The Diamondbacks announced that right-hander Sean Poppen has been reinstated from the injured list. He had been dealing with right shoulder inflammation. To create room for him on the active roster, first baseman Seth Beer was optioned to Triple-A Reno.
Poppen’s season got off to a good start, as he threw six innings with a 1.50 ERA. That might not be terribly sustainable, as he had just a 13% strikeout rate and 23.5% ground ball rate. He was likely being helped by a .222 BABIP, 83.3% strand rate and 0% HR/FB rate. However, that’s a very small sample size and it’s possible that Poppen’s shoulder was barking at him during part of that. Last year, between the Pirates, Rays and D-Backs, he had a 5.16 ERA but decent peripherals: 23.6% strikeout rate, 8.2% walk rate and 48.6% grounder rate.
As for Beer, his season got off to a tremendous start when he hit a walkoff home run in the club’s Opening Day game on National Beer Day. Unfortunately, the rest of the season hasn’t been able to live up to that moment, with Beer hitting .210/.301/.284 on the campaign, amounting to a wRC+ of 69.
Beer has limited defensive value, only playing three games at first base this year and the rest at DH. A designated hitter who doesn’t hit isn’t terribly valuable to a team, meaning the 25-year-old have to get his bat going again to earn his way back onto the roster.
I like beer.
Mary Poppen working her magic
Ouch on Seth Beer .
Beer bust?
Beer is always an option!
Now do Melancon…..please.
Sorry, he’s not my type…
Beer should play for the Royals. Apparently we love DH’s that don’t hit. He’s hitting much better than BOTH of ours.
Hooray, Beer!
This move balances the team better. Too many left handed hitting 1b with Beer, but now help for the bullpen whose problems continue from last year.
Melancon isn’t as much of a problem as Caleb Smith. Melancon closes games and gets saves which is much better than last year’s problem. It’s just when he comes into a tied game for some reason he isn’t as effective.
Kennedy has been a big improvement over the Dback’s setup men last year too. So, the bullpen is better, just not there yet. I think all of last year’s bullpen members need to go away. That means Caleb Smith, Noe Ramirez, J.B. Wendelken, etc. we’ll see about Poppen?
Between Beer and Smith, there were only 2 LHH 1B on the roster (and Smith has played mostly RF). It’s mostly Walker that’s been seeing PAs at 1B (deservedly so, his defense has been far, FAR better than what the other two have shown at any point).
The crunch is the DH PAs, and Hummel has acquitted himself fairly well at the plate and at least has some ability to play OF (not well, mind you). Here’s to hoping he stops looking at so many called strike threes.
There’s just no room for Beer to get consistent PAs when Hummel has performed better and there is the desire to rotate players through the DH spot to keep them fresh.
What about non alcoholic Seth Beer?
Not a DFA, but an IPA…
Never heard of Seth Beer, it must be an Arizona homegrown option, for the Southwestern part of the Country.
Seth Beer came from Georgia. Was on a nationally ranked high school team.
How bad are the DBACKS every year, if you saw the players they’ve had and either traded or left in free agency you’d cry, time for them to move