Morning Rundown: Jared Triolo nominated for Gold Glove, Domingo German elects free agency, Yankees win again
Morning Rundown: Jared Triolo nominated for Gold Glove, Domingo German elects free agency, Yankees win again
Triolo a gold glove finalist, German to become free agent, Yankees take 2-0 lead in ALCS
Khristian Curtis starts, Scottsdale loses again
AFL Recap by John Dreker
After consecutive days off, the Scottsdale Scorpions returned to action on Tuesday night in the Arizona Fall League. They headed out on the road to take on the Mesa Solar Sox. Termarr Johnson was the only Pittsburgh Pirates player in the starting lineup, while Khristian Curtis made his first start of the fall. Johnson batted lead-off and played second base. Curtis had an incredible debut last week when he tossed three perfect innings on 35 pitches, but things didn't go as well this week. Derek Diamond also pitched in relief.
Any thought of Curtis continuing his perfect fall died on his first pitch, which was lined into center field for a single. That runner stole second base. He then retired the next batter on a fly ball into left field, which turned into a double play when the runner tried to advance to third base on the out. Limited pitch info was available for this game through Gameday, so all we have is the pitch count.
Curtis allowed a home run to the first batter in the second inning. He induced a ground out for the first out of the second inning, then served up a single. That runner was erased on a caught stealing. Curtis issued a two-out walk, then gave up a single. The lead runner got to third base on the hit, while the batter moved up to second base on the throw. Curtis got out of trouble on a ground ball to third base to end the inning.
Mesa put up a run in the third inning on a walk, double, and sacrifice fly. Curtis limited the damage by getting two strikeouts. He came out for the fourth, but he was pulled after allowing a double and a walk to the first two batters of the inning. Both runners ended up scoring. It was quite a difference from the first appearance for Curtis. He allowed four earned runs on six hits and three walks in three innings on Tuesday night. He finished with two strikeouts. He tossed 54 pitches total, with exactly half of them going for strikes.
Johnson started the game off with a pop-out to third base on the fifth pitch of the at-bat. He flew out to center field in the third inning while once again seeing five pitches. Johnson doubled on a liner to right field to start the sixth inning. He was called out on strikes in the eight, leaving him 1-for-4 with a double. He went 4-for-10 with five walks during his first week of fall play. Johnson handled all five chances he had in the field without issue on Tuesday night.
Derek Diamond made his second appearance of the fall. His first was a rough outing in a game that already had a one-side deficit. The situation wasn't much different on Tuesday night. He came in with two men on, two outs, and Scottsdale trailing 12-2 in the sixth. The first batter was Tre' Morgan, who went to a full count before lining a two-run double to left field. Morgan had three hits and six RBIs at that point. The next batter reached on an error before Diamond got out of the inning with a strikeout.
Diamond remained on for the seventh inning. He started the frame with a strikeout. The next batter flew out to right field, then the side was retired in order on a fly ball to left field. That ended his night with 1.1 scoreless, though he allowed two inherited runners to score. Diamond threw 16 of 24 pitches for strikes.
Scottsdale lost 15-2 and now have a 2-4 record. The Scorpions will be at home on Wednesday night to host the Salt River Rafters (3-3) at 9:30 PM EST.
MLB announced the finalist for this year’s Gold Glove Award, which is given to the best defender in each league at each position.
In 2022, they added a spot for a utility player, which was relevant this year for the Pirates, as Jared Triolo was named a finalist for that position.
Triolo, Brendan Donovan (who won the NL Utility spot in 2022), and Kike Hernandez are the three up for the utility position this year. Triolo mainly played third and second this year and graded out in the 83rd percentile when it came to Outs Above Average (OAA) on Baseball Savant.
According to the transaction log, Domingo German has elected free agency. He was signed as a minor-league free agent before the season and pitched in Triple-A most of the season.
He opted out at one point but resigned, eventually making his way to Pittsburgh, where he struggled. German, 32, posted a 7.84 ERA in 20.2 innings pitched with the Pirates this year before being DFA’d and then outrighted to Indianapolis.
Aaron Judge went 1-3 with a home run and three RBI as the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the ALCS.
Gerrit Cole allowed two earned runs on six hits and four walks in 4.1 innings pitched, getting pulled for Clay Holmes, who got the win.
The Guardians found themselves in early trouble and pulled Tanner Bibee after just 1.1 innings, giving way to Cade Smith, who tossed 1.2 shutout frames (of his own) but did allow an inherited runner to score.
The ALCS will have an off day on Wednesday, but the NLCS picks things back up for game three and the series being tied 1-1.
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Top Exit Velocity
Aaron Judge - NYY - 111.3 mph - Home Run
Gleyber Torres - NYY - 108.2 mph - Double
Juan Soto - NYY - 107.7 mph - Single
Jazz Chisholm Jr. - NYY - 107.3 mph - Groundout
Austin Wells - NYY - 106.5 mph - Lineout
Top Pitch Velocity
Clay Holmes - NYY - 98.2 mph
Gerrit Cole - NYY - 98.1 mph
Gerrit Cole - NYY - 98 mph
Clay Holmes - NYY - 97.8 mph
Gerrit Cole - NYY - 97.7 mph
Most Whiffs
Gerrit Cole - NYY - 10
Tanner Bibee - CLE - 5
Cade Smith - CLE - 3
Tommy Kahnle - NYY - 3
Hunter Gaddis - CLE - 2
Anyone who watched a lot of Greensboro and AFL ball this year care to comment on Termarr's defense?
John mentioned him handling his chances but I know at least early on there were some concerns.
AFL coaching question: The Scottsdale Scorpions have Casey Harms as one of their hitting coaches (and 1st base coach). In the pirate's staff directory he's listed as Minor League Integrated Baseball Performance Coach (man I really do not miss corporate life). Who is this cat and what does his AFL role as Hitting Coach mean for his future? Is he being set up as a hitting Coach for the minors next year?