Messing with a major league lineup is one way to get everybody’s attention. It always seems to stoke the fire and raise a bunch of banter. Sometimes that discussion is positive, but usually it’s not since the original lineup is thought to be the one the team should be using. A departure from this seems like a step backwards, because …
Continue Reading →The MLB First Year Player Draft is less than a month away. A little while back, I provided an exceedingly early Diamondbacks draft preview. Even in the title, I called out the fact that the preview was too early to really get all that worked up about, and really, it was just meant to get some names out there …
Continue Reading →It was a dreary couple of days to follow the D-backs early next week, waiting out two rain-postponed games with extra time to ponder an awful road series against the Dodgers. All we got for our trouble was an offensive breakout of mind-boggling proportions, a six-game stretch in which the D-backs maintained a .911 OPS. That’ll play.
As great as …
Continue Reading →D-backs starters have had trouble in the first inning so far this season. As Nick Piecoro wrote at the beginning of the week, the team is aware of this, and they’ve tried changing up prep techniques, etc. If this is a real problem, it’s a perfect time to use one of the best baseball ideas I have ever come across, …
Continue Reading →The Diamondbacks just got done beating up on the Rockies. I can’t stand the Rockies mascot Dinger, mostly because he’s stupid. So taking two games in one day from an NL West team after having to be deprived of baseball unnecessarily for two days was extra special. Tyler Matzek really helped in game one with a game score of terrible …
Continue Reading →Last week, Baseball Prospectus introduced a new metric for pitchers: Deserved Run Average, or DRA. By zeroing in on some key component statistics while still baking in some context, we can get a read on how much of what the D-backs’ pitchers’ stats look like thus far is chance or bad luck, and how much is not far off the …
Continue Reading →Offense in baseball is a funny thing to measure. In a sense, it’s the heart of what most baseball fans watch the game for; the homers, the steals, the walk-off hits (too soon?). But the problem with offense is that it’s often inconsistent. Measuring something that comes in fits and starts can be problematic, especially when just over 20 games …
Continue Reading →The D-backs’ 2-4 week, complete with a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers, was one to forget — and yet just days after Archie Bradley took a line drive off the bat of Carlos Gonzalez, it sure seems like one we’ll remember for a long time. After Bradley was removed in the second inning of that Tuesday contest, …
Continue Reading →Josh Collmenter has gone through some unusual role changes in his five years in the big leagues. He’s not your typical pitcher to have been pitched in a relief role and as a starter; it’s not a matter of wipeout stuff that can’t necessarily be maintained in longer bursts, or a question of bouncing back and forth because he was …
Continue Reading →The Diamondbacks have been playing Mark Trumbo pretty much every day. Scratch that, Mark Trumbo has played every day. He’s a perfect 18 for 18 in games started thus far, whether we like it or not. And why not like it? He’s hitting .324/.343/.559 through Tuesday. That’s good for a 144 wRC+, putting him among the league leaders. While that’s …
Continue Reading →Things started slow this year for Aaron Hill, and he was not helped by being subbed in for Jake Lamb against the likes of Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner. Things only slowed down from there, however, as he now sports a 13 wRC+ (87% below league average at creating runs). That’s a far cry from his career mark …
Continue Reading →When Nick Ahmed was announced as the Diamondbacks’ starting shortstop, I was more than a little excited. Seeing him in person a handful of times backed up what I’d heard about his defense. It also backed up what I had heard about his (in)ability to handle the bat. But despite an okay start, the Diamondbacks have always been a sub-.500 …
Continue Reading →And things were going so well. After a sweep at the hands of the Pirates, the D-backs stand with an 8-10 record a little over a tenth into the season, more or less on the 70-something pace for wins that we might have expected coming into this season. If there’s any consolation, the pitching has been not just better than …
Continue Reading →Coming into the season, one situation we were keeping a close eye on was Rubby De La Rosa‘s reliance on fastballs, which seemed to cause a problem for him in Boston, and seemed to make him something of a pre-breakout Dave Stewart. And yet, it’s Archie Bradley who has transformed before our eyes, throwing fastballs 75%, 71%, …
Continue Reading →With three full rotation turns and about a tenth of a season in the books, the D-backs pitching staff ranks 4th in ground ball percentage. It’s not a ton of time, but batted ball tendencies stabilize quickly — and the thing is, we were expecting the exact opposite. Josh Collmenter and Jeremy Hellickson have been fairly extreme as fly ball …
Continue Reading →Baseball players go through slumps. You never know when they’ll arise, but they’re part of the game. And when this happens, the question you have to ask is whether it’s a case of bad luck, bad mechanics or a bad approach. Sometimes a player is just not getting the breaks while other times something is mechanically or strategically wrong. Chris …
Continue Reading →@ryanpmorrison
Best part of Peralta’s 108 mph fliner over the fence, IMHO: that he got that much leverage despite scooping it out… https://t.co/ivBrl76adF, 
RT @OutfieldGrass24: If you're bored of watching Patrick Corbin get dudes out, you can check out my latest for @TheAthleticAZ. https://t.co/k1DymgY7zO, - Of course, they may have overtaken the league lead for outs on the bases just now, also...
But in 2017, Arizona ha… https://t.co/38MBrr2D4b,
- Prior to the games today, there had only been 5 steals of 3rd this season (and no CS) in the National League. The… https://t.co/gVVL84vPQ5,
- RT @OutfieldGrass24: Patrick Corbin has a WPA of .318 and it's only the fifth inning.,
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- Zach has the deets, as per usual https://t.co/6kebZ1XILN,
- RT @OutfieldGrass24: Larry Fitzgerald has raised the bar. Not just for wide receivers, but for athletes uplifting their communities. He… https://t.co/L48kXpDKS1,
- Just go PowerPoint IMO https://t.co/EcBHa3bgjS,
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