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This one ended up being quite close, with Jose Fernandez’s debut edging out Merrill Kelly’s complete game in Coors by a single vote [I am exercising executive privilege to call the poll closed at the time of writing. So if there’s a late surge for Kelly between now and this piece going up, I do not care!] This stands in stark contrast to last year, where Eugenio Suarez’s four home-runs was basically unaninimous. It’s actually the first time ever the single-game performance has gone to one in March – the previous record was April 17, shared by the 2018 and 2015 awards. I suspect these are a bit like the Oscars, with recent outings more likely to stick in your mind, so that says a lot about Fernandez’s entry to the major leagues.

It’s probably fair to say that before this spring, few people had even heard of Fernandez. Doing a quick sweep through the SnakePit archives, the only mention before this year was by Preston in a piece from July 2024, who ranked him the #4 shortstop in the system. He wrote, “The Diamondbacks continue to be higher on Fernandez than most… His ceiling is a regular major league shortstop, his floor is a player who washes out in AA.” Well, as with most things, the truth sits somewhere in the middle, though he has easily surpassed the floor. Fernandez got a cup of coffee in Double-A Amarillo that year, then all of 2025 there, posting a line of .272/.321/.454 for an OPS of .775.

He was added to the 40-man Diamondbacks roster to protect him in November, and I did call him a roster dark-horse in a January piece, noting he was the youngest member of the roster. I did say, “If we see him in the majors this year, that suggests something has gone rather wrong,” though in the comments, Wes opined, “I think he may actually be on the verge of breaking out as a prospect.” That breakout certainly happened in spring training. He went 7-for-25, but every one of those hits went for extra bases, with three doubles, a triple and three home-runs. 15 of his first 18 batted balls in official games had exit velocities above 95 mph.

It wasn’t quite enough to get him an Opening Day spot, having already been optioned to Triple-A Reno on March 8. But barely had the season there got under way – after just a single game, in fact – opportunity came knocking for Fernandez. It came in unfortunate fashion, resulting from an injury to Pavin Smith. Left elbow inflammation got him sent to the IL, and Fernandez was brought up as a utility replacement on March 30. The following day, he made his debut, getting the start at third-base. The results were historic – the first Diamondback ever to hit two home-runs in his major-league debut, part of a 3-for-4 day, with four RBI as the team mounted a thrilling comeback from five runs down against Detroit.

It began in less spectacular fashion, Fernandez legging out an infield single off Casey Mize. It had an exit velocity of 73.2 mph, and a launch angle of… um, -35 degrees. But Jose’s speed turned it into his first hit, an xBA of .070 be damned. By the next time he came up, in the fourth inning, Arizona’s win probability was down to just 6.7%. For the Tigers had scored five runs off Brandon Pfaadt in the third. But Jose started the process of the team digging its way out of the hole, with a 408 ft no doubter to deep left field, getting Arizona on the board. That made him the eighth D-back to homer in his first game, but since 2009, the only other had been Seth Beer in 2021. But, wait! There’s more.

The rest of the Arizona offense finally caught up in the eighth inning. A two-run double from Corbin Carroll made it 5-3, then a Gabriel Moreno groundout gave us a one-run game. With two outs, but men on second and third, Fernandez came up again, to face four-time All-Star, Kenley Jansen, who had come out of the bullpen to take on the rookie. After taking a pair of cutters, one for a called strike, the other a ball low, Jansen threw Fernandez a third cutter, and Jose had seen enough. This one went a foot further than his first home-run, becoming a three-run shot to left-center, and provided the final margin of victory in a sterling 7-5 Diamondbacks win. Fernandez became just the eighth player in MLB history with a two-homer debut.

Quotes

• “Stay calm, keep the emotions in check. I knew something like that could happen, and just looked for a pitch… I /returned to my days as a kid. It transports you back to being a kid.” — Jose Fernandez
• “He deserves all this credit. We’re so proud of him. He’s a player who came through our system, through our academy, and it’s a great story, a great baseball story. We’ve known about Jose for a long time. We knew he was coming.” — Torey Lovullo
• “Kenley’s one of the greatest closers of all time. He has a very unique cutter that he uses at the top of the zone. It really was just Carlos [Santana] and I trying to give him as much information as possible so that he wasn’t surprised the first time he saw it. And I guess he wasn’t.” — James McCann
• “I think it’s super cool for Carlos and James to do that for him. And for (Fernandez) to be able to take all of that in and go out there and do what he did, I think it’s pretty special.” — Brandon Pfaadt

Naturally, it was difficult for Fernandez to live up to that debut. Indeed, in the two hundred at-bats Jose had the rest of the season, he managed to hit just one more home-run, and currently has an ongoing streak of 130 ABs since his last one. But nobody can ever take away the most remarkable debut by a position player in franchise history.

Previous winners

• 2025: 4/26 – Eugenio Suarez’s four HR
• 2024: 9/8 – Pavin Smith goes off
• 2023: 9/8 – Zac Gallen complete game versus Cubs + Merrill Kelly’s dominant World Series Game 2 start
• 2022: 9/22 – Zac Gallen dominates Dodgers
• 2021: 8/14 – Tyler Gilbert’s no-hitter
• 2020: 9/2 – Zac Gallen one-hits the Dodgers
• 2019: 9/7 – Alex Young’s rookie record
• 2018: 4/17 – Patrick Corbin one-hits the Giants
• 2017: 9/4 – J.D Martinez, 4 HR vs. LAD
• 2016: 7/16 – Jake Lamb is clutch
• 2015: 4/17 – Josh Collmenter, complete-game shutout + three hits
• 2014: 5/29 – Josh Collmenter’s imperfect game
• 2013: 8/13 – Paul Goldschmidt, tying HR in 9th, walk-off HR in 11th, +79.8% WP
• 2012: 6/29 – Aaron Hill’s cycle #2 vs. Milwaukee
• 2011: 4/25 – Ian Kennedy complete-game
• 2010: 6/25 – Edwin Jackson, no-hitter vs. Tampa Bay
• 2009: 6/7 – B-bullpen no-hits the Padres for nine innings
• 2008: 4/18 – Conor Jackson, runs through the cycle
• 2007: 8/18 – Micah Owings, two-way threat

As we get closer to an almost certain lockout by Major League Baseball owners, I can’t help but think back to the St. Louis Cardinals team before the strike that ended the 1994 baseball season.

Here’s a quick refresher on exactly what led to the work stoppage in MLB in the summer of 1994. On January 18, 1994, the owners approved a new revenue-sharing plan that included a salary cap. One of the arguments back then was that small-market teams would not be competitive unless local broadcast revenue was shared. Also included in the proposal that would eventually be presented to the players was the elimination of salary arbitration and free agency that would begin after four years instead of six. The proposal was officially submitted to the players association on June 14, 1994 and was officially rejected by the MLBPA on July 18, 1994. I bring up this date because I remember being at Busch Stadium just a few days later. I believe it may have been one of the series against the Atlanta Braves in late July 1994.

The mood at Busch Stadium in late July of 1994 was tepid and that’s my memory being optimistic. One life memory I have is being at one of the concession stands in old Busch Stadium standing behind a couple of fans talking about how the baseball strike was inevitable and they swore they’d never come back to a game if the players went out on strike. It didn’t help that the 1994 St. Louis Cardinals were not a very good team, either.

The St. Louis Cardinals in 1994 had Ray Lankford who was about to enter his prime. He and Todd Zeile had 19 home runs before the season was cut short on August 11, 1994. Ozzie Smith was nearing the end of his playing career. Ozzie was selected to the All-Star game in 1994 at age 39 which made him the oldest player in the game. Gregg Jeffries was arguably one of the best Cardinals players in 1994 with a .325 batting average, 12 home runs and 55 RBI’s. Tom Pagnozzi, Bernard Gilkey, Gerónimo Peña and Mark Whiten were the other regulars in the starting lineup. Brian Jordan was still a year away from making his impact in St. Louis.

Bob Tewksbury was the leader of the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff in 1994 as he notched 12 wins before the season was shortened. Allen Watson, Vicente Palacios, Rick Sutcliffe and Omar Olivares handled the rest of the starting workload. One of the Cardinals biggest issues in 1994 was their bullpen. Mike Pérez started the year as the closer, but struggled with an ERA over 8 before René Arocha took over and saved 11 games before he went down with an elbow injury that required surgery.

The St. Louis Cardinals final game of 1994 was on August 11 when the Cardinals beat the Marlins 8-6 in Florida. They ended the shortened season with a record of 53 wins, 61 losses and 1 tie. That tied game happened on April 6, 1994 when a game against the Reds at Riverfront Stadium was called after 6 innings with the Cardinals and Reds knotted at 8-8 called because of weather. The strike on August 12, 1994 made sure that game would never be finished.

1994 has come back to me over the past few days because some of the same issues I remember being discussed among fans at Busch Stadium that summer are the same ones we’re hearing now. Salary cap, small market teams being competitive, clubs being forced to align their payrolls with a more even structure and owners predicting that the average player contracts would more than double. Those talking points 32 years ago led to the longest work stoppage in MLB history lasting 232 days. Let’s hope that the Major League Baseball owners and players remember that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

After making his MLB debut on April 28th, Travis Bazzana played in 124 games for the Guardians in the 2026 regular season. Despite having his share of ups and downs throughout the season, it was ultimately a successful debut for the young rookie.

In those 124 games, Bazzana got 517 plate appearances. He hit 15 home runs, 22 doubles, 3 triples, stole 19 bases, drew 56 BBs, scored 56 runs, and drove in 57 runs. He ended the season slashing .245/.335/.408. That comes out to a .742 OPS, a 110 OPS+, and a 110 wRC+. This effectively means Bazzana as a hitter was 10% above league average. He was also named an All-Star and finished 9th in the Rookie of the year voting. His 2.8 fWAR was tied for 7th best among AL rookie position players, and all the rookies with more fWAR played more games than Bazzana in 2026 (most played significantly more games).

For a player drafted 1.1, it’s easy to set expectations a bit higher than usual, but it’s important to also recognize how difficult it is to adjust to playing at the MLB level. It’s especially difficult as a young player to do all this while in the heat of a playoff chase that lasted until the second to last game of the season. In general, most experts consider around 2.0 fWAR over a full season the level a “solid everyday MLB starting player” would attain. In his first full season, while missing nearly 40 games, he was almost 50% better than that benchmark.

First career multi-homer game for Travis Bazzana. 😍#GuardsBall | #VoteGuardspic.twitter.com/tdoWFpZrMz

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) June 21, 2026

When you watch Bazzana play, you can see he has the fire of a real competitor. He also showed this season that he’s not afraid of the big moment, hitting two different walk off hits for the Guards.

Bazz ballgame!#GuardsBall | #GuardiWinspic.twitter.com/3s4GEwaQ5e

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 19, 2026

It's a walk-it-off kind of Friday.#GuardsBall | #GuardiWWinspic.twitter.com/R3LRndGF2d

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 5, 2026

Bazzana’s speed made him a threat on the bases – not only to steal, but to get extra bases by going 1st to 3rd on singles, and being able to stretch singles into doubles. On Baseball Savant, his Baserunning Run Value was 91st percentile (better than 91% of qualified MLB baserunners). His defense was rocky when he first came up to the majors, but he really cleaned it up in the second half of the season and ended up with a Fielding Run Value right around league average. 

As he learns more from the Guardians’ resident expert baserunner, he should be able to cause more mayhem on the bases, and his work ethic makes me confident his defense will continue to improve as well. 

With more MLB experience typically comes consistency, and Travis Bazzana looks to be a cornerstone of this offense for at least the next 4-5 seasons (hopefully longer). As he adjusts and gets more used to the pitching across the league, he’ll only get better offensively as well.  The future looks bright for this budding star at second base for the Guards.

Anne Sullivan then moved Helen Keller’s hand to feel the running water from the stream. “Waa—ter!!!” Helen exclaimed intensely. “Also the ghost runner is stooopid!!!!” “That’s enough for today,” Anne replied. “And yes, you’re right, it’s really dumb.”

Anne Sullivan was an incredible trailblazer for what’s possible in an impossible situation, somehow teaching someone who was blind and deaf how to recognize and pronounce words. This was a task only slightly easier than getting A’s pitchers to keep the ball in park while not walking everyone.

Enter Taylor Smith, who did not write “Cruel Summer” and is trying to avoid another one, and Cam Castro, who will try to do his job with Fidel-ity. They are charged with taking the A’s to the next level, a task that will involve turning the pitching staff from one of the worst in the business to one that performs at a level better than their home ballpark.

Be plenty optimistic that these two imports know a ton about pitching, about developing talent, about bringing out the best in players. But also be realistic that they are not about to replace Anne Sullivan on the “Top 10 ‘Believe it or Not’” lists.

One easy proclamation to make is that “Phew, finally we can expect Luis Morales and Jack Perkins to harness their stuff and pitch like Logan Henderson and Freddy Peralta!” But fixes are not simple matters when you are dealing with what is (or isn’t) between a pitcher’s ears, mechanics their body has internalized that you are trying to “unlearn,” pitchers who may or may not be fully receptive to your preaching, and the reality that “stuff” and “how well you can pitch” just don’t always correlate.

If the premise is “nowhere to go but up,” that the previous regime left every young pitcher stalled and hopeless, Luis Medina and JT Ginn offer a couple quick counterarguments. Similarly, the Brewers and Rays and Red Sox all have failed prospects in their histories whose performance just never played up to their stuff. It’s just the nature of the beast. In other words, even the Rays couldn’t fix Joe Boyle’s control so don’t put all your bullpen hopes in Luke Little’s left arm.

Another hope is to go outside the organization for an infusion of pitching talent, be it proven, “MLB ready,” local or international. As inspiring as it might be to hear that the A’s “plan to be aggressive” starting at some unnamed point that could be now, obstacles abound.

In luring free agents, the A’s will face one more season in a AAA park and are coming off of 98 losses no matter how they came by it. Payroll may be increasing but is not going to rival the top 10 spenders. The bigger free agent deals are known to generally be unwise investments and this off-season most everyone is seeking starting pitching creating a “player’s market”.

So to land someone worth getting excited about, you probably have to accept a player-friendly deal that wipes out much of your existing payroll flexibility for a contract you will later regret. It’s basically “a more expensive Luis Severino”.

In terms of trade, in order to add meaningful starting pitching the A’s would almost certainly have to part with a current key position player, e.g., Shea Langeliers, Tyler Soderstrom, Zack Gelof, or a coveted minor leaguer expected to contribute mightily to the team as soon as 2028, e.g., Leo De Vries, Jamie Arnold, Drew Burress.

Perhaps the best bet is an MLB-ready SP not yet proven, the next Dan Haren — who could also be the next Dan Meyer, an equally touted pitcher only he got hurt and was never the same. The type of pitcher the A’s may well have targeted when they were at AAA would be, I don’t know, Luis Morales and Jack Perkins?

Long term, Smith and Castro figure to greatly improve the A’s pitching through enhancement of the very way they draft, develop, and train pitchers from the ground up. But whether they can spin their magic to turn the current group into gems, whether they can bring in enough talent move the needle in the coming year — you might need Anne Sullivan for that and she’s been, er, retired for 90 years.

This morning, Jack O’Dowd (HM PuRP) was named the Arizona Fall League’s Breakout Player of the Year.

Congratulations to @Rockies Jack O’Dowd on being named Breakout Player of the Year!

An undrafted free agent who played a season in the independent MLB Official Partner Frontier League, Jack O’Dowd led the league with eight doubles, six home runs, and 14 extra-base hits. O’Dowd… pic.twitter.com/NRezuh5lML

— MLB's Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) November 14, 2026

The award as well deserved as the Rockies catching prospect led the league with eight doubles, six home runs, and 14 extra-base hits. O’Dowd also ranked third in the AFL in total bases (50) and RBI (21), fourth in slugging (.641), and eighth in hits (24).

Adding to his postseason accolades, the Rockies prospect won the Week 3 NFP Hitter of the Week Award after mashing three home runs and leading the league in total bases, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage.

O’Dowd was named to the National League Fall Stars roster and participated in the AFL Home Run Derby, where he hit 15 home runs and advanced to the semifinal round.

“The Home Run Derby was a ton of fun,” he said. “It was a great experience. I’m very grateful I got to do that, and just the whole All-Star experience, too. They make it really cool for us. And getting to meet so many different guys is one of the best parts, for sure.”

As a reminder, O’Dowd was an undrafted free agent who played the 2025 season with the Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer Independent League. He finished the season with the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats.

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The Dodgers sent a three-man envoy to Yokohama High School on Saturday to meet with Japanese teenage right-hander Shoki Oda.

The face-to-face meeting lasted more than three hours, according to Japanese news reports, which pointed out that Oda’s talks with representatives of other major-league organizations were in the one- to two-hour range.

Representing the Dodgers were vice president of player personnel Galen Carr, adviser Yogo Suzuki and scout Toru Sugiura. Oda was accompanied by his mother and Yokohama High baseball coach Hiroaki Murata.

Carr later told reporters that he considered Oda to not only be the best 18-year-old pitcher in the world but also the most talented pitcher to come out of Japan since Roki Sasaki.

Oda is known to have previously met with the Yankees, Rangers, Blue Jays, Phillies, Mets, Cardinals and Tigers. He is expected to meet with 12 MLB teams.

Carr said he told Oda if he signs with the Dodgers, the organization would come up with a development plan that is specifically designed for him. 

Oda has said he is focused on a move to the United States even after his first-round selection by the Tokyo Giants in the recent Nippon Professional Baseball draft.

The Dodgers are industry-wide favorites to sign Oda, who is represented by the same management company that facilitated Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s and Sasaki’s move to the major leagues. Oda has said Yamamoto is his favorite baseball player.

MLB’s upcoming work stoppage could be an obstacle for the Dodgers. 

The international player acquisition system is collectively bargained, and baseball’s current collective-bargaining agreement will expire on Dec. 1, at which point franchise owners will lock out the players.

Oda would not be able to sign until a new CBA is ratified.

This year’s Arizona Fall League has come and gone, as the Salt River Rafters’ quest for an unlikely AFL title ended with a semifinal loss on Friday night. It was an up-and-down autumn for them and the Yankees’ contingent, who had some definite high points, but also some deep struggles. Starting with Sunday’s Fall Stars Game, here’s how it went down in the final week of the AFL. As a reminder, if you want a quick rundown on who was in the desert this month, check here.

November 8 (AFL Fall Stars Game): Three Yankees participated in the Fall Stars Game on Sunday, which the NL won 7-4. Dax Kilby went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts, and Kyle West did the same. At least Chris Veach did his job, getting the last out of the fourth inning.

November 10 (Rafters 6, Javelinas 14): Returning from the pseudo-All-Star Break, Salt River got blasted by the team they’d eventually go on to play in the postseason. Kilby was removed in the fourth in what I can only describe as load management, given it happened to him again the following night and he’s DHing all week. Core Jackson went 1-for-4 with two RBIs, and West went 0-for-2 with two walks and two strikeouts. Eleven of the 14 runs were allowed by Mack Estrada and JT Etheridge, who both struggled, but converted catcher Antonio Gomez threw a scoreless inning.

November 11 (Rafters 12, Solar Sox 4): In their regular-season finale, the Rafters rallied from a fifth-inning deficit to blast the Solar Sox in a seven-inning game to finish the regular season at 14-15. Kilby again left early after a hitless day with a walk and two stolen bases. Jackson had one of his better games of the entire fall, going 2-for-3 with an RBI, two walks, two stolen bases, and three runs scored.

November 12 (AFL Quarterfinals, Rafters 5, Solar Sox 2): Thursday night marked the start of a three-day postseason, where Salt River defeated Mesa for the second consecutive day in the quarterfinals. Kilby went 1-for-3 with a walk, and West went 0-for-1 with three walks and two runs scored.

November 13 (AFL Semifinals, Rafters 5, Javelinas 6): That’s the end of the line, folks. The Rafters fell short in a back-and-forth affair and saw their season end on Friday night. Kilby took it on the chin, 0-for-5 with a pair of K’s, West went 0-for-4 with an RBI forceout, Jackson went 2-for-4 with a pair of hard-hit RBI singles, and Chris Veach tossed 2.1 shutout innings.

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AFL final totals

Dax Kilby: 19-74 (.257), 2 HR, 8 RBI, 6 2B, 4 3B, 8 BB, 11 K, 8 SB
Core Jackson: 12-68 (.177), 2 HR, 9 RBI, 2B, 3B, 18 BB, 23 K, 17 SB
Kyle West: 18-76 (.237), 6 HR, 18 RBI, 2 2B, 9 BB, 26 K, 5 SB
JT Etheridge: 14.1 IP, 19 H, 15 R (14 ER), 12 BB, 17 K
Mack Estrada: 8 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 10 BB, 2 K
Chris Veach: 13 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 6 BB, 15 K
Anthony Mena: 11.2 IP, 9 H, 6 R (5 ER), 11 BB, 7 K
Antonio Gomez: 8.1 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 8 BB, 7 K