Morning Rundown: Scottsdale makes AFL Playoffs, Kevin Newman signs with the Angels
Scottsdale close season on seven game winnings streak, makes AFL playoffs
Scottsdale locks up playoff spot with win
Recap by John Dreker
The Arizona Fall League regular season wrapped up play on Thursday afternoon. The Scottsdale Scorpions came into the day in need of a win to make the playoffs. They actually had a chance to finish anywhere from second to fifth in the standings, depending on how all three games played out. Three Pittsburgh Pirates were in the starting lineup on the road against the Glendale Desert Dogs. Right fielder Sammy Siani batted fifth. Shortstop Kervin Pichardo hit seventh, while catcher Geovanny Planchart batted eighth. Eddy Yean joined the game late out of the bullpen.
Siani struck out swinging to start the second inning. Pichardo ended the second inning with a ground ball double play. Planchart lined out to first base to lead off the third inning. Siani doubled in the fourth inning, right after Scottsdale tied the score 1-1. Siani stole third base, which was his fifth steal in five attempts this fall. Pichardo followed with a two-run double that scored Siani and made it a 3-1 game. Pichardo was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Planchart popped out to first base to end the fourth.
Siani grounded into a force-out in the sixth inning. He reached first base on the play, then stole second base. That was followed by going to third base on a throwing error by the catcher. He scored two batters later on a Pichardo single that broke a 3-3 tie. Planchart followed with a fly ball to right field for the second out of the inning.
Yean came out for the bottom of the sixth. He retired the first batter on a fly ball to center field. He then gave up a single and a walk to put two men on base. He got out of the jam with a strikeout and a ground out to second base. Yean threw 15 pitches in the innings, working mostly fastballs. He topped out at 97.6 MPH.
After Siani grounded out to end the top of the seventh, Yean returned to the mound for more work. Scottsdale gave him a 6-3 lead. He allowed a single and a walk to put two men on, which brought up the tying run with no outs. He got a line out to center field for the first out. He recorded an out on a grounder, which allowed a runner to score on the play. He was replaced at that point. Yean worked 1.2 innings, giving up one run on two hits, two walks, and one strikeout. He threw 34 pitches, with 19 going for strikes. He finished the fall season with seven earned runs on 13 hits and six walks over 9.1 innings. He ended up with eight strikeouts.
The eighth inning started with a 6-4 Scottsdale lead. Pichardo reached on a single, then Planchart walked to load the bases with no outs. The Scorpions added a run, but neither Pirates player ended up scoring. After Glendale added two runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it 7-6, Siani lined out during his fifth at-bat in the ninth.
Siani went 1-for-5 with two runs and two stolen bases. He finished the season hitting .375/.457/.550 in 92 plate appearances.
Pichardo went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. That performance pushed him to a .309/.424/.527 slash line over 66 plate appearances.
Planchart had a 0-for-3 day with a walk. He hit .294/.432/.500 in 44 plate appearances this fall.
As a side note of interest, Scottsdale's Josue Briceno won the league Triple Crown with a .433 average, ten homers, and 27 RBIs. No one seriously challenged him in any of those three categories.
Scottsdale won 7-6, giving them seven wins in a row and a playoff spot. They will host the Salt River Rafters tonight at 8:30 PM. The winner of that game will play the Surprise Saguaros in the championship game on Saturday.
Former Pittsburgh Pirates first-round pick Kevin Newman signed a major league contract with the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.
Newman, 31, spent the 2024 season with the Arizona Diamondbacks, hitting .278/.311/.375 with three home runs, 17 doubles, and eight stolen bases while putting up a 2.2 bWAR in 111 games.
He showed some added versatility, playing shortstop, second, third, first, and left field. With Zach Neto expected to miss time this season, this gives the Angels a veteran option for shortstop to start out.
The All-MLB teams were announced Thursday night, and Paul Skenes continues to get recognized for his incredible rookie season.
He was named to the first-team All-MLB, surrounding himself with some very good names and continuing to establish himself as one of the best in the game already.
Here’s a look at the entire first and second-team All-MLB:
First Team
C William Contreras
1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
2B Ketel Marte
3B Jose Ramirez
SS Bobby Witt Jr.
OF Aaron Judge
OF Juan Soto
OF Mookie Betts
SP Chris Sale
SP Tarik Skubal
SP Paul Skenes
SP Zack Wheeler
SP Corbin Burnes
RP Emmanuel Clase
RP Ryan Helsley
Second Team
C Salvador Perez
1B Bryce Harper
2B Jose Altuve
3B Manny Machado
SS Francisco Lindor
OF Jackson Merrill
OF Jarren Duran
OF Teoscar Hernandez
DH Yordan Alvarez
SP Seth Lugo
SP Dylan Cease
SP Shota Imanaga
SP Framber Valdez
SP Michael King
RP Mason Miller
RP Kirby Yates
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Siani made two outstanding plays in RF yesterday to save the game. One sprinting back to the fence saving a run and then a diving catch in front of him and doubling off the runner before he could get back to first.
With all the caveats of projected WAR, Fangraphs has projected to go 78-84 (23rd in MLB). The way I'm looking at this is that the 6th position in the NL is a tie between the Cubs, Brewers, and Cards at 82-80. So, Ben needs to outperform their GMs by at least 4 WAR this offseason (there's also the Giants and Mets at 81-81 to leapfrog).
Key quote: "the quality of their starting pitching screams for big, aggressive moves to take advantage while the window is open."
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-power-rankings-offseason-2025/