The Diamondbacks announced they’ve designated infielder Wilmer Difo for assignment before tonight’s matchup with the Dodgers. Outfielder Jordan Luplow was recalled to take the vacated active roster spot. The move drops Arizona’s 40-man roster count to 39.
Signed to a minor league deal over the offseason, the switch-hitting Difo spent most of the season at Triple-A Reno. He struggled to a .269/.311/.398 line through 306 plate appearances there, offense that’s well below average once accounting for Reno’s extreme hitter-friendly nature. Nevertheless, he earned a call-up at the start of this month based on his defensive ability. Difo is capable of covering anywhere on the infield, and he’s rated as a solid shortstop throughout his MLB career.
The 30-year-old’s stay on the big league club proved rather brief, as he loses his roster spot after appearing in only three games. Difo tallied six plate appearances, going hitless while striking out once. That did mark his eighth straight year with some big league work, and he now owns a .250/.311/.353 line in just over 1300 plate appearances between the Nationals, Pirates and D-Backs.
Arizona will place Difo on outright or release waivers within the next few days. If he goes unclaimed, he’d have the right to refuse an outright assignment and test minor league free agency both based on having three-plus years of MLB service and having previously been outrighted in his career.
Difo didn’t show anything but automatic out in his brief appearances batting with the Dbacks.
For Luplow, it’s all or nothing. Hopefully he can hit a couple of HR against the Dodgers.
That open roster spot will be used for a starter to be called up, probably Henry recalled as soon as his required minors assignment is over.
Only striking out once in his 6 AB’s at least showed some kind of plate discipline. The Red Sox just claimed Yu Chang and he’s struck out 34 times in 106 AB’s…
I’m hoping they add Pfaadt, instead.
suffer
Yes, me too! Problem is he has only 8 AAA starts under his belt.. Henry had 20 starts when he was called up, and Nelson had 26 starts.
Pfaadt is doing better than both Henry or Nelson did in AAA, with a 2.50 ERA. Pfaadt also just surpassed 200 Ks as the minor league leader this year. In his last AAA outing, Pfaadt recorded 11 K’s! Those are beyond remarkable stats in the ultra- hitter friendly Pacific Coast League! So, yeah, I think he’s ready, but the Dbacks organization is a bit more conservative than I am about promoting pitching prospects until they have what the organization considers “enough” AAA starts, so we’ll see what happens this week.
Having covered the Aces all year, Difo managed only a 74 wRC+ and was negative on the basepaths, and to my eyes, defensively as well. Difo is done.
The other thing to consider with these young Dback pitchers is the number of innings they have pitched this year, compared to last year. Tommy Henry and Ryne Nelson both pitched about 115 innings last year, and both have pitched about 145 so far this year (and Nelson is starting tonight against the Dodgers).
Pfaadt pitched 131 innings last year and 155 so far this year.
We’ll see how Nelson looks tonight, but I thought Henry was reaching his limit in his last two outings, which would partially explain his poorer performance. Pfaadt seems to be getting stronger.
Here’s an opportunity for Farhan Zaidi to double the Giant’s ‘Wilmer’ inventory.