Gabriel Moreno added another line to a breakout season that already had him in the awards mix. The Diamondbacks catcher was named the 2026 recipient of the Luis Aparicio Award, which goes each year to the best Venezuelan player in Major League Baseball.
Venezuelan sports journalists cast the votes, and Moreno collected 65 of the 100 first-place ballots. Phillies left-hander Jesus Luzardo finished second, while D-backs starter Eduardo Rodriguez placed third.
“It is an honor to receive this award,” Moreno said in a press release. “Luis Aparicio is our legend, the first Hall of Famer we Venezuelans have in Cooperstown, and he means a lot to us.”
Moreno is also one of six Diamondbacks finalists for the All-MLB Team, a group that includes Corbin Carroll in the outfield, Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop, Ketel Marte at second base, Nolan Arenado at third base and Rodriguez as a starting pitcher. Carroll and Marte are the only two in that group who have previously made the All-MLB Team as Diamondbacks, with Carroll earning that honor in 2023 and Marte doing it in 2024 and 2025. Carroll was named second-team All-MLB in 2025.
Among the D-backs finalists, Moreno may have the strongest argument. He ranked second among MLB catchers with at least 400 plate appearances in OPS at .906 and led big league backstops with 6.7 bWAR.
The All-MLB Team, created in 2019, will be announced Nov. 11 during the fourth annual MLB Awards at The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
There’s also a bigger-picture question hanging over Arizona’s rotation, and Brandon Pfaadt sits right in the middle of it. After years of flashes, 2026 was the first season in which he sustained that level over a longer stretch, with a change in approach away from a strikeout-heavy plan helping produce more stable results. That shift matched what Arizona got from its pitching staff overall and gave Pfaadt a more dependable profile.
That matters because the rotation around him comes with plenty of uncertainty. Eduardo Rodriguez turned in an ace-like 2026, but a step back is possible.
Nelson remains a question mark because of health and poor performance in 2026. Merrill Kelly struggled, Corbin Burnes looked rough in his three post-injury outings, and prospects Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and Jose Cabrera all had difficult debut seasons.
The system does not have many obvious arms ready to jump into the majors if needed.
Around the league, Milwaukee’s postseason run kept rolling with a 10-1 win that put the Brewers one victory away from their first World Series title. The turning point was a fifth-inning explosion built entirely with two outs: an eight-run burst that crushed the Rays’ hopes after they entered Game 3 believing Freddy Peralta could stop the damage.
Robert Gasser was nearly spotless for Milwaukee, allowing one hit over six scoreless innings. The Brewers’ offense spread the production around in emphatic fashion, with every starter reaching base, eight of nine driving in a run, and Jackson Chourio finishing with four hits, one shy of the World Series single-game record, by the end of the fifth inning.
MLB is also using the Arizona Fall League to try out a possible rules tweak. This year’s experiment restricts outfielders’ positioning on every at-bat, with the league hoping to push more offense by forcing defenders to play straight up rather than shading for individual hitters. The idea is to open up more doubles and triples, and the test is limited to games at Salt River Fields because the ballpark has the technology needed for the trial.
At the AFL midseason mark, FanGraphs highlighted several new names, including right-hander Joey Dixon of the Astros, Sam Horn of the Dodgers, Maddox Long of the Tigers and left-hander Joe Ariola of the Diamondbacks. Dixon’s velocity has returned after Tommy John surgery and shoulder trouble, with his fastball sitting 94-97 and his slider and changeup both showing miss-the-bat traits.
Horn, a former Missouri quarterback, has come back from elbow surgery and a fractured tibia to work 93-96 with a plus slider and changeup. Long, a 6-foot-5 righty, pairs a heavy low-90s sinker with a plus slider, while Ariola has a riding 93-94 fastball and a hammer curveball.
The same piece also revisited the February six-player deal that sent infielder Caleb Durbin from the Brewers to the Red Sox. What looked ugly for Boston over the first two months of the season ended up looking much different by year’s end, with the trade eventually viewed as a season-saving move.
Boston and Milwaukee completed the swap early in February after the Red Sox fell short in their bid to replace third baseman Alex Bregman in free agency. The package included infielders Andruw Monasterio, Anthony Seigler and David Hamilton, along with left-handers Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan.