The Diamondbacks announced that they have recalled infielder Jordan Lawlar, a move that was previously reported. They also reinstated right-hander Kendall Graveman from the injured list. To open roster spots for those two, lefty José Castillo and infielder Garrett Hampson were both designated for assignment. The club’s 40-man roster count drops to 38.
Hampson, 30, inked a minor league deal in free agency and broke camp with the D-backs after hitting .283/.393/.348 in 56 trips to the plate this spring. He hasn’t been able to carry that production over to the regular season. He’s appeared in only 18 games and taken just 41 turns at the plate, batting .167/.359/.167 in that span. He’s been a pest for opposing pitchers in the sense that he’s taken 10 walks, but Hampson is also 5-for-30 (all singles) and has bottom-of-the-scale contact metrics when he’s put the ball in play.
Arizona is Hampson’s fourth team in four seasons. He spent the first five seasons of his career with the Rockies but since his final season there has had one-year stints with the Marlins, Royals and now D-backs. He hasn’t hit much in any of those spots, combining for a .237/.308/.323 slash in 750 plate appearances dating back to 2022. However, Hamspon is a plus runner (84th percentile sprint speed, per Statcast) who can be deployed virtually anywhere on the diamond. Even though he’s been seldom used with the D-backs, he’s still seen time at five positions: second base, shortstop, third base, left field and center field.
Castillo, 29, has spent the better part of the past half decade in injury rehab. Since a strong MLB debut with the 2018 Padres, the southpaw has been on the injured list due to a torn ligament in his pitching hand, a torn lat and Tommy John surgery. Just making it back to the majors in the wake of so many rapid-fire injuries is a feat, but Castillo’s brief time with the Snakes didn’t go well. He pitched 6 1/3 innings out of Torey Lovullo’s bullpen — already his most in a big league season since ’18 — and was pounded for eight runs on 10 hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
As a rookie, Castillo fired 38 1/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball for the Friars, fanning a gaudy 34.7% of his opponents against an 8.1% walk rate. He was terrific in a small 5 1/3-inning sample in Triple-A Reno this year, allowing only a run on four hits and no walks with seven strikeouts and a 58% grounder rate. That performance could lead to some interest from other teams, although Castillo’s once-95-mph heater has understandably dipped to an average of 93.3 mph in the wake of all those injuries.
Both Castillo and Hampson can spend a maximum of one week in DFA limbo. The D-backs can look to trade them during that time or simply place them on outright waivers. Since waivers take 48 hours to process, the team has up to five days to orchestrate trades of either player, should there be a market. In the event that they’re placed on waivers and go unclaimed, both players have enough major league service time to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
No surprise here.
I bet Garrett Hampson was a little bit surprised
I thought Tawa would go to Reno and get full-time ABs while Hampson would stick around and get very limited ABs with the big club. Can’t imagine Tawa will get many ABs with the Lawler in the mix.
Lovello likes Tawa bat, glove and attitude. The D’backs were looking for a Kevin Newman replacement type, Tawa fits the mode better than Hampson. Not surprising at all. Tawa has a better all-around game.
The one that rally surprise me was Castillo, not that he was DFA, but Matingly is still on the roster, I would DFA’d him also. He would be a throw in in any trade.
I agree with everything you said regarding Tawa. That said, I thought as a young guy, who’s still a work in progress, the Dbacks would want Tawa getting regular playing time in Reno rather than sitting on the bench in Phoenix. With Lawler added to the Dbacks infield mix, I can’t imagine Tawa getting many ABs.
The only reason Hampson lasted as long as he has on the DBacks roster was a combination of his ability to cover SS and CF. Lawlar can eat up any SS PAs while Perdomo is out of the lineup, and Tawa does have some time spent in CF in MiLB (although none this season).
Maybe Mike and Torey think they can play Tawa at CF in early game situations, then sub in Thomas as a defensive replacement (or PH when he gets a favorable matchup)? That wouldn’t really surprise me. Lawlar will definitely eat up pretty much every loose IF PA, though.
Tawa getting some reps in LF with as bad as Gurriel has been at times wouldn’t be the worst option, either (and he’s the only RHH on the active roster with reps at 1B).
With the plan to get Marte more DH days, it almost seems like Grichuk stands to lose the most playing time of members on the active roster; that’s just my initial take.
Garrett I feel like will go back to the rockies but it still won’t help them considering his old coaches just got fired, and to mention the team sucks too. Idc what jose castillo does or where he goes but it will be better than Arizona, unless white sox claim him, then it is a living hell for him for what 5 seasons? I’m sorry guys but good luck to Lawlar
Down goes another non-roster invitee!
Not a big surprise. Was sure glad to see Castillo go though.
Puk down.
Justin Martinez down.
Ginkel = meh.
Does Graveman get a crack at closing, for a while at least?
I’m really surprised that Garrett Hampson cleared waivers. Only hitting. 169 but 10 walks in 41 total plate appearances and he has scored 10 runs. Lots of speed and plays multiple positions. Somebody is going to sign him to a minor league contract and I bet he will be called up before the year is over. When you know how to get on base and score you have value.