Morning Rundown: Paul Skenes a finalists for Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Siani singles in Scottsdale win
Paul Skenes up for multiple awards this offseason, Sammy Siani picks up another hit in the AFL
The finalists for the end-of-year BBWAA awards were announced on Monday. The winners will be announced throughout the course of next week.
There is a familiar face in two of the awards, and here’s a rundown of all of the finalists:
NL MVP
Francisco Lindor, New York Mets
Ketel Marte, Arizona Diamondbacks
Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
AL MVP
Aaron Judge, New York Yankees
Juan Soto, New York Yankees
Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals
NY Cy Young
Chris Sale, Atlanta Braves
Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia Phillies
AL Cy Young
Emmanuel Clase, Cleveland Guardians
Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals
Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers
NL Rookie of the Year
Jackson Churio, Milwaukee Brewers
Jackson Merrill, San Diego Padres
Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
AL Rookie of the Year
Colton Cowser, Baltimore Orioles
Luis Gil, New York Yankees
Austin Wells, New York Yankees
NL Manager of the Year
Carlos Mendoza, New York Mets
Pat Murphy, Milwaukee Brewers
Mike Shildt, San Diego Padres
AL Manager of the Year
AJ Hinch, Detroit Tigers
Matt Quatraro, Kansas City Royals
Stephen Vogt, Cleveland Guardians
The winners will be announced on the following nights:
Rookie of the Year: November 18
Manager of the Year: November 19
Cy Young: November 20
MVP: November 21
After a fantastic rookie season, Paul Skenes is not only a finalist for the Rookie of the Year but also for Cy Young.
Skenes, 22, posted an 11-3 record in 133 innings, striking out 170 compared to 32 walked. He also put up a 1.96 ERA in that span and was the starter for the All-Star game.
The Scottsdale Scorpions opened up the final week of the Arizona Fall League season at home against the first-place Surprise Saguaros. The Scorpions trailed the final playoff spot by two games going into Monday's action, with just four games left on the schedule. Sammy Siani was the only Pittsburgh Pirates prospect in the lineup. He played left field, and he batted fifth. He came into the day with the highest batting average (.406) in the league. Valentin Linarez would join the game out of the bullpen.
Siani singled on a line drive to right field in the second inning during his first at-bat of the day. He flew out to center field to end the third inning, then struck out swinging to end the fourth inning. Scottsdale had a 5-1 lead at that time.
Linarez came into the game in a big spot. With two men on base and two outs in the sixth, he took over with a 5-2 lead. He gave up a double steal, then walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. Linarez got out of the jam five pitches later with a swinging strikeout to end the inning. Limited pitch data for this game shows that he threw ten pitches in the inning, with four going for strikes.
Linarez came back out for the seventh inning. He gave up a line drive single into left field to the lead-off batter. A liner to right field was caught for the second out. Linarez needed six pitches to get a fly ball to Siani in left field for the second out. He got a ground out to second base to end the inning. Linarez threw 19 pitches in the inning, with 11 going for strikes. He has now thrown 10.1 innings this fall, giving up one run on three hits, eight walks, and 11 strikeouts.
Siani flew out to center field in the seventh inning. He finished the game 1-for-4 with a single. He is now hitting .397/.461/.574 through 19 games played. He fell six points behind teammate Josue Briceno for the batting crown during this game.
Scottsdale won 5-2, moving them to a 13-14 record. The Scorpions will be at home today to take on the Mesa Solar Sox at 3:30 PM EST. The Solar Sox are also playing for a playoff spot.
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2024 NL ROY and CY Young: Paul Skenes
2025 NL ROY and MVP: Sammy Siani
AL MVP and Cy Young seem obvious, as does NL RoY.