The Diamondbacks added infielder Tim Tawa and right-hander Joe Elbis to their 40-man roster to keep them out of the Rule 5 draft. Arizona’s roster count sits at 37.
Tawa, a 25-year-old utility player, was Arizona’s 11th-round pick in 2021. The Stanford product is primarily a second baseman but can bounce around to the corner infield or any outfield spot. The right-handed hitter split the ’24 season between Double-A Amarillo and Triple-A Reno. He hit 31 homers with a .279/.349/.519 batting line across 613 plate appearances. The power output is surely inflated by his favorable home parks, but Tawa’s versatility and minor league production could make him a solid bench piece.
Elbis, 22, is a starting pitcher who reached Double-A. The Venezuela native combined for 135 1/3 innings of 3.39 ERA ball between High-A and Double-A this year. While his 20% strikeout rate isn’t overpowering, he showed solid control with an 8.3% walk percentage. He’ll begin the ’25 season as minor league rotation depth.
Two players with mid-1990s sounding names. Impressive.
The most interesting part of the Dbacks decision who to protect this year is that they chose Not to protect Kristian Robinson. He had a mixed, but mostly poor year at AA, but an eye opening performance in the Salt River Rafters Championship season this month, so maybe he made a big jump? Will any team take a chance on him? He was a highly regarded 19 year old prospect, but now at 23 and after a 4 year hiatus from organized baseball,is he back on track or past his prime?
I don’t think he’s made a big jump. I’ve been tracking his batted ball metrics in the Arizona Fall League and there were a couple interesting notes of it. He was hitting the ball hard, with a hard-hit rate of 45% on 40 balls put into play with Statcast data. However, there was a lot of low-launch (under 20 degrees) on his hard-hit balls, so he didn’t slug as much (.455 SLG vs. a .318 BA).
He might get selected in the Rule 5 Draft, like Deyvison De Los Santos last year, but he’s very unlikely to stick to a major league roster barring significant improvements to his strikeout rate (27.8% in AFL, 35.7% in regular season). Even should he make a club, he’s a 5th outfielder at most which will hurt his development rather than a season in both AA and AAA. I think we’ll see progress in 2025, then he gets added to the 40-man roster at the end of the season.
From what I’ve seen, the tools are still there. He’s ripping the ball 114 MPH on a line and can get down the line very well (I think Statcast clocked him at 31.0 ft/s on one run although I doubt the validity since that’s faster than Bobby Witt Jr.). He’s had to deal with a lot and 2024 is really the first year he’s had in a long time where he can focus on being just a baseball player.
From talking to him, he’s a very humble guy and very grateful to still be playing baseball. He’s accomplished a lot to get as far as he has in just 2 seasons but he still needs that one breakthrough season to get to the major leagues. I’m hoping he gets a chance to finish his redemption arc with the D-backs, so I’m hoping teams pass on him.
Thanks Michael for sharing those stats. I too see that he hasn’t found a way to get to his power consistently, which was his original calling card. And Fall League stats are still a bit of a small sample size, but I think hitting for average, stealing bases and playing on a championship team helped his confidence. I certainly don’t think he’ll make the opening day roster, but depending on his progress at AAA Reno this coming year, we might see him as a late season call up? I’m routing for him to get to the Bigs at some point.
I was wondering if the Dbacks and Robinson had reached an understanding that Robinson would be best served with a fresh start with another organization? Either way, it could be a great comeback story!
I’m guessing Cerda wasn’t protected. I’d love to see the Tigers pick him up in a trade and give him a 40 man roster spot.
Cerda isn’t ready to be a big league backup catcher yet. However, the more interesting part of this will be if they add him to the Triple-A roster to protect him from the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. If left unprotected from that, he probably goes early.
Good choices. Glad they didn’t waste one on Robinson.
Suffer
I’m routing for Robinson, but now I’m also routing for him to prove you wrong. He’s a great asset for the Dbacks, just needs to harness the mental health issues. And he appears to be well on the way to doing just that.
I hope he does well too. Who knows if a team will even select him. And if they do, he might not stick on the 40man and be back in AZ’s system next year. Similar to Deyvison last year. If he pops off and is great in spring on another team, then so be it good for him.
Elbis will have a good year for the Diamondbacks, then suddenly take a downturn. Everyone will say he lost his fastball, but he’ll sign with the Las Vegas A’s for his comeback special.