PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Alek Thomas’ World Baseball Classic SURGE Could Fuel a Big Season for the D-backs

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

The World Baseball Classic is delivering jaw-dropping drama—and it might be shaping the next Arizona Diamondbacks superstar! Alek Thomas, aka AT, has been playing the best baseball of his career in both the WBC and Spring Training. Could 2026 be his breakout All-Star season? We also have the latest on the D-backs’ roster moves, including outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt being reassigned to minor league camp and Corbin Carroll planning on playing in 10 Spring Training games. Plus, we have all your answers for your Mailbag Monday questions! JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ Phoenix Raceway: Get your tickets now for March 5-8! https://www.phoenixraceway.com/march-cup-weekend/?CID=PIR_DI_TP_BA_PHNX26Spring_251120 ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Is the world baseball classic making Alec Thomas into an all-star? We're talking about it right now. Don't you go anywhere. We're going to get started here now. And happy Monday to you all. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX on the Backs podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. It is I, your mayor of PHNX.

I'm thrilled to have you guys here. Happy Monday to you all. Hope you all had a tremendous weekend. Shout out to Jay Army Strong in the chat. says anyone else enjoy the amazing weather at the D-Backs game in good year yesterday. Me and Damon enjoyed the beautiful weather out in Mesa, Arizona as part of the downtown Mesa's baseball block party. That was an amazing event.

Of course, I'm joined by my guy on the ones and twos. My all-star, Damon Farrell, aka Damon Dog on the ones in Tuesday today. Damon, good stuff this weekend, hanging out with Augie O'Heda and Chris Owen. Yeah, I was good to say, honestly, like, it's good to be back with you. We had a great time in Mesa. But I do feel like a little bit empty without my new best friends, Chris Owings and Aghi Oheda up here. Especially Augie. On the panel with us.

Augie. Augie could be the third man in this group right here. Absolutely. Easily. I'd argue he should. He would fit right in. I went straight into Espo's office. I told them, I said, we need Augie O'Heda as a part of this podcast yesterday. And if we don't have him, we're going to riot.

And Jason loves how rioty we get when we don't get what we want around here. But also, Derek, like, I got to be honest with you, this is no offense. offense to you. This is way more of like a like a propping up Agio Heda, but like I'm pretty sure you don't want that guy sitting next to you every day on the on the on the podcast. I did introduce him as still handsome as ever, I believe. I mean, he he has aged like every like Latin pop star. Right. That has ever like like that's that's what like you know, Mark Anthony looks like a fine line doesn't describe it. No, yeah. A fine wine just tastes better with time. It doesn't get more handsome. It doesn't stay inexplicably tan in a very like in a very like thorough like he's he's he's tan from head to

toe the perfect amount of salt and pepper in the hair and in the beard I could only hope to be that handsome when I have gray hair we know that's not going to happen we've already started to see what this face looks like with gray I mean I don't want Agio Heda sitting next to me no no no I don't want to be the because then I'm going to make him look even more handsome yeah oh there's Augie O'Heda and the ugly guy Oh, Derek. Well, that's... Poor Damon.

I'm speaking from personal experience. It's not calling you ugly. Well, what's also ugly was our picks for the World Baseball Classic a little bit. Not all of them. We knew which guys were... We knew which teams were going to get in. We knew which teams were going to advance. But World Baseball Classic action has been tremendous.

Rock and I did a D-Backs after Dark this weekend where we just talked about how the World Baseball Classic right now is making us forget that spring training. even exists. And that is no attack on spring training because most people would probably think it ceased to exist anyway during this time of the year. But

again, the World Baseball Classic has been exciting. We had, as our qualifiers here, USA, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Japan, those would be the pool winners. And then our second place teams here were Canada, Mexico, Australia, Venezuela. Venezuela's in,

so that one's good Australia out not so great those boys put up a heck of a fight but because of the weird tiebreaker rule in World Baseball Classic which we'll get here shortly they are eliminated they almost made it in

even with a loss Mexico they still they have a big game to get today against team USA and that that team Mexico team is a beast I honestly don't know how that game is going to go and I'm so excited that Damon and I

are going to be getting together tonight for a watch party so you guys can come join us and we can all watch that together. So that's going to be fun tonight. Let's party, Derek. I mean, if you guys aren't doing anything, if you're planning on watching this game anyways, watch it with me and Derek on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. Let's just hang out a little bit. Yeah.

But it's always way more fun when we have people in the chat talking with us. And, you know, we're kind of carrying out conversations that are not just Derek and Damon doing the podcast again. We get so sick of each other. Yeah. We get so tired. We almost fought before. the show. Oh yeah. No, I mean, we did. We did a little bit of marriage counseling. Yeah, we came in here and did the like, are you being a passive aggressive to me? You're being passive aggressive to me.

What's the passive aggressiveness here? Do you hate me? Yeah, what did I do to you? Right. 2 BMC makes a great point. Canada threw it away versus Panama. They really did. They had a chance there late. There's been some exciting games. Puerto Rico walking off with a walk off and 10th inning there to stay 2 and 0. They still have some work to do here against team. team Canada Canada kind of has to beat Puerto Rico in order for them to make it in to that that quarterfinal round. So a lot of work to be done here. Is Skeens on the mound tonight, Derek? What's that? Is Skeens on the mound tonight for? Skeens is on the mound. Wow. I'll say this. This is my first time in my life getting to root for a team that has Paul Skeens on it. Oh yeah. It's going to be fun. I bet that's going to be special. You're like, wait, Pirates fans do this all the time. Yeah, this is what you get to do every five games. This is amazing. This magician, this human giant on the mound.

Meanwhile, Terek Scoobal might not be pitching anymore in the world baseball classic. He says it's hard to walk away, but it sounds like he has pitched his last game for Team USA. He's still weighing the decision to stick around. And I can only imagine how hard it is, right? I did my little full house opening from the Team USA clubhouse yesterday, which I thought was funny. apparently some people don't even remember that show exists but uh looks like they're having great times and terrick scuba was the weird uncle joey at the end where he's making funny faces into the camera and doing stuff like i don't what show are you talking about right i've no idea i just

aged 10 years because you said that but uh i mean who's john stamos yeah don't try me uh you know exactly what show i'm talking about but could you imagine like walking away from this kind of energy and this action, like these World Baseball Classic games have been so incredibly entertaining. They should be better attended. I will say that. That is one thing that Rock and I discussed. There is definitely something to be said about ticket prices for baseball, needing to come down a little bit. It does not appear that people are just deciding to pay the amount and go to these games.

The cheapest ticket for today's game between Team USA and Team Mexico, as we talked about last night, is $79 plus fees. but meanwhile it's going to cost you $59 to sit in a seat for D-Backs versus the Mariners out at Salt River Fields and who's going to be in the lineup for those games. No disrespect to Zach Gallaud. No disrespect to our guys. But between the Mariners lineup, having half of their guys gone to the World Baseball Classic,

no Randy Rose Arena, no Josh Naylor, you know, no Julio Rodriguez. There's a lot of guys missing there, not to mention from the Diamondbacks as well, but you're still paying a premium price to go sit during the daytime and watch a lot of minor league guys play baseball. So I still think that baseball needs to do better about getting people in the building and then, you know, letting things work itself out as far as how much people spend on concessions

and merchandise and other stuff like that. Michael Dixon, yes, Cal Rally. Sorry, forgot Cal Rally. But speaking of Josh Nailor, Team Canada on Friday beat Columbia by a score of 8 to 2. That was good for them. Bo Nailer was two for four, Josh's brother, with a home. home run and 3 RBI. Michael Soroka, four innings pitched in that one for Team Canada.

Yield just one inning, one-earned run, five strikeouts there. But overall here, Canada broke the game open with a four-run eighth inning to pull away. You got Netherlands beating Nicaragua on Friday. You got Italy. Everybody beat up on Brazil. They were still a fun story. Puerto Rico takes care of Panama in 10 in 10nings. That was the walk-off there.

And again, if you think the world baseball, Classic doesn't matter. Just listen to what Ozzy Albi said about hitting his walk off. I think it was against Nicaragua, right? He said it was the best moment of his life and this is a man that's won the World Series. This World Baseball Classic matters

to these guys. Venezuela took care of business. United States on Friday, 9 to 1 over Great Britain, Dominican Republic, 12 to 1, mercy ruled the Netherlands. Juan Soto had a home run. Vladimir Guerrero had a home run. Junior Camerro had a home run. I think I had a home

run. Damon had a home run. Everybody home run in that game. Cuba, their 2 and O, they've been doing good things. They beat Columbia 7 to 4. You got, again, the aforementioned loss, Canada lost to Panama, 4 to 3. That really changed things for that team, making that game now that they have against Puerto Rico. Very, very important for them to try to make it into the qualifying round. And again, Japan beat Australia barely. Australia put up an amazing fight against Japan. These are games that I've been up very early to watch. I'm very tired right now. But I'm very tired right now. But I'm I don't care because they've been exciting. You got Japan beating Australia four to three.

Shohei had a home run in that one. Sayas Suzuki, amazing, two home runs. But the big game was yesterday or this morning. I don't even remember days anymore because I was barely awake watching it. But South Korea versus Australia, very weird situation going on there in that pool D because they had a three-way tie essentially, or is a pool C, excuse me, pull C. they have a three-way tie there amongst Korea, Australia, and Chinese Taipei with South Korea winning over Australia by a score of 7 to 2. All of those teams were 2 and 2.

Tommy Edmund had three hits. Heisan Kim and RBI and Run scored. Korea recorded 10 hits in the win. And they won by just enough, Damon. They won by just enough to keep our guys from Australia out of the second round. When I say that, I mean, as it turns out, out, Korea literally needed every run and they needed to keep Australia from scoring any more runs because had they allowed Australia to score one more run or had the game ended by a score

of 6 to 2 instead of 7 to 2, which made that run that Korea scored in the top of the ninth very important. Australia would be in and Korea would be on out, even if Korea would have won the game. There were all sorts of discussions online about how weird it would have been because in the top of the ninth, even though Australia probably would have gone on to lose that game or bottom of the 9th, even though Australia would have gone on to lose that game, had they scored one run, it would have been like walking it off, but in the middle of the inning with more game to play. You know, like if they had one out and they scored a home run and they made that game seven to three,

Australia advances. And that's all because of this weird quotient way of determining tiebreakers with the world baseball classic, the run quotient tiebreaker. And again, it would have been just so strange. such a straightened situation. It made the game exciting, Damon. I didn't understand it. I know a lot of people don't know the formula or exactly how it's calculated, but if you tell us basically that a team needs to win by so many runs in order for them to advance or another team needs to keep them from winning by less than three runs, then, or three runs or less, then it makes even a blowout like this. This

was a seven to two game and I was on the edge of my seat watching it there in the ninth inning. It was incredible because again, this tournament is, it goes by very quickly. Every single game matters, every win matters, every loss matters. And even when it comes down to ties, the amount of runs you've scored in this tournament matter. It's the reason why all these mercy rule games and things are happening. These teams are trying to do everything they can to ensure something doesn't slip up and cause them to not make it into the next round. So again, at Korea won by fewer than five runs and nine innings, Australia would have advanced despite the loss. When teams have identical records, the team does not, the tournament does not look at total wins.

Instead, it uses statistical tiebreaker rules to decide which team advances. And here's the craziest part, Damon. Had Korean Australia score been 8 to 3 instead of 7 to 2, or if they went on to extra innings? No, that wouldn't have happened, but 8 to 3 here overall. or even higher or different score, Taiwan would have advanced, even though they had nothing to do in this game

and even though the outcome of the game would have still been the same. Kind of crazy stuff. That is wild. It just, it does feel like even though it's complicated, and you know I don't like complicated stuff, it does make games matter more. It takes me back to like where Jimmy from John Boy

came up with a plan on how to make the playoffs more fun and how to include more teams when you have certain teams like the Dodgers at times kind of running away with the division year after year, right? Like find creative ways for the other teams in those divisions to get in, have a first half winner, have other things like that. This is one of those things that, albeit confusing, and getting math involved, which we don't love that,

this still does feel like it made this more exciting, even in a six to two, seven to two blowout loss. So that was fun. Meanwhile, the big fun was Mexico beating Brazil 16 to nothing. They mercy ruled Brazil. It's one of the most lopsided games in the entire tournament. And our guy, Alec Thomas, was a huge part of it. Three for three in that game.

Rowdy Tellis had a home run for RBI. Randy Eroserina, three hits, three runs. Isaac Paredes, three for four with an RBI. Alec Thomas, three for three, with a home run, three RBI, and two runs scored. He just continues to have a huge tournament so far, even though it's in a very small sample size. It's not like he's had a lot of at-bats similar to spring training. But Thomas is hitting 571 with a 1.625 OPS through Mexico's first games. That's the spring training stats.

But what we also, what we have is here, not the spring training stats, but we have the combined stats here for Alec Thomas. This is what Alex Thomas is hitting. Lots of Alec Thomas content on this channel right now. Oh, we'll give you all of it. Well, I mean, and rightfully so, right? I mean, this is something that we have wanted to see out of Alec for so long. We've seen in small windows, but you can't even, I mean, I can't even recall a time where Alec Thomas was on fire like this during any stretch of his career with the Diamondbacks.

No chance, no. He's had moments like this, right? He's had like a week. And again, this is still a very small sample size, even though it feels like spring training has been going on forever. We're about two weeks into it. But still, his combined stats really show that Alex, mechanical changes at the plate, especially with his leg kick, have at least led to some early results that are very, very exciting. You know, give you a lot of hope for the future here.

Alex hitting 434 so far in spring training in WBC combined. He has a 500 on base percentage, a 739 slug. All of that's good for a 1.239 OPS. and he has eight RBI. So again, this is what Thomas has been doing. The idea here of Alec Thomas having a breakout season, I don't know if you want to call it that,

but I feel like what it is is more than that, right? It's a breakout season would be something we discussed for like Jordan Lawler. I think that's still a young player, which I'm not trying to age Alec and act like he's ancient. but you know I feel like he's had more opportunity than Jordan for sure like oh absolutely there's no question a guy that has been you know a starter on this team for what three seasons now and it's so it's like yeah it's kind of put up her shut up time whereas jordan luller at least you know he's been terrible but he's had the active excuse of i'm not getting a lot of at-bats consistently

whereas alec Thomas is and there's been times where he's had to go down to reno there's been times where he's gotten had to be called back up and like it's just it hasn't been exactly the run you've wanted to see out of a prospect of caliber of Alec Thomas with the potential of an Alec Thomas. You could argue that his career path has been very similar to one Jake McCarthy in a way. Yeah. He's just like a little bit better version of Jake McCarthy so far. But Jake McCarthy even at one point had higher considerations for like rookie of the year than Alec did.

Yeah. I think Jake's best seasons probably actually outclass Alex's best seasons, especially if you look at 2022. It only stretches, right? Yeah. Again, when you're talking about that, as a fan, it forms memories for you. You're like, I remember this. Even if your memory of it might be convoluted or even if your memory of it might not be what you remember it to be,

you still have memories of players being very good for stretches. And, you know, again, not to say Alec Thomas hasn't. He has one of the biggest home runs in Diamondbacks history. He has been incredibly important in the outfield. And I think because of how good he is defensively, it's easy to forget or overlook all of his achievements that he's had out there specifically in the outfield at times. But putting it together at the plate the way that he has so far this spring feels like it brings a completely different dynamic to this team. Damon talks about adding, you know, trade deadline pieces that we know are coming for a fact before the trade deadline.

Yeah. And Agu Juheda and Chris Owings also talked about these acquisitions of the trade deadline. Totally. I mean, and again, we talked about how like each time those. guys come back they provide that spark for this team right they it's just such a huge you know thing to look forward to like oh man in a week corbin burns is returning and then corbin burns is back and as long as corbin burns is healthy and as good as you remember him to be then you're just like yes we just got a little bit better and it feels that way every single time with the way that alec thomas is playing right now

not to say that this is going to translate in this exact same form over to the regular season but with the start that he's had, it almost feels like the Diamondbacks picked up yet another free agent this offseason. I mean, that's the difference in the way that Thomas is playing right now offensively versus the way that he played last season and in past seasons. It was a beautiful moment. His father was there. His father is the strength and conditioning coach, I believe, for Alan Thomas for the Brazilian team. So he got to sit in the dugout of the, he got to sit the opposing dugout and watch his son hit that big home run, have that big game yesterday. going three for three.

And I mean... That's really interesting, actually. Yeah. And I think that it's just... He is one of those guys that I don't necessarily feel people think that he's bad. But he does get the... He does have certain connotations tied to him.

The grounding out softly to the second basement is something that I think a lot of fans say with Alec Thomas because it feels like it's always that. Or, hey, maybe you'll get a hit or home run. But for the most part, it feels like it's feast or famine with him. Now what we're seeing is consistency, and that's what you want to see out of Alec.

Right. Like he doesn't need to hit a ton of home runs. In fact, he's not. That home run that he hit in the game for Mexico is his first home run, I believe, that actually counts of spring or of World Baseball Classic play, right? But I don't think the Diamondbacks need that of him,

just like they don't really need a slugger on this team if they have Perdomo and Cotel and Corbin all hitting somewhere in the, neighborhood of 30 home runs. You have contributions from Nolan Aronado, you have contributions from Pavin Smith, and, you know, maybe a few other guys here that could really change the game, not to mention Lordus Gurriel and other guys who are injured that, you know, we'll be returning like Lordus as well. So again, Alec, we just, we just need him. Ernesto says here, Alec Thomas at 250 with 12 to 15 bombs with above average defense is all we need.

Absolutely. That's a minimum, right? But if we're, we get Alec Thomas hitting 275 or if we see Alec, you know, joining the 20 home run club, those are all things that it feels like you added a different player to your line. Well, if Alex hitting 275 with 20 bombs, Derek, he's a potential all-star. Well, and I mean that. Which I think that might be a little bit too, to ambitious. But I think what Ernesto says is entirely realistic. If he can give you 15 home runs to a 250 average, he's an entirely different.

caliber of baseball player than what he has shown you so far in his career. And that's, I mean, you're not asking for him to be a god. Just be average at the plate and be above average defensively. We have this from Bob Nightingale, a tweet. And Bob Nightingale said, Mexico manager Benji Gill believes the Diamondback center fielder will be a perennial all-star and gold glove winner. Now, Benji Gill has only seen Alec Thomas for a short stint as part of Team Mexico. but this is also Alex's second time participating in the World Baseball Classic for Mexico.

So I don't know. I think that when you get praise like that, when you are seeing guys evolve, take that next step in their career, it can happen suddenly. I mean, let's be honest. One of the funniest things I can think of from 2025 is the fact that in 2024, Corbyn, had one of the flattest swings in baseball. And in 2025, he had the highest percentage of swings taken with the perfect angle as far as bat angle for launch for what launch angle is what it is. That's crazy that he was tied for the best percentage of at bats with the essentially

perfect launch angle between 5 and 20 degrees for his bat, you know, launch angle. Like that's a huge improvement. And when you went from having one of the flattest swings to essentially having the highest percentage of perfect swings, it's a testament to the work. But it just goes to show how a player can put in that work and make those improvements, make those adjustments and become a better player. That's hopefully what we're seeing out of Alec Thomas. And it's starting to venture into the neighborhood of, you know, no longer being a small, sample size. It's starting to be in the neighborhood of him

being able to, or it looks like he's really starting to put some things together at the plate, right? 2BMC said AT at 249 in 143 games last year, but only a 0.1 war. He also wasn't great defensively last year,

I would say. We've definitely seen Alec Thomas play better defense in center field. It remains to be seen how a potential move is going to impact him. And again, also playing for, you know, I guess competing for playing time here against the younger Jordan Lawler, who is also playing very well this spring, should, you know, bring out the best in AT, or at least should provide the debacks with the best outfielder, depending on who is playing the best, right? Lordus Gurriel Jr. also has, you know, a lot of work to do there when it involves him not only coming back from that injury, but outplaying these guys for time when this regular season. gets rolling on. But so far, very encouraging things from Alec Thomas. You love to see it. We're going

to take a quick break here, but on the other side of this break, we are going to talk more about the Diamondback Spring. What's been going on overall here with Jordan Lawler and some of the other prospects. We're going to bum Damon out a little bit by talking about some roster moves that happened. And we got your updates on Corbyn Carroll, who once again is a machine. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHA next Diamondback Show. Well, hopefully you don't have to call the husband and wife law team because hopefully you do not experience a serious injury or accident but if you do that is where you should go first mark and alexis brier are the husband and wife law team and they are here to serve accident and serious injury victims they are from phoenix

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based on eligibility, some benefits require no cost registration activation terms, conditions, and exclusions do apply. Well, believe it or not, spring training is still happening. I know many people are not paying attention to it because, well, baseball classic, right? I mean, not only is spring training doing a terrible job of televising spring training, which I feel that during this tournament. Like, I would have stopped broadcasting spring training games during the tournament. However, there was a solid period of time where they weren't really providing us with many games.

before the tournament had started. That felt like a little bit of a letdown. I think that causes people to lose interest. Not to mention the fact that now you have lineups consisting of guys that have been optioned to minor league camp, and they are still in the Diamondbacks lineup because if they got rid of all these guys with the guys playing in WBC,

there literally wouldn't be enough bodies to fill up the starting lineup. But the Diamondbacks did lose to the Reds yesterday by a score of 13 to 4. Jordan Lawler, once again, the aforementioned Jordan Lawler, went two for four with another home run and two RBI. He has homered in three of his eight spring training games. He has reached base 14 times in his 23 at bats. And he has also flashed some incredible defense in center field.

I am starting to believe in Jordan Lawler. Not to say I was a doubter, but I do think that we are trained as fans at times to think that if these guys play a certain position that it's going to be more difficult for them to switch to a different position. Yet when you talk to baseball players about it, Damon, they will straight up be like, it's catching a ball somewhere on the field, it's throwing it. You know, like, they do break it down into being the most basic of tasks. Yeah, but then sometimes you'll be like, hey, we moved you from, you know, third base to first base and you're like, it must be so much easier, right? And they'll be like,

actually, no, it's the hardest thing I've ever done. Yeah, and you're like, wait, What? No, you do get different answers from different guys on that. Right. And I mean, again, there's guys that refuse to change positions like the Raphael Devere's situation, right? And that changed everything for those two franchises. But Jordan Lawler, again, he's needed. He is, you know, it's one of the only ways that he's going to get at bats during the regular season that are like regular every day at bats.

He's going to be able to fill in in the infield as well. So there's that. But their primary focus right now is Jordan Lawler playing center field. And he continues to be outstanding out there. Meanwhile, another guy that continues to be outstanding, Ryan Walschmidt, he went three for three with a walk in the loss. And Ryan Walshmet was part of a group of roster moves that the Diamondbacks made yesterday, including optioning Mitch Bratt, Juan Burgos, Cole Drake, Grant Holman, and Jose Fernandez all to AAA Reno. Meanwhile, Herardo Carrillo, Hayden Dirk, Junior Fernandez, Spencer Geisting, Taylor Rashi,

Lou James Groover, Christopher Torrin, Tommy Troy, A.J. Vukovic and Ryan Walschmidt have all been reassigned to minor league camp. Now, we had a question. I don't think we got in for, I don't think we got this one in, Damon for Mailbag Monday, but I did see it. And someone had asked, I believe it was Katie, had asked, what does, what, does, what, What's the difference here? What's minor league camp?

Like, what is, what is, why, why do you get reassigned a minor league camp here during spring? It's really just a way for them to take the non-roster invitees and get them off of what is considered their spring roster. There are cuts that need to be made at certain points. And realistically, what it comes down to is the guys that are optioned to AAA Reno are typically guys that were at one point on the 40-man roster. And they were, that was done to protect them

from the Rule 5 draft. It was also done when, you know, trades are made or guys are picked up and, you know, basically signed to an actual, to the 40-man roster like Grant Holman was, right? These guys have options left. They get optioned. So now they are part of the Reno Aces. Meanwhile, the guys are minor league camp. They, uh, she asked if it was a purgatory.

Uh, it's not really a purgatory. And sorry, Katie. I know it was, uh, you now. I see the question. Uh, my bad. But, uh, it was, it was, it's, It's not, it was Karen with a C. It's not purgatory necessarily.

It's just their way to still have them be here as part of the spring training, you know, rosters and camp. But, you know, they are not part of the major league roster. They're not part of the 40-man roster. And they will be a reassigned to different levels of minor league ball. They just don't know where each guy is going to necessarily go yet. And I don't even know if that's the case. It's not that they don't know.

That's probably me miss speaking. It's probably more about they just haven't made that, you know, move to assign them to where they're going to go next. Also, again, with the World Baseball Classic rosters being what they are, these guys are still able to play in spring training games, which is something the Diamondbacks need because they need bodies. They need actual human beings to get out there and play. But it's unfortunate, right?

Damon, I know you obviously have been the biggest, pusher of the Ryan Walschmidt agenda. And this does not shut the door on Ryan Walshmit being a part of the major league roster this year. This just basically places him most likely in AAA Reno and puts him, you know, getting at bats, staying ready and probably one of the first outfielder

they will call should they need that depth at a major league level. Unfortunately, it is an L for me, Derek. I think it goes down as an L, which, you know. Between this of Australia, it's a bad day. Typically, we, you know, we like to speak things to existence on this podcast. Specifically, I feel like my, you know, the things that I like to bring to the table for the people, we like to make happen campaigns. But this one, it feels like we fell a bit short.

Yeah. But, you know, we won't let go of the dream. And I think Ryan Waldschmidt at some point this season is going to be like one of the first injury replacement callups that they have on the roster. So. And I mean, again, not to. speak this into existence, but the Diamondbacks have had their fair share of injuries, if you recall from last year.

Yeah. It was kind of a problem. So, like, it's not to say, oh, hey, we're rooting for that. But it does feel a little good to have players that you're excited about that would be replacement players should something happen to your Major League roster players. It feels, it feels different than last year when if guys got injured, like every guy that got injured felt like it was the end of the world for this team and in most cases it actually was but you have Tommy Troy hitting 429 with a 1000 OPS in spring you have Loller hitting 348 with a 1.266 OPS after his

two for four day yesterday and then you just have a couple of other guys that are still hitting the cover off the ball Ryan Walshmit 321 903 OPS there is not much more that someone like Ryan Walshmit could do to prove that he belongs here this is the reason why you could say spring training is frustrating to watch as fans. This is the reason why spring training is frustrating when you hear that there's these competitions, but are there? Are there actual competitions or,

I mean, is this just for the coaching staff in the front office to get a good look at these guys and be like, yeah, in a year, that guy's going to be, you know, a stud for us,

right? Like, doesn't really feel like these guys played poorly. So that is not the reason why they're being reassigned. to minor league camp it's just they were never you know it's it's it's it's a 26 man roster yeah it's not their time that's that's that's all it is they're you know maybe the debacks depth is a little bit better than we thought it was you know obviously we know this roster is very top heavy when you look at corbin carol harold o perdomo katel martay even corbin burns zach gallon merrill kelly

right like but you're trying to fill in those kind of middle pieces with guys that are going to be average to a little bit above average and I think that's where Alec Thomas comes in that's where Jordan Lawler comes in that's where you know and I think that he's kind of played himself out of this role but like I'll throw him into the crew here Ryan Nelson right like who who are the guys that are going to step up with you know you all the highest paid players on this roster and kind of fill out the middle pieces and I those are the guys that are going to you know as I keep saying make or break the deback season So it's good to see Loller, Thomas, Waldschmidt, Paving Smith, even to a little bit of a lesser extent, getting good A-Bs and good reps in in spring, and, you know, kind of hopefully they can hit the ground running once the regular season starts so that it doesn't take a big adjustment period for Alec Thomas to, you know, need three weeks before he starts hitting the baseball at a decent level. Like, let's do it from jump one. Every good D-backs team that I've pretty much ever remembered in my entire life has been good because they start off the season. season hot. Yeah.

And there's like a month in between there, like in June where you're like, oh my God, this is the worst team in baseball. But the, but the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the team relevant for the entire season. So I think it's incredibly important to hit the ground running and get off to a really positive start early here so that we're not playing catch up the rest of the way. And that's, that's, that's going to come down to those players that I just named. And if, if they can do that, even if it fizzles out, they have the return of AJ puck in June or

even late May, perhaps. They have Corbyn Burns returning in July. They have Justin Martinez returning. You have Lordus Gurriel that should be back in, you know, April or maybe even earlier. So there, there's a lot of, there's a lot of pick-me-ups in there along with that. So the hot start would do wonders for this team, especially considering how difficult their schedule here is to start the season. I mean, kicking things off in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, not very easy. But a great point by Jeremy Strong. He does say. that it should be pointed out that Reds lineup was their opening day roster. All of their starters were in there versus Diamondbacks, you know, minor league guys.

So that's a good point to make, but still a 13 to four loss. So Kevin Ginkle, Ryan Thompson, they each scored one. They tossed one scoreless and hitless inning each. So great to see those guys doing work this spring and the results showing up. Meanwhile, today the Diamondbacks enter their game with the Seattle, Mariners that I talked about earlier. That game will not have a lot of All-Stars in that one, and it will be

happening here shortly after we wrap. The Diamondbacks are 6 and 3 against A.L. opponents this spring, and they have won a couple of their games at night, 3-1 in their night game, or they won 3-1 in that game that we attended there. That was Ryan Nelson's first start.

Zach Gallin's making his second spring start here since he made his debut against the Dodgers. And one encouraging signed Damon is Gabriel Moreno is hit safely in his last four games with a home run and three RBI. You've been begging for it. Oh, I needed it. I needed it more than I need air and water and to scream at people in traffic.

But another thing I need is Corbyn Corbyn Carroll to return. And Corbyn Carroll apparently is not only going to be back by opening day, Damon, Corby and Corbyn Carroll might be back here in a few days because according to him, he wants to get 10 spring training games under his belt before opening day, which is exciting and makes all those other guys that broke their bones in their hand look like a bunch of chumps and losers. But we have here some video of Corbyn talking about his injury that I wanted to get to here briefly. Let's go first. This is Corbin on, let's start off with Corbin on how his hand feels.

normal yeah just yeah I don't really have I don't really have much just it felt fine and just yeah keep taking a day of time

and don't piss it off but just keep trying to get towards game shape he's a man of little words at times that should be no surprise yeah that that is Corbyn for you but this is this is what Corbyn had to say

about how close he is to being 100%. This is what he had to say. It was just our plan. Just kind of moving along with the steps to getting back to playing and hopefully get a couple of spring training games in. I think that's that's the other plan. Yeah.

I mean, if you're already taking a bat, you doesn't seem like you might not be too far from getting in the game. No. Yeah, close. He's close. And again, swinging the bat, taking live A.B. he actually had a live at bat against Merrill Kelly. Talk about an encouraging sign there,

seeing Merrill Kelly on the mound throwing to Corby and Carroll. That warmed your heart. I mean, it was funny, Derek. Last week we were talking about how, like, I remember I said on the show, like, I don't know if we were talking about him getting swinging reps. And we were like, I don't know if he's taking live BP. And then while we were talking on the podcast, Alex Weiner posted Corbyn Carol taking live

It felt like we almost spoke it into existence, but the guy is a machine, man. He's crazy. It's crazy. We have another one. This one, do the other one about how close he is. I know there two videos are very titled, very close, but this is him, I believe this is him saying that he'll be, he wants to get those 10 spring training games in. Well, I think that might be a different one. Oh, that might be on the, his, how his hand feels defensively and then this, playing spring training games. There we go. He was asked if, if everything's been okay defensively. He's taken fly balls. out in right field. And we know it's his non-throwing hand as far as the injury is concerned, but it's still his catching hand. This is what Corbyn had to say about how everything is healing defensively and getting in those 10 spring training games.

No pain. Yeah, it feels good. You know, just kind of working back in with the normal defense group in the morning now and do all the drills, get in game shape. And, yeah. How many spring training games are you kind of hoping to get in time? 10? I think that's okay.

So you have to get in pretty quickly then. Yeah. The way he says 10. He's just got, he's just such a like, he's the coolest person on the planet. I do. I love them and I,

and we need guys like that on our team and he's, he's so likable, but at the same time, he just gives you nothing. Oh, I know. Zero emotion. Like, he's the opposite of Geraldo Perdomo.

They could not be more opposite of one another. That's a good point. He stays so even keeled. I mean, again, I've never in the history of covering a baseball team ever seen anybody tell a reporter when asked a question, I need to think about that. And then he stood there and took time to think about that in the moment before looking back up and responding. It was wild. It was very thoughtful. And it just kind of is an example of the person he is.

He didn't want to say something wrong. But he did have a question kind of sprung on him that he wasn't prepared to answer. answer and he wanted to give an answer. So he took the moment to kind of, you know, put his thoughts together and, and, you know, give, give, give a decent answer, right? But he is. He's very soft-spoken. He very, very much is this at all times. Like, what you see in these videos aren't different than when cameras aren't necessarily rolling. Corby is just this. And I think really one of the underlying things here is probably a level of frustration. We are all looking at Corbyn in amazement. When Corbyn says so quickly back to Alex Weiner right there, 10 days, 10 games, excuse me, 10 games is why I'm going to get in.

Like, we were, we had no idea if he was even going to be back by opening day. And now he's talking about getting 10 spring training games in before opening day, meaning that he will be ready here, what, in the next five days, right, or less to start getting into spring games? Because it's not necessarily 10 consecutive games, right? So maybe he has days off. Maybe, I mean, I don't know if the Diamondbacks are going to put him into 10 straight games leading into spring training. So his start, as far as getting those 10 spring games in, might be here in a few days, which is just amazing. Considering you talk about Francisco Lindor and Jackson Holliday, Jackson Hollidays time has been pushed back to April, I believe, before he's going to resume baseball activity.

Francisco Lenore, a whole other story there, right? I think Corbyn, again, he is not amazed. by himself or his healing or the fact that he's back so so quickly this in fact he was asked this was what he had to say about if he was surprised by his progress and and how quickly he has resumed baseball activity here uh i mean it's just i'm going along with with how it feels and um just again taking a day of time less than my body and it feels fine so keep uh keep moving that way like i get it right Right. You know, again, this is a stupid bone that apparently we don't even need in our hand so useless that you can just remove it.

Right? Yeah. Like an appendix or wisdom teeth. These are dumb things that are in our bodies that we don't need. Let's just get rid of all of these things. But again, this is one of those things that, you know, he, I think he's almost being asked in a way if he feels like he's coming back too quickly or if he's pressing too hard or anything like that. like he's following all of the medical guidelines that he should be following and really what everybody has said about this injury about this surgery is that it's all about pain tolerance. And again,

when you are a machine, when you are made simply of, you know, twisted steel and sex appeal, then you don't feel any pain apparently in your arm or your hand or anywhere in your body. So that's where Corbyn's at. But he was also inspired by another machine and that is the one Lordus Gouriel Jr., who we have been tracking his progress on his injury via his IG all offseason. And this is what Corbyn had to say about Lourdes being probably ready himself by opening day. Yeah, definitely, definitely inspiring. You know, I think everyone's pretty, like, amazed by what he's doing.

And, you know, just, yeah, it seems like should be good to go pretty soon here. he could talk about pretty well up there he did or I didn't see it on the last one I missed it yeah yeah I mean I've heard I've heard really good things I heard it seems like he's taking a bunch of bats and it feels good so yeah I I just like I love how the reporters match Corbyn's energy too

when they talk when you talk to Corbyn you have to speak in the spoken voice of you have to hi Corbyn what are your thoughts on how Lord It's like what Dave Chappelle said about people that are like, hi, how's it going? And you're like, good. How are you?

And you're like, I don't even talk like that. Why am I? Why did I match your energy? But let's go ahead and, again, very encouraging updates here on Corbyn, cannot wait to see him back on a diamond playing in a regular baseball game. And you know what, Ernesto's not wrong. Bring Corbyn back to the WBC roster. Let's get him back on there.

Let's get him some WBC games in before this thing's over. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to do what we do around here on Mondays, and you know exactly what that is. And we're going to do that thing on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the P.HNX Corbyn Carol podcast. I love hats.

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but now in a portable all-in-one THC device. So make sure to check out all of Pure Edibles product. You can get them from one of over 130 dispensaries across Arizona. Well, it is Monday, and you know what Monday means around here. You know that every year on the P.HNX Diamondbacks podcast is our year. Every year is the year of Jesse Jr. Every single month on this podcast is Hispanic Heritage Month. Every single week on this podcast is Shark Week.

Every single day on this podcast is, international women's day. But on Mondays, Dave and I, we go to the mailbag. Damon! Let's go to the mailbag! My mailbox.

Always something interesting in my mailbox. I'm trying to get to everything in my mailbox. And then once in a while, there's a letter that makes me go out. Sorry, Guy Megaran. He's dragging me to go watch wrestling again this Friday. I told him no. And then he was like, you don't have a choice.

You're just coming with me. Yeah, you're right. You're right. I'm fine. Let's go watch Smackdown. What do we got in the mailbag today, Damon? Our first question, of course, is from one Travis Moore, who says, quickly wanted to say how much I appreciate you guys, Derek and Damon, for showing up each day.

Love the content. Debacks and baseball discussions. Any special plans for opening day? Thinking of breaking out the TV we have on a stand and watching the game on the patio. Excellent. That's electric. That's electric. Yes.

Getting outside, enjoying the weather during baseball, it's something I will miss very much of spring training. Probably the one thing I'll miss the most is being able to watch baseball actually outside. though they will open that that roof over at Jaysfield a little bit, but not very much. Still, we do have some special plans for opening day, in fact, Travis, my guy. Damon and I are if, I don't even know, Damon, can I even include you in this? God willing. Damon, God willing, and I don't know, March Madness pending what happens with his basketball team, all of that is still up in the air, but we will be bringing you regardless of Damon status

a pregame and post game show on opening day. We are also right now gathering the details on it, but for those of us local, and I'm sorry, Travis, this doesn't include you and your hatred for Arizona weather. We will be hopefully getting together for a watch party here at a local bar slash restaurant here in the downtown area. For opening day? For opening day.

Wow. That's for opening day for baseball. So that would be on Thursday when the Diamondbacks are playing the Dodgers. If you do not have plans, keep that date open. Make sure you come maybe think about joining us around 5 p.m. We'll be doing a little bit of a pregame show live as well as also hanging out with you guys and enjoying some baseball. Then Damon and I got a skedaddle and get back here to the studio for the postgame show. Hopefully, hopefully Arizona plays a Sweet 16 matchup earlier in the day that day.

So it's not at night. Let's keep our. I can be a part of our festivities here for opening day. That would be the goal. That would be the goal. And we love you, Travis. Thank you so much for your questions, as always. Hopefully you can join us from your patio with all of that.

Michael Dixon wants to know if he can get on the pod if he comes down here. As long as anybody except Killer X, anybody except Killer X. Killer X, you're out. Everybody else, you're all welcomed to join us on the podcast. What else we got, Damon? Also, Michael Dixon, make sure you sit down and get the popcorn ready to watch your favorite basketball team during the NCAA tournament and that is whatever team Arizona is playing because your squad is in fact not in it never will be yeah that's that's

that seems mean but well that's that I mean is ASU fans literally rooting against our school like it like it like their team is suiting up every year that's the mean thing I'm merely shooting back save it I'm merely saving bring revenge you do this podcast later today you save your viterol for them then okay i do every day all right what do we got p m what else we got uh we got we got bribut of course uh staple of the mailbag monday saying it's a bit of a long shot but with a dc going to be missing some time in a decent spring to this point could lucan baker play his way into a time at d h to start feels like somewhat natural fit large man with big pop just a bit of a strikeout issue in his career yes and i i do think that it's not that out of the question um

But Luke and Baker right now hitting 250 with like an 899 OPS, not terrible. I think he would have to play pretty well in order to secure any kind of role there for a D.H. I also think that, you know, we're not just looking at ADC as being the D.H for this team. Damon and I have discussed how well that Lourdes-Guriel Jr. could fit in that role. Plus, the Diamondbacks could just kind of have a rotating spot where guys factor into that D.H. role when they're not in the outfield. You could have Jordan Lawler, for instance, filling in for Catell and Cotel could be D.H. Perhaps Lawler filling in for Pardomo, who could D.H.

Whoever's not in the outfield also could factor in as a D.H there between Lortis and Corbin and Alec Thomas and Jordan Lawler. You have Pavin Smith and Carlos Santana over at first base. You know, a few other situations. I mean, I don't know if Luke and Baker is going to be able to make the roster. just due to the limited nature of him being essentially just a DH. It's not to say he doesn't play other places. He plays first base and could factor in there as a first baseman of the future for this team as well.

But I'm doubtful. Let's say that. I'm cautiously pessimistic that Baker will not be able to make that. But again, opportunities are everywhere for this team. So I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility. I would say that based on yesterday's results, he went 0 for 4. He would need to really pick his game up, I think, for them to start considering him that. Look at what these other guys are doing.

Look at what Waldschmidt is doing. I mean, even Gino Grover is hitting 281 with a 687 OPS. OPS obviously not as high, but much higher batting average. And he's still being reassigned to minor league camp as well. So I'm doubtful on that, but I do like Luke and Baker a lot. and I hope that he has a bright future with this organization. What else we got? We got our next question here, and this one is from Flee ball.

And Flee ball says, should M.LB implement a mercy rule. I'd much rather watch Juan Soto hit a walk-off than watch Jose Pereira pitch the ninth. Yes. Wow, that is kind of a good question. I mean, is it not? I mean, is it not? For regular season. I mean, obviously not for MLB postseason.

Well, also, I mean, yeah, you're right. Postseason, not even factoring in. But regular season, 162 games, we're already doing everything we can to make these games shorter, right? A seven inning, like, run rule. Yeah, same thing. Like, WBC has a mercy rule where if you're up 15 runs by the end of, I believe, the fifth or the sixth, then it's a mercy situation. Or if you're up 10 after 7, then it's a mercy rule situation. I don't see games like this very often in baseball, right?

Like, and also, I will say, I will say this. As a factor, as someone that has watched Diamondbacks play baseball, you can actually come back in Major League Baseball from a 10-run deficit. I think that's the thing, the biggest thing here, right? Like, you could have the opposing teams bullpen fall apart, and you could easily score against them and make up that deficit. We've seen this Diamondbacks team come back from a nine-run deficit late, right? So, like, that's probably the reason why they don't want to do it.

Baseball in general can be one of those games where a major league roster can suddenly turn things around, especially against the bad pitcher and make it a brand new ball game. So I doubt we would see something like that. And I feel like the frequency is far less, even if we did have a mercy rule. But I don't hate the idea of a mercy rule at all. Anything to keep games moving faster. And again, anything to limit the amount of. injuries for unnecessary games that, you know, don't need to necessarily happen, right, or be as long as they are.

That's what I'll say. I do like, though, a lot of things about World Baseball Classic, and I do think that there are things from this tournament that MLB should consider implementing. I don't really know enough about how the formula works for that whole, you know, tiebreaker rule. but, you know, I feel like there's ways to do things better than what we saw years ago, two years ago when you had the Braves and the Mets just deciding that they were going to split the division or split the, you know, playoff spots, but whatever. Anyway, Damon, I do want to thank our supporters club members because they're the best. RA, thank you so much.

The rest of you guys, thank you for your support. You can join our supporters club today. It's easy to do so. Five bucks a month. You get access to additional content, got new stuff coming out for members only all the time. Plus, you have access to custom emojis that you can use in the chats and in the comments, and you get that badge of honor that appears next to your name. So just think of it as a fun way to support us.

If you send a super chat, anytime at any point, then, you know, again, it's this is the route that you can go. It's not paywall or essential content that you're missing out on, just extra stuff. this is a great next step though and again we appreciate the people who support us so much and keep us going you guys are the lifeblood of ph and x so we can't thank you enough but all right damon we got a couple of more questions before we get out of here yeah we do and also i i did want to say um there was a a comment up here about the price ticket the price of tickets decreasing because of the mercy that potential mercy role being implemented i think actually now that i think about it they probably would never do that because of beer sales in particular right because that's

something that they closed down early and there's not really a way of knowing that's a great point that's a great point yeah because they stopped selling beer what in like the seventh inning right I think the seventh inning so yeah if a team has a walk off and they just someone just ordered a beer that's a great now they got to leave the stadium but they can't leave their they can't bring their beer with them you're walking around with a with a 32 ounce cup filled with beer I wonder if that would be a big hurdle in this situation That's a great point. That's a great point. Especially considering that, like you said, you never know how fast those games could go, right?

Like even if you did stop drinking before the mercy roll was implemented, it still might happen too fast. All right, what else we got there, Damon? We got Geraldo Prudomo's biggest fan. Still debatable. Still debatable. Not really a question, but I need a complete review from you guys of Alec Thomas' performance in the WBC and how the manager for Team Mexico said he's going to be an all-star and gold glove candidate. I can feel a breakout year coming.

Well, we did this entire podcast for you, Geraldo Perdomo's biggest fan. So I hope that answered the question. Thanks for the show topic. Thanks for the headline. Thanks for everything. No, I mean, all of this feels very good, right? Like, again, you don't want to get too ahead of yourself.

It is spring training. It is World Baseball Classic. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You could say that about a lot of things. I still say that, you know, when you look at the guys that are all-stars on this team who are struggling at the plate still this spring, those guys are hitting against the same pitchers that Alec Thomas is hitting against and that Jordan Lawler is hitting against. There's no difference in the level of talent that's on the mound against those guys versus Cattell and Gabby Moreno and guys that aren't putting up nearly as impressive numbers as what Alec Thomas is doing.

I mean, let's be honest. A.T is probably the guy that's disappointed in the way he's performed in his career up to this point more than any of us. So it shouldn't be a surprise when a guy who has the like, talent that Alec Thomas does puts in the work and sees the results. It's like what we were saying earlier about Corbyn Carroll. Changes can be made. Adjustments, right? Coaching, all of that kind of stuff. Things, little, little piece of advice. Brent Strong having a weird idea in the middle of night, of the middle of the night during the All-Star break and calling up Brandon Fott to tell him how he needs to pitch from the other side of the rubber. I mean, things like that actually happen in baseball.

So it's incredible. And it does mean the world to this team. If instead of they have a core three, as far as their position players, they have a core four or a core five. And you could throw Alec Thomas and perhaps Gabby Moreno in there as well. Not only guys that are going to shape the future of this franchise, but guys that could help them win during a 2026 season where their back is kind of up against the wall. A lot of things could change for this team and baseball after this season. So this is kind of an all or nothing season for a lot of guys on this team. Zach Gowlin is only on a one-year contract.

This is potentially the end of the line for Tori Lobello as manager of this team. There's a lot here for the Diamondbacks to come out and kind of be all in on a 2026 season for sure. All right. What else we got? Our next question here is from Jarmy. And Jarmy says at the Sunday game in Goodyear, everyone could see the evolution of Lawler. he homered he had some great plays in center field and he went two for four drove in half the day's runs i know i have to apologize for the trash i talked all 2025 who else in this chat does well

killer wrecks obviously but um let's damon let's go ahead and you want to you want to raise your hand you want to no you want to take some accountability oh what i'm sorry what are we talking i don't remember what we were talking i will be your accountability buddy wait what what happened what happened was there was doubt in Jordan Lawler. Huh. Maybe a lot of it. Not from this co-host. Actually, yes.

Yeah, I believe it was. I mean, we could probably review some tape and probably find some comments being made. However, you could also say that Damon looking directly into a camera and saying that Jordan Lawler better have a breakout year might be the reason why he's having one. I don't know. Let a fire under his ass. I don't know. People are saying that I might be responsible for. for motivating Jordan Lawler.

Yeah. But no, I mean, I have said some, I have said some things about Jordan Waller. I'll put my hand up, Johnny. That's not even halfway. I've been a doubter. I've said at times in this offseason like, you know what? If I feel like I can get a tangible upgrade on the pitching staff by trading Jordan Lawler, that I'm very open to it because, you know, I think this, you know, I mentioned,

like this could be the last potential year of you getting value for Jordan Waller. It feels like the debacks were like, we're going to hold on to him. We believe in him. and if he can figure this out, his value will only go up, and then you'd be selling at his lowest possible price point. So, you know, I credit to Jordan Lawler, I think it's really difficult to do what he's had to do this offseason and like put his head down and kind of put the outside noise to the side,

but it feels like he's really carving out himself a role on this roster. And, you know, I'm, listen, you know, as much as I've talked crap, like no one would be more excited than me to see him go out there and hit 300 next year. Like no one would be more excited than Jarmie to see him, you know, show up and be a staple of this organization for years to come. No one's rooting against Jordan Lawler except Killer Rex. But everybody else is rooting for him and wants to see him succeed. So I'll put my hands up. That's a great point.

Let's scroll back to that killer X message. We need to put that on screen just to preserve it for future generations and for the history of this podcast. Killer X says if Lawler hits more than 20 home runs, I will donate $200 to the podcast. Oh, I'd love that super chat. 20 home runs is not is not like i mean i think it's it's it's lofty i don't think it's going to happen but i wouldn't say it's like entirely out of the question he said make it 300 he's even he's even increasing it that's going to that that that 20th home run killer wrecks that 20th home run is going to hit so it's going to feel so good damon when it hits it's going to feel so good and who knows

jordan lawler again it's going to be mostly about getting playing time and where he factors in in order for him to hit 20 home runs, that's for sure. But I mean, I'll agree with what Jeremy said. I think that overall he's been asked to do a lot. He hasn't really had consistency. And now that it's kind of been decided what his role is going to be and where he's going to play, and he's getting consistent at bat, you're seeing consistent play out of him.

He hit a slider for a bomb yesterday, didn't he? I think every single one of his home runs have been off of breaking balls. Off speed pitches, yeah, which is great to see. I think that's, that might be like, number one thing you want to see if you're looking for Jordan Lawler, like what he can become because, you know, he's, listen, like, spring is the time to work on things. I'm sure he's been told, like, if you get a breaking pitch, you attack it because we want to see what that looks like right now before it starts actually affecting the team at a negative sense. So I think that that's huge. If he can

hit breaking pitches, that's going to be absolutely massive. Ernesto says only 10% of MLB players hit 20 home runs in 2025. Thanks, thanks, Captain Bringdown. You know, we're over here having a good time. He's a guy with power, though. He has power. Like, he has raw power. So I think that that's, that's the difference there is that Jordan Lawler's always been a bit of a home run guy. And if he's going to be a good MOB player, I think that, you know, 15, 20 home runs is reasonable.

We'll see. I think it's more likely that, you know, and I think it's more likely Alec Thomas has a better season than Jordan Lawler. But I think it's more likely that Jordan Lawler hits more home runs than Alec Thomas. You know, like with you kind of bringing up the 20 home run number for Alec Thomas yesterday. I'm more confident that Jordan Lawler can reach 20 total home runs than I am Alec Thomas. That's fair. And like I said, there's definitely been more during spring training that it would make you believe that for Jordan Lawler than Alex Thomas.

Alex Thomas only has the one home run from last night's game, right? Yeah. And he hits the ball kind of hard, but he doesn't really hit it over the fence all that often. So I think Jordan, you know, he's supposed to be a little bit of a home run hitter, right? like at a position where you know maybe you don't see a ton of home runs like whether he was going to play short second center field i think that the the role of a jordan luller was always that this guy is going to be a plus hitter at one of those positions and so that that includes hitting home runs um and you know hopefully we got 300 bucks in our in our hands derrick for between between the two of us i don't want like no super chats derrick's venmo $300 yeah yeah and then we split he splits it with me and it and it It goes in Damon and Derek's pop. We just go right. Yeah.

And we go crazy in downtown Phoenix taking shots. Sure. Yeah. All right. What else we got? Damon, let's get one more in here before we get out of here. We were taking up too much of these people's good time. Yeah, we have.

We always do, Derek. We always do. This is our last question from dumplings. JJ asks, look at this concession food menu and affordable prices at the Tokyo Dome. Wish we could have that at Chase. Or at least we could get rid of the bar S. Seriously, my local youth baseball league's concession stand, deserves, serves more, much better quality hot dogs than when we get at D-Bax games.

Sponsorship deals ruin everything, don't they? Like, I'm going to agree with this. I, if given the choice at a store, I would never buy a bar-ass hot dog. There are just too many higher-quality hot dogs. You know Max is back today, right? Is this a free ad? I feel like this is actually, I mean, I think every time it's impacting future partnership deals with Barr-S potentially.

So you're right about that. Look, I will defend Chase Fields' concession prices and say, let's not forget that the Diamondbacks do have, in fact, one of the lowest, like, concession prices in all of Major League Baseball. True. Shout out to the D-backs and the Sons for both providing families with affordable options when you go to a game. I mean, in fact, a lot of times I just crave a hot dog being at baseball games. And even though I could get an all-you-can-eat buffet in the press box, I'll go down and get, like, three or three or three. for value dogs for about the same price that I would pay and I'm still living my best life, right? So shout out to Chase Field for that.

But I agree. I would like a higher quality of hot dog. And I do love the concession pricing at the Tokyo Dome. More importantly, the Tokyo Dome has an ice cream sandwich that the ice cream sandwich itself, Damon, is a small tiny model of the Tokyo Dome. I did see this. I did see this. And I got to say it's pretty freaking incredible.

It's amazing. It's amazing. It's also a legendary place for pro wrestling, so you know I'm kind of jealous that I'm not there for baseball as well. But Tokyo Dome little Tokyo Dome shaped ice cream sandwiches, incredible. They look unreal. It's like a wafer type of deal with the sandwich. Oh, God, yes.

I had one of these in L. L. Lakes. We were staying near Little Tokyo when we were at the Grammys. And one of the places had this like ice cream sandwich shaped like a fish, this magic like, I don't know, outtide exterior. to it. That was just delicious and incredible and like anything I've ever had. Plus, the ice cream looked hard. Like it was going to be hard when you bit into it. Soft as can be, Damon. Can I just like biting into a dream. Derek, I need to get this off my chest. I, you know, I've obviously been pretty I don't want to say anti-Japan because I wanted to make it clear that I'm very anti-Japan baseball.

You've been very anti-Japan. Baseball. Yeah, that's great. Baseball. Because I keep sending reels on Instagram to my lady friend saying we got to get out to Japan. Like I like I like I want to go to Japan a hundred percent. And in and I you know I think I think Japanese people that they know how to do things the right way. The streets are clean. Things are decently affordable. Yeah.

I'm sitting there and I'm like I'm amazing. The food's amazing. I'm like dude can we bring an aspect of like the shame that they experience in Japan to America so that people. can actually have shame and treat society with respect here in this country of ours. Because there's zero respect from people in America for each other. Whereas in Japan, like, that's kind of, I think, the basis of it is like they, everyone, everyone like cares about society.

Everyone wants to, you know, not be the reason that society is in a worse place. And I'm sitting here and I'm like, break me off a piece of that. So shout out to Japan. And I want to make it very clear that I'm anti-Japanese baseball because, you know, I hate Otani so much. Right. I get it. But even though he's the greatest player that has ever played the game.

Ever. Like I'll sell him at that. He's easily the greatest player ever. Yeah. Me and Augie O'Hado were talking about Derek how he's the greatest player ever because he brought up to me how good show hey is. And can you imagine my like my what's going through my brain? And he's like, how about that show hey guy?

And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. He's so good. Isn't he, isn't he just, isn't it just special what he does? And instead I'm the whole time I'm sitting there. going prison put him in jail and i got to just i got to hold my tongue we were taking questions at the baseball block party and in fact i know our guy jackson doran wanted to ask you specifically while on stage about show hey just to get your reaction live in front of the crowd in front of a public

audience he chose not to do so and i will never forgive him for that i most likely would have said like we probably need to see him in the back of that mesa police car that one sitting right over there Yeah, absolutely. Meanwhile, I had a... Shout at Jackson. I don't know if it's a viral tweet, but a tweet that was very popular because I simply was watching the WBC and I saw Munitaka Murakami say that he was asked what parts of Japanese culture, Damon, like what you're saying? What parts of Japanese baseball? What traditions?

What parts of your culture? He's like, I don't know, maybe picking up trash on the street. That'd be a good start. You know what his answer was? Stronger water pressure and showerheads and swivel. What is going on? over a Camelback Ranch. I need to know what is, what is this man's first impression of the United States is that our water

pressure sucks and the, and the shower heads don't move. Listen, man, it's not Japanese engineering. Derek, also, also big proponent of the bidet. And I think that the White Sox fans are going to inevitably nickname him the plumber. There's no way they don't. He's going to be the plumber, Munataka Murakami or Murataka, the plumber Miracami. I don't know how it's going to factor in. He's going to be the plumber.

He might even be like a Mario brother since his name has two M's in it. I don't know. Is the plumber a good nickname? I don't know. It feels like a negative. It's not a good one. But yeah. But when all you're worried about is badeas and plumbing and shower pressure and water pressure, that's what happens.

That's the nickname. I'll tell you what. We don't engineer like the Japanese deal. There's a reason I just bought myself a Toyota, Derek. I'm looking up watches yesterday. Every single person is like, you got to get yourself some hands on a Japanese watch. They're the best bang for your box. Like, Derek,

Everything that these guys make mechanically is top-notch, top-of-the-line-level stuff. I've been banging the drum for every toilet to have a bidet in it for years. So I am on board with this man. I'll put it this way. For anybody that is anti-baday, if I were to wipe a chocolate bar on your arm, are you going to get it off with a wad of paper, or are you going to go use a sink to wash it off? That's all I'm saying.

It's the best comparison without being roast that I can make right now. And we're going to move on from this plumbing conversation, because once again, we've gone on for too long. But we thank you guys so much for your time. We know your time is valuable, and we appreciate you sharing a bit of it with us today. We will be back tomorrow at 12 p.m. noon. But before that, Damon and I will be doing a little watch-along tonight for Team USA versus Team Mexico and the WBC. I believe that starts at 5 p.m.

Now that all you people change your clocks and did your daylight savings time that we don't participate in here in Arizona. So starting at 5 p.m., Damon and I will be doing a little watch-long, watching baseball, and rooting on Alec Thomas. That's who we'll be rooting on. That's all I'm saying is, I mean, there's no debaX players on Team USA. So we have to pick a side, and we may have already picked our side. But until then, you follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K.

Damon is at Damon Dog with a DAWG. And as always, we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. Our show is at PH&X underscore D-BACs, but all roads do lead to at PH&X underscore sports. Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you guys so much for your time. Appreciate you stopping by. We'll see you tonight for the watch along

and perhaps back here tomorrow at 12 p.m. for another show. Until then, enjoy yourselves. Behave yourselves, Robert. And remember, kids, baseball is fun. But it's so much more fun if Alec Thomas becomes an all-star.