With the two Single-A teams already done for the year and instructional league work getting underway in the desert, we’ve still got plenty going on across the site. Subscribers have a profile on Jagger Haynes’s continued development and our second Q&A with Kash Mayfield, and we have free content on Kruz Schoolcraft, who paid a visit to Petco Park this week. We’ll have a few more interviews in the coming week before we turn to our end-of-year summaries once El Paso’s year is done Sunday.
El Paso Chihuahuas (Beat Albuquerque Isotopes, 4-2)
Players of the Week: It was a huge week for the El Paso bats, as seven players posted an OPS of 1.000 or better. Catcher/designated hitter Rodolfo Durán, who hit for the cycle on Saturday, led the way with a monster .444/.500/1.000 line with five extra-base hits and two home runs among his eight hits, to go along with a pair of walks. Durán signed as a minor league free agent after one year in the Royals system. The Padres will need to decide whether to let him hit minor league free agency for the third straight winter after he has posted an .880 OPS, which is fourth on the team among players with over 300 plate appearances. … Still only 21, Victor Lizarraga made his Triple-A debut and earned the win, going five innings and scattering three hits with five strikeouts against three walks. He took a step backward in his second season with the Missions, posting a 6.21 ERA with 87 strikeouts and an unsightly 54 walks in 91.1 innings. He was better in five starts in August (23.1 innings), when he held Texas League batters to a .211 batting average.
Rodolfo Duran had another big week. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Top Prospects and Others of Note: Luis Campusano, 26 continued to rampage through the PCL with another stellar week. He posted a 1.190 OPS with six hits and seven walks in five games. Campusano leads the league in batting average, on-base and slugging percentage going into the last week of the season. … Granite Hills High School alum Trenton Brooks, 30, had a nice week with a .438 batting average in 19 plate appearances for a 1.125 OPS. … Switch-hitter Yonathan Perlaza, 26, wasn’t far behind with eight hits in six games for a 1.059 OPS. The 26-year-old leads the team with 157 hits this season and has a .901 OPS. He already showed he could hit in Triple-A with the Iowa Cubs in 2023, where he posted a .922 OPS. There have always been questions, though, about where he plays in the field. With El Paso he has mainly been in right field. … Clay Dungan, 29, posted a 1.035 OPS on the week and stole his 30th base to move into a tie for seventh in the league. … Marcos Castañon, 26 continued to enjoy the Pacific Coast League with eight hits in five games, including three extra-base hits and on home run. He was second only to Durán with eight RBIs. Two weeks after his promotion, he has a 1.202 OPS in 42 plate appearances. … Jackson Wolf, 26, made a pair of starts, striking out 12 and allowing seven walks while giving up four runs across 8.1 innings. Wolf is second on the team in innings pitched at 98.2 and hit the 100 strike outs mark this week. On the road this year he is 5-2 with a 4.70 ERA as opposed to a 5.49 mark at home. Lefty Omar Cruz, 26, appeared in two games and threw four innings and only allowed a single run while striking out four against a solo walk. The Hermosillo, Mexico native is third on the team with 81.1 innings while posting a 4.87 ERA. He has been most effective as a long man out of the bullpen. … Matt Waldron picked up a win, going six innings and allowing three runs on six hits with four punchouts and a walk. In 17 starts and 77.1 innings with El Paso he has a 6.52 ERA. (John Conniff)
San Antonio Missions (Lost at Springfield Cardinals, 2-4)
Garrett Hawkins continued to mow down hitters in the Texas League. (Photo: Rey Holguin)
Players of the Week: Garrett Hawkins‘ final week of the 2025 season was filled with more of what he’s done all year: pure dominance. Over four scoreless innings of work, he allowed just one hit, walked one, and struck out six. His final outing of the season was perhaps the most impressive of his short Missions career. In his two innings, he generated five whiffs, a 31.2% whiff rate, and struck out three. In 60 innings between Fort Wayne and San Antonio, Hawkins posted a 1.50 ERA, 2.22 FIP, and 2.95 xFIP while striking out 35.1% of the batters he faced and allowing just one home run all season. … Romeo Sanabria ended 2025 on a high note. The Missions’ first baseman went 4-for-17 with a pair of doubles and a home run in the season’s final week. His homer Tuesday was just his third since August 1. In the second half, Sanabria posted a 72 wRC+ and .274 wOBA, with only nine extra base hits in 186 at-bats.
Top Prospects and Others of Note: Jagger Haynes made a pair of appearances, working a combined seven innings. He allowed three runs on three hits and six walks, striking out only three. His Sunday outing was the more impressive of the pair as he tossed four scoreless innings while allowing just one hit. Since he experienced shoulder soreness back on August 1, the organization has been careful with Haynes, allowing him to work just 15 innings over his final six appearances. In 103 total innings, the 22-year-old posted respectable numbers with a 4.11 ERA, 4.56 xFIP, and 22.8% strikeout rate. Still, command remained an ongoing issue as the 22-year-old posted a career high 14.0% walk rate. … Harry Gustin made a trio of appearances and once again showed he belongs at the higher level. Over 3.1 scoreless innings, he allowed three hits, walked two, and struck out one. Since his promotion on August 24, Gustin worked 12.1 innings out of the bullpen, not allowing a run and holding opposing hitters to a .212 batting average. He hasn’t gotten as much attention as other relief arms in the San Diego system, but it probably should considering what he did in 2025. Over 62.1 innings between High-A and Double-A, he posted a 1.88 ERA, with a 28.0% strikeout rate that helped fuel a 3.10 FIP. … Miguel Mendez’s struggles continued in his final start of the 2025 season as the right-hander worked only 2.1 innings and allowed three runs on five hits. Still, even in the loss, Mendez’s stuff flashed. He managed to rack up 12 swing-and-misses and a 36.3% whiff rate with his fastball topping at 99 mph. Even with the struggles at Double-A, Mendez, without question, posted one of the more impressive seasons in the San Diego system with a 3.22 ERA, 3.86 FIP, and 29.4% strikeout rate in 95 innings across three levels. … Braedon Karpathios had a slower week at the dish for San Antonio, going 5-for-24 with a triple, two RBIs, a walk, and 12 strikeouts. Karpathios’s 2025 season in many ways shadowed his 2024 campaign. After a relatively slow start to the year, the 22-year-old former undrafted free agent once again caught fire in the second half. In 124 games between High-A and Double-A, he posted a 122 wRC+, launched a career-high 15 home runs and continued to post a strong 14.0% walk rate, all the while posting an in-zone contact rate north of 84%. Come this October, he’ll get a chance to continue his work in the Arizona Fall League. (Clark Fahrenthold)
