The Tigers young bashers are going off in the Arizona Fall League.
Another game for the Scottsdale Scorpions, another big-time set of performances from the Tigers dynamic duo of Josue Briceño and Thayron Liranzo. The pair each collected three more hits against the Surprise Saguaros in Arizona Fall League action on Friday evening. Peyton Graham, now playing a bunch of left field in the Fall League, had a double and a triple to contribute to the Scorpions attack. Tigers reliever CJ Weins ultimately blew the save after getting inserted into a bases loaded jam in the top of the ninth, as they lost 7-6 in this one.
Briceño, in the designated hitter spot in this one, singled in the first inning and then did it again in the third inning.
Liranzo smoked a double to right field with one out in the bottom of the second inning. He took third on a wild pitch and later scored the Scorpions first run on a ground out. He strafed an opposite field double in the fourth as well but was stranded. Both came while hitting left-handed.
In the bottom of the seventh, down 4-1, Graham doubled on a line drive to left field and singles from Termarr Johnson, a Pirates infield prospect and the fourth overall pick in 2022, and SS Jett Williams, the Mets first rounder in the same draft, scored him. Briceño stepped to the dish with two hits to his tally on the day already, and launched another missile for a three-run homer.
The shot is Briceño’s fifth in just 31 plate appearances. He currently leads the Arizona Fall League with a 1.518 OPS despite being one of the youngest, least experienced hitters in the league.
Liranzo wasn’t done either, drilling a single up the middle in the eighth and riding home on a Peyton Graham triple into the right field corner. Here are all three hits on the day from Liranzo. He is second in the Fall League to Briceño with a 1.494 OPS.
This is all very limited action of course. Liranzo has caught four games, while Briceño has played seven, mostly as a DH. Still, it’s great to see them both doing well, particularly Briceño as he returns from a serious knee injury that cost him most of his 2024 season.