Not a lot of traction in the nominations thread, with only a couple of comments, and one genuine suggestion! Consequently, I get to exercise my executive privilege and pick the five candidates out of the twenty-five originally included in the short-list. Except, I actually added another one from the infield, to make six in all. It's good to be the King. 🙂
Though first chronologically, this was the last one I added to the ballot, because choosing between the outfield plays was really hard. There was no obviously outstanding candidates, but there were a lot of very good ones. I will admit, a certain amount of nostalgic bias may have crept in, with Thomas delivering in his last full month as a Diamondback, after having been drafted by the organization back in 2018. He certainly had his moments. While he'll be best remembered for his NLCS home-run against the Phillies in 2023, his defense rarely failed to show up, every day. He was always in contention for this category, and this full-speed dive is no exception.
I wanted to include a play from each of our Gold Glovers, but doing so would have meant no room for Arenado, who certainly deserved a mention. His signing was likely Mike Hazen's best move of last winter, and in addition to the thirty home-runs, Nolan showed he could still flash the leather at the hot corner. There were a number of credible candidates from Arenado, but I particularly liked this one, which showcased his quick thinking. Immediately realizing how much time was available to him, Nolan first moved to tag the runner out going from second to third, before firing a strike over to first base to get the second out.
Nominated by Sighborg. The only suggestion was for the rather less conventional double-play Sighborg appropriately named "The Germinator." Arguably, there was as much bad as good to be found there, even if the outcome was a highly satisfactory, inning ending double-play! But Geraldo Perdomo was blameless, and our Gold Glover deserves much credit for his presence of mind. After narrowly avoiding getting run over by Tommy Troy, who either didn't hear or chose to ignore Perdomo's call, Gerry still made the catch and then threw home to get the runner, trying to advance from third in the chaos. That proved decisive in what ended as a one-run win for the D-backs
Five-star catches are those plays which Statcast assesses a typical fielder would make less than twenty-five percent of the time. According to this chart, in 2026 Carroll recorded seven such outs, behind only likely MVP winner Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Red Sox's Ceddanne Rafaela in this category, among all MLB outfielders. I don't know which plays of Corbin's specifically qualified (I wish you could search Statcast data by catch percentage!), but I feel sure if this play was not one of the seven, it is certainly the equal of them. That it took a home-run away from the Dodgers is the icing on this particular cake.
Two Play of the Year candidates from the same game? Oh, alright: if you insist . Once more with feeling, because making the Dodgers look dumb always gave a case of the extra warm fuzzies. This perfect throw down to second base, demonstrates why Moreno is the only Arizona catcher ever to win the Gold Glove, now having two on his mantelpiece. Ohtani was just one of the fourteen baserunners Moreno nailed this year, and it was particularly amusing how he thought otherwise. Get your butt back to the dugout, Shohei! Moreno also picked off four base-runners in 2026 – no catcher in the majors had more.
For the home-run, I definitely wanted to go with one of the walk-offs. Each of the three had something to say for them. For example, Waldy's one just 18 days earlier was against the Dodgers, always a bonus. But in the end, I had to go with his later one. The +85.5% Win Probability it was worth, made it the highest single play by a Diamondback for over fourteen years, since Ryan Roberts against the A's in June 2012. [Marte's walkoff against the Giants was almost as good, at +82.7%] Nick Ahmed had 2,897 at-bats as a Diamondback without a walk-off home-run. Waldschmidt hit a pair over a span of a mere 43 at-bats in August. "The Cubs comeback is complete." 🙂
