If we were to do a Sporcle of the Diamondbacks current 40-man roster, I strongly suspect that Fernandez would come bottom of the list, in terms of name recognition. Jose is the youngest player there, having turned just 22 in September – beating Mitch Bratt by a couple of months. He was added to the 40-man in November, in order to keep him from being picked in the Rule 5 draft. As that implies, he has been in the organization for some time, signing to a $275,000 bonus in February 2021. However, he has moved through the ranks quite quickly, spending all of 2025 with the Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles, in his age 21 season.
Bar Manuel Pena, Fernandez was the youngest player on the Sod Poodles’ Opening Day roster, and close to three years younger than the average player in the Texas League. In addition to his youth, Jose also had to handle a change in role this year. He switched to shortstop, having played mostly at third-base to that point. The position adjustment does appear to be a work in progress, Fernandez making 22 errors at SS over 104 games – though the play below was certainly nice. But with LuJames Groover likely embedded as the Diamondbacks prospect of choice at the hot corner (and recently named the #6 prospect in baseball there), changing direction might represent a clearer long-term path to the majors for Jose.
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Looking at the raw stats, you would be forgiven for thinking that Fernandez enjoyed a break-out campaign with the bat. He had never posted a .700 OPS at any minor-league level, putting up a slash of .256/.292/.344 (.636 OPS) with High-A Hillsboro in 2024. So it might seem that batting .272 with 17 home-runs, for a .775 OPS, was a great improvement. However, Amarillo, which sits 3,600 feet above sea-level, is a total launching-pad. You think Reno is bad? And it is, in the 93rd percentile as a hitter-friendly environment. But Amarillo is more extreme still: #1 among all 120 minor-league parks. Fernandez’s OPS in 2025 was almost exactly at the Sod Poodles’ team average (.777).
Still, there weren’t many 21-year-olds playing a full season of Double-A baseball. The decision of the team to add Jose to the 40-man roster speaks to their interest in ensuring he remained within the Arizona farm system, and was seen as a credible selection onto another major-league roster. While he has yet to make an appearance on the MLB Pipeline top thirty, Fangraphs ranked him in December as the team’s #42 prospect, saying “He has the kind of wiry frame to make you think there could still be a little more pop coming even at his age, and you can dream on a utility guy with enough power to be dangerous. More likely, he’s a depth middle infielder.”
His presence on the roster was likely a decision made for protection, rather than any immediate expectation that Fernandez will reach the major leagues. Obviously, the team has its literal everyday shortstop in Geraldo Perdomo, who skipped only 19 innings there all last season. Should need arise – and I imagine we all fervently hope it doesn’t – Arizona has reasonably experienced backup options, already on the 40-man roster (or NRIs, such as Ildemaro Vargas). With no immediate rush for 40-man spots, I imagine Fernandez may well start the year again in Double-A. If we see him in the majors this year, that suggests something has gone rather wrong.
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