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Double Plus: Following Up on Corbin’s Changeup

On April 15, 2016 By

Earlier this spring, Ryan wrote a really fantastic piece about Patrick Corbin and his slider. By association, the piece was also about Patrick Corbin’s changeup. As Corbin put it to MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert, the changeup is a point of emphasis this seasons

“My changeup is probably something I’m trying to get to where I can throw it as much as

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Rubby De La Rosa: Reliever For a Day

On April 13, 2016 By

In the eighth inning of a 4-2 loss to the Cubs on Saturday, something special happened. Rubby De La Rosa pitched as a reliever. Now, we’ve had some zany ideas around here in the past, like experimenting with a team full of Gerardo Parra‘s, utilizing a starter by committee approach or using Archie Bradley as a bullpen ace. …

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What Happened to Zack Greinke?

On April 6, 2016 By

As of the moment this post goes live, it’ll be something like 33 hours since the moment Zack Greinke got pulled from his first Diamondbacks start. That’s about an hour earlier than he and everyone else would have liked. An hour and a half if you’re greedy. To say it didn’t go well would be an understatement. He sort of …

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Yasmany Tomas Still Looks Like Yasmany Tomas

On March 28, 2016 By

Look, Yasmany Tomas is still a very young player with very limited professional experience in Major League Baseball. Calling him a “finished product” is irresponsible and inaccurate. Odds are, he changes his game in some facet, at some point in time. This spring, the club has gone to great lengths to remind the public that Tomas has technically hit well. …

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Double Plus: Peter O’Brien Goes Beyond Yard in Historic Fashion

On March 25, 2016 By

By now you’ve heard of the “Shot Heard ‘Round the Desert.” Of course I’m referring to the massive home run hit by OF/1B Peter O’Brien earlier this week. It was massive. In fact, it was more than massive. According to Thesaurus.com, I could have used words like colossal, gargantuan, gigantic, mammoth, towering or even elephantine. I should use elephantine more …

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Is the Fifth Starter Race Really a Race?

On March 15, 2016 By

It doesn’t seem like it was long ago that we discussed Rubby De La Rosa being the fifth starer. If you’re tallying up “the best five,” Rubby seemed like the right guy to be about fifth on that list. Zack Greinke, Shelby Miller and Patrick Corbin are all clearly better. Robbie Ray is probably better, too, and he …

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Diamondbacks Sign Japanese Lefty Nakaushiro

On March 7, 2016 By

This is a guest post from friend of the website and Japanese Baseball expert, Kazuto Yamazaki. He was nice enough to share his insights or Nakaushiro from his college and NPB (professional) career. You’ll find more information about the author at the bottom of the post. For now, enjoy the insights!

The Diamondbacks have made the rounds in the …

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Why Doesn’t Rubby’s Changeup Work?

On March 1, 2016 By

I’ve been room-temperature about Rubby De La Rosa since he arrived in Arizona. Watching him in Los Angeles and Boston a time or two, he was the kind of pitcher that had the raw stuff but didn’t maximize it. At 23 or 24, that was understandable. Now, just a few days before De La Rosa turns 27, it remains a …

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Double Plus: Silvino Bracho Spinning His Way to Success

On February 26, 2016 By

Pitchers and catchers and everyone else have reported to Spring Training. The season is drawing nearer all the time (not hyperbole, this is really happening). Arizona’s roster will start to take shape over the next couple of weeks as games start, someone (or two) gets hurt, etc. The team doesn’t appear to be all that close to putting a roster …

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Two-Strike Pitches and Robbie Ray’s Lack of Innings

On February 25, 2016 By

It would appear that Robbie Ray is some kind of Inside the ‘Zona favorite. In the short time that he’s donned Sedona Red, he’s been covered here at length. Initially it was talking about the trade that brought him to Arizona. Then it was talk of his new breaking ball and how he was getting the job done with …

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Projections Still Don’t Like A.J. Pollock, and That’s Okay

On February 16, 2016 By

A year ago, I got it. I understood the reasons to slow-play A.J. Pollock. Now I don’t. Or, maybe I do. Let’s see…

Pollock had come up in 2013 and was kind of decent. Make no mistake, he didn’t light the world on fire with his .269/.332/.409 line but it was his first full season in the majors and …

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Introducing the New Shelby Miller

On February 15, 2016 By

Baseball is a game of adjustments. We often attribute this adage to hitters but it applies to pitchers, too. Get too reliant on one pitch and hitters will sit on it. Can’t locate your fastball? Batters will take until they see a fat one. Can’t locate your secondaries? Batters will let them pass and sit dead-red on fastballs. Any type …

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D-backs Relief Pitcher Arsenal Scores

On February 10, 2016 By

On Tuesday I previewed arsenal scores, a metric created by Eno Sarris at RotoGraphs. The idea is simple: evaluate each pitcher’s pitches based on swinging strikes (good) and ground balls (also good). Sarris was kind enough to share his data with Inside the ‘Zona I’ve used it already to showcase D-backs starting pitchers. Now it’s time to highlight the …

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D-backs Starting Pitcher Arsenal Scores

On February 9, 2016 By

Analytics allow you do some really fun things. You can slice and dice numbers to create new ways of evaluating players that, frankly, weren’t possible just five years ago. One such metric, and one that I’m a big fan of, is the arsenal score. Eno Sarris has been rolling these out over at RotoGraphs for a few seasons now (his …

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What Does a Top of the Order Hitter Look Like?

On February 4, 2016 By

Right off the bat, I should say that this post was clearly spurned by the recent trade that sent five players packing bags and heading to either Arizona or Milwaukee. I’ve never been to Milwaukee, but I get the feeling that I’d rather head to Arizona than Wisconsin in general. Besides, they sell cheese and bad beer everywhere these days. …

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What Jean Segura Does, and Doesn’t, Bring to the Table

On February 2, 2016 By

Saturday’s news of the trade that sent Aaron Hill, Chase Anderson, Isan Diaz and cash from the D-backs to the Brewers for Jean Segura and Tyler Wagner  was shocking without a doubt. The team had tried hard to upgrade second base – the price was too steep for Howie Kendrick (apparently) and Brandon Phillips  vetoed a trade (thankfully) …

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