SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.– The 2023 Arizona Fall League season concluded with the championship game Saturday night at Scottsdale Stadium, resulting in the Surprise Saguaros’ second straight title in a 6-5 win over the Peoria Javelinas.
The competition featured some outstanding performances from many of the game’s promising young players, a sign of the bright future that awaits these burgeoning stars.
Here are the eight prospects featured in the Fall League Finals, concluding the 31st season of the Elite Prospect Circuit: Damiano Palmegiani, 3B (TOR No.
18) Palmegiani finished and scored three for the Surprises, patiently working each pair of walks on six pitches and scoring one on the opposite field in the fifth inning.
He scored on a single by Liam Hicks (Rangers) that put the Surprises on the board in the third inning, crossed the plate again two innings later and a third time on a double by Wes Clarke (Brewers) in the sixth inning.
Palmegiani also shined in a miraculous dive at the hot corner to get another base hit from Paul McIntosh (Marlins) in the seventh inning.
Manzardo, who homered twice to lead Peoria to a nine-run win over Scottsdale in the play-in semifinals on Friday, didn’t miss a beat in the finals, homering three times, in There were two walks to end an exceptional fall campaign.
His two-run opposite-field single in the ninth cut Peoria’s deficit to one in a nearly unsuccessful four-run rally.
Manzardo posted an excellent .
905 OPS during the Fall League regular season, with six home runs (eight including the playoffs).
Nasim Nuñez, 2B (MIA No.
17) Nuñez showed off his elite speed throughout the fall, doing it again in the championship by stealing third base in the first period for the 15th of the campaign – he has not been caught once in 21 games this season.
Nuñez struck out Angel Zerpa (Royals) first and scored in the fourth, coming home after a great read on a grounder that Hicks barely avoided behind the plate.
He added a hit to second base on an infield single in the sixth inning when he beat out a ground ball to first base.