PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Could Gabriel Moreno Be The Best Catcher In Diamondbacks History?

Episode Date: March 13, 2024

You’d be hard-pressed to find an Arizona Diamondbacks fan that isn’t happy with having Gabriel Moreno behind the plate. But is he already the best catcher in franchise history? It’s Tiermaker Tuesday, so we are ranking the best catchers this team has ever had. Also, you’ll never guess where USA Today ranked Chase Field amongst all 30 MLB ballparks. Actually, you probably have a good idea.SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/Arizona Lottery: Visit http://www.AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes! PrizePicks - Download the PrizePicks app today and use code PHNX for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!NASCAR Weekend at Phoenix Raceway: March 8-10! Find more information at https://www.phoenixraceway.com/spring/ on the Shriners Children's 500, and be on the lookout for racing content from PHNX!Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.Sign up for Gila River Resorts & Casinos $1,000,000 Big Red’s Showdown! Stay in the game and get rewards; it’s that easy! https://www.gilamilliondollarshowdown.com/Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.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!OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Four Peaks: Follow on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly. Someburros: 20% off your order of up to $100 when you use code PHNX at checkout for the whole month of March at https://www.someburros.com/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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and ski to you all. Welcome in to another edition of the PHNX. I'm PHMX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHMX. This man next to me is occasionally known as your vice mayor of this same network. It's the one and only thunderstick Jesse Friedman who still doesn't know how to use his mute button. Jesse.

ski to you ski to you as well another day of Zach Gallen pitching this time out at Peoria results weren't great Zach Gallen seemed to be cruising there for a while and then all of a sudden couldn't seem to get anybody out

yeah it wasn't a great outing for Zach Gallin overall first inning he was he was able to get through without giving up a run through I think it was 16 pitches and he came back out for the second through 23 pitches there and the Diamondbacks eventually, Tori Lavello, eventually just opted to get him out of the game,

which is the thing you can do in spring training, which the Diamondbacks have certainly done a fair amount of in recent days. Gallen got two outs in the second, and then came back out and was able to get through the third inning, remarkably. He came in the third with 39 pitches and a pitch count for the day of 45. That's what Tori Lavello wanted three innings in 45. So you figured coming into the third with 39,

you probably weren't going to see Zach Allen finish that inning. But the Padres just came out and swung at absolutely everything. There's a defensive miscue in the frame. So he really got four outs in that in that third inning, managed to do so on seven pitches. So he was able to finish out that third. Not great from a result standpoint. But again, it's spring training. Brandon fought the other day said he wasn't showing off some of his best stuff on purpose.

Is there a case where we might see that from guys, like Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly and fought where yes, they're going to go out there and pitch. Yes, the results might not be great. Obviously Merrill Kelly, his results were great in his last outing. But with Zach Gallen, like is it is a possibility he's just not trying to show off his best stuff here during spring? 100%.

And Zach Gallen was very open about that after the game facing a divisional opponent. You don't want to, you don't want to show too much. And he talked about really just throwing a whole bunch of fastballs and curveballs in this game. He threw, I think, two, three changeups maybe. I think he threw one slider. So it wasn't the full, the full arsenal from Gallin that we're used to seeing. And that was very intentional. We also talked with Gallin and Tori Lavello about if the Diamondbacks considered not having

Gallin start this game just because it was against the Padres. And the devx are probably going to, that guy was probably going to face the Padres a few times during the season. That was not, they obviously were willing to let him make this start anyway. but Tori Lavello did say that if the Diamondbacks were playing the Padres early in the season, they probably would have looked to rework this and keep Gallen from facing the Padres in spring training. So, yeah, that's a really big factor here that it was a divisional opponent and wanting to make sure that he didn't show too much, even though the debacks don't play the Padres right out of the gate in the regular season. This is what Zach had to say on his outing the day against those Padres.

I felt okay. I mean, just obviously working on stuff, just a lot of fastball, and carball trying to get those two pitches right. You know, obviously it's a little different when you're facing team, your division. You kind of want to get the work in, but you don't want to, you know, get away too much of your hand. So, yeah, I mean, it felt okay with the way the curb ball was where it was at.

Fastball, I wasn't too thrilled. I felt like I was kind of pulling it and making it cut and just wasn't able to command it really well. but made some pitches. And yeah, I mean, just, you know, it's spring. Yeah, it's a work in progress. It is a work in progress. And of course, you know, again, there's different objectives for different players.

And guys like Gowlin, you know, again, there's certain things he's working on, like maybe his curveball command a bit and things like that that he was trying to, you know, trying to lock in. But aside from that, really not trying to go out there and, you know, definitely not trying to give up runs, but not trying to go out there and drop his best stuff. Yeah, I don't think any pitcher is trying to give up runs in spring training. This will really confuse him if I suck in spring. But he was good.

It just like all of a sudden, he just, he gets two outs in the second. And then it seemed like nothing was working for him anymore. And then like you said, he's able to come back out in the third and cruise. Yeah, there wasn't like a ton of hard contact. I wouldn't say. He did give up the five hits, but yeah, there was a decent amount of soft contact, I think. There wasn't a ton of swing and miss. I think maybe one or two whiffs, which I'm sure is something he would maybe like to see more of.

I mean, that's always something you're going to want as a starting pitcher, especially when you're working on curveball command, which he was today. Curveball, I thought, did look pretty decent in this game. Velo-wise, this was a confusing day for Zach Allen because it very much, his Velo very much depends on whether you want to believe the in stadium Velo reading or the broadcast Velo reading. They were different by about two or three miles an hour through his entire outing, which is a lot.

Yeah, so people are talking about on the broadcast how he was topping it. I think 91 is that's at least the highest I ever saw on the broadcast. In the stadium, we saw several 93s. So I'm not sure which one of those is correct. It very well could be. I think it's, probably one or the other. I don't know if it's like, I would be kind of surprised me was just taking

the average of the two. I don't know. I don't know how these things work. One of them has to be right and one of them has to be wrong. They're not both wrong. Yeah, they're not they're not both right. I think we could definitely say that. They're not both right. Yeah, I don't think they're both wrong either. One of them was probably accurate. I'm not sure which one. But yeah, the VLO is clearly either way, the VLO is not where it was in the regular season last year. We talked about. that after his first spring training start where I think he topped it 91 in that outing out and surprise that according to the stadium the stadium gun because that's all we had access to there so yeah I mean if it is that you know the topping at 91 if that is accurate then that then his

Velo is down pretty pretty considerably and that's at least something to something to keep an eye on by the way what you just saw there was an example of how I mediate arguments with my wife I try to start backwards by getting us both to admit that neither one of us were right. It's a fair. It's a good tactic. It's a good tactic. You don't start with who was wrong. You just say we were neither one.

Even though you know that you're right and she's wrong. God damn right. I know I'm right. You know it. I know it the whole time. It's just a tactic. I'm just trying to back her into admitting she's wrong. Anyway, Zach Allen talked about if he reads the results of the outing at all.

I know we try to say we don't or at least you do. I try to act like I'm a mature adult that doesn't overreact to spring training outings, but this is what Zach was saying about the results and how he reacts kind of to the results of an outing like this. I pick some things, you know,

probably, you know, stuff that might not show up in the box score. You know, a two strike, two outwalk to go to gosh you, it's probably a spot where it's like, you know, that the homer I'm not necessarily mad about. It's like I was in the strike zone. Didn't make a great pitch. You know, it could make a good swing.

Yeah, the two strike two out walk, that's something like, okay, it's got to be addressed or, you know, getting 1-0 or 2-0 and things like that. So the hits and the runs and the things like that, it's like it's going to happen. It is what it is. But other things that I can control is kind of, you know, what I look at and then go from there. And then on the positive side of it, is like, okay, I feel like I come into my breaking ball fairly well today. So kind of to me it means like I'm, you know, heading the right direction in terms of stuff I've been working on with the curveball. See a mature reaction to his outing something I'm not capable of giving He did he did also talk about how the adrenaline in these games is not it's not quite the same as in a regular season game

Certainly especially when you're not really trying to sequence pitches the way that you normally would It kind of takes away from your competitive edge a little bit I would have to believe if you're like intentionally not using the best pitches at the best times like you want to convince yourself that it's competitive but just deep down inside, you know it's not. Yeah, Zach described it as like trying to find other ways to get guys out, right? Like if you're going to intentionally avoid throwing certain pitches or sequencing pitches in certain ways, it's going to force you to be creative and do things you wouldn't normally do. And he did say that there's benefit in that too. And maybe in that process stumbling upon like, oh, this guy had a, you know, did not react well

to the change up and, you know, in this spot in this location or whatever. And, you know, maybe that can actually help him during. the regular season when when things do count well and that takes a step backwards to what torrey said where he really wants to see how these guys react when things aren't going well for them he doesn't want it to be when everything's perfect and everybody's locked in and dialed in he kind of wants to see when these guys are struggling how do they rebound how do they dig deep and find a way to still get results especially pitchers right yeah and i think for zach that could be important because as we know zach often says he didn't have a good feel for his pitches tonight

even when he goes out there and strikes out double digits and doesn't give up a run. He'll still say, I didn't feel, you know, it didn't have a great feel for this pitch or that pitch, right? So it is good experience for him to try to be creative and figure out other ways. And that could come back to be a benefit for him, you know, during the regular season during some of those outings. I, again, I would love to see Zach go out there and throw the way that we saw Merrill in his debut, right? But again, yeah, these results aren't anything to put too much stock in. and we'll remain cautiously optimistic that Zach Gallant will be where he needs to be by opening day. Yeah, the other thing I want to say here is that Zach Gallen wasn't particularly good last spring training either.

And he also wasn't particularly good when the season started. Zach Gallen, I know it didn't end particularly well. And he didn't have the 20, 23 season that maybe he would have liked to. He was certainly better in 2022. But he was still a pretty darn good pitcher in 2023. three and you know uh finished up there in in si young voting finished third in si young voting and you look at the way that he started even the regular season last year if i can get these numbers to show up for me uh he did not pitch well against the dodgers right on on opening day

he went four and two thirds gave up six hits and five runs his next time out against the podres he was able to get through six in that start but it was a bit of a grind he gave up five runs four earned in that one and then he settled down and you know went out and struck out 11 over seven scoreless innings against the Brewers and went on a very, very nice run through the middle of the season and started the All-Star game and all those things. So even if Zach Allen doesn't look right in spring training, really at any point, and even if in the regular season, the first couple outings don't look all that great, we saw this last year and we saw how it can turn around and he can still have a pretty good season.

So even if the results continue to be a little shaky, you know, it is spring training. there's a lot of other factors of play here, as we've said, and even beyond that, he's shown that he has the ability to turn things around in a big way, you know, once the, once the real season gets underway. Well, we have another pitcher that did make his debut and did absolutely shove in his debut, and that is the returning Corbin Martin. Pitch the scoreless inning today looked absolutely outstanding. And again, a guy that we have touched on a few times this spring so far that could be a true

X factor for the bullpen. Just a name that people have, I think, forgotten a little bit about a name that people don't really know, one, if he can stay healthy and two, if he can return in a form of when he was kind of a big, he was a big piece of that trade that the Arizona Diamondbacks completed, you know, for Zach Granky. So obviously he is a guy that, you know, we want to see hopefully still contribute. Based on the way he pitched today, it looks like he absolutely could be that for this team. Yeah, the stuff I thought looked good. I published a story last night, five Diamondbacks players flying under the radar in spring training. And Corbyn Martin was one of them. And probably out of any of the five, I would say has the best chance to like really impact the Diamondbacks in, in 2024.

This was the first time that he stepped out on a mound and pitched like in front of an actual audience since I believe it was March 15th of last year, almost a year ago right now. He was pitching in the rain at a night game of Salt River Fields and was in the most pain of his life as his, you know, a significant ligament in his shoulder tore. And it did not feel good. He told me that he felt like he was shot with a gun. That is sort of the sensation he had in that moment. And yeah, it was a really, really big moment for him today, getting back on the mound and pitching pretty, pretty well. Again, really hope that we can see him be a big part of this bullpen. like you said, a guy that can make this team.

And honestly, a guy that we don't, we, we really don't know yet how big of a piece of this bullpenny could be, but could be huge for this team. But I don't really care because this is boring now. Spring training is boring now. We've gotten to the point of spring training being boring. I think fans are bored. I think every, I think the problem is, is that we're getting down to that point of spring training where we just want to get to the regular season. And spring training, much like the baseball regular season, is entirely too long. And, you know, here we are just smack dab kind of in the middle of it.

We got what? The two weeks from this Thursday when regular season games are concerned or get started for the Diamondbacks. We got the sole series for the Dodgers before that. But are the players getting bored, Jesse? Are they as bored as I am of this? Well, I asked Tori Lavello about that today. And here is, I guess I specifically. asked Tori LaValle, the question was, do you feel like players are just ready for the real thing

at this point? And here is what he had to say. Yeah, I think we're getting pretty close to that. We ran some high-intensity bump plays today. I loved what I saw. The guys got after it. We had actual butters, and we did a lot right. And I could tell they did it really well for about nine minutes, and then they think they got a little bit bored. When I started to see that, I think they're ready for the next challenge. So yeah, I know they could probably tell you they're ready for a game, but nobody's built up to nine innings. So we've got to get in there, start with seven, if I should be nine, but we're well close to that. They probably will play a full game. But yeah, I think we're right about there at that point where let's start the real thing.

They want to start the real thing. We all want to start the real thing. But circling back to Corbyn Martin, Tim wanted to know what his Velo was like today. Yeah, I unfortunately, We were in the clubhouse talking with Zach Gowan when Corbyn was pitching. But I did go back and watch the pitches on the broadcast. And again, there's this discrepancy between broadcast Velo. Oh, yeah. The broadcast Velo.

So what was the broadcast Velo? I want to say it was, I don't remember. I'd have to go back and double check. I saw, I think I saw 96 in the stadium. And I think I saw somewhere in the mid 90s on the broadcast. I'm not sure exactly what the numbers were. I was going to say, you saw 96 based on the rate of exchange. That would mean he'd like a 98, 99 almost?

Yeah, well, yeah, the 96, I believe, was in the stadium. And in the stadium was running a couple ticks higher than on the broadcast. So, yeah, I don't think that means 98 necessarily. But I don't know. Unfortunately, with that kind of discrepancy, it's hard to speak with any kind of confidence about Velo readings. Who's to say? Right. Do you think Corbett Martin is the guy that Tori was talking about having the jump in velocity?

We've been trying to figure that out for like a month now. I would guess probably not because Corbyn Martin already had decent Vila. Yeah, I mean last spring training, Corbyn Martin touched 98 in the game. I think maybe multiple times was averaging close to 97. So I think last year, Corbyn's Vila was definitely up there. I kind of doubt that he was the guy. But I don't know if we're ever going to get the answer to that question.

Because we don't even know if it's true. Yeah. And at this point, Tori probably won't even like remember that he said that, which is totally understandable. So I don't know if we'll ever if we'll ever know. But speaking of Tori, here's what he had to say about Corbyn's debut today. It's a great moment for this organization to get him back out there. And an especially great moment from Corby Martin to get back on the field and throw the way he did.

So the catcher was very complimentary. Tucker Barner was very complimentary of his stuff. And it's just a great moment. Two big time injuries where he's missed a year of time. And I, you know, I congratulated him. and it was very well deserved. But the stuff was really good, too. He said he was really nervous.

He should be, right? As he should be. I don't know if he told you this is the first place he pitched after his arm surgery. Yeah, he shared that with me. I'm sure it's true, but not a lot of people know that. But he got back on the mountain and executed pitches and fearlessly went out there and took care of business. We're all proud of him for that.

It's a long journey. I think so fastball looked like I had really good ride and carry secondary stuff I'm sure he's still going to fine tune but Tucker Barnard said it's real electric stuff and when you're coming back off an arm injury and letting it go the way he was there's a lot that went right we're proud of you think it means he worked out in Peorre because like yeah Tori don't know I comment is confusing to me yeah I think he works out there probably the first time he actually threw at some point after his surgery was there at Peoria, probably in some sort of workout or bullpen or something like that. Yeah, I don't know. Going back to 20,

I mean, I was thinking maybe he's talking about the last time he had surgery when he had Tommy John surgery and was coming back from that. He, I guess, 2021 spring training would have been his first outings back from that. And he did pitch in Peoria once, but that was his third outing in 2021. So yeah, maybe it was like a backfield appearance in Peoria at some point over the. offseason. I'm not totally sure. But one interesting question with Corbyn Martin is can he actually be ready for opening day? And we asked Tori that before the game started. And Tori wasn't totally sure. He seemed to, he seemed to suggest it was possible that Corbyn Martin will not be ready for opening day. He didn't give a confident answer one way or another. But he, he, I think that is,

that is very much in play here that the Diamondbacks will not be able to have Corbyn Martin on their opening day roster, regardless of how good he looks in these games. I do think he look pretty good today. They're just slow playing it. They are taking their time with Corbyn Martin. You can understand why he had Tommy John surgery a few years ago. He just had a pretty major shoulder surgery, right? You've had a major elbow procedure and a major shoulder procedure. He's thrown just over 38 major beginnings since coming over to the debacks five years ago. So they want to be careful here. They want to set him up for success. And if it means him not being ready for opening day, I think that's, I think they're okay with that.

They know they're going to need depth as the season progresses. So like you said, yeah, absolutely him not being their opening day. Just like a lot of guys not being on the opening day roster does not mean that they won't play a vital role for the major league team at some point. It's just a matter of making sure that you have them, you know, somewhere where they can continue their progression to being 100% being ready to pitch. at a major league level while still not impacting the success of the team right can't you know and and again with like corbin martin it's about his long-term health they they're investing in him they want to make sure that this guy can get back to you know playing full time and not have to worry about the risk of injury uh and it's always going to be there for him with those two surgeries those are not

easy surgeries to recover from you know i think we're just so used to it now we're so used to guys going in having Tommy john surgery and you know thoracic outlet surgery and having pieces of their body removed and replaced and all that. And we're like, why can't you throw 97 anymore? What happened to you? Well, you know, his arm's been basically recreated by science. So, you know. Speaking of thoracic outlet, uh, Ryan Thompson brought his, uh, his rib necklace into the

clubhouse. I did not touch the rib. I simply held the necklace from the top. He did not touch the rib. That would have been weird. You touched the rib. I don't care. If you were holding that chain, you touched the rib.

Uh, but yes, he, He did bring it in a little jar? No, no. It's just attached? Yeah, it's just attached. Wow. Yeah. How big is it?

It was maybe like, maybe like that. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's not, it's not like one of the big rims. It's a door. Yeah, it's maybe like two, two inches. Like a short rate. If you will. It's short.

Sure. Yeah. Anyway, that's incredibly gross. But I think that's awesome. I'd love to have bones from my body. It made into jewelry. That sounds pretty baller. Anyway, we do appreciate you guys being here in the PHNX sports chat right now.

Marcos is asking, he said just popped in the chat. Where's the sun, Derek? It's this goddamn light shining in my face, Marcos. I wish I had my shady race too. He wants his sunglasses on too. I'm the smart one on this set. Don't forget it. But anyway, we appreciate Marcos and cogs and all of you guys for being here right now

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Get started by visiting desertfinancial.com slash 200. all right well I think we are going to have a conversation and a lot of people are going to consider to be perhaps a slight a smidge premature however

I'm ready to get into it I'm ready to overreact I'm ready to make enemies I'm ready to do what we do here on Tuesdays because you know the thing we do on Monday is well on Tuesdays it's tear maker Tuesday and we are going to do a little ranking of some of the

Best catchers? I guess all the catchers. How are we? We'll get to this tomorrow. We're going to rank some catchers. But before that, we do want to propose the question to you guys. If you think Gabby Moreno is already the best catcher in Diamondbacks history. Yeah.

And I think it's important to to just kind of set the table here. I think we can all agree that Gabby Moreno needs to post for another few years before he could possibly be deemed the best catcher in Diamondbacks. I think the conversation we're having today is do we expect that when all is said and done, Gabby Moreno will go down as the best catcher in Diamondback's history to date, like sort of up until his up until and through his tenure as the primary catcher in this organization. And there is a fairly strong case for that. I do want to just start though with a few numbers from his 2023 season just to kind of capture how good Gabby Moreno was in 2023.

The guy won a gold glove award, which is a pretty good place to start in here first full season. He slashed 284, 339, 408, 7 homers 50 RBI. He was worth 4.3B war, which is very, very good. I believe Adley Ruchman is the only catcher in baseball, who is that high. I think he also had 4.3B war. So Gabby Marino was tied for the league lead among catchers in baseball reference war in his first full season. And that's pretty impressive. with fan graphs, I guess we're being a little selective here, fan graphs.

If you go over to their war calculation, Gabby Moreno is not near the top. Their method of evaluating defense is a big difference there. But I think we can all agree that Moreno was very, very good in his first full season and especially, especially toward the end. And obviously, like you said, a big part of this is the fact that he has not been doing it for long enough. And I will concede that point. And I know a lot of people are going to say like, you know, and that's what baseball is. Baseball is a game where what separates the elite players, the excellent players, is their ability to do it for year and year out. You know, all players are going to go through things.

All players are going to slump. They're all going to experience injuries. But, you know, if a player is to be considered one of the best at their position, time needs to be involved. And that's the one thing here that Gabby doesn't really have. But like Jesse said, does he, does he have the position? potential based on what we've seen out of him to be one of the Diamondbacks best catchers in history. And I think most people would answer that question, yes.

Yeah, 100%. It's like you'd be hard pressed to find a Diamondbacks fan that does not think very highly of Gabby and isn't very excited about having him as our franchise catcher of the future, right? But we got to see him do it a little bit more. We got to see him do it. And I think we will continue to see him get better. He just seems like that kind of guy, not to mention the fact that he does.

delivered a cold-ass line like he did the other day when they were asking him about throwing runners out why do runners continue to go on you yes and he basically said i understand it teams are trying to win but i won't let them he said i won't let them yeah i won't allow it yeah i won't allow it yeah i won't allow it that's a cold ass line so uh let's get to it though uh damon can we get our tier maker board up let's let's uh let's get to the tier making where are we at? All right. Here we go.

Here we have 13 catchers from the Diamondbacks franchise history. One thing that all of these guys have in common, they were all, what, 100? These are, yeah, we narrowed it down to catchers who have caught 100 games as a member of the Diamondbacks and have also played multiple seasons.

Right. So with Gabby being the only one here technically that hasn't yet. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, technically, I guess with the way I said that Gavin Marino wouldn't belong. But Gabby Moreno is presumably going to play a lot of games in 2024. So I think we're, I think we're pretty safe there. Are we, are we confident enough here to just address Gabby right now and put him in the S tier?

Are we putting him in the S tier? You're just going to, you're just going to go straight there. I mean, I figure why should we should we do Gabby last? I mean, this is what the people want to know. Let's get to it. I don't want to make them wait. I'm not one of those shows. Let's get to this.

Is Gabby an S-tier catcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks? All right. So a few things here. So Gabby Moreno worth 4.3B war last year, as we just said, with that season alone, he already is tied for fourth in Diamondbacks history in B-Wor after one season. There are three players ahead of him on that list. Chris Snyder at 4.6. He is third.

Damien Miller at 5.9. He is second. And then number one, who I know a lot of people have already mentioned in the chat, Miguel Montero at 13.6. Miguel Montero is far and away, the leader in B-Wore for Diamondbacks catchers all time. There's no doubt about that. So, yes, if you, if you sort of extrapolate Gabby Moreno's 2023 season out for another, you know, five more seasons, which is what, how many he would play before hitting free agency.

Chris Snyder is 2004 to 2010. and Damien Miller, 1998 to 2002, Miguel Montero, 2006 to 2014. Gabriel Moreno is an S-tier catcher, period. If he's already caught up to these guys and he's this close. Yeah, he's not, I mean, he's not caught up in total war. But yes, if he were to put up like four more of the seasons he just had, based on baseball reference war, he would be number one. He would surpass.

Yeah. Miguel Montero, who had more seasons here in that time frame. So he is an S-tier. catcher for this franchise. We're doing it, huh? We're just putting Gavin Reno next to you. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I'm doing it. I guess the only thing that would knock him down to a tier would be the idea there that he's only done it for one season. Yeah. Right. And and with that. Yeah. And I think that's a valid point. And some people may be

angry with us putting him in S already. But I think we all feel pretty confident how this is going to turn out. Right. It's, you know, injuries obviously can happen. You know, know, regression can obviously happen. But the player that we saw in the second half last year, I mean, Moreno just got better as the season went on, right? When he came back from injury, you go August 11th to the end of the playoffs, Gabby Moreno slash 286, 356, 478. Those are pretty freaking good numbers.

And you combine that with the defensive player that he is. Correct. That is a very, very, very good player. So, yes, we need to see it longer. but I feel pretty confident that he will be at the top of this list when all of said and done. Of the 13 players here, and this is easy because it's only one season, so it's easier for him to have the highest OPS plus, but he has the highest OPS plus of 104. That is also true.

Yeah. Yeah, Gabby Moreno had a 104 OPS plus last year. And yeah, even Miguel Montero was just behind him at 103. So that would put Miguel Montero moving on from Gabby, probably all. also into the S tier. Is that bit, is that? Yeah. I mean,

wait, are we ranking this in terms of like these catchers in Diamondbacks franchise history? Are we, are we ranking them in relation to MLB? Because I feel like that's two different things, right? Because if we're talking about MLB, then I probably wouldn't put Gabby necessarily in the S tier yet.

But when we're talking about Diamondbacks franchise history, I think Miguel Montara belongs there. It has to be DeBacks history. Right. Yeah. That's why I feel like, and I feel like Miguel Montero belongs in the S-tier. Yeah. Am I wrong there? No, I think that's fair. Okay. You can't, you can't put Miguel Montero lower than Gabby Moreno at this point. Correct. Correct. Maybe there will come a day when Gabby Moreno has actually, you know, showed this for long enough that we feel comfortable saying like, yes, he is actually a step above the player that Miguel Montero was for all those years.

But it's definitely too early to do that. Miguel Montero was an all-star and a very, very, very, very, good player for the diamond backs for several seasons. So next up, the other guys that you mentioned there that are essentially above Gabby and B-Wore are Damian Miller and Chris Snyder. Damian Miller famously, not in any baseball video games and will never be, thanks to his scab status with the MLBPA. But a very good pitcher for the Arizona, or pitcher, catcher for the Diamondbacks in his time. He probably pitched a few in there, right?

Yeah, definitely pitched a few innings. But he was just a very good guy. like he was he he was kind of the definition of a catcher that did his job kind of like christian walker at first base like he did his job um and he was good at it but uh like he kind of got overshadowed by the other stars on this team and damy miller didn't really get you know kind of the love also the whole scab thing that also probably made his career a little a little unfortunate for him but i couldn't even find a picture of him i had to do ping myself look at this ever his head's so big compared to everybody else.

That's why he looks like. Yeah, he's not part of the PA so you cannot find a picture of him. Kelly's Denet was also hard to find. What's that? I said steroid era anyone. Yeah, well, starting to get some rumors going about Damian Miller because of the size of his head compared to everybody else.

Oh, yeah, everybody else on this list. Yeah, that makes pleasure. No, let's not do that, but. It's like, are we making steroid accusations about Damien Miller? I am solely based off of this head shot. Four seasons for this team, 5.9 B-War, 93. OPS Plus.

Yeah, Damien Miller was a good player. I mean, you look back at, he was just consistently solid for the Diamondbacks in 1998, their inaugural season. He played 57 games at a 783 OPS, a 104 OPS plus, so above league average offensively. And, you know, year after year, he was just, you know, right around the 90 to 95 OPS plus range, a solid hitter. And he also is, you know, he also was, he did win a World Series, as was just mentioned in the chat.

He did. That definitely bears mentioning. And defensively, he graded out fairly well. If you just look at defensive war, Damian Miller is tied for second on this list. Just 0.5 behind Miguel Montero in about half as many games. So I think defensively, at least the numbers look pretty good there. I think he belongs near the top here, Derek. Where do we want to put him? I think A tier is absolutely fair.

I mean, I would be even willing to entertain the S-tier conversation. And the only reason why is because like what you said there for Miguel Montaro is up there. Damian Miller might belong up there. And then you factor in that world series. And again, Damien Miller was catching two legends back there behind the plate. Right. So like not to mention he was helping Batista, Miguel Batista, get through some of those games as well. But let's, you know, let's give credit where credits do.

I mean, that was, you know, he was a solid, solid defender back behind a plate for this team. and a big reason why they did win that World Series. Yeah, I think A-tier makes sense for Damian Miller. I guess that brings us to Chris Snyder. Sure. I think we're having the Chris Snyder conversation. Damon was telling me earlier that one Jacob Franklin was convinced that Chris Snyder was like clearly S-tier. Is that what he was trying to say?

He said clearly yes. Jacob Franklin has been put under a spell by his childhood where he is in a place where Chris Snyder was a staple of his of his life when he was 10 years old and he can't get over it. That nostalgia is a hell of a narcotic, Jesse. It's a hell of a drug to kick. So I'm between A and B for Chris Snyder. Chris Snyder just behind Damien Miller and the all-time war list at 4.6. He caught.

88 OPS plus, Jesse. Yeah, 88 OPS plus. Damien Miller was at 93 during his D-back stays. So the offense grades out a bit worse than Damien Miller defensively, if I can find those numbers here. Defensively, he's at 3.6 D-Wore and he played a few more games than Damien Miller. Damien Miller was also at 3.6. So defensively, they're kind of similar. Chris Snyder wasn't quite as good offensively as Damian Miller.

Doesn't have the World Series on his resume, obviously. So I would lean toward B here. Same. Okay. Same. Agreed. Let's throw them in the B tier. There's not a huge difference between Damian Miller and Chris Snyder,

but the fact that Damian Miller is the numbers are a little bit better there and the fact that he was on the World Series team. You know, maybe that kind of puts him over the edge and makes him a tier. All right, Damon, let's do a B tier for Chris Snyder. That brings us up to Carson Kelly. Okay. Carson Kelly. Well, well, 2023 Carson Kelly was not exactly a top tier catcher.

No, but we're already here at Carson Kelly. That stinks, man. What, we're already to Carson Kelly? Yeah. Is he fifth? Stop. Stop. Yeah, I mean, he is, he is tied with Gabby Moreno for the all-time war leader on the all-time

war leader board for D-Backs catchers at 4.3. Of course, he did that in, you know, about three to four times as many games as Gabby Moreno needed to do that. But, you know what, Carson Kelly was not good in 20203. obviously came back from the injury. The debacks were expecting a big boost, getting him back, the veteran presence,

a guy who knows how to handle the pitchers and all that. And he just wasn't that. And the Diamondbacks moved on from him, and that went the way that it did. But I think it's important to, it's important to look at the larger picture with Carson Kelly and acknowledge that there was a time when everyone listening to the show

has been a Diamondbacks fan for a while, really liked Carson Kelly, and thought he was going to be one of the, best, one of the better young catchers in the game for a long time. Sorry, Maria's here. Maria's here. I got excited because Maria is back. Maria, we missed you.

It's our favorite Dodgers fan. Suck it, Mo. Maria, welcome back to the party. We are ranking Diamondbacks catchers in franchise history, the best diamondbacks catchers in franchise history. Not to cut you off. I will say this about Carson Kelly. Carson Kelly is one of those guys that came over in a trade, right?

Yeah, a trade we will not discuss again after yesterday. But a trade. We didn't really discuss, I guess we did. We did. We didn't discuss the trade all that much, but we did talk about Paul Goldsmith and said, anyway, I'm not going to, I'm not going to say anything. I said we're not going to address it. We were moving on.

The point being, though, is that Carson Kelly is one of those guys that made an immediate impact and then was never as good again as he was that first season when he came over and joined the team. And I think that the recollection of his time with the Diamondbacks is based on the fact that when he came over this like and i hate to say this but this could be like gabby morano right we have that first season where he's so good and we're already ranking him as an s tier catcher yeah and then we see a massive drop off and then we never perhaps in his career ever see him have as good of a season as he has that first year carson kelly had an 826 ops in his first season with the

arizona diamond backs yeah he played a lot he played in a 111 11 games that was the most games he played in and that was his highest ops it was his highest batting average it was his best season. And then everything after that was kind of mediocre. The 2021 season was fairly good. He's pretty good at 2021. Yeah, 2.40, 340, 3.411 with a 754 OPS. But outside of that, he was never really better than league average, if even that, right? So like, yeah, Carson Kelly is a guy, I think that we, we like a lot. And Carson Kelly was a guy that I think we did see as our franchise catcher. But when you are taking a look at the way that this, you know, you know, historically kind of stacks up. I have a hard time putting Carson Kelly above kind of a C tier catcher for this team.

Yeah, I mean, the full body of work from Carson Kelly offensively is really not as bad as people probably think it is. He had a 713 OPS altogether with the Diamondbacks and a 92 OPS plus. Like for a catcher, you'll take that, right? Like, that's not, that's not bad for a catcher. And, you know, I don't think Carson Kelly was ever defensively the guy that people maybe hopes he would be when he was coming up in the Cardinal system. the narrative was that he was going to be a very, very good defensive catcher, and it was just a matter of getting the offense to be enough. When in reality, it almost played out the opposite where his offense was really an asset at times.

And defensively, I don't think he was bad, but I don't think he was ever, you know, a well above average defensive catcher. He was kind of just average, you know, maybe a little bit below average, well, probably below average defensively in what we saw last year. So going back to the tier list here, I don't think I can put Carson Kelly lower than B. I think looking at his numbers compared to Chris Snyder's numbers. Yeah, if Chris Snyder is B, then yes, I agree that Carson Kelly should probably be B. Yeah. On a rate basis, Carson Kelly was producing war actually at a better rate than Chris Snyder. And he also had a slightly better OPS plus in his time with the D-back.

So I think it fits well with them in the same category. there beef wellington castillo there you go i got a hashtag going called beef mode when he was part of the diamond backs that the diamond back started using well of course everyone was aware of that i was fairly and i remember that was uh good times good days neither one of you remember do not play that was no god that took the world over um but because of that he's an s tier Catcher. No, I'm joking. But Wellington Castillo didn't play for the Diamondbacks for very long, but he did made, I think, a pretty significant impact on this team in a short amount of time. He had 100 OPS plus, 3.6 B-war in two seasons. And again, really came in and was just a lot of,

a lot of power behind the plate for this team. Yeah, he got hit, man. You know, the defense with Wellington Castillo is never, that was, that was never the selling point, right? But Wellington Castillo is a diamond back slash 261, 320, 452. His OPS Plus was right at 100, which for a catcher is, is pretty good to be a league average hitter. He had 31 homers drove in 118 and 193 games in the 2015 and 2016 seasons combined. So, yeah, he could hit a little bit, you know, technically by OPS Plus, he's the third best catcher in in diamondbacks history at least for those who meet the the criteria to be on this list

uh Miguel Montero and gabby merino are the are the only two ahead of him so uh yeah i don't know where where do you think that where do you think that puts us what do you want to put them in the a tier and i think you're not going to let me do that i want to put him in the eight tier i don't think you're going to let me do that i don't know is this crazy am i crazy that's insane well okay then be so i my initial reaction is that that's insane, but Wellington Castillo put up 3.6 war in 193 games. Carson Kelly put up 4.3, but in 384 games. So Wellington Castillo is actually on a rate basis. Give me Wellington Castillo.

Longevity has to mean something. Give them in the A tier. We have Gabby Moreno on the S tier. Don't talk to me about longevity. We can't put, we can't put Wellington Castillo in the A tier. Oh my God. You just said it. He just said if Carson Kelly got that war in double the amount of games, why not?

Why not? Why not? Explain to me why not. And explain it to be like I'm five. Yeah, that's fair. We don't want to be Craig. It's against our will. We're being held here against our will.

Craig's telling us there's pizza here. He's not letting us go eat said delicious pizza. I just don't think that Wellington Castillo was respected enough defensively for me to put him in the eight. All right, fine. Then put him in the B tier. I think we have to put him out of the seed here now. All right. But yes, for those of you saying like you're ranking some of these guys really high,

I guess we should reiterate. We are doing this relative to other Diamondbacks catchers. We're not, yeah, I'm not here to say that Wellington Castillo was like a great catcher necessarily. But from what we've had over the years in Arizona, I think I think B tier is pretty fair. It's insane that there's three good players on that entire list. I just have to say that longevity does have to. matter like wellington castillo played two seasons for the diamond backs yeah that's another i don't really care about the rate basis when you've played such a little amount of time sure how long have you

been that's fair a diamond backs lifer no uh within months of my child of my my birth what is he talking about i don't care about what you did on other teams just on this team just on this team this team this was my my rookie year was on this team i know all i've ever done was on this i know you got a lot of roy votes for sure but all right um there's a lot of guys on this list that i think just belong immediately in the d tier okay all right can we just do that can we rapid fire sure sure sure rod brahaus yeah that's probably fair yeah he's he's well into the negatives from a more more perspective uh minus 2.1 on on baseball reference so 1999 to 2003 he just couldn't hit man a 591 oPS a 48 ops plus OPS plus.

You know, defensively, I think, I think fairly, fairly well respected there. But offensively, you know, for that era, a 591 OPS was pretty, that's, that's pretty rough. I hate to do this because he's a great baseball name, but Tuffy's got to go in D2. Another negative war guy, negative 0.6 war, an even lower OPS plus, 41 OPS plus. Yeah, Tuffy. Yeah, you're right. Great baseball name. some cool moments along the way for sure.

But yeah, he offensively, he really never, he has the lowest OPS and OPS plus on this list by a fairly considerable margin. So, yeah, he's definitely D-tier. It's shocking that he caught over 100 games for the Diamondbacks. Yeah, it's not, yeah, it's not exactly. He didn't catch over 100 ever. Oh, yeah, yeah, he did. Not in a single season.

Yeah, not in a single season, but total he was at 126 games. So, yeah, I mean, tough. was really a you know he was really a backup catcher at least the the majority of the time you know if tuffy was your front line catcher that probably wasn't it wasn't a great sign i have one more d tier catcher who do you got alex a veila for disappointing me was alex a villa not a huge disappointment as a member of this team did he not come over and look like he was going to be one of these eight tier guys and then just completely disappoint not with the sound of his beautiful gravely voice, but just in general with his performance. Yeah, so Alex Avella, people will remember the 2018

season in which Alex Aveila hit 165. Yes, we will. Always. Now then and forever. And right, that was when Gambo would come on the radio every single time that Alex Seville was in the lineup and scream, why is Alex Seville playing today? That whole thing. Yes. That was a good bit. Yeah, but people forget that in 2019, Alex Seville, only 63 games, but he had a 774 OPS. He actually bounced back pretty nicely the next year, you know, much to the chagrin of Diamondbacks fans who wanted nothing to do with him at that point. His own father didn't want anything to do with him. He traded him to us.

You know that. Yeah, I don't, I don't think, I don't, I don't, I'm a little hesitant to put him in the D tier, I guess is what I would, what I would say. Because I think offensively, the numbers are clearly better than, you know, not a tough he goes a wish in. I guess since we don't agree, we'll leave it up to Damon. Damon?

Sure. Yeah, Damon, what do you want to do? Get your input in on this? Yeah, for sure. So I was thinking about making a new tier.

Oh, here we go. All right. Because, uh, this guy is so bad at baseball that I thought that he deserved his own special tier. Yeah.

Uh, so we're going to add a row below. Okay. Um, and we're going to call it hell. Wow. Wow. Wow.

That is disrespectful. And, and we're going to, Oh, wow, it moved the D tier there. I did the same thing last time. Yeah. But, you know, it's nice and simple here. Look at that.

Okay. There we go. That seems to check out, I think. It doesn't even feel right that hell is yellow. That's a little. What should it be blue? Well, red is red. Yes, that's true.

Right. Red is kind of reserved. I don't know. I don't know what color is. Can I change the color here? Oh, yeah. There you go. Yeah, you got a little black action?

Yeah. You can't even see the letter. It's fine. He can fix that part. Sure. Whatever. White, maybe, a little red? I don't know.

Whatever. This is stupid anyways. This is dumb. Who cares? There you go. Thanks. I appreciate it. All right.

We got Kelly Stennett. Again, another guy that was part of the Arizona Diamondbacks World Series team. C tier? D tier. What are you thinking here? Yeah, I think C probably. I would say a step up over. over Tuffy Gozo Wish and Rod Brawes for sure.

Sennett is actually fifth on the war leaderboard behind Montero, Miller, Snyder, and Moreno. 2.5B war over kind of a long period of time from 1998 to 2005. It wasn't necessarily playing a ton of games every year. But, you know, we had a 724 OPS and 84 OPS plus. I think C is probably the right spot. Here's a guy that a lot of people don't remember, but Chad Mueller for this team. Yeah, there you go. Very good while he was a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

94 OPS plus 1.4B war. Not great, I guess defensively, but pretty good offensively. I know he had himself at least one very good season with this team. But just forgettable, like just not a name that a lot of people I think would even remember as being part of the Diamondbacks at one point. Yeah, it wasn't a particularly long tenure with the Diamondbacks, I wouldn't say. but yeah you know

Chad Mueller was he was another another guy who's very very respectable right I would lean C there as well I guess all right does that seem fair yeah that seems fair to me all right we got two guys left on this list

Robbie Hammack and Jeff Mathis Jeff Mathis is another guy that really really struggled offensively wasn't a great hitter yeah not a great hitter but a very very good catch like got praise left and right from the pitching

stuff. I think Jeff Mathis was so good defensively that yeah, we can't, he's not in the D tier with Gozo Wish and Brahas, even though his offense would put him in that category. He's, he's at least C for me. You could maybe

argue B just because of how good he was defensively. So I, yeah, I think I'm between those two. All right, last but not least, handbone, Robbie Hammack. Not a good, not good offensively, not great defensively.

But man, Diamondbacks fans, sure do you love him. Yeah, yeah, that's a great, that's a great way of, great way of saying it. I mean, an 81 OPS plus, you know, definitely better than a lot of the other guys here. For sure. 0.0.9. Sorry, I'm just looking at D-Wore. Isn't it sound a terrible number for D-Wore in 182 games. And he was a part of this team for a long time, from 2003 to 2011.

Again, another reason why he's kind of beloved. there by Diamondbacks fans. There's that longevity you were talking about. Damedog. Agreed. Yeah, there, I mean,

yeah, I mean, he played, he played two games in 2011 and one game in 2006, uh, you know, nothing in 2005, 2009 or 2010.

It's a hundred and, really splitting errors now. 182 games split between a lot, a lot of, a lot of different years. Um, yeah, there, I mean,

he, he was in 2003. People forget how good Robbie Hammock was in 2003. 282, 343, 477. He had a 105 OPS plus there. It wasn't quite the same. Wasn't quite the same the next year. Elise, known baseball GM, says a tier for catching the perfect game.

He did catch the perfect game. That's fair. I mean, the leap into the arms, that was a pretty good leap. Yeah, the leap in and of itself. Yeah, that might bump them up a tier. It's probably S tier, right? That's an S tier. For sure.

So how do you factor that into his? grade maybe uh maybe see uh i have to look at it again uh we put jeffaths and see yeah yeah i'd put him in i'd put him in see all right well there you go where would you guys ranking of diamond backs catchers where would you guys put chris ionetta if he qualified yeah christ ianeda we definitely have to give chris ianeda a shout out he didn't quite meet the criteria here i think he caught 89 games with the diamond backs he didn't quite reach 100 uh she was really uh he was really freaking good in his one year with the diamond backs. So I would be, I mean, I guess there's the whole longevity thing.

He was just here for the one season. If he had been here for six, you know, I'm not quite sure he could have maintained. 254, 354, 511 with an 865 OPS. Yeah, he was a really big part of that 2017 team. He'd have to be at least B. I mean, I think he clearly has to be at least B. you could make an argument that he was really an A tier catcher for the one season that he was here. So he definitely deserves a shout out.

Dalton Varsho, I think, deserves a shout out as well. He didn't catch. He did not catch 100 games with the Diamondbacks. But, you know, if Dalton Varsho, if the Diamondbacks had made the move from outfield to catcher and actually committed to Dalton Varshow, I guess not really made the move from Outfield to catcher. He really made the opposite move. If he had just stayed at catcher and the Diamondbacks had remained committed to that,

Dalton Varsho would probably be a pretty good player. I think it was clear why that decision was made, and I think it made a lot of sense to move him into the outfield. He's so incredibly good there now. But he'd be a pretty good player. Like he would probably be, I would say, up in the B tier on this list at least if he had stuck at that position and gotten better at it. But yeah, he caught Coggs is saying 82 games in the chat.

So he didn't quite meet our threshold here either. Also, he's an outfielder. he's a really really good outfield. He's a really, really good outfield. Yeah, that's what he is now. Well, we appreciate your guys's input. Tim says he's bringing up Brahaus's home run. Look, we're not, we're not doing this over one good game.

Yeah, Rod, we're not doing this. I'm just telling you now. Negative two war during his D-BAC's career. It's hard to put that very, very high on the, very high on the list. But there were some, you know, some good moments along the way for sure. Well, I know some of you are accusing me of wearing these sunglasses. glasses because I might have dipped into the OGs a little early tonight and you may be accurate. But whether it's to blame us for this list we put together or any of the incredibly crazy things,

I've already said two days into this week, don't blame it on OGs, blame it on me. Wait, no, I meant that in reverse. Don't blame it on me. Blame it on the OGs. By the way, if you want something to blame it on, check out OGs. You can try out their two new products. They got a all OGs naturals, right? now that's made with live rosin, vegan gummies, available in a sweet clementine flavor.

They also have their big OGs gummy, which is a mega version of Peg's Raspberry Orange RSO. It's like freshly squeezed juice. It's delicious. So make sure check out both of these options right now. To learn more about OG's gummies and where you can find them, head on over to OGsbrands.com or check them out at a dispensary near you. Also, speaking of things being near you, there is fun, there is adventure, there is a stacation that is waiting for you and it is right near you right here in town you don't have to travel you don't have to buy plane tickets and go through that whole mess you can just head on over to heila river resorts and casinos because no one does it better they offer an authentic and immersive experience and of course if you want to have all that fun that you can have in las Vegas you can do that right here with their state of the art gaming floor with over 800 slot machines 15 blackjack tables live table games and also arizona's largest casino sports books so check out all that they have to offer including I just lounging by the pool, drinking a pinia colada. I'm a big pinia collata guy now. I miss my unlimited pinia colladas that I had on the cruise,

and I might just head over to Heela River Resorts so that I could get myself one of those, maybe by hanging out by the pool. So you head over to Heela River Resorts and Casinos and let them show you what the next level is all about. You do you at Heal River Resorts and Casinos. Visit play athela.com for more details. Can I give one last, one last shout out?

Are you going back to the catcher thing? I am. I am. I'm sorry. I have to. I have to because Johnny Estrada was mentioned in the chat and we have to at least mention Johnny Estrada, who was going to be part of this tier list. And then Derek removed him. But I think it was fair.

He only played one season with the debacks. We decided that we wanted at least multiple seasons. But yeah, he was really good in that one season. A 302 batting average 772 OPS drove in 70 runs in 2006. A 772 OPS apparently in 2006 wasn't even league average. That was a 92 OPS plus, which kind of blows my mind. But yes, he deserves a shout out. And he probably would have been, I don't know, B tier maybe if we'd included him here.

So shout out, shout out Johnny Estrada. Well, if you want more of this, all of this, whatever this was that you can't stop with the stats and the baseball stuff, sign up for a membership at go phnx.com. You're one of our diehards. you'll get all of Jesse's content, all of his, all of his articles that go on with all of this information and all of these statistics. You also get access to our members-only Discord lounge, which is the best place to be in Arizona Sports fan. You get a free t-shirt from the PHNX Locker.com deals with our partners, discounts on events, and so much more. So join us over here and become part of the family. Before we get out of here, we do have to address that USA Today released their rankings of all 30 Major League Baseball ballparks this week.

it was a pretty thorough ranking. I agreed with most of it. I feel like they had a Globe Life Field ranked entirely too high. But like Jesse pointed out, it was still in the bottom half of Major League Baseball, uh, ballparks. And it's a brand new ballpark.

It should be much higher than that. It shouldn't have been 17th or wherever it was. But, uh, USA Today did rank PNC Park where the Pirates play as the best ballpark. Wow. And all of Major League Baseball. Uh,

the top five ranked, uh, in this order, Oracle Park, followed by Wrigley Field, Camden Yards, and Fenway Park, which I feel like it all is a fair, that's a pretty fair, thorough list. I know I was kind of mesmerized by Oracle Park. I know Wrigley Field was a religious experience for me. I've always wanted to go to PNC Park. I've never been there, but.

Yeah, I haven't been to PNC either. I have been to Fenway, and Fenway is, again, it's, it maintains a little bit more of the age than Rigley does. Rigley, they did a good job, I think, of updating Fenway needs a little bit more of that love. But Fenway is still just a very historically important ballpark. So that's cool. The rest of the National League West was all right there after that, all in the top 10.

You had Dodger Stadium. You had Corsfield. You had Petco Park, I think, was six. So that's where the rest of the National League West was. Where does Chase Field rank, you ask? Not exactly where the fuck you think it would rank. Not in the top 10. not in the top 15, not in the top 20.

In the top 25, you ask? Nope, not even there. Chase Field was ranked the 27th best ballpark out of 30 ballparks. It's not great. Any guesses as to the remaining three that were worse than Chase Field? Yes, you're right. Oakland Coliseum, of course, is the worst ballpark in all of baseball. We know that.

That's why they're moving. But they're getting a new ballpark soon. I don't know if you saw it, but like the scoreboards on the roof and shit. That's going to be coming here very soon. So that's going to, you know, they're going to cruise up in the rankings. What's next? What's at 29? Tropicana Field.

Yeah, not surprising. Again, another ballpark. You know they're going to give Tampa a new ballpark. They're going to be up there. And at least one ballpark, Jesse, one ballpark that is ranked lower than Chasefield. Yeah. And we played this game before the show. My guest was Milwaukee.

Your guest was Milwaukee. And my guess was incorrect. Damon's guest was. guaranteed rate field and Damon is our big winner I don't know how any outdoor ballpark aside from the Coliseum could really be ranked

worse than Chase Field but congratulations guaranteed rate field you did it yeah yeah wear that with with honor for sure 27th is you know 28th right 28th so you know highly sought after

spot I mean everyone knows what 29 and 30 are right so everybody knows 28th is kind of like the big the big question there. And it could be debatable, I'm sure. I don't know. I've never been to guaranteed rate field. Maybe we need our CHGO brethren to tell us what they think about that place. But yeah, no surprise there.

No surprise. I mean, when you have a slum lord that won't even fix the plumbing, it's not like your apartment complex can be rated very highly. We're looking at you, Maricopa County. Or at least I am. He has too much journalistic integrity to have opinions that's strong. but definitely a lot that needs to be fixed at that ballpark for it to be even considered one of the nicer ballparks of Major League Baseball. My question, which we've come back to a lot with Chase Field, is how high can it get?

You know, like there's only so many things you can do when you're renovating a ballpark. And, you know, if you go all out, we've got the new speakers this year, we've got the new lights. If you knock out seats, which it doesn't sound like the debacks are planning to do. but if you were to do that, if you were to try to create as many, you know, open spaces and cool food spots and, you know, if you do all of the things and check all the boxes, how high can Chase Field get, my suspicion is that it's still not all that high. Well, when you look at some of these ballparks ranked above them and how nice they are, the gap is pretty significant between where Chase Field is, not to mention the fact that you just don't have, I don't know, like you just don't have the ability to upgrade it, like even some of those other ballparks. can upgrade, you know, where they're at. So it's going to be a tough battle to get Chase Field to be considered one of the better ballparks and baseball. But hopefully they'll continue to work at it.

And I know they will. And no, Tim, we're not getting a new stadium. We move out of Arizona. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Anyway. I will say that I'm very excited that the Arizona Diamondbacks are advertising a little five-part documentary called Snakes Alive. that is going to cover the chaotic run to the 2023 World Series. That premieres one week from today.

So keep an eye on that for on Dback social channels because that already looks like fire from the preview they posted on social. Yeah, it's going to be really cool. I've talked with a few people behind the scenes. I'm pretty stoked to see how that turns out. I also think that I really hope that Jeff Gazzardo, the guy who created the whole Sinks Live thing, Like, you better be cashing in here in some kind of way.

Hope to be back to taking care of our buddy, Jeff Gazzardo. Yeah, for sure. But, yeah, it looks like their preview that they released today was really cool. And I'm sure it's going to be great. Yeah. Give us all the content. We want to live in that moment all over again. I believe it was Elizabeth, who hadn't really gone back or release. I apologize.

You guys are both very knowledgeable women. And your names both start with E and L. so I might mix you up. But I think it was Elizabeth that went back and watched some of the World Series. It talked about how painful it was. And yeah, I can imagine that that's not the easiest thing. Hopefully they do a bit, a good job of inspiring us with this five-part mini series that they're doing. But again, keep an eye out for that.

Of course, you can keep it locked to us right here on social media. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. This maniac next to me is at Jesse and Friedman. Of course, the people's producer. or Dame and Dog, or Dame Dog, depending on how well you know him. You can find him at Damon Dog.

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but all roads do lead to at PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for stopping by. We appreciate your time tonight. We'll see you guys tomorrow. Again, at 6 p.m. In the meantime, have a great afternoon. I don't even know what time it did.

It's the sunglasses. The sunglasses really confuse me as to what time of the day it is. But you guys have a great evening. And remember kids, baseball is fun. But it's so much more fun when you appropriately rate Rod Barajas.