An interesting set of discussions in the nominations thread. Some candidates I had completely forgotten about, and others worthy of consideration. However, after tossing and turning all night, I have decided not to include Eugenio Suarez’s fourth home-run on the ballot: I strongly suspect that’s going to get its moment in the sun later this month! As noted, what made that special was largely what had gone before. Though by that logic, you could argue that Ketel Marte’s home-run was only special for the same. Oh, well. I also had to disqualify ‘Hacks well-rec’d nomination of Corbin Carroll’s throw home. Something to do with it having taken place in 2024… 🙂

Oddly, nobody nominated any of the infield plays, so I’m wielding my executive power and picking one of those to round out the ballot beyond the most-rec’d nominations.

3/30: Ryne Nelson records RBI single in first career at-bat

Nominated by chwalter: “Ryne Nelson comes up to bat in the 8th inning against the Cubs due to Torey’s creative DH usage. D’backs are up 7-6 with 1 out and 2 on, and Ryne smokes an RBI single up the middle.” The last time a regular pitcher had recorded a hit in the majors, had been before the DH happened, and was by another man with Arizona connections: Zack Greinke in Game 4 of the 2021 World Series. Said Nelson on his knock, “I was like, ‘All right, man, I kind of have a job to do now. It’s not just for fun anymore, there’s some runs to drive in.’ Just tried to get my foot down and put the bat on the ball.”

7/18: Alek Thomas’ sensational catch

Nominated by Diamondhacks: “The powerful run straight back, simultaneous catch and hard wall contact, then really looking the ball into his mitt. Falling backwards, R-E-L-I-E-F, finally closes his eyes. “I got it!”” ‘Hacks was also impressed in the GDT: “He focuses on his mitt, after he makes hard contact with [the] wall. He’s falling backwards toward the ground, starting intently at his glove… He’s looking for a snow cone or the ball popping out so he can catch it again in the air. Just in case.” Lovullo was equally pleased: “The dugout erupted. It was just a great catch with awareness of where he was on the warning track, the space that he had. It was a typical Alek play.”

7/26: Eugenio Suarez’s barehanded throw

Nominated by me: A couple of things particularly impressed me here. Firstly, it was a barehanded play, and those are always tough – though if you want great catches there, cricket has baseball licked. But speaking of wicked English, there was some serious spin on the ball after it was chopped hard into the dirt. You can see the sharp change in direction on the second hop, which would easily have fazed many defenders. Suarez, though, simply adjusted. He got enough grip on the ball to allow him to make the strong throw across the diamond which was needed, in order to beat the runner, the ball getting there by a couple of inches.

8/13: Ketel Marte’s go-ahead homer, down to our final out

Nominated by Paulnh: “I nominate this because this was the home run that made me believe we had at least a chance to squeak into the playoffs. Following this win, we were 5.5 games out from the final wild card spot and had just won 5 of 6 games. We had a four game series with the Rockies upcoming and it felt like the team was playing solid baseball. The whole drama with Ketel Marte had recently unfolded, and then he went out and just destroyed the Rangers that whole series. It was just a fantastic moment for Ketel individually, and for the team in my eyes. Unfortunately, we’d lose 3 of 4 to the Rockies starting the next day…”

9/6: Blaze Alexander’s home run robbery

Nominated by unlnked, without further comment. But this was a game of two spectacular bits of theft. Earlier in the game, Ceddanne Rafaela had taken a home-run away from Corbin Carroll with a spectacular catch by the pool. But just two innings later, Alexander returned the favor, and it’s all the more impressive, considering Alexander came into the contest with precisely thirteen outfield starts as a professional, and I think it was his first ever out recorded in left field. Said Blaze, “I knew it was going to be at the wall or close, I made that little spin-around, got to my athletic jumping side, I just made the jump and felt it stick right away.”

The poll is below, and will remain open until I write up the winner, which will probably be in about 48 hours. Any votes after that point will not be counted!