AFL/Offseason Update: Oct. 10, 2026

Yesterday, Salt River took a 7-1 lead after a six-run 2nd and then it became a battle of who could pitch worse, which the Desert Dogs “won” by giving up 13 to lose to the Rafters, 13-9.

Teo Banks was the sole National in the starting lineup. He played center field and went 2-for-4 with walk and two runs and fielded two hits on defense.

Nolan Hughes was the sole Washington pitcher. He came on with the bases loaded with one out in the 6th. Hughes got out of the inning with a sac fly and popup with a walk in-between. In the 7th, he retired two of the the first three batters he faced but loaded the bases on a single and walk, then walked in Mesa’s sixth run.

Hughes was charged with four runs total when his replacement, Konnor Eaton, gave up a three-run double.

The win improves the Rafters to 5-1 with another home game this afternoon vs. the Scorpions.

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The 2026 DSL Nationals

Do we have to? Apparently, yes, we do.

It’s been five years since Washington has fielded a winning entry in the DSL. We thought things had bottomed out with an 11-win team in 2023, which was followed by a 23-win ’24 and a 27-win ’25. But then the ’26 edition won 14. Out of 54 games.

I know wins are a not an accurate barometer, but this was a team that averaged 5.0 R/G in a 6.39 R/G scoring environment and gave up runs at a 7.2 R/G clip. What’s frightening is that neither of those figures are the worst in the league (D-Jays, 4.67; D-Pads Brown, 9.58).

For the second straight year, six batters repeated the level. However, the number of graduates was like a meeting of MAHAs who went to medical school (zero). Of those six batters, two were above the Lg. Avg. for Gross Production Average and both were in their Age-18 season, which is better than a year ago. Overall, the batters were a tick below the Lg. Avg. for age (17.4 vs. 17.6).

The less said about the pitching, the better. Nine different pitchers started—a figure that means a lot less with new front office’s fetish for bullpen games—and none of them were 18 or younger. The least-bad of the bunch was a 20-y.o. (Ranger Sarit) with a mediocre line of 4.50/5.42/1.32. Overall, the pitchers were significantly older than Lg. Avg. (19.2 vs. 18.5).

Defensively, the team was worse than ’25 as well, committing 100 errors in 54 games for a .941 FPct. and allowing 200 stolen bases (second-most) vs. 48 catches (a 16% CS rate).

I’m going to depart from my usual practice of listing the Top 5 bats and Top 5 arms because it would be patently ridiculous on a team this bad. Instead, here are the four batters who exceeded the Lg. Average of a .275 GPA and the one (1) pitcher with an above-average FIP albeit in 18⅔ IP, though the Nats moved him stateside, where he struggled.

1. 17-y.o. Samil Serrano, CF – .328 GPA, 5HR, 25RBI, 13SB, 29BB in 48G; 3E (all in CF) in 40G in the OF
2. 16-y.o. Juan Duran, 1B – .316 GPA, 2HR, 18RBI, 11SB, 23BB in 43G; 1E in 30G @ 1B; 0E in 8G in the OF
3. 18-y.o. Rony Bello^*, 2B/SS – .296 GPA, 4HR, 25RBI, 21SB, 16BB in 38G; 5E in 18G @ 2B; 3E in 17G @ SS
4. 18-y.o. Esnaider Vargas^*, 3B/1B – .279 GPA, 3HR, 23RBI, 16SB, 16BB in 46G; 9E in 21G @ 3B, 1E in 17G @ 1B
5. 18-y.o. Maximin Medina – RHSP 0-2, 0SV; 0.96/3.02/0.96, 2.4 BB/9IP, 10.1 K/9IP

^{* Repeating the level}

Serrano and Duran were among the big-ticket 2026 IFAs while Bello and Vargas were among the small-ticket 2025 IFAs. Medina was neither.

A year ago, I was impressed with the high walk rates, but this year I believe that should be taken with a pound of salt, given that the average OBP was .400 across the league and pitchers averaged 7.1 BB/9IP (.377 & 6.1 last year, respectively).

Folks interested in seeing the full team stats can find them here. Pitching data can be seen here.