Padres Are Well-Represented Among AFL 's Statcast Superlatives

The way baseball fans observe and consume the statistics that are produced during games inexorably changed in 2008.

That's when MLB introduced Statcast to the sport's lexicon.

The Stacast system, which consists of state-of-the-art tracking technology that allows for the collection and analysis of a massive amount of baseball data in ways that had never been possible in the past, introduced such esoteric terms as "exit velocity," "spin rate" and "pop time" as new ways to measure and compare the performance of individual players.

The Statcast technology has slowly filtered down through all levels of the professional game and in 2025, it became standard in all six of the ballparks that house teams in the Arizona Fall League (AFL). This allows the AFL to track and rank the best performances of every one of its players in nine specific Statcast categories.

As AFL regular season moves into its fourth week, on Tuesday MLB.com listed the league's top Statcast performers to date.

In what should bring a smile to the faces of the San Diego Padres' player-development team and their fans, a Padres' minor-leaguer is highly ranked in five of the nine Statcast categories.

Topping the charts for Highest Exit Velocity is outfielder Alex McCoy, the Padres' No. 26 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, who created 118.2 mph of exit velocity on a home run he hit on Oct. 15. The 435-foot blast was the fourth-hardest hit ball in AFL history and it ranks in the top 10 among longest HRs this season in the AFL.

McCoy also ranks second among all AFL players who have put 15 or more balls in play with an average exit velocity of 96.7 mph, behind only the 98.5-mph average exit velo of Cincinnati Reds' prospect Yerlin Confidan.

A Padres' prospect is also making a name for himself on the mound. Kannon Kemp's 2026 season was limited to 18 games with 10 starts and 38.2 total innings as he battled injuries.

San Diego's No. 13-ranked prospect is obviously back to full health as he ranks fourth in average fastball velocity among pitchers with 35 or more Statcast-tracked fastballs with a 97.1-mph average. Throwing fastballs the hardest in the AFL to this point is the Washington Nationals' Jarlin Susana, the game's No. 66 overall prospect, who is averaging 100.6 mph on every fastball that leaves his hand.

Finally, catcher Ty Harvey, the system's No. 4 prospect, is also working back from an injury-marred 2026 season and doing some of his best work behind the plate. He is tied for fourth in quickest pop time on throws to second base at 1.83 seconds, an eyelash behind the leader, Julian Brock of the Texas Rangers, who has fired the ball to second in as little as 1.81 seconds.