The Diamondbacks have re-signed infielder Jake Hager to a minor league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, as announced over the weekend by the Triple-A Reno Aces.
Hager spent the majority of the 2022 season with Reno and slashed .261/.342/.391 with five home runs and eight stolen bases in his 303 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He also got into 28 games at the MLB level and batted .240/.345/.280 with zero homers and zero steals across 59 plate appearances with the D-backs.
The 29-year-old journeyman — 30 in March — has proven capable of handling every position on the infield defensively, but he will lug a rough .197 career major league batting average and a .531 career major league OPS into camp in Arizona. Hager is probably going to be viewed as organizational depth leading into the 2023 campaign, an option to step in and at least provide competent a glove should something go awry with the Diamondbacks’ projected infield starters and bench fillers.
The current Arizona roster outlook has Josh Rojas and Emmanuel Rivera platooning at third base, Nick Ahmed handling shortstop duties and Ketel Marte locked in at second. Evan Longoria is an additional candidate for playing time at the hot corner, though it sounds like the D-backs mostly want to use him as their DH. 23-year-old switch-hitter Geraldo Perdomo is a good bet for an active backup role between third, short and second. Perdomo still has two options remaining and could see more regular action at Triple-A as well after a rough rookie season at the plate.
The All American American.
The All-American American.
Guess he really likes that hat.
I laughed, seeing he’s in AEW with that stupid purple hat 🙂
The DBacks plan at 3B is more of a straight platoon with Rojas/Longoria from my understanding.
Having both Longoria and Rivera on the active roster simultaneously would force a concession to be made in the OF, and they’ve stated they that don’t intend to gives PAs commiserate with a full-time player to Longo.
Which leaves the DH spot mostly open to keep guys fresh, with exception of Gurriel Jr. getting a decent number of PAs at DH against RHP; additionally allowing them to play three LHH OFs in the field and limiting Lourdes’s defensive opportunities.
Perdomo has a leg up in it, but he would appear to functionally be in a competition with Blaze Alexander for the BU IF role in Spring Training; I’ll admit personal bias, but I have a good amount of faith in Alexander being an effective Major Leaguer.
Not the highest upside group of players, but if they’re utilized properly they should have a high floor (with some reason for optimism of upside).
highheat,
I agree, the writers on MLBTR aren’t very knowledgeable about the Dbacks. 3b is Rojas, with Longoria the short side of the share.
Rivera and Pavin Smith are odd men out on this roster crunch season.
I’d agree that most articles about the DBacks aren’t as well-versed as I’d personally like; however, there are some attempts being made at looking deeper into them, so I see no reason to be particularly upset.
I like to consider myself fairly knowledgeable, but I’ve also been following the team in-depth since 2010; it’s unreasonable to expect somebody that effectively covers the entire league in a specific capacity to be as knowledgeable about the operations of one team. I’m just thankful people are saying more than needs to be said about the team (especially after the poor recent history).
As for Rivera, I agree that I don’t see him opening on the Active roster if Rojas/Longoria are healthy, but as for Smith, I think he opens in MLB over Thomas (so that Thomas can work on his swing/timing).
There’s no denying that Hazen has a particular fondness for Pavin, and he looked like he returned to his original approach when he returned from the AAA IL (which he then maintained in the DWL); so I’d expect to see a less passive plate approach with less emphasis on power from Pavin next season (I could wrong, but that’s the nature of hot takes).
highheat,
You are probably right to start the season, if nothing changes. With Lourdes able to backup Walker at first, though that will seldom be needed, I think the Dbacks best bet is to trade Pavin when he has some value. Hopefully he gets off to a fast start. As soon as Thomas comes back, I think Pavin is odd man out.
BTW, as the calendar flips over to February this week, I’m looking forward to finally having the Kristian Robinson situation resolved this month. I don’t think he’ll factor in this season, but I’m hoping he’ll be an upgrade over Lourdes in 2024.
Mets legend
FOREVER MET
Good to have him back in Reno.
I was beat to my comment about that stupid purple hat..Hopefully this Hager has more talent than the one in AEW.
Busy guy splitting time between the DBacks & The Jericho Appreciation Society
Is this guys only claim to fame is having the same name as a wrestler?