PHOENIX -- Tommy Troy collected 288 hits in the Minor Leagues. He racked up 197 in college. He totaled countless others on summer circuits, during travel ball and on Little League fields in his native California. But he’ll remember this one.
The D-backs’ No. 4 prospect laced his first Major League hit Sunday at Chase Field in a 9-1 win over the Rockies, ripping a double off left-hander Jose Quintana that just got under the glove of center fielder Jake McCarthy. It helped spark a four-run inning, with Troy coming around to score on a 115.8 mph two-run double from the scorching-hot Ketel Marte.
Four innings later, Troy doubled again, this one to the right-center gap at 106.8 mph off the bat. Marte’s single again drove him home to extend Arizona’s lead.
Troy, the club’s first-round pick in the 2023 Draft (12th overall), was summoned to the big league roster Saturday after left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was placed on the 10-day injured list with left hamstring tightness.
The 24-year-old ranked second in the D-backs’ Minor League system with 54 hits at the time of his promotion. In addition to being on pace for a career high in batting average (.307), he also hit .353 with runners in scoring position and posted an average sprint speed of 29.7 ft/sec – very near the “elite” 30 ft/sec threshold.
For context, fellow rookie Jose Fernandez has posted a 29.6 ft/sec mark at the big league level this year, and he ranks in the 96th percentile among all MLB players.
Troy, who played all over the infield at Stanford and in the Cape Cod Baseball League, drew the start Sunday in left field, a position he had never played professionally prior to this season. In addition to work with Minor League outfield and baserunning coordinator Peter Bourjos, Troy played 18 games at the position for Triple-A Reno, while also making 18 starts at second base. The club has long believed in his ability to impact the game defensively, in addition to what he can do with the bat and on the basepaths.
“I want to make it as simple as I possibly can for Tommy,” manager Torey Lovullo said pregame. “I know that Tommy's coming on as an outfielder and I just want to give him some footing. One spot at a time and not give him too much. When it's time for him to move – maybe play some back end of games in the infield if needed, if there's moves that need to be made – I know he's capable of doing that. But for the most part, I'm going to put him in left field and leave him there.”
Next to Troy in the outfield was D-backs top prospect Ryan Waldschmidt (No. 33 overall, per MLB Pipeline), who drew the start in center. The two have come up through the system together, feeding off each other at each stop along the way.
“It's just really cool to have that core young group of guys coming up together because hopefully we're going to be playing together for a long time, and that really helps when it comes down to winning championships and winning a World Series,” Waldschmidt said last month of playing with Troy.
“Everyone's got a great skill level, that's part of it, that's why you're a professional baseball player. But I think the real thing that separates us is kind of that bond and that trust that you build with each other, and I think that's what's going to be huge here in the future for us."