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Blaze Alexander

D-Backs Notes: McCarthy, Barrosa, Puk, Alexander

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The Diamondbacks are optioning Jake McCarthy to Triple-A Reno, per the MLB.com transactions log. John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM in Phoenix suggests that Jorge Barrosa is likely to be recalled tomorrow to replace McCarthy in the outfield.

McCarthy has had a terrible start to the season. He has managed just three hits in his first 41 at-bats. The 27-year-old is coming off arguably the best year of his career. McCarthy hit .285/.349/.400 with eight homers and 25 stolen bases through a career-high 495 plate appearances last season. He earned the Opening Day assignment in center field as a result. His slump quickly cut into his playing time, as Alek Thomas has gotten the nod in center for five of the past six contests.

A good contact hitter, McCarthy has continued to put the ball in play. He has only fanned in six of 47 plate appearances, but he’s simply doing no damage. He only has one extra-base knock, a double, with five hard-hit balls (ones with an exit velocity of 95 MPH or better) on the season. McCarthy has never had imposing batted ball metrics, but the results became too much to ignore. He will be able to play every day in Reno rather than work in a fourth outfield role as he tries to get on track.

That’ll seemingly afford an MLB opportunity for the switch-hitting Barrosa. He made a brief major league debut last season, collecting three hits in eight games. He hit .270/.360/.421 over 75 Triple-A games last season. The Venezuela native is out to a stronger start in 2025, batting .295/.362/.495 with a trio of homers over 105 plate appearances in the Pacific Coast League.

Elsewhere on the roster, reliever A.J. Puk is scheduled for an MRI today (link via ESPN’s Jesse Rogers). The southpaw landed on the 15-day injured list on Saturday with inflammation in his throwing elbow. The Snakes will presumably provide a return timeline after getting the imaging results. Puk has been brilliant since the D-Backs acquired him from Miami at last summer’s deadline. He owns a 1.78 ERA with 55 strikeouts through 35 1/3 frames in an Arizona uniform.

On the other side of the injury ledger, Arizona activated Blaze Alexander from the 10-day IL and optioned him to Reno on Sunday. The 25-year-old infielder suffered an oblique strain early in his camp and only appeared in two Spring Training games. He played eight games on a rehab assignment. Rookie Tim Tawa and speedster Garrett Hampson are splitting the second base playing time with Ketel Marte on the injured list. Alexander would probably have gotten those reps had he been fully healthy throughout camp, but he’ll remain in Triple-A for the time being.

Blaze Alexander To Miss Several Weeks Due To Oblique Strain

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Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo tells Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports that infielder Blaze Alexander has a right oblique strain. A firm timeline wasn’t provided but the skipper said Alexander’s absence will be measured in weeks rather than days. With Opening Day now less than a month away, a season-opening trip to the injured list seems distinctly possible. Even if he’s healthy prior to the opener, he’ll need to get some reps and effectively redo spring training to get into game shape.

Alexander, 26, projected as the club’s likely bench infielder before this injury. He got into 61 games for the Snakes last year, his first major league action, stepping to the plate 185 times. His .247/.321/.343 batting line led to a wRC+ of 88. That indicates he was 12% below league average overall but that’s not awful for a guy who can play multiple positions off the bench. Alexander logged at least 53 innings at shortstop, second base and third base last year.

The Diamondbacks have everyday regulars at those spots, with Geraldo Perdomo at short, Ketel Marte at second and Eugenio Suárez at third. Alexander can give the club cover at those three spots when healthy but they will have to find another option if he has to start the season on the injured list.

On the 40-man roster, the Diamondbacks do have some other infield options. Jordan Lawlar is the most notable, but he is one of the top prospects in the league and only played 23 minor league games last year due to injuries. Presumably, the Diamondbacks would prefer to have him playing every day in the minors and getting back in form after a mostly lost season. It’s possible he plays his way into the third base job and pushes Suárez into the designated hitter slot, though the Diamondbacks might also want Pavin Smith to get at-bats there.

Grae Kessinger and Tim Tawa are also on the roster, though Tawa has very little shortstop experience in the minors, making him an imperfect fit as the club’s primary bench infielder. Kessinger has played all over the field but has hit just .131/.243/.213 in his big league career thus far. His minor league offense has been better but still subpar. His .234/.332/.372 batting line on the farm over the past four years leads to an 83 wRC+.

The free agent market features guys like Jose Iglesias and Joey Wendle, though the Snakes likely won’t be compelled to make a move if Alexander is going to return fairly early in the season. Other infielders will surely become available as Opening Day nears and all clubs make their final roster cuts, so perhaps the Snakes will keep a lookout for veterans opting out of minor league deals or fringe players hitting the waiver wire.

Diamondbacks Designate Gavin Hollowell For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks officially announced their signing of infielder Luis Guillorme, which was reported earlier today. In corresponding moves, they optioned infielder Blaze Alexander and designated right-hander Gavin Hollowell for assignment.

Hollowell, 26, has never pitched for the D’backs at the big league level. He had spent his entire career with the Rockies until they put him on waivers in June. The Snakes claimed him at that time but mostly have kept him on optional assignment since then. He was briefly recalled at the start of July but was optioned back down to Triple-A Reno a day later without getting into a game.

The Snakes were likely intrigued by his big strikeout numbers in the minors. Those have sometimes come with plenty of walks, which was certainly the case after switching organizations. In 17 1/3 Triple-A innings since coming to the Diamondbacks, he has a 3.63 earned run average and 30.4% strikeout rate but a huge walk rate of 16.5%. Combined with his time in the Rockies’ system earlier this year, his 2024 season consists of 23 2/3 minor league innings with a 5.70 ERA, 29.5% strikeout rate and 16.1% walk rate.

Those control issues weren’t as bad in previous seasons. He tossed 96 minor league innings over the 2021 to 2023 period with an even 3.00 ERA, 32% strikeout rate and 8% walk rate. He also tossed 40 2/3 major league innings for the Rockies with a 6.20 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate.

He’s now been squeezed off Arizona’s roster. With the trade deadline in the rear-view mirror, they will have to put him on waivers in the coming days. Though the control hasn’t been there this year, his strikeout stuff could intrigue some clubs around the league. If he is claimed, he will still have an option year remaining after this campaign, giving him some future roster flexibility. He also has less than a year of major league service time, meaning a claiming team could control him well into the future.

Diamondbacks Option Alek Thomas

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The Diamondbacks have recalled infielder Blaze Alexander from Triple-A Reno. Going the other way in a corresponding move is outfielder Alek Thomas, who has been optioned to Reno. Prior to the official announcement, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic was among those to relay on X that Alexander was in the clubhouse while Thomas’s locker was being cleared out.

Thomas, 24, gets sent to the minors for the first time in over a year, as he was last optioned in May of 2023. As of a few years ago, he was considered one of the top prospects in baseball based on his potential ability to be an all-around contributor. While he has shown some speed and some strong defense at times, he has been consistently subpar at the plate.

From his 2022 debut to the present, Thomas has now stepped to the plate 915 times at the major league level. He has 20 home runs in that time but his 5.2% walk rate is a few ticks below average and his overall batting line of .226/.271/.359 translates to a wRC+ of 71, indicating he’s been 29% worse than league average overall. That includes a .191/.248/.362 line and 67 wRC+ here in 2024.

Thomas has some encouraging signs on his Statcast page in terms of how hard he hits the ball, so it might seem like bad luck that he has a .261 batting average on balls in play, which is well below par. However, he’s also continually struggled to get underneath the ball, with a 57.2% ground ball rate in his career and a 60% rate here in 2024.

In previous seasons, Thomas has made up for his lack of offense by providing value in center field, but that hasn’t been the case this year. He came into 2024 with 11 Defensive Runs Saved and 11 Outs Above Average in the outfield but both of those metrics have put a mark of -1 on him this year. Perhaps he hasn’t been fully healthy, as he spent some time on the injured list due to a left hamstring strain and his sprint speed of 27.9 feet per second is down from previous years. He was at 29.3 in 2022 and 28.8 last year.

Whether his health has played a factor or not, he’s essentially been a replacement level player this year and Jake McCarthy has forced his way into more playing time. McCarthy is hitting .311/.380/.458 this year for a wRC+ of 135 while stealing 17 bases and and getting solid marks for his outfield work. Those all-around contributions have led FanGraphs to credit him with 2.7 wins above replacement on the year already.

The Snakes have an outfield mix that consists of McCarthy, Corbin Carroll and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. with Joc Pederson in the designated hitter slot most days. Randal Grichuk is often Pederson’s short-side DH platoon partner and is also capable of serving as a fourth outfielder. McCarthy has played all three outfield positions but could perhaps become the regular in center now while Thomas gets regular at-bats in Reno and tries to get in a groove down there.

He is still quite young and still has time to find himself at the plate but the Diamondbacks are trying to win now and need to put their best club on the field. They are currently 68-53 and tied with the Padres for the top National League Wild Card spot. Both clubs are also just 3.5 games behind the Dodgers in the West division.

Speaking of platoons, subbing in Alexander could help the club in that regard. Each of Thomas, Carroll, McCarthy and Pederson are lefties and all of them have notable platoon splits except for McCarthy, who has reverse splits. Alexander hits right-handed could perhaps cover third base against southpaws while Eugenio Suárez, also a righty, moves into the DH slot, allowing Grichuk to move to the outfield and perhaps shield Carroll from time to time. When Christian Walker returns from the IL and takes over at first base, the switch-hitting Josh Bell could be a factor as well. Alexander will also give the club a bit of extra cover at second while Ketel Marte is banged up with a left ankle injury.

Turning back to Thomas, the move has the potential to impact his earning power. He came into this season with one year and 132 days of service time. If he had stayed up in the majors all year, he would have gone into the offseason at 2.132 and with a very good chance at qualifying for arbitration as a Super Two player, based on past cutoffs. This year’s cutoff won’t be determined until the end of the year but each day he stays down in the minors will decrease his chances of crossing it. If he falls short of the line, he will get the usual three arbitration seasons, while getting to Super Two status would have given him a fourth chance at a salary bump.

Diamondbacks Place Jordan Montgomery On Injured List

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The D-Backs shook a few things up in advance of their series with the Dodgers. Arizona reinstated catcher Gabriel Moreno from the 10-day injured list and designated backup Tucker Barnhart for assignment. (Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported those forthcoming moves over the weekend.)  The Snakes placed starter Jordan Montgomery on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 29, on account of right knee inflammation. Arizona also optioned young infielder Blaze Alexander to Triple-A Reno. Center fielder Alek Thomas is back from the 10-day IL, while the D-Backs recalled righty Gavin Hollowell to take a spot in the bullpen.

Montgomery has had a nightmarish season. The veteran southpaw agreed to terms on a $25MM pillow contract just before Opening Day. As with fellow late signee Blake Snell, he has had significant struggles with that abbreviated ramp-up. Montgomery agreed to head to Reno for a few starts as a tune-up. He was recalled in mid-April but hasn’t found anything close to his typical form.

Over 13 starts, Montgomery carries a 6.03 ERA in 65 2/3 innings. He’s striking out a well below-average 15.1% of opposing hitters. Montgomery had punched out more than 21% of batters faced in each of the previous three seasons. He allowed fewer than four earned runs per nine in each year while combining for a 3.48 ERA over 94 starts. The average velocity on his sinker is down from its customary 93 MPH range to 91.7 MPH.

It’s impossible to know how much of Montgomery’s struggles are attributable to the unconventional start to the season. It seems fair to presume that has played some role. Whatever the primary cause, Montgomery hasn’t provided anything close to the kind of production Arizona envisioned. The D-Backs hoped he’d step in as a mid-rotation replacement after Eduardo Rodriguez suffered a Spring Training lat strain. Instead, he’s been arguably the weakest point in a starting staff that remains the team’s biggest question mark.

Arizona recently welcomed Zac Gallen back from the injured list. They’re still without Rodriguez and Merrill Kelly. Righty Brandon Pfaadt has been solid, but the D-Backs haven’t gotten much out of Slade Cecconi and Ryne Nelson. They’ll need to find a fifth starter this week, as Arizona doesn’t have another off day until the All-Star Break. That might be righty Cristian Mena. Alex Weiner of AZ Sports tweets that Mena is with the big league club in Los Angeles, though he’s not yet on the roster. Acquired from the White Sox for Dominic Fletcher over the winter, the 21-year-old Mena has a 4.90 ERA with a 24.4% strikeout rate in 16 Triple-A starts. Joe Mantiply will kick off a bullpen game tonight; Montgomery had been slated to start tomorrow’s contest.

On the position player side, Moreno and Thomas draw back into the lineup. The former had a minimal IL stay with a thumb sprain. He’ll return to his role as the primary catcher. Barnhart’s DFA means the D-Backs will stick with José Herrera in the #2 catching role. Thomas has missed the bulk of the season because of a hamstring strain. He played in only four games before going down. That pushed Corbin Carroll into center field. Carroll should move back to right field, which could cut into the playing time for Jake McCarthy and Randal Grichuk.

It pushes Alexander off the MLB roster for the time being. The 25-year-old logged a good chunk of playing time at shortstop while Geraldo Perdomo was on the shelf. Upon Perdomo’s return, manager Torey Lovullo suggested he’d get Alexander more playing time at third base while cutting into Eugenio Suárez’s workload. Alexander got regular run for about two weeks but fell into a slump, hitting .138 without an extra-base knock in 33 plate appearances. Suárez has started five of the past six games at the hot corner. With Kevin Newman playing reasonably well as a utility option who cannot be optioned, the D-Backs send Alexander back to Reno for more consistent playing time.

Blaze Alexander Getting More Reps At Third Base For D-Backs

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Blaze Alexander is starting at third base for the Diamondbacks tonight against Angels righty José Soriano, pushing Eugenio Suárez to the bench. It’s only Alexander’s third start at the hot corner, but that’ll be a more frequent occurrence.

Manager Torey Lovullo told the Arizona beat that Alexander was going to pick up increased playing time at third base (link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Lovullo stopped short of calling it a benching for Suárez but he acknowledged tonight is “day number one of a little bit of a change” in how playing time is split.

“I’m very curious about Blaze,” Lovullo said. “Offensively, he’s been playing at a very high level. The defense has been improving rapidly. I just felt like it was time to give him a few more opportunities, a few more reps.” Alexander has been in the lineup for 38 of Arizona’s 67 games. He picked up 16 starts at shortstop, eight games at second base and got 12 nods as the designated hitter along with his pair of third base starts.

The D-Backs reinstated Geraldo Perdomo from the injured list last night. He resumes his role as the everyday shortstop, while Ketel Marte is locked in at second base. Joc Pederson serves as the designated hitter against right-handed pitching. That leaves third base as the only spot for Alexander to get reps, unless the D-Backs wanted to use him on the short side of a platoon with Pederson at DH.

Alexander, 25, has managed decent numbers in his debut campaign. He carries a .279/.345/.403 line over 142 plate appearances. Alexander’s batted ball metrics aren’t aligned with his bottom line output. He’s putting the ball on the ground half the time he puts it in play, and a .371 average on balls in play has masked a 26.1% strikeout rate. Alexander has had a stark platoon divide. He’s hitting .217/.280/.290 over 75 plate appearances against right-handed pitching; he has mashed southpaws to the tune of a .350/.418/.533 slash in 67 trips.

While Alexander has played fairly well, the D-Backs wouldn’t have gotten him more third base reps if not for Suárez’s disappointing year. He’s hitting .197/.263/.312 across 262 plate appearances. Bob Nightengale of USA Today wrote over the weekend that the D-Backs were open to trade possibilities on Suárez, though it’d be difficult to offload much of his $12MM salary. Nightengale suggested that Arizona would curtail Suárez’s playing time if he sticks on the roster, and it indeed seems that’ll come to pass.

The D-Backs sent backup catcher Seby Zavala and hard-throwing reliever Carlos Vargas, who has spent the season in Triple-A, to Seattle for Suárez last November. The biggest appeal for the M’s was offloading the final year of Suárez’s contract. Arizona also owes him a $2MM buyout on a $15MM club option that’ll very likely be declined next offseason.

Diamondbacks Designate Emmanuel Rivera For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks have designated third baseman Emmanuel Rivera for assignment, reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. He’s out of minor league options and didn’t make the cut for the team’s Opening Day roster. They’ll instead turn his spot on the 26-man roster over to infield prospect Blaze Alexander, who’ll make his MLB debut the first time he gets into a game.

Rivera came to the D-backs in a 2022 trade deadline swap that sent righty Luke Weaver to the Royals — Rivera’s original organization. Kansas City selected the now-27-year-old Rivera in the 19th round of his Puerto Rico high school back in 2015. He ranked among the Royals’ top 30 prospects for several years, drawing praise for his arm strength and bat-to-ball skills, but he’s yet to provide much in the way of offense with either Kansas City or Arizona.

In 740 career plate appearances as a major leaguer, Rivera is a .247/.304/.380 hitter (88 wRC+). His 21.6% strikeout rate is a bit lower than league-average, but so is his 7.2% walk rate. He popped a dozen homers in a career-high 359 plate appearances in 2022 but hasn’t hit for power in either of his other two MLB campaigns. Rivera also has pretty notable platoon splits (.273/.327/.410 versus righties; .233/.293/.364 versus lefties), which isn’t ideal given that he’s on the short side of any platoon arrangement.

Defensively, he’s turned in sound marks at the hot corner. Defensive Runs Saved credits him at +9 in just under 1400 career innings, and Outs Above Average has him at +2. He’s only made 12 errors in his big league career at third base, and he’s also logged 94 innings at first base. The D-backs likely hoped that Rivera could emerge as an under-the-radar pickup who could help out at third base for several years, but last winter’s signing of Evan Longoria and especially this offseason’s pickup of Eugenio Suarez signaled that he wouldn’t be handed the everyday role.

The D-backs will have a week to trade Rivera, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him. Since he’s out of minor league options, any team that acquires him will need to carry him on the big league roster or else attempt to pass him through waivers themselves.

Diamondbacks Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Diamondbacks announced several roster moves in advance of tonight’s Rule 5 protection deadline. One of them was the previously reported acquisition of reliever Carlos Vargas from the Guardians. They also added infielder Blaze Alexander, outfielders Jorge Barrosa and Dominic Fletcher, as well as righty Justin Martinez to the 40-man roster. In corresponding moves, they designated four players for assignment: infielder Sergio Alcántara, left-hander Caleb Smith and outfielders Stone Garrett and Jordan Luplow.

Alcántara had two separate stints on the Arizona roster this past season, with a brief stay in San Diego intervening. He bounced around the waiver wire on the strength of his glove at shortstop. He didn’t provide much offensively, however, putting up a .220/.261/.356 line in 224 trips to the plate. That’s fairly similar to the .205/.303/.327 showing he had in 2021 as a member of the Cubs.

Garrett and Luplow each played similar roles in the desert, serving as right-handed complements to a primarily left-handed outfield. Garrett had more success, posting a .276/.309/.539 showing with four home runs and eight doubles in his first 27 MLB games. That came with a 3:27 walk-to-strikeout ratio, and Arizona’s front office clearly wasn’t bullish on his chances of replicating that kind of success. Garrett joined the organization on a minor league deal but had a decent season at Triple-A Reno and could find some interest on the waiver wire.

The Snakes acquired Luplow in a trade with the Rays last offseason. They’d hoped he could replicate his career track record of success against left-handed pitching, but the veteran outfielder didn’t meet those expectations. Through 234 plate appearances, he posted a .176/.274/.361 line, although he did connect on 11 round-trippers. That wasn’t enough to convince Arizona to keep him around on a projected $2MM arbitration salary, making today’s DFA something of an early non-tender.

That’s also true of Smith, who’d been projected for a $2.7MM salary for his final year of club control. The 31-year-old southpaw pitched 44 times and soaked up 70 innings out of the bullpen this year, posting a 4.11 ERA. He was diagnosed with a ligament tear in his throwing elbow after the season but is electing to rehab without surgery. A former starter with the Yankees and Marlins, Smith had spent the past two and a half years in Arizona.

Taking their places on the roster are Vargas, Alexander, Barrosa, Fletcher and Martinez. Alexander may be the most notable of the group. An 11th-round selection out of a Florida academy in 2018, he had an excellent season for Double-A Amarillo. In 363 plate appearances, the right-handed hitting infielder posted a .306/.388/.539 line with 17 home runs, earning a late-season bump to Reno. He’s played all throughout the infield and has an excellent arm. Baseball America considers him the #15 prospect in the Arizona system.

Fletcher went 75th overall out of the University of Arkansas in the 2019 draft. A lefty-hitting outfielder, he split the year between the D-Backs’ top two affiliates. Fletcher, the younger brother of Angels infielder David Fletcher, combined for a .312/.378/.486 showing with 35 doubles over 591 plate appearances. He can cover all three outfield spots and is the #14 prospect in the system according to BA.

Barrosa checks in 22nd on that list. He’s a switch-hitter who only struck out in 15.7% of his plate appearances with Amarillo this year. The 21-year-old from Venezuela stole 22 bases and hit .276/.374/.438 while playing primarily center field for the Sod Poodles. Martinez, a native of the Dominican Republic, returned from injury to work as a reliever this year. He traversed three minor league levels, topping out at Triple-A.

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