The Diamondbacks announced that they have recalled outfielder Alek Thomas from Triple-A Reno, with infielder Josh Rojas optioned to Reno in a corresponding move.
Rojas, 29 next week, had seemingly established himself as a solid everyday player over the past few years. In 2021, he got into 139 games for the Diamondbacks, hitting 11 home runs and walking in 10.5% of his plate appearances. His .264/.341/.411 batting line amounted to a wRC+ of 102, indicating he was 2% above league average. He also stole nine bases and bounced around the field, playing the three infield positions to the left of first base as well as the outfield corners. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 1.8 wins above replacement on the year.
He seemed to take a step forward last year, getting into another 125 games and cutting his strikeout rate from 24.9% to 19.2%. He hit .269/.349/.391 for a wRC+ of 108 and swiped 23 bags. He didn’t play any shortstop or outfield but still moved between second and third base. FanGraphs gave him a tally of 2.7 fWAR for that campaign.
However, Rojas hasn’t been able to take another step forward or even maintain that kind of performance. Here in 2023, his walk rate has dropped to 8.6% as his strikeout rate has ticked back up to 23.3%. He’s yet to hit a home run and his overall line of .235/.301/.306 amounts to a wRC+ of just 66. Due to that tepid production, he’ll find himself optioned down to the minors for the first time since 2020.
Those struggles have coincided with a breakout campaign for Emmanuel Rivera. Acquired from the Royals at last year’s deadline, Rivera began this season in the minors but was called up in late April. He’s since hit .325/.354/.423 in 130 plate appearances for a 111 wRC+. He has just one home run and has only walked at a 4.6% clip but he’s striking out in just 15.4% of his trips to the plate. He’s seemingly supplanted Rojas at the hot corner for now and will get some rope to prove himself with regular playing time.
Rojas finished 2022 with two years and 152 days of service time, qualifying for arbitration as a Super Two player. He and the club went to a hearing, with the Diamondbacks ultimately emerging victorious, leaving Rojas making a salary of $2.575MM instead of the $2.9MM figure he was seeking. He’s already gone over the three-year mark here this season and will be eligible for arbitration again this winter, though it’s fair to wonder if the club will want to give him another pay bump on the heels of such a disappointing season. He still has a few months to turn things around but will have to get back into a good groove in Reno first.
The Diamondbacks have made the jump from development mode into competing this year, currently sporting a record of 43-29 and sitting atop the National League West. They’ve shown little hesitation in optioning struggling players this year, including Rojas, Brandon Pfaadt and Thomas. It was just about a month ago that Thomas was sent down after hitting just .195/.252/.327 in the majors through mid-May. However, he’s since been on a tear in Reno, hitting .348/.409/.518 after his demotion and earning himself another shot in the big leagues.
finally!
And that’s that for the Greinke trade. Yeesh, that ended up being a bag of rocks.
Rojas is certainly struggling this season but I don’t think it’s the last we’ve heard from him. He was an above average hitter the last two seasons and is decently versatile.
They only sent him to AAA, they didn’t release him. As for Rojas, he was driving in runs he just wasn’t hitting for any power (0 HR’s) and has flat-out been outperformed by Rivera at 3B
I interred Kirios’ comment as more “he’s toast” than thinking he’s been released, but I could be wrong.
If Alek Thomas can start to translate some of his minor league numbers to the big leagues, he’s going to be a very good CF for a long time.
This also solves the issue of pavin smith in the OF. His dancing bear defense was tough to watch.
Rojas is part of this team every bit as much as McCarthy was when he was sent down and Thomas was when he was sent down. This is the great thing about the Dbacks depth this year, if someone needs a reset they can get it and the team doesn’t skip a beat.
There is virtually an entire replacement team at AAA Reno, that deserve a shot in the majors, but the team is so deep and so loaded, they need to wait their turn.
I agree with ScottAZ. Rojas is being sent a message and the team will bring him back when he’s ready. Alek hit a HR tonight.