By james art The Arizona Fall League exists to give young players some extra reps after the regular season ends, further preparing top prospects for the majors.
But on Tuesday night, the league made history in a whole new way.
The Scottsdale Scorpions were facing the Salt River Rafters in a simple exhibition game. In the top of the second inning, New York Mets prospect Drew Gilbert homered for the Scorpions.
Gilbert worked his way up to 3-1, then was called for a strikeout on a half-swing. The 24-year-old outfielder disagreed with third-base umpire Darius Gani, believing he actually held up.
So Gilbert tapped on his helmet and began a review of the check swing—something that had never been done before. MLB is giving check swing challenges a test run in the Arizona Fall League, and Gilbert was the first to take advantage.
An animation of Gilbert’s swing was shown on the video board in left field and the call was overturned. Gilbert grounded out to first base and shortly thereafter came back to score on a home run.
The Scorpions won 8-6, thanks in large part to Gilbert’s successful challenge.
Mets prospect Drew Gilbert was the first player in the Arizona Fall League to throw a check swing, and here’s a video of the process from @BaseballAmerica.
That challenge was on a 3-1 pitch, so the end result was Gilbert walking instead of facing a 3-2 pitch. pic.twitter.com/piscuvPqKN
— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) October 23, 2024
Gilbert wasn’t the only one calling for a review Tuesday night, either. New York Yankees prospect Garrett Martin also initiated a successful challenge later in the contest.
Still, Gilbert would go down in history as the first player to overturn a check swing call.
Gilbert was the first pick of the Houston Astros in the 2022 MLB draft, though he was traded to the Mets in exchange for Justin Verlander a year later. He is currently ranked as the #3 prospect in the Mets farm and the #74 prospect in all of baseball.
The Tennessee product is a .262 hitter with an .811 OPS in his minor league career, accumulating 30 home runs, 98 RBI and 21 stolen bases in 189 games.
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