An offseason league owned and operated by Major League Baseball, the Arizona Fall League begins on October 6 and runs through November 15. Rosters are filled by minor league players assigned to the league by their
parent clubs. In some cases, players are sent to the Arizona Fall League to accrue more at-bats or pitch more innings because injury or other issues prevented them from playing more during the regular season. In other cases, it gives players who are being considered for spots on the 40-man roster additional time to showcase their abilities in front of the evaluators and executives who will be making those decisions. In other cases still, it gives players the ability to highlight their abilities against the upper echelon of minor league prospects and make a case to demonstrate that they belong in such conversations, as well.
The Scottsdale Scorpions—who also receive players from the Detroit Tigers, Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, and Washington Nationals—will be rostering seven Mets players: outfielders Nick Morabito and D’Andre Smith, catcher Chris Suero, and pitchers Brett Banks, Wyatt Hudepohl, Bryce Jenkins, and Austin Troesser. Last season, the organization sent Drew Gilbert, Jacob Reimer, Saul Garcia, Noah Hall, Jonathan Pintaro, Jawilme Ramirez, and Dylan Ross to the Scorpions.
Morabito, who was ranked the Mets’ 19th top prospect coming into the 2025 season here at Amazin’ Avenue, is coming off a season in which he appeared in 118 games with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and hit .273/.348/.385 with 27 doubles, 2 triples, 6 home runs, 49 stolen bases in 60 attempts, and drew 47 walks to 115 strikeouts. Smith also spent the majority of his season with Binghamton, starting the year in Brooklyn to get his legs under him after an injury-shortened 2024, and he hit .279/.334/.411 with 14 doubles, 4 triples, 7 home runs, 24 stolen bases in 27 attempts, and drew 18 walks to 69 strikeouts. Suero, who received a handful of votes but missed out on placing on the top 25 list, had a breakout season for Brooklyn but struggled in Binghamton, hitting a combined .233/.379/.407 with 16 doubles, 1 triple, 16 home runs, 35 stolen bases in 43 attempts, and drew 70 walks to 139 strikeouts, doing most of his damage in his 74 games the Cyclones as opposed to his 41 with the Rumble Ponies.
All four pitchers that the Mets are sending have dealt with injuries limiting their ability to get on the mound and throw innings over the last couple of years. Banks appeared in 31 games for the St. Lucie Mets and Brooklyn Cyclones combined, posted a 2.45 ERA in 36.2 innings, allowing 28 hits, walking 17, and striking out 36. Jenkins appeared in 8 games for the St. Lucie Mets and posted a 5.79 ERA in 9.1 innings, allowing 8 hits, walking 13, and striking out 11. Troesser appeared in 13 combined games with the St. Lucie Mets and Brooklyn Cyclones and posted a 4.50 ERA in 16.0 cumulative innings, with 14 hits allowed, 9 walks, and 19 strikeouts. Hudepohl did not pitch at all in 2025 while recovering from 2024 Tommy John surgery.
Coaching Scottsdale will be Rene Rivera, who is currently a manager in the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system but has a connection to the Mets, as he signed with the team not once, not twice, but three times, and saw major league playing time with them in 2016 and 2019.
