Arizona Professional Athletes

Jackson Kent Turns a Corner in D.C.

Jackson Kent had been searching for a breakthrough. On Friday night against Miami, the Arizona alum found it.

The Nationals lefty was the story of Washington's 9-2 rout of the Marlins, spinning seven innings of one-run ball on just three hits. Kent struck out three and commanded the zone with the kind of consistency that had eluded him earlier in the season — his ERA dropped from 8.03 to 5.59 in a single outing. Command, a sharp curveball, and what Yahoo Sports called "moxie" were the defining factors in the best start of his young MLB career.

The performance was a sharp about-face from Kent's previous appearance against this same Marlins club on Aug. 23, when he lasted just 4.2 innings and surrendered three earned runs. The rematch was his — emphatically. Brady House's 474-foot three-run blast provided plenty of cushion, but Kent's arm was the real headline.

Wells Stays Productive in the Bronx

Austin Wells had a quietly solid week behind the plate for the Yankees. The Arizona catcher went 1-for-the-day on Saturday against the Red Sox with an RBI and a run scored, nudging his average to .179. Wells also contributed a pair of hits and a walk on Wednesday against Houston, briefly climbing as high as .182 on the season. The 23-year-old continues to hold down the starting catcher role in New York despite a batting average that leaves room for growth.

Mixed Bag for the Pitchers

Kevin Ginkel's week illustrated the boom-or-bust nature of late-inning relief work. The Arizona righty opened the period on a high note Aug. 23 — working a clean inning with three strikeouts for the Diamondbacks against Cincinnati to nudge his ERA down to 3.76. But Friday against San Francisco was a different story: Ginkel lasted just one out and surrendered four earned runs as his ERA ballooned back to 4.39 in a 6-1 loss to the Giants.

Chase Silseth, operating out of the Rangers' bullpen, made three appearances during the week. The stints were brief — 0.1, 1.0, and 0.2 innings — and yielded a run apiece, though his ERA remains a respectable 2.96. He's been used in short, high-leverage spots all season.

Bottom Line

Kent's coming-out party is the clear headline for Arizona's MLB contingent this week. If the command improvements that unlocked seven dominant innings against Miami are real and repeatable, the Nationals may have found something in their young lefty. The rest of the Wildcats' scattered roster kept busy across the league, but none had a moment as defining as Kent's Friday night in Washington.

Arizona has produced a lot of catchers worth watching this summer. Two of them — Austin Wells in the Bronx and Daniel Susac in San Francisco — gave Wildcat fans plenty to follow during the week of Aug. 2–8.

Wells Locked In as Yankee Starter

The post-deadline question mark behind the plate in New York is officially answered, and the answer is Austin Wells. After months of roster uncertainty, the Yankees settled on the former Arizona standout as their starting catcher for the stretch run — a vote of confidence that came with some immediate production.

Wells went 2-for-his-last-looks with a home run, two RBIs, and a run scored in Monday's win over the Cardinals, one of his better games of the week. He also drew a walk Sunday against the Cubs, contributed a hit Wednesday, and drove in a run in the Yankees' 3–2 extra-inning win over Atlanta on Saturday — a game decided when Ryan McMahon plated the walk-off run in the 10th.

The bat hasn't been consistent — Wells is hitting .173 on the week — but the role is his, and momentum may be building. Beyond the box score, Wells made headlines for a different reason: on the 47th anniversary of Thurman Munson's death, the catcher paid tribute to the Yankees legend with a lookalike appearance behind the plate, a moment that resonated across the fanbase.

Susac Goes Viral in San Francisco

Meanwhile, Daniel Susac is doing what rookies rarely manage to pull off: becoming a fan favorite on merit and personality. The Giants catcher hit .266 on Sunday and settled at .252 by week's end — a solid floor for a first-year player still finding his footing — but it was a moment off the field that sent his name trending.

Susac trolled teammate Harrison Bader with a scooter celebration that made the rounds on social media, the kind of clubhouse moment that tells you a rookie has fully arrived. He also contributed a hit and scored a run in Tuesday's 5–1 win over Texas, going 2-for-his-outings in Sunday's game against San Diego as well.

Around the Rest of the Pack

Elsewhere in the Arizona alumni network, Rob Refsnyder's stint with Seattle came to an end this week — the Mariners moved on from the veteran DH as part of a post-deadline roster reshaping. Jacob Berry, meanwhile, was traded from the Marlins to the Royals; the former sixth-overall pick now gets a fresh start in Kansas City. Kevin Ginkel had a rough Thursday for Arizona's Diamondbacks — surrendering four earned runs in two-thirds of an inning against San Diego — but bounced back Saturday with a clean inning and two strikeouts against the Dodgers. And Chase Silseth continued working out of the Rangers bullpen, logging solid outings across the week while carrying a 2.89 ERA.

For a program that produces position players at an elite rate, this week was a reminder that Arizona's MLB pipeline runs deep — and right now, it runs straight through two catchers who couldn't be more different in style or circumstance.