honeyman – He didn’t play as much. I suspect injury, given the number of consecutive games he appeared to miss. Maybe that is my pre-disposition. Health and availability appear to be his main challenge. A .629 OPS in a hitters’ league stands out, in a not good way. That is 200 points below league average.
Greyson Tarlow – He played less than Honeyman. I saw enough to know he is a one-knee down catcher. That’s about what I got.
Overall
I continue to be intrigued by Lin. I don’t think we have to squint much to see him pitching in the majors. Command and health may hold him back, but he is an interesting cat.
I don’t know if Saladin did enough this year to earn a precious 40-man slot. I’d guess he will play in another organization next year and start at AA. We will know for sure on Tuesday.
Ugueto is a mystery to me. He performance doesn’t come close to matching his prospect write-ups. If he wasn’t already a Bloom fave, I’d say he has run out of runway. Will have to wait and see how things work out this winter. I’d be shocked if he got a 40-man spot, but not shocked if they avoided losing him in the Rule V draft. The deciding factor here may be numbers … do they have room to fit him on the AAA reserve list and protect him from the minor league portion of the draft?
A note about both Saladin and Ugueto. Both are victims of a weakness in the current Internation Free Agent pipeline. Teams can sign kids at 16 years old. Their six-year clock can run out when they are just 22 years old, hardly fully baked. A lot of these kids take another year or two, and a player who emerges at 24 is not old by any stretch. But the 40-man clock ticks just the same for these kids. I imagine it is hard for the organization. Players who are right on the AA cusp, who have run out of time but are still young enough that further development isn’t unlikely. I bet Milwaukee is really good at mining this little market inefficiency.
The rest of the guys appear to be players that will remain in the organization because they haven’t used up eligibility but will need some serious improvement in at least one aspect of their game to emerge.
