SEATTLE -- As Nasim Nuñez stepped to the plate for his first at-bat Saturday, the 22-year-old appeared round T-Mobile Park, taking in a giant league environment for the primary time in his younger profession.

“I took it all in,” Nuñez stated. “It was amazing.”

There had been hundreds of individuals within the stands, an higher deck that gamers don’t get to see within the Minors, and a buzz that doesn’t are inclined to occur in Double-A. The last item he checked out, nonetheless, was the dust within the batter’s field, reminding him that at its core, a Major League discipline continues to be only a baseball discipline.

“That's why I looked at the dirt,” Nuñez stated. “So I know where my feet are.”

It wasn’t lengthy earlier than Nuñez was utilizing these ft to race to second base as he shot a bases-loaded double to left discipline, his opposite-field hit stretching the National League’s lead from 2-0 to 5-0.

That hit was sufficient to earn Nuñez the Larry Doby MVP Award at this 12 months’s SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, making him the primary Marlins prospect to take house that honor.

“What a day, what a game, what a moment for him,” stated Marlins pitching prospect Patrick Monteverde, Nuñez’s teammate at Pensacola. “Much deserved.”

Nuñez was dissatisfied when he wasn’t included in final 12 months’s Futures Game, so he didn’t permit himself to consider taking part in on this 12 months’s occasion. When he was knowledgeable by his coaches that he had been chosen, all Nuñez may say was, “That’s crazy.”

“It's an honor and something I worked for,” Nuñez stated.

A 2019 second-round decide and Miami’s No. 20 prospect, Nuñez is thought for his slick glove at shortstop and blazing pace, which helped him steal 70 bases within the Minors in 2022. A switch-hitter, his offensive numbers in 2023 haven’t been what he hoped for, slashing .211/.330/.289 with 4 house runs, 31 RBIs and 33 steals in 76 video games at Double-A. Despite his struggles at occasions this season, the three-run double that earned him MVP honors didn’t shock him in any respect.

“It’s baseball,” Nuñez stated. “When I went up to the plate, it was just a regular at-bat. I did my breathing on deck, focused, picked up the ball out of the hand and was just ready to hit the ball. I think the first pitch he called a strike on me was a ball, but he threw it in the same spot and I swung this time and I got a double.”

The hit got here in opposition to Yosver Zulueta, the Blue Jays’ hard-throwing No. 3 prospect based on MLB Pipeline.

“Those were really tough shadows, he was facing a high-octane pitcher,” NL supervisor Raul Ibañez stated. “He handled a really tough pitch, battled and shot a ball the other way. Tremendous at-bat; he’s really talented, but also inquisitive and curious and open and wants to learn and get better. I really enjoyed being around him.”

Monteverde, who recorded the ultimate two outs for the NL on Saturday, anticipated his teammate to return by means of in that spot.

“The bigger the stage, the bigger he gets; he knows how to come up clutch,” Monteverde stated. “He plays his game and sticks true to himself. He’s as confident in himself without being cocky or in an arrogant way as possible.”

After his double, Nuñez did what he does finest, stealing third base. When he returned to the dugout after the inning, his teammates started speaking about one thing he hadn’t even thought of: the MVP award.

“MVP never crossed my mind until I got in the dugout and people started talking that talk like, ‘You're MVP!’” Nuñez stated. “I was like, ‘All right, all right, all right. Chill.’”

Nuñez had each of his dad and mom, his uncle, his girlfriend and different family and friends members within the stands Saturday, nevertheless it was the person whose picture adorned his spikes -- Jose “Papito” Nuñez -- who impressed him probably the most.

“A week and a half ago, my grandfather passed away; he's the one who put the bat and ball in my hands,” Nuñez stated. “‘Esta en la sangre’ is what he all the time used to say -- ‘It's in the blood.’

"He'd all the time yell at me, ‘Hit the ball, hit the ball! Uppercut, uppercut!’ He handed away from lung most cancers and prostate most cancers, so this recreation was actually for him. Everything sooner or later goes to be for him, as effectively. I do know he is all the time going to be with me. It's nonetheless arduous, however you’ve acquired to go together with it.

“I enjoyed every moment.”

Content Source: www.mlb.com