Gallen, 25, will return to a D-backs rotation that has struggled thus far in 2021, thanks largely to uncharacteristically rough showings from Madison Bumgarner and Merrill Kelly. Bumgarner has been hammered for 17 runs in just 13 2/3 innings — walking eight of the 73 batters he’s faced (10.9 percent) and plunking another three. Kelly, who is trying to work his way back from thoracic outlet surgery that ended an excellent 2020 campaign prematurely, has surrendered nine earned runs in 10 frames.
Gallen will take the place of Riley Smith in the team’s rotation, manager Torey Lovullo tells reporters (Twitter link via MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert). If he’s back to full strength, he should step in as the team’s top starter. Already traded twice in his young career, Gallen landed with the D-backs in the 2019 deadline swap that sent Jazz Chisholm to Miami. The move was a surprise at the time, given Gallen’s six years of remaining club control and his hot start to his rookie campaign that year. He’s been every bit as good in 115 2/3 innings with the Snakes as he was in 36 1/3 frames with the Fish, pitching to a combined 2.80 ERA with a 28.5 percent strikeout rate and a 9.1 percent walk rate following the trade.
]]>It was a quiet offseason for Reddick news, as there weren’t any publicly-known reports of teams interested in the 34-year-old’s services on the free agent market. Reddick’s contract with the D’Backs could have been aided by a couple of personal connections — as Piecoro notes, both GM Mike Hazen and assistant GM Ariel Sawdaye were both working in the Red Sox organization when Reddick began his career in Boston.
A veteran of 12 big league seasons with the Red Sox, Athletics, Dodgers, and Astros, Reddick comes to Arizona on the heels of a four-year, $52MM free agent contract with Houston signed prior to the 2017 season. Reddick arguably delivered on that commitment in the first season alone, hitting .314/.363/.484 over 540 PA to help the Astros capture the 2017 World Series title.
Over the last three years, however, Reddick has produced at a below-average (92 OPS+, 96 wRC+) pace, hitting .258/.318/.400 over 1247 PA. He also became essentially a reverse-splits player, with his left-handed bat doing better against southpaws than against right-handed pitching.
Reddick will provide some outfield depth to a D’Backs team that is missing its best player in Ketel Marte, who is on the injured list with a strained hamstring. Reddick could theoretically see a bit of center field action in a pinch, but is better served as a corner outfielder, though his right field defense took a big dropoff last season in the view of the Outs Above Average (-5), Defensive Runs Saved (-3) and UZR/150 (-22.3) metrics. The Diamondbacks don’t have much in the way of experience among their backup outfield options, though like Reddick, Josh Rojas, Josh VanMeter, and Pavin Smith are all left-handed hitters. (Corner outfield starters David Peralta and Kole Calhoun also swing from the left side of the plate.)
]]>This is a tough blow for the Diamondbacks, who are off to a 2-4 start this season. Marte is off to an incredible .462/.500/.846 start to the season, already posting 0.7 fWAR in six games. The long-term outlook is as of yet unclear. That said, the initial plan was to have Marte assessed with an MRI tomorrow in Phoenix before making an decision, per MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (via Twitter). That they went ahead and made the move prior to that evaluation isn’t a great sign.
Young, 26, came to the Diamondbacks from the Cardinals as part of the Paul Goldschmidt deal. He made his Major League debut last season with 34 plate appearances across 12 games. Young, like Marte, can move around the diamond defensively. Tim Locastro is playing centerfield today, where Marte started each of the first six games.
]]>Needless to say, any significant injury to Marte would be a huge blow. The 27-year-old earned an All-Star selection and finished fourth in National League MVP voting in 2019 after putting up a stellar .329/.389/.592 line with 32 homers in 628 plate appearances. Marte posted merely average numbers in 2020, but he’s gotten off to a blistering start this season. Through Arizona’s first six games, he’s hitting .462/.500/.846 with two homers and four doubles.
Marte was replaced in the outfield by Josh VanMeter, who took over in right with Tim Locastro moving to center. The D-Backs are currently without presumptive starting right fielder Kole Calhoun, who is recovering from early-March knee surgery.
]]>Swarzak signed a minor-league deal with the Arizona organization in early March. The 35-year-old is now in line to make his return to a major league mound after not pitching last season. Swarzak broke out with 77.1 innings of 2.33 ERA ball between the White Sox and Brewers in 2017, but he was less effective after signing with the Mets in the ensuing offseason. He struggled between a pair of injured list stints in 2018, and New York shipped him off to Seattle that winter. Other than a minor IL stint for shoulder inflammation, the veteran righty stayed healthy with the Mariners and Braves in 2019, but he only managed a 4.56 ERA/4.65 SIERA across 53.1 innings.
Devenski has pitched in two games for the D-Backs this season. He has been placed on the restricted list for unspecified personal reasons, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). No other updates are yet available, but Lovullo said Devenski’s situation is not related to COVID-19.
]]>APRIL 4: Diamondbacks reliever Joakim Soria left Sunday’s game after four batters due to injury, with manager Torey Lovullo telling reporters (including Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic) that the team’s initial thought is a possible calf strain. More will be known once Soria undergoes tests tomorrow.
The injury occurred while Soria was covering first base during the second out of the eighth inning. After retiring the first two batters he faced, a clearly bothered Soria then issued two walks before being removed from the game. Kevin Ginkel came on to record the final out of the frame, and Chris Devenski then pitched the ninth to lock up a 3-1 Arizona victory over the Padres.
It was a sour ending to Soria’s very first appearance in a D’Backs uniform. The right-hander signed a one-year, $3.5MM free agent deal in February, joining fellow veteran reliever Tyler Clippard as the Diamondbacks’ biggest expenditures during an overall pretty quiet offseason for the team. However, Clippard has already been sent to the 60-day IL due to a capsule strain in his shoulder, and now Soria might also miss time if he has indeed suffered at least a moderate calf injury.
Devenski and (by only 11 days of service time) Yoan Lopez are the only other relievers with more than two years of MLB experience within a young D’Backs bullpen. Minor league signings Anthony Swarzak and Ryan Buchter are both available at the alternate training site if the Snakes want to add another veteran arm to replace an injured Soria.
]]>11:27AM: The Diamondbacks are preparing to promote shortstop Geraldo Perdomo to make his Major League debut, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter). It’s certainly early in the season for this type of promotion, but Nick Ahmed’s continued knee pain may be forcing the issue. It’s looking like Ahmed will soon head to the injured list.
The 21-year-old Perdomo has just 26 games at High-A, so his promotion does come as somewhat of a surprise. With the minor league season yet to get underway, however, there’s certainly some sense to getting Perdomo some game action in a short-term fill-in capacity. Thus far in his professional career, Perdomo has shown a tremendous approach at the plate with well-above-average bat-to-ball skills. He has not yet displayed much power, but between his approach at the plate, speed, and defensive skill-set, the Diamondbacks expect Perdomo to eventually take over as their starting shortstop.
That said, Ahmed signed a contract extension in February 2020 that runs through 2023 season, so he is very much still Arizona’s shortstop of the present and the team can take its time in developing Perdomo. Fangraphs ranked Perdomo 68th on their list of the game’s best prospects, his highest finish as a consensus choice in top-100 rankings from Baseball America (75th), MLB.com (79th), Baseball Prospectus (90th), and The Athletic’s Keith Law (91st).
]]>Devenski was another offseason addition for the Diamondbacks, though he had to settle for a minor league contract after an injury-wrecked 2020 with the Astros. He threw just 3 2/3 innings before undergoing elbow surgery last September.
At his best, Devenski was a multi-inning weapon in Houston from 2016-17, during which he combined for a stingy 2.38 ERA and posted a 21.8 K-BB percentage in 189 innings. But Devenski hasn’t been the same since. Between that excellent two-season run and last year, he managed a 4.56 ERA with a K-BB percentage of 18.0 over 116 1/3 frames from 2018-19. However, he did throw seven scoreless, four-hit innings with seven strikeouts against three walks this spring.
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MARCH 22: Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen was scratched from his scheduled Cactus League start today due to right lateral forearm soreness, manager Torey Lovullo told MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert (Twitter links) and other media.
Gallen is still being evaluated, and he has been receiving treatment on the problem for the last 10 days. This would seem to indicate that Gallen has been dealing with the injury through at least one of his last two spring outings, though it hasn’t seemed to impact his results — the righty has a 2.13 ERA through four games and 12 2/3 innings during Spring Training.
Somewhat unusually, Gallen’s problem emerged while swinging a bat rather than throwing. He told Gilbert and other reporters that his forearm began to feel sore after he was jammed with a pitch while taking swings in a batting cage. (Should Gallen’s injury prove to be serious, he could quite possibly become the face of the dispute over the universal DH not being re-implemented for the 2021 season.) In terms of pitching, Gallen said he was able to throw most of his pitches without issue, only feeling soreness when throwing a curveball.
Needless to say, the D’Backs will be as cautious as possible in monitoring any sort of forearm problem for a pitcher who looks to be the burgeoning ace of the rotation. Gallen has been very impressive over 152 career MLB innings with the Marlins and Diamondbacks, posting a 2.78 ERA/408 SIERA and an above-average 28.5K%. Gallen had some control issues in his 2019 rookie season but reduced his walk rate from 10.8% in 2019 to 8.6% in 2020.
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