Camden Duzenack Homers in Sloan Park

The overlooked infielder prospect had an impressive showing against the Mesa Solar Sox.
Camden Duzenack Homers in Sloan Park
Camden Duzenack Homers in Sloan Park /
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Camden Duzenack was not on the initial roster for the Salt River Rafters, but an injury to Jordan Lawlar opened up an opportunity for him to play and give the organization a chance to evaluate him ahead of 40-man cutdowns. Duzenack got the start at third base and finished 1-for-4 with a home run in a 4-3 loss to the Mesa Solar Sox. It had been nearly a month between his final at-bat with Triple-A Reno and the Arizona Fall League, but he's quickly gotten into a groove with a 6-for-19 start with a home run at the plate in his first five games. 

In his first two at-bats, Duzenack worked a full count. After grounding out in the second, he was able to connect for a solo home run to left off Alex Ayala Jr. The home run was his first extra base hit in the fall. His approach on the pitch was "to stay on something and hit it back up the middle". He felt like he was taking some really good swings coming into that at-bat.

He had some opportunities on defense. The first was charging in on a chopper, which he was able to easily glove and throw out the runner with plenty of time. The other play was a ball hit to his right, which Duzenack was able to backhand the short hop and get the throw off in good shape. The key for him to potentially crack the big league roster may come down to his defensive versatility, as he's already played at second, shortstop, and third in his short stint in the fall.

Deyvison De Los Santos got the start on the other side of the diamond at first base. He went 0-4 at the plate, grounding out to short three times and lining out to third. There were some wild swings on pitches in the zone, which has been a consistent theme for him this fall. On defense, there wasn't anything that particularly stood out other than he converted all the plays. 

Justin Martinez got a relief appearance in the eighth inning and looked dominant, retiring the side in order with a pair of strikeouts. The velocity was down a bit, which may be attributed to the cold weather, as his fastball sat about 96 MPH as opposed to the typical 97-98 MPH range he's been showing this fall. The lessened velocity didn't affect him in the least, as he had good command of the slider and changeup on the night. Martinez generated six swings and misses on his two strikeouts, with both strikeouts coming on the changeup against left-handed hitters.

Jackson Goddard pitched the sixth inning and managed to pitch around his own miscue to throw a scoreless inning. After retiring the first two hitters he faced on a broken bat fly ball to center and a groundout to third, the wheels nearly fell off. After walking Jose Salas on a full count, Goddard hit Michael Guldberg with two strikes and committed a balk to put two runners in scoring position. He was able to finish off the inning by getting Rays prospect Mason Auer to pop out to second. Goddard's fastball sat around 93 MPH and had a decent feel for the curve at times, landing the pitch in the zone for strikes.


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Michael McDermott
MICHAEL MCDERMOTT

Michael McDermott has lived in Arizona since 2002 and is a credentialed beat writer for Inside the Diamondbacks and host of the Snakes on the Diamond Podcast. He previously wrote about the Diamondbacks for SB Nation's AZ Snake Pit. You can follow him on Twitter @MichaelMcDMLB