D-backs' 2024 first-rounder delivers first-ever 5-hit game, including a walk-off!
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When Slade Caldwell strode into the batter’s box in the bottom of the 10th inning on Thursday night, a boisterous member of the crowd at Hillsboro Ballpark yelled within shot of the TV microphones:
“Walk it off, man, walk it off! Get that runner in.”
Caldwell was too zoned in to hear him. But he delivered the walk-off goods anyway.
The D-backs’ No. 3 prospect delivered his first five-hit game ever in leading High-A Hillsboro to an 8-7 win over Everett. After a rough run last month, May has been kinder to the club’s 2024 first-rounder, who has posted a .453 on-base percentage since the calendar turned, the third-highest mark in the Northwest League.
The hits were flowing from his bat from the jump, as Caldwell kicked off the night with a first-pitch single to center field out of the leadoff spot in the bottom of the first inning. He muscled another single to right-center in the third before creaming his second homer of the campaign in the seventh, a game-tying two-run shot, his first at the Hops’ brand-new facility.
The clutch swings kept coming. Caldwell laced his fourth hit in the ninth, a single down the right-field line that set up an eventual game-tying sacrifice fly. Then there was the 10th, which marked just his second career hit in extra innings. Trent Youngblood walked, and during Caldwell’s plate appearance, stole a pair of bags to put the winning run 90 feet away.
“I was like, ‘I gotta get it done now. No better person to do it than me,’” said Caldwell.
After sizzling balls past fielders and parking one beyond the fence, sometimes all it takes is a little jam shot. Caldwell got just enough of an elevated fastball to flare it into center to kick off a walk-off celebration.
“The guys creating these opportunities for me to come up and do it [was incredible],” said Caldwell. “It was a full team effort. Just an unreal experience on the baseball field.”
At the end of play on May 8, Caldwell had one of the weirder looking slash lines in all of Minor League Baseball: .129/.390/.141. A tremendously patient hitter who knows the strike zone, the 19-year-old was working counts, almost never chasing and taking his walks, but did very little by way of impact when he did swing. Since then, things have started to change for the better. In the span of 15 games, Caldwell's average is up 93 points, and while a .707 OPS might not wow on a stat sheet, his .408 on-base percentage on the year is the exact same mark he posted over a successful 114-game debut in 2025.
“I like to see a lot of pitches and I like to get on base,” said Caldwell. “But for me, to help my team out the most, I gotta hit the ball and create some havoc. I've changed it up. I’m definitely being more aggressive in the heart of the zone and that's what I've been pounding right now.
“It's been a really tough stretch early on. But I’ve been keeping my head down and coming in day in and day out, trying to find my happy place in the struggle. I'm just so grateful for the adversity to make this even more of a great experience.”
It’s been a banner month for D-backs prospects. Ryan Waldschmidt (AZ No. 1/MLB No. 33) was promoted to the big leagues on May 8 and Tommy Troy (AZ No. 4) joined him just over two weeks later. From dazzling catches in the outfield to a multitude of firsts they’ll remember for the rest of their lives, the Baby Snakes have provided a spark to a club that has won nine of its last 10 games and sits in second place in the National League West.
“They just keep their head down,” said Caldwell of Waldschmidt and Troy, citing the group chats the prospects share as a way for them to keep in touch. “They keep working. They never change anything, they're hitting balls hard everywhere. They work their tails off.”