SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The 2023 Arizona Fall League season got here to a detailed with Saturday evening’s championship recreation at Scottsdale Stadium, which resulted within the Shock Saguaros’ second consecutive title in a 6-5 victory over the Peoria Javelinas. The competition featured a variety of stellar performances from most of the recreation’s promising younger prospects, an indication of the intense futures that lay forward of those blossoming stars.
Listed below are eight prospects who stood out within the Fall League finisher, concluding the elite prospect circuit’s thirty first season:
Damiano Palmegiani, 3B (TOR No. 18)
Palmegiani reached base and scored 3 times for Shock, patiently working a pair of walks on six pitches every and tagging a pointy opposite-field single within the fifth. He scored on a Liam Hicks (Rangers) single that bought Shock on the board within the third inning, crossing the plate as soon as extra two innings later and a 3rd time on Wes Clarke’s (Brewers) double within the sixth. Palmegiani additionally flashed the leather-based on a miraculous diving cease on the scorching nook to take an extra-base hit away from Paul McIntosh (Marlins) within the seventh.
Kyle Manzardo, 1B (CLE No. 2, MLB No. 58)
Manzardo, who homered twice to steer Peoria in its nine-run comeback victory over Scottsdale within the play-in semifinal on Friday, did not miss a beat within the finale, reaching base 3 times, together with a pair of walks to wrap up a stellar fall marketing campaign. His opposite-field two-run single within the ninth lower Peoria’s deficit to 1 in a four-run rally that fell simply brief. Manzardo held a sterling .905 OPS by means of the Fall League common season, with six homers (eight together with the postseason).
Nasim Nuñez, 2B (MIA No. 17)
Nuñez has flashed his elite pace all fall, doing so as soon as extra within the championship by stealing third base within the opening body for his fifteenth of the marketing campaign — he wasn’t caught as soon as in 21 video games this season. Nuñez singled off Angel Zerpa (Royals) within the first and scored within the fourth, dashing house after a wonderful learn on a pitch within the grime that simply barely skipped away from Hicks behind the plate. He added a second base hit on an infield single within the sixth when he beat out a floor ball to first base.
Angel Zerpa, LHP (KC)
Zerpa saved his finest Fall League begin for final, twirling three scoreless innings of one-hit ball whereas punching out six Peoria batters and touchdown 31 of his 45 pitches for strikes. His solely blemish was a Nasim Nuñez single in first earlier than he retired the ultimate eight males he confronted. He ended his night by placing out the aspect within the third. It is a robust end to a troublesome 2023 season for Zerpa, who handled a left shoulder damage that stored him out till June earlier than he appeared in 15 video games for the Royals between August and September.
Jacob Berry, 3B (MIA No. 4)
Berry, not primarily recognized for his glove on the infield, definitely stood out defensively for the Javelinas with a pair of net gems at third base. Ranging into foul territory down the left on a Peyton Wilson (Royals) pop up, Berry went up in opposition to the barrier to make a terrific catch. He then turned a slick double play on a diving cease within the fifth with the bases loaded, tagging third base together with his glove earlier than climbing to his ft and making a powerful throw to the plate to chop down a Shock run. The 2022 first-rounder (sixth total) additionally scorched a double within the seventh off Zach Maxwell (Reds).
Abimelec Ortiz, OF (TEX No. 14)
Ortiz delivered arguably the sport’s most necessary hit within the fifth, a two-run single that drove in Hicks and Will Robertson (Blue Jays) to broaden Shock’s lead from two runs to 4. He went hitless in his different three at-bats, however the evening capped a powerful total efficiency for Ortiz within the fall, because the slugger hit .314/.460/.600 in 50 plate appearances coming into the title recreation.
Wes Clarke, 1B (MIL)
Clarke offered much-needed insurance coverage with a sixth-inning double that prolonged Shock’s result in 5 runs earlier than the Javelinas’ four-run ninth. He additionally walked, reached on a hit-by-pitch and scored a run on a handed ball within the fifth inning.
Liam Hicks, C (TEX)
The AFL’s batting champ delivered one other robust effort for the Saguaros, going 1-for-4 with an RBI single and a stroll. Hicks’ clutch RBI opened the scoring within the backside half of the third, as he plated Palmegiani on a base hit to proper off Braden Nett (Padres). Hicks hit a powerful .449/.553/.522 in the course of the 30-game common season for Shock and completed with the league’s highest batting common.