Bradley-to-Bullpen Consideration Good Baseball, but Not Winning Baseball

On April 1, 2015 By

As reported by countless outlets in the last 36 hours, Archie Bradley is said by the D-backs to be under consideration to grab the pitching staff’s final spot — in the bullpen (Piecoro first). Bradley-as-reliever may be a good baseball decision, but it does not help put the team in a position to win, at least as I understand …

Continue Reading →

Daniel Hudson’s Very Best Fit

On March 31, 2015 By

It’s one week until the Diamondbacks take the field for Opening Day. Of course, that will be their second game of the season for them since they play on Opening Night against the Giants, but baseball’s right around the corner. Finally. And, with this being the final week without real baseball, everyone’s releasing their final predictions. The trend for …

Continue Reading →

Roundup: D-backs “Moneyball”; Could Hill Get Moved?

On March 30, 2015 By

Doing The Pool Shot podcast is only getting more and more fun, especially with some killer questions on Twitter that were absolutely fascinating to think about. Why is baseball so damned fun that way? All I know is: the season is about to start, and we’re about to have tons more to notice, work through and discuss, both on these …

Continue Reading →

Fireballs Shooting Out of Right Hand of Enrique Burgos

On March 27, 2015 By

There’s no need to overreact to spring training statistics, but Enrique Burgos is forcing us to pay attention — and when March success seems part of a trend that started earlier, we’re really referring to a larger body of work. In a mere 9 innings of work in “official” spring games, Burgos has left a burnt-out trail of major and …

Continue Reading →

Real D-backs Defensive Shifts, Really

On March 26, 2015 By

It’s been presumed since Chip Hale was named manager: the Diamondbacks will shift more in 2015. Given his tenure in Oakland, it’s no surprise that Hale picked up a thing or two about moving around the infield based on who’s in the box (and hopefully he took notes on creating platoons, too, but more on that later). Not only …

Continue Reading →

Andrew Chafin Leading Race to Be Only Real Bullpen Lefty

On March 25, 2015 By

When the Diamondbacks opened camp, they had a handful of lefties competing for spots in the bullpen to open the season. Oliver Perez was the only one with a firmly entrenched spot on the active roster. Robbie Ray, Vidal Nuno and Andrew Chafin were brought in to work as starters, but all have been considered for bullpen slots. Recent …

Continue Reading →

Spring Notes from D-backs Minor League Camp

On March 24, 2015 By

There’s nothing like seeing baseball up close and personal. After the long, baseball-less winter, just about any baseball action will do. I remember trying to stream Caribbean Series games a few weeks back and even though they slowed my computer down and froze every thirty seconds, it was worth every crappy pitch thrown by a nameless reliever. It was baseball, …

Continue Reading →

Roundup: Roster in Focus; Tomas Contract Discussions; Six Man Rotation?

On March 23, 2015 By

If you know me even a little, you can probably appreciate just how much I enjoyed thinking about the idea of a six-man rotation, a question put to us by two people (Joseph Gonzol and Jon Klingman) for the last episode of The Pool Shot. It’s not that a six man rotation would necessarily be a good idea for most …

Continue Reading →

Robbie Ray’s New Breaking Pitch Much Different, Much More Consistent

On March 19, 2015 By

Most national fans of baseball heard Robbie Ray‘s name for the first time fifteen months ago, when he was the featured prospect in what many considered to be an underwhelming return for Detroit in trading Doug Fister to the Nationals. Now making a bid for the D-backs rotation to start the season, Ray has seen his repertoire change.

Although …

Continue Reading →

Working the Count: Forget About It (And Don’t Feel Guilty)

On March 18, 2015 By

In 2014, working the count was not a strength of the D-backs. At 3.76 pitches per plate appearance, the team’s batters trailed all but two other teams in the National League, although they were nearly as close to the league leader (Cubs, 3.88 Pit/PA) as they were to the team with the quickest plate appearances (Brewers, 3.65 Pit/PA). Despite a …

Continue Reading →

Spring Notes From D-backs MLB Camp

On March 17, 2015 By

As Ryan stated in yesterday’s Round Up, we were literally camped out at Salt River Field for a few days last week and over the weekend. That opportunity allowed us to access to things in a whole new way. There’s simply nothing like taking in batting practice from 10 feet away or standing even with the third base bag while …

Continue Reading →

Roundup: Spring Training Notes; Catcher Developments; Tomas at Third

On March 16, 2015 By

It’s been a great week — Jeff and I just concluded our Spring Training trip that coincided with the SABR Analytics Conference. We really enjoyed meeting a ton of new people. And on behalf of both of us, I want to express our thanks to the entire D-backs Communications Department for helping us get a closer look at the team …

Continue Reading →

Quantifying the Effect on Pitching of D-backs Defensive Alignments

On March 13, 2015 By

As Jeff wrote yesterday, the chances that Yasmany Tomas ends up at third base seem to have taken a dive of late as more scouts have seen him – and his perhaps “limited mobility” – in action. But as Jeff Passan noted when the report issued, the D-backs are the same team that doggedly refuse to see Peter O’Brien as …

Continue Reading →

Inside the ‘Zona 2014-15 Offseason Report Card

On March 12, 2015 By

The end of the offseason and the start of the new campaign is hard to define. You might think it’s the moment pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training. Maybe you view it as the time when all players arrive in camp. Is it when the first Spring Training game is played? In truth, the offseason sort of bleeds into …

Continue Reading →

Yasmany Tomas in Left and D-backs Outfielders for Sale

On March 11, 2015 By

If you’d like to acquire an outfielder, you might want to call the Arizona Diamondbacks. They have plenty and might have one more on their hands sooner rather than later, because according to reports, the Yasmany Tomas-at-third-base-thing isn’t working out so well. While that was predictable, the organization had been going to great lengths to highlight what they could, …

Continue Reading →

Can Patrick Corbin Pull a Matt Harvey?

On March 10, 2015 By

Everyone is excited about Spring Training and baseball being played. This is great, with the exception that we see plenty of hyperbole. “Player X is in the best shape of his life and could be an MVP,” “Player Y has a new changeup grip and will win the Cy Young,” “Player Z changed his pre-game routine and will play 155 …

Continue Reading →