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Diamondbacks Outright Tristin English

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Infielder/outfielder Tristin English has been sent outright to Triple-A Reno, according to his transaction tracker at MLB.com. He played for the Aces on Sunday. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks last week.

English, 28, was just selected to the big league roster in July. That was his first call to the show. This is his first career outright and he is well short of three years of big league service time. That means he didn’t have the right to reject this assignment.

While his stint on the roster was fairly brief and he spent notable time on optional assignment, he did get to make his debut. He got just two hits in 23 plate appearances, not a great showing but at least he can say he has a few big league knocks.

He’ll stick with the Diamondbacks as a non-roster depth piece capable of playing the four corner positions. His minor league track record is naturally greater in terms of quantity and quality. This year, he has a .322/.368/.522 slash and 109 wRC+ in 349 Triple-A plate appearances.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Notes: Gurriel, Kelly, Gallen

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The D-backs may have lost one of their regulars last night. Outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was carted off the field after a non-contact injury in left-center. Both he and Blaze Alexander — who was making his first career appearance in center field — were tracking a drive to the left-center gap off the bat of Rowdy Tellez. Alexander laid out to make an exceptional diving grab, but Gurriel only pulled up and pivoted in the final second or so before a potential collision. Though the two avoided impact, Gurriel dropped after pivoting and had to be helped to a cart (video link).

The team didn’t have an initial diagnosis on Gurriel last night. Manager Torey Lovullo told reporters after the game that they’d scheduled an MRI for today and would know more after the fact (link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Presumably, he’ll have an update before tonight’s game against the Rangers — assuming there’s a confirmed diagnosis after one wave of imaging, anyhow. We should know more about Gurriel’s status before too long, but there aren’t many instances where a player has to be carted off the field but returns to the lineup in short order.

With the D-backs 6.5 games out of a Wild Card spot and 11 back in the division, it’s likely they’ll proceed with caution if there’s an injury of even modest note. Arizona’s playoff odds are down around 1% at this point, and if Gurriel was fortunate enough to avoid any major damage, there’s little sense rushing back and risking something more severe by playing at less than 100%.

The 31-year-old Gurriel has had perhaps the least-productive season of his lengthy MLB tenure. He was well on his way to his fourth career 20-homer season, with 19 big flies under his belt already, but Gurriel’s .248/.295/.418 slash is about 6% worse than league average, by measure of wRC+. If last night’s incident led to an injury that cuts his season short, that would be the first below-average season of his career at the plate. Gurriel entered the season as a .279/.324/.461 hitter in 3009 big league plate appearances.

There are contractual aspects to consider as well. Gurriel is playing on a three-year, $42MM contract but has the right to opt out of his deal at the end of the current season. Given the slightly below-average rate stats, it seems unlikely he’d have walked away from the remaining year and $18MM ($13MM salary in 2026, plus a $5MM buyout on a $14MM club option for 2027).

However, Gurriel had been hitting quite well of late, with a .273/.315/.530 slash over the past three weeks. If he’d kept mashing like that in the final four weeks, he’d have pulled his season-long batting line back above average. That’s plausible, given his track record, and in that scenario he might’ve been tempted to return to the market and see what free agency had to offer ahead of his age-32 season.

Speaking of the D-backs and free agency, Arizona fans will be encouraged to hear now-former D-backs starter Merrill Kelly express a strong openness to re-signing in the offseason. Arizona traded Kelly to the Rangers prior to the trade deadline, netting three pitching prospects in return (Mitch Bratt, Kohl Drake, David Hagaman). With the Rangers visiting the D-backs at the moment, Kelly told Jake Garcia of 12 News that a return in free agency is something he’d absolutely consider (video link).

“I’ve voiced my love for this place,” Kelly said. “I’ve talked to the front office tirelessly about being a D-back for life. That was really my plan. That was real. That was genuine. … So it’s never off the table. Coming home is very attractive, not only for me but also for the family aspect of it. But at the same time, I’ve put myself in a position to have what I hope to be a decent market, so I’m going to have to make a hard decision, business-wise, but coming back and being a D-back is never off the table.”

Arizona is going to need arms for the upcoming season, so a return would make sense for both parties. Corbin Burnes will miss most or all of next year recovering from Tommy John surgery. Zac Gallen is a free agent. Left-handers Blake Walston (March) and Tommy Henry (June) also had Tommy John surgery this year. Prospects Yilber Diaz and Cristian Mena have both struggled and/or been injured. Next year’s rotation currently projects to include Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson, with little else in the way of certainty.

Bringing Kelly back would obviously go a long way toward stabilizing the group, and it could very likely be done without making a long-term commitment. He’ll turn 37 in October, so anything beyond two years would register as a surprise. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Max Scherzer (three years, $130MM in 2021) and Rich Hill (three years, $48MM in 2016) are the only free agent starting pitchers in the past decade to command a deal greater than two years at 37 or older.

As for Kelly’s longtime rotation-mate, Gallen, it remains to be seen how seriously the Snakes will pursue a reunion. However, Gallen is doing his best to flip the script on a disappointing season in the run-up to free agency. It’s too little, too late to salvage the team’s season in all likelihood, but Gallen fired six shutout innings with eight punchouts against the Dodgers in L.A. on Aug. 29 and, in doing so, dipped his ERA back under 5.00. A 4.94 earned run average still isn’t going to stand out, but Gallen has been pitching well for two months now.

Dating back to July 1, the former All-Star touts a 3.74 ERA, 22.9% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate in 65 innings. He was particularly sharp in August, with a 2.57 ERA in 35 innings. Gallen started six games last month and delivered five quality starts.

Once the Diamondbacks opted not to trade Gallen, it seemed likely that they would make him a qualifying offer at season’s end — struggles notwithstanding. However, a prolonged stretch of quality results on the mound should only make that decision easier for the team. A big September performance will also make it easier for Gallen, who from 2019-24 logged a combined 3.29 ERA in 815 1/3 innings, to turn down a one-year offer in the $22MM range. His recent hot streak makes his results in the season’s final four weeks worth monitoring extra closely; Gallen will take the mound tomorrow against the Rangers and look for his eighth quality start in his last 12 trips to the mound.

Pavin Smith Unlikely To Return In 2025 Due To Quad Strain

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Pavin Smith is “likely” done for the 2025 season, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Jacob Gurvis of MLB.com) earlier today. Lovullo noted that Smith has not been officially shut down for the season, but after he went on the injured list with a strained left quad yesterday it seems unlikely he’ll be able to get healthy and back up to speed in time to appear before the end of the season.

Smith, 29, appeared in 87 games for the Diamondbacks this season and has slashed .258/.362/.434 with a wRC+ of 122. That’s solid production on paper, but those surface level numbers cover up what was a strange, up-and-down season for the former seventh-overall pick. Smith started the year as one of the hottest hitters in the majors, as he slashed an unbelievable .342/.373/.640 through the end of April. Even during that hot stretch, he was striking out at a hefty 28.1% clip but made up for it by hitting for significant power and floating a massive .488 BABIP.

That batted ball luck was going to run out at some point, however, and his next 48 games saw him hit just .232/.336/.384 in 146 plate appearances. His 13.7% walk rate in that stretch remained quite impressive, but his power largely disappeared and he struck out at an ugly 32.9% clip. It wasn’t long after that when Smith suffered an oblique strain that left him sidelined for the majority of July and much of August. He’s appeared in just 14 games in the back half of Arizona’s schedule, and in those limited appearances he’s hit .195/.244/.268 with a 32.6% strikeout rate in 46 plate appearances.

With such a hot start to the year followed by a lengthy cooldown later in the first half, it would be easy to write off Smith’s early-season performance as a simple flash in the pan. There could certainly be merit to that assessment, but it’s also worth noting that his injury-marred second half left him with little opportunity to make adjustments in order to respond to those struggles he began to have after the calendar flipped to May. In conjunction with Smith’s brilliant partial season in 2024, where he slashed .272/.371/.568 in 97 plate appearances after the All-Star break, it’s anyone’s guess what sort of production the Diamondbacks will be able to get out of Smith next year. It seems likely he could be tasked with sharing time at first base with Tyler Locklear in at least some capacity, though Locklear’s .169/.256/.247 slash line in 23 games for Arizona this year hasn’t exactly inspired confidence to this point.

In the short term, Smith’s at-bats at DH will be handled by Ketel Marte. That’s because, as Lovullo noted to reporters (including Gurvis) this evening, Marte is dealing with what the manager described as “fatigue” in his right forearm. That forearm issue has led the Snakes to play Marte out of the DH spot in each of the past two games rather than play him at his usual position of second base. With Jordan Lawlar now on the roster to get increased reps at the hot corner, perhaps more DH time for Marte down the stretch could mean additional opportunities for Blaze Alexander to remain in the lineup even when Lawlar is playng. Alexander has hit a respectable .234/.331/.441 in 49 games this year while splitting time between second and third base.

Diamondbacks Recall Jordan Lawlar

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The Diamondbacks announced that they have recalled infielder Jordan Lawlar and left-hander Brandyn Garcia. First baseman Pavin Smith has been placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 28th, due to a strained left squad. Right-hander Taylor Rashi has been optioned to Triple-A Reno in the other corresponding move.

Lawlar, now 23, has been one of the top prospects in baseball for a while now. He forced his way up to the majors late in 2023, just after his 21st birthday. However, he didn’t immediately hit the ground running, producing a .129/.206/.129 line in is first 34 plate appearances. The Snakes were in contention then and weren’t in a position to just throw him out there as an experiment.

Going into 2024, the Diamondbacks weren’t quite ready to just hand him a big league job, given his youth and those numbers. They already had Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte at the middle infield spots. They could have tried Lawlar at third base but instead acquired Eugenio Suárez from the Mariners. At the time, he had one guaranteed year remaining on his contract.

Lawlar could have forced his way into taking the job from Suárez, especially when Geno struggled badly early in 2024. However, Lawlar required thumb surgery in March and was out of action for several months. Then a hamstring injury cost him more time. He would only play 23 minor league games that year. Meanwhile, Suárez had such a strong surge in the second half that the Snakes picked up his $15MM option for 2025.

That left Lawlar fairly blocked for big league playing time this year. He did his best to unblock things, as he slashed .336/.413/.579 in Triple-A through mid-May and basically forced the Snakes to call him up. They believed that they could spread the playing time around but it didn’t really work out. He was recalled on May 12th but optioned back down on May 29th. In that stretch of barely over two weeks, he got into eight games and received 22 plate appearances. He didn’t take to the sporadic playing time, not recording a hit in that span.

The Diamondbacks fell out of contention and sold at the deadline, which included sending Suárez back to the Mariners. Ideally, Lawlar would have come up to take over at the hot corner but he had suffered a hamstring strain in late June. He got back on the field a couple of weeks back. After ten Triple-A games to get back in shape, he’s now coming up.

The Snakes can now use the final month of the season to finally give Lawlar some regular big league playing time and see how he handles it. His performance could then impact their offseason moves. He will still have one option season after this one, so they don’t have to give him the job in 2026. However, he doesn’t have much left to prove in the minors, so it’s probably time to let him sink or swim in the show.

That’s perhaps especially true given the club’s other priorities. Arizona traded away impending free agent Merrill Kelly at the deadline. Zac Gallen is still on the club for now but is an impending free agent himself. Corbin Burnes is had Tommy John surgery and will miss at least part of 2026. The bullpen lost Justin Martínez and A.J. Puk to UCL surgeries. The front office will definitely be looking for pitching this winter. Outfield upgrades might also be on the menu, given the struggles of Alek Thomas and Jake McCarthy.

With all of that going on, the front office might lean towards going into 2026 with Lawlar and Blaze Alexander competing for the third base job, as opposed to spending money or prospect capital to bring in someone else.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Release Rene Pinto

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The D-backs have released catcher Rene Pinto, who’d been playing with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno, per the MiLB.com transaction log. He’s a free agent and can field interest from any teams seeking to bolster their catching depth in the season’s final month.

Pinto, 28, hasn’t played in the majors this season but saw big league time with the Rays in each of the past three seasons. He’s drawn solid framing grades in the majors but has struggled to control the running game and has drawn poor marks from Statcast for his ability to block pitches in the dirt. Pinto is a career .231/.263/.404 hitter with 10 homers but a 36.7% strikeout rate in 237 major league plate appearances.

While his big league numbers aren’t much to look at, Pinto has been far better in Triple-A. He batted .268/.324/.517 with 11 round-trippers in 225 plate appearances with Reno this season and carries a career .256/.307/.493 slash with 57 homers in 1132 plate appearances at the top minor league level. Strikeouts have been an issue in Triple-A as well, however. He’s fanned in 29.9% of his career plate appearances there.

There’s not much on the market for catching depth right now, so teams that have recently incurred injuries behind the dish could take a flier on the former Rays backstop. The Reds (Tyler Stephenson), Mets (Francisco Alvarez) and Nationals (Keibert Ruiz) all have catchers on the injured list at the moment, for instance. With rosters set to expand to 28 players on Sept. 1, it’s also possible that another club will look to use one of those extra spots to carry a third catcher, which could create further opportunities.

Diamondbacks Designate Tristin English For Assignment, Select Taylor Rashi

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The Diamondbacks announced that they have selected right-hander Taylor Rashi to the roster. In a corresponding active roster move, fellow righty Juan Morillo has been optioned to Triple-A Reno. To open a 40-man spot, infielder Tristin English has been designated for assignment.

Rashi, 29, gets called up to the big leagues for the first time in his career. He was originally a Giants draftee but the Snakes grabbed him in the minor league phase of the 2022 Rule 5 draft. His first couple of seasons after switching organizations weren’t amazing. He spent most of 2023 on the injured list and only pitched 14 1/3 innings. Last year, he was healthy enough to throw 51 2/3 innings but with a 4.70 earned run average.

Here in 2025, the results have been intriguing. He has thrown 67 1/3 innings over 40 appearances for Triple-A Reno with a 3.48 ERA. Considering the Aces play in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, that’s a nice number. His 10.3% walk rate this year is a bit high but his 24.7% strikeout rate and 49.4% ground ball rate are both a bit above average.

The Diamondbacks are focused on the future. They fell back in the standings and acted as sellers at the deadline. They can use the remainder of the season to see if Rashi can get outs in the big leagues and decide how much to plan on his contributions in 2026.

English, 28, was selected to the roster in July when Pavin Smith landed on the injured list. Since then, he’s been optioned to Reno and been recalled a few times. He’s only been put into seven big league games and produced a .091/.130/.136 line in his 23 plate appearances.

He has produced a much better .321/.367/.524 line in Triple-A this year, though that is undercut somewhat by a .348 batting average on balls in play and 5.8% walk rate. In the Pacific Coast League, that kind of production translates to a 110 wRC+, or 10% above average.

Evidently, the Diamondbacks didn’t feel he would be a meaningful part of their future, so he’s been bumped off the roster. With the trade deadline having passed, he’ll be placed on waivers. He still has a full slate of options and no service time. If there is a club out there intrigued by his minor league production, he could potentially be a cheap depth piece for the long term. Defensively, he’s capable of playing all four corner spots. If he clears waivers, he would stick with the Diamondbacks as a non-roster depth piece.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Outright Jose Herrera

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D-Backs catcher José Herrera went unclaimed on waivers and was assigned outright to Triple-A Reno, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Arizona designated him for assignment when Gabriel Moreno returned from the injured list last week.

Herrera has played parts of four seasons as a light-hitting backup. He’s worked behind Moreno for the past three of those. The switch-hitting Herrera has tallied 204 plate appearances this season. He has slashed .187/.285/.259 with a pair of home runs. He has hit a trio of homers among his 562 career trips to the dish.

The Diamondbacks valued Herrera’s glove and clubhouse presence enough to stick with him as a backup despite his lifetime .200/.280/.259 batting line. Veteran James McCann, signed when Moreno went on the IL in late June, has hit three homers with a .326 on-base percentage in 30 games. McCann figures to pair with Moreno for the final month of the season. Herrera will become a minor league free agent at the end of the regular season unless the D-Backs add him back to the MLB roster in the next few weeks.

Diamondbacks Name Tim Bogar Third Base Coach

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The D-Backs are hiring Tim Bogar as third base coach, report Nick Piecoro and José M. Romero of The Arizona Republic. He’d already been in the organization’s player development department but now returns to coaching. Arizona skipper Torey Lovullo announced on Wednesday that they were removing prior third base coach Shaun Larkin from that responsibility; Larkin will remain on staff in a different capacity.

After playing parts of nine MLB seasons as a utility infielder, Bogar has spent over two decades in coaching. He has plenty of minor league managerial experience, including with Arizona’s Double-A club last year. He has been on big league staffs in various roles going back to 2008. Bogar spent a couple seasons as a base coach with the Red Sox. He has worked as a bench coach in Boston, Texas, Seattle and Washington and spent a month as Rangers’ interim manager in 2014. Bogar’s most recent MLB coaching experience came in 2023, when he worked as Dave Martinez’s bench coach with the Nationals.

Larkin, previously the organization’s farm director, was hired as third base coach last offseason. That came after Tony Perezchica departed to take the same role in Houston. Steve Gilbert of MLB.com writes that Larkin had garnered criticism for some poor send/hold decisions.

The final of those came on Wednesday. Larkin waved Alek Thomas around from first base after Guardians center fielder Angel Martínez stumbled following a bloop single. Martínez got to his feet and set up shortstop Gabriel Arias for a relay to the plate. Cleveland threw Thomas out, the first in what would be a scoreless inning. Arizona came back to win in extras, but Lovullo decided it was time for a change. Gilbert writes that Larkin will focus on infield instruction.

Diamondbacks Designate Jose Herrera For Assignment

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The D-backs have designated catcher Jose Herrera for assignment, reports Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. His spot on the roster will go to fellow catcher Gabriel Moreno, who is being reinstated from the injured list.

Herrera, 28, has been a backup behind the plate for the Snakes dating back to 2022. He’s never provided much with the bat, hitting only .200/.280/.259 (53 wRC+) in 562 plate appearances over the course of 190 big league games. He was outstanding at thwarting opposing runners on the basepaths in his first two seasons but has slipped in that regard over the past two years and now has a league-average 21.8% caught-stealing rate in his career. Herrera typically hasn’t drawn plus framing grades but does have solid blocking skills, per Statcast.

This year’s 204 plate appearances are a career-high at the MLB level for Herrera — due primarily to the aforementioned Moreno injury. Moreno, the 2023 NL Gold Glove winner, suffered a broken finger earlier this summer and has been out for more than two months. He’s hitting .187/.285/.259 in that time with a pair of home runs (the only multi-homer season of his big league career thus far).

Shortly after Moreno hit the injured list, the D-backs signed veteran catcher James McCann, who’d been on a minor league deal with the Braves. McCann has hit the ground running with the Diamondbacks, hitting .247/.337/.403 with three home runs. That performance has been enough to earn him the backup job to Moreno for the remainder of the season, it seems. McCann will be a free agent at the end of the year, so he’s not a long-term backup partner unless the D-backs choose to re-sign him, but he’s clearly leapfrogged Herrera on the depth chart at this point.

MLB, ESPN Nearing Deal Involving MLB.TV And In-Market Rights For Five Clubs

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Major League Baseball and ESPN are seemingly going to continue their relationship but with a new shape. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reports that the league and the network have an agreement in place which would give ESPN the right to sell all out-of-market games digitally. These rights have previously been sold by the league to consumers as the MLB.TV package. Under the agreement, ESPN will also acquire the in-market rights for the Diamondbacks, Guardians, Padres, Rockies and Twins. ESPN would also have an exclusive weekly game similar to Sunday Night Baseball, but on a different night of the week. The deal is not yet finalized but could be signed in September. It’s unclear how much ESPN would pay the league for this package but Marchand says it will be “substantial”.

MLB and ESPN have an existing contract but it is about to expire. The deal previously ran through 2028 but both sides agreed to opt out after the 2025 season. Under that deal, ESPN still has the rights to Sunday Night Baseball, the Home Run Derby and the Wild Card round of the playoffs. Those rights are open for 2026 and beyond. A week ago, Marchand reported that those rights would likely be split up and sold to multiple companies, with Netflix being the favorite for the Derby while NBC/Peacock and Apple TV+ are each trying to get the other components. He echoes that framing in today’s reporting.

The new developments today are potentially seismic. MLB.TV has existed in essentially the same format since 2002. Baseball fans purchase the product through the league and get access to every MLB game, with some exceptions for local blackouts and other games guaranteed to be exclusives for certain broadcasters. If this deal goes through, it’s not exactly clear how it would impact existing MLB.TV consumers but Marchand writes they would likely have to get an ESPN subscription on top of an MLB.TV subscription. It’s unclear how this would impact those who purchase MLB.TV through cable or other linear subscription.

ESPN recently launched a streaming service, allowing anyone to pay $29.99 per month to access the network’s wares, whether or not they subscribe to cable or satellite. The network has recently been building out their portfolio, signing a number of deals with the NFL and WWE.

It now seems they hope to add a number of MLB components to their menu. It’s unclear exactly how MLB.TV customers would be impacted financially. Marchand reports that the basic MLB.TV sticker price should stay the same or could even drop. Paying the ESPN subscription fee as well would lead to customers paying more, though they would also gain access to other ESPN offerings outside of the baseball world. That new arrangement would naturally be a plus for some but a minus for others.

In addition to the MLB.TV plan, it seems ESPN will be gaining local rights for five clubs. Due to cable cutting, the regional sports network (RSN) model has been slowly eroding in recent years. The five aforementioned clubs have all seen their local broadcast deals collapse in recent years, which has led the league to step in and take over. Fans of those clubs have been able to purchase streaming rights, without blackouts, directly from the league. It seems likely these customers will be able to continue in a somewhat similar fashion, though Marchand suggests they would likely have to get an ESPN subscription and then pay an added fee for the specific team they want to access.

In addition to the MLB.TV rights and the local rigths of those five clubs, ESPN will also be getting the rights for some exclusive games to be broadcast nationally. It seems this will basically function the same way as Sunday Night Baseball, though on a different day of the week. It appears the details in this arena are still being worked out, as it’s unclear which day of the week is being targeted. Apple already has the rights to a game every Friday while Roku has an early game every Sunday. Marchand adds that MLB Network could also be part of the deal but that’s more up in the air.

Whatever deal is signed would be fairly temporary. Various different reporters have frequently suggested the league doesn’t want to sign anything that goes beyond 2028. They already have a number of deals expiring after that season. It seems commissioner Rob Manfred is hoping to market a large package, or packages, of rights to multiple broadcasters ahead of the 2029 season. All recent broadcast deals have been relatively short, with nothing going beyond 2028. Marchand reports that is expected to be the case with this ESPN deal as well.

These ongoing broadcast shuffles could hang over the upcoming labor strife. It is widely expected that there will be a lockout after the 2026 season. A prolonged stoppage could lead to games being cancelled in the 2027 season. Manfred and the owners would have to be cognizant of playing chicken with the players and how that could impact these broadcast negotiations. MLB is currently experiencing an uptick in popularity, with measures such as the pitch clock credited with increased attendance and TV ratings. That kind of momentum would help the league sell future broadcast rights but a lockout extending into the summer of 2027 could undermine that.

Photo courtesy of Kirby Lee, Imagn Images

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