Arizona Diamondbacks rookie Ryan Waldschmidt’s dramatic pinch-hit walk-off home run against the Chicago Cubs has been selected as the 2026 SnakePit Play of the Year. The two-run shot capped off a late ninth-inning comeback and marked one of the highest Win Probability swings in franchise history.
A Dramatic Ninth-Inning Comeback
The Chicago Cubs held a 4-0 lead through seven innings after scoring 30 unanswered runs across their games. Arizona began cutting into the lead in the eighth inning when Gabriel Moreno hit an RBI double and Geraldo Perdomo added an RBI single to pull the Diamondbacks within 4-3. In the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs, pinch runner Jose Fernandez stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position.
Waldschmidt came off the bench to pinch-hit for Jorge Barrosa against Cubs reliever Jacob Webb, who entered the appearance with a 2.91 ERA. On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Waldschmidt sent a two-run home run over the wall. Statcast measured the hit at a 31-degree launch angle, a 102.6 mph exit velocity, and an estimated distance of 408 feet.
“When I go up there and I’m looking up at the scoreboard and seeing it’s the bottom of the ninth inning, two outs, down by one, guy on base and get my name called to go pinch hit, I was grateful for the opportunity,” Waldschmidt said. “So, I’m walking up, smile on my face, like this is what everyone dreams to do, every kid, every time you’ve played baseball growing up, you make this scenario up in your head. So for me to go up there and be able to do this in real life and have that opportunity, it doesn’t even matter anymore if you get a hit or not. This is just one of the coolest opportunities that you could ever get.”
Historic Milestones and Season Context
By Win Probability added, the play generated a +85.5% swing, making it the biggest hit of the season for Arizona and ranking among the top five in franchise history. It was the team’s highest single-play Win Probability addition in more than 14 years, behind only a 2012 play against the Athletics (+91.1%) and Ryan Roberts’ walk-off grand slam against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011 (+90.8%).
With the homer, Waldschmidt became the first rookie in Diamondbacks franchise history to hit a pinch-hit, walk-off home run. The hit also gave him two walk-off home runs among his first three career major league homers, joining a group of just five players in MLB history to achieve that milestone, including teammate James McCann.
Earlier in August, Waldschmidt hit a two-run walk-off home run against the Dodgers off pitcher Edwin Diaz. By adding the walk-off against the Cubs 18 days later, he joined Chris Young (June 2007) as the only players in Diamondbacks history to hit two walk-off home runs in the same calendar month. Waldschmidt accomplished the feat within his first 66 career major league games.
The performance followed a mid-June assignment to Triple-A Reno after opposing pitchers began relying heavily on sliders and breaking pitches against him. Diamondbacks hitting coach Joe Mather stated that the league had adjusted to the rookie by increasing breaking balls. Waldschmidt was recalled four weeks later following an injury to Jordan Lawlar and went on to post a .710 OPS over the remainder of the season.
“Being a pinch-hitter, I went up looking for the fastball,” Waldschmidt said. After laying off a slider on the first pitch, he anticipated the location when Webb threw another slider on the fourth pitch of the at-bat. “I saw the same kind of release [point] with that pitch that I saw in the first one, so I had a good feeling where I thought it was going to end up. And just tried to stay through it, keep my head down and not try and [take] too big [of a swing] on that kind of pitch.”
