Breaking: Because of their past achievements, Diamondbacks superstars are at the top of the 2023 award list.

For your potential consideration

Things get under way as promised, with Play of the Year being the first category. There was a good discussion in the comments section about whether or not post-season games should be included. Most people were in favor, but it is a good point that this would almost certainly lead to a massive domination of playoffs, over-shadowing the regular season.

So, for the first three categories (Play, Performance and Game), there will be two awards: one for the regular season, and the other for the post-season. That way, both can be honored. So, without further ado…

After diligently watching hours of highlights, I have come up with four video reels, highlighting potential candidates. There may, quite possibly, be others which slipped through the net of my MLB Video Room search skills, so please feel free to suggest candidates that escaped my attention. The general idea for the regular season will be a ballot which consists of two infield highlights, two outfield highlights and one offensive highlight, though this is not carved in stone. Below, you’ll find three video highlight reels, one in each sub-category, as well as a fourth highlighting post-season plays. Each is followed by a list of the clips it contained. Here’s how this will work.

Go to the comments section.

If your choice is already mentioned there, give it a “rec”.

If your choice is NOT mentioned, copy paste the FULL description, e.g. “Alek Thomas, game-tying PH home-run, NLCS” and leave that as a new comment.

Duplicate nominations will get deleted.

On Wednesday, I’ll tally up the recs, and use those as a guide towards a list of five or so nominees, in both the regular and post-season categories.

I trust this is all clear…

1. Emmanuel Rivera’s great stop – September 11
2. Moreno nabs Mastrobuoni at second – September 8
3. Christian Walker’s diving stop – September 5
4. Gabriel Moreno’s great play – August 27
5. Nick Ahmed’s dazzling play – June 28
6. Ketel Marte’s sliding grab – June 15
7. Jose Herrera nabs Báez at third – June 9
8. Christian Walker’s great play – May 8
9. D-backs turn DP to end the game – April 16
10. 
12. 1. Jake McCarthy’s second diving snag – September 13
    2. Corbin Carroll’s leaping catch – August 30
    3. Alek Thomas’ lunging grab – August 22
    4. Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s diving grab – July 16
    5. Jake McCarthy’s impressive catch – June 30
    6. Corbin Carroll’s spectacular grab – June 3
    7. Corbin Carroll’s leaping grab – April 22
    8. Jake McCarthy’s incredible catch – April 4

    Offensive plays

    This one is a little more objective. I’ve picked the best plays in various metrics, including Win Probability added, distance, exit velocity, etc. So we get three walk-off hits, a pair of home-runs, and the hardest-hit ball of the year.

13. 1. Corbin Carroll walk-off, June 1 – +75.3% WP
    2. Tommy Pham walk-off, August 21, +75.3% WP
    3. Gabriel Moreno 13th-inning walk-off, September 16
    4. Evan Longoria 463 ft home-run, April 30
    5. Christian Walker 459 ft home-run, 114.3 mph, May 8
    6. Ketel Marte 117.1 mph double, August 28

    Post-season plays

14. 
16. 1. Geraldo Perdomo diving stop, World Series
    2. Alek Thomas jumping catch, World Series
    3. Christian Walker bare-handed stop, World Series
    4. Lourdes Gurriell Jr. leaping catch, NLCS
    5. Gabriel Moreno throws out Bryce Harper, NLCS
    6. Zac Gallen loses glove, starts double-play, NLDS
    7. Evan Longoria catch into double-play, NLWC
    8. Alek Thomas, game-tying PH home-run, NLCS
    9. Ketel Marte, walk-off hit, NLCS
    10. Gabriel Moreno, go-ahead hit, NLCS
    11. 

    And I subsequently realized there is another one worthy of inclusion, but I only remembered after already completing assembly of the ten above. So here it is:
    11. Gabriel Moreno homers, then doesn’t, then homers again, NLDS