PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - D-backs Finally Get GOOD NEWS on Injured Stars Availability for Opening Day

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks are finally getting some encouraging injury news, with positive updates on both Corbin Carroll and Merrill Kelly. Did the D-backs dodge a bullet when it comes to either star missing regular season time? We break down what the latest reports mean for Opening Day and beyond. Plus, we all held our breath when reliever Brandyn Garcia exited Saturday’s game alongside medical trainers. We’ve got the details on why he was pulled and whether an IL stint could be looming. We’ll also dive into how Arizona’s young outfielders are thriving this spring, answer your Mailbag Monday questions, and more! 0:00 SkeeYee!!!  2:40 Corbin Carroll back soon?  8:00 Merrill Kelly update  17:50 World Baseball Classic exits  24:00 Ryne Nelson Opening Day starter?  28:10 Waldschmidt has arrived  36:30 Mailbag Monday  52:40 Kristian Robinson is back!  57:00 Best sliders in D-backs history 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.

What's this? We have actual good news when it comes to injury updates. I don't know how to act. I'm going to try to get some energy here. Welcome in to the PHMXDVax podcast live from Studio K. Presented by our friends at Circle K. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as a man who is entirely tool

to be going out to concerts that start at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. Also, shout out to the roofers who were replacing my neighbors roof at 5.30 a.m. this morning and banging with hammers about 10 feet away from my head where I laid to sleep. But hope you guys are having a much better morning than I am. Welcome in to another edition of the PH&X Diamondback show. My name is Derek and I am tired. I'm joined by my guy Damon Dog, aka Damon Farrell on the ones and twos. Thrilled to have you guys here. Thrill to be joined by Damon. And I know he's got a little bit more energy than I do. Not a lot. Not a lot. Not A lot. Don't ask, have you asked Damon to jump right now? He's not going to ask you how high.

And he's not going to jump more than once. He'll jump very, very, very small amount off the ground. I don't think I told you this yet, Derek. I drove up from Tucson this morning. So I am, I'm in for a long, long day today. Oh, I got a big Monday game, Arizona versus Iowa State top five matchup tonight. So we got a long day ahead of us. We're dragging. We're dragging. Oh, yeah. Also, while we're just talking about our weekends, don't have a yard sale. I can't recommend avoiding having a yard sale enough. It was a miserable experience and it made no money. So don't do that. Did you get rid of some stuff?

I didn't get rid of anything, Damon. People came and looked at my crap and went like, and then left. That's what people did. But that's fine. It's all right. I'm just going to donate it all the way and get it out of my garage. But I will say, though, I might have a whole bunch of bad news from this weekend. But the Diamondbacks, they gave us some good news.

We have some very encouraging updates here when it comes to some Diamondbacks players that we are very concerned about, possibly missing opening day or some regular season games. First, we have, according to Steve Gilbert over at MLB.com, Corbyn Carroll is on track to be ready for opening day. I don't know why we felt so certain about this. The timeline for Corbin definitely did not have him being ready for opening day according to this injury, even if you wanted to look on the positive side of things when it came to having a bone removed out of your hand, a stupid bone that apparently doesn't even need to be there. And when you break it, they can just take it out and you can go on with your life. But apparently, Corbyn is, like we said, he's a super mutant human being,

and he is doing everything you can to come back and be ready by opening day. Carol has recently begun hitting with both hands on the bat, Damon. He said in the article, starting to build up there. It's very low intensity like flips and T work. I mean, it doesn't feel great. Definitely ahead of schedule. I think some other guys have gone through a haymate injury. I think some other guys that have gone through a haymate injury were happy to see where I am,

given how far I am out of surgery. So again, it sounds like his recovery is far ahead of schedule when he was asked about if he was ready for opening day or if he felt like he was. is going to be ready for opening day. Carol responded by saying, yeah, I'm pushing for it. So Carol was actually able to get out and take fly balls with his hand feeling good enough to catch the ball. So again, we are very far along in the process.

Now for Carol and his development, what's essentially next is he can start swinging again, start trying to get those at bats in. A lot of time he has missed with a bat in his hand. So really it's about him kind of starting over. And I know that part has to be frustrating for him. Carol was ahead of schedule as far as spring training for a purpose, for a reason. He was going to be a part of Team USA and the World Baseball Classic. And I know this has to be, once again, just a huge disappointment for him,

considering that he was trying to put that early work in to prepare himself for the classic and for, you know, obviously the Diamondbacks regular season. But they do have, you know, or he does have a lot of, of work to go in order to get his power back. And again, baseball is just so dumb. Like, you really do have to start with the basics in order for you to build back up and get yourself back on track. But while he, you know, again, has a lot of things to get ready for and a lot of a lot of times still to make up. It's great to see that Carol is back to having, you know, being able to swing a bat, hit balls, catch balls, do all of that baseball activity that,

you know, that we'll get him back here by opening day. I spoke to Torrey before Friday's game against the Seattle Mariners. Now, this was prior to that article dropping. This is what Tori had to say in regards to Corbyn Carroll's progress and where he was at as of then. I think he, everything he does is ahead of schedule. He presses it right to that edge. So he's on the program.

He's following the program. Is he ahead of schedule? Hard to say. We've got to get a batten his hand. Once we get to that point where he's swinging it and impacting the wall, that's probably have a better timeline. So again, just good stuff overall here when it comes to Corbyn Carroll. When we were talking on Friday, we briefly spoke about Carol having like one of the best attack angles per or percentage per his at bat in all of Major League Baseball.

And then we veered off course and went right into jelly bean talk, which by the way, that could happen at any point on this show. Damon has the jelly bean photos ready to go at any point. And we are locked and loaded for, you see, this will, this is. is going to get us through so many bad times this season, Damon, because how can you not be happy looking at this adorable face? Oh my God. Anyway. Debacks on a five game losing streak. Yeah. Welcome on into the pH Nix Debex podcast. We're talking jelly bean all day. Yeah, no, we're just, we'll contact the World Wildlife Zoo and we'll just get a direct feed

into jelly beans pen for this show. That's what this show will become. So, but of course, Corby and Carroll, it feels like Carol is part of a crowded outfield a little bit now. We don't know what's going to happen. We don't know how that competition is going to play out. We're going to talk about that a little bit later here when we discuss the results from the weekend, which were very, very solid results overall. But it does feel like as far as injuries go, you feel a little bit better about their depth now that they have, the guys that they have competing in camp and doing as well as they're doing.

However, you know, again, we still. are very unsure about what's going to happen with Lourdes, also unsure about, you know, who is really going to work out in the outfield for this team. You know, Corbyn Carroll, once he returns, is going to be out there and right. So it really comes down to how does Loller, Alec Thomas, and possibly Ryan Walshman factor in.

Plus, you have Barrosa, Tim Tawa, you have other guys that have been playing outfield as well. But the big concern for this team has to be Merrill Kelly. And we have more good news from Steve Gilbert. God bless Steve Gilbert for giving us all of this good, positive news. to this tweet from Steve Gilbert, the Diamondbacks have a good update here on Merrill Kelly.

Merrill Kelly is feeling good. He has himself a positive overall, got a cord zone shot. Mario Kelly received a shot of cortisone, Lidecane in his back last week. He played catch today without a problem and is optimistic about being able to pitch at the back end of the rotation to start the season.

This was on yesterday on Sunday. So according to Steve Gilbert, according to Merrill Kelly, everything feels good. He is going to get back on a mound. He is going to resume baseball activity and for all intents and purposes should not miss a regular season game. Again, much like Corbyn Carroll with missing out on the World Baseball Classic, this sucks for Merrill. I mean, there's a good chance and Merrill did address it that this was his only chance to have an opening day start potentially in his entire career. So it's unfortunate, but it's good news that he won't miss any regular

season games and we'll factor in essentially at the back end of the starting rotation as kind of their number five starter if you want to call it that but Tori did have the brief brief words on Merrill Kelly as well as what he talked to Christiane Mana about who also was shut down due to injury this is what Tori had to say he is he's feeling better that's for sure but we still haven't gotten a asymptomatic and once we get to that point we're going to we're going to start to develop the game plan that everything will hinge on how he's feeling. So no update there whatsoever.

Mena, I told you guys yesterday, Mena, we pulled back from throwing program. I had a brief conversation with him today. He understands why. Like, you know, the arm just hasn't been healing it the way we want him to. So pulling him back, he's got to rest. And there's no time on him as well. Well, again, it does feel encouraging that Steve tweeted this out. And it feels encouraging that the diamondbacks, you know, again, still have that depth without Merrill Kelly.

They're still able to survive with the addition of Michael Soroka and the late edition of Zach Gallen. But again, Merrill is kind of their ace right now. You could also argue that Ryan Nelson is their ace. And Nellie got his first start against the Mariners on Friday. We will talk about that as well. But interesting comments made by Merrill Kelly on foul territory the other day, Damon, by the way, We kind of missed out on talking about this, but Merrill discussed why he didn't sign with the Padres. And we showed you on when we had our media availability, when Merrill first, I guess, had his first media availability with us.

He discussed that there was an offer on the table from the Padres for a three-year deal that he turned down in order to come back here to the Diamondbacks. Well, on the foul territory, Merrill Kelly shed a little light on why he turned that deal down. And Damon's going to love this one. Damon, he said, they take too much money. The taxes over there are unbelievable. This is Kelly on the taxes in California, which led him rejecting three-year offer from the Padres and instead returning to the debacks on a two-year $40 million deal.

I guess he just didn't sign with the right California-based baseball team. Am I right? I was going to say that, like, it sounds like the Padres don't have the same, you know, doctoring going on. on with their taxes and their contracts as maybe a fellow division rival might, Derek. That's for sure. You don't say.

You don't say. It's weird that that's not a problem for any players going to the Dodgers that the amount of money that California takes is, no, it's not weird? I don't know. I don't know how any of that works, I guess, because I am not able to properly manipulate taxes. That's what you do when you evade tax laws and, yeah, manipulate tax law. I mean, the Dodgers are, they're really good. at being the best scumbags you've ever encountered in your entire life.

I really had no reason at all to really talk about this other than just to set you up for this. This was my main reasoning. But again, it does, I mean, it does prove that some other teams should have an advantage some times in signing these guys due to things like that. And yet it's something the Dodgers are able to get around and not have be an impact. It's just wild to me. I'm just glad Merrill is not a Padre, man. That'd be devastating. Me too.

Well said. Well said. So hopefully Merrill gets back here soon and hopefully he doesn't miss any regular season starts. It looks like that's going to be the case. We collectively held our goddamn breaths on Saturday, though, because the Diamondbacks, it seemed like for a moment, we're about to lose the only left-handed pitcher that's currently projected to be in their bullpen in 2026. And I hate it.

I hated it so much. But luckily, it wasn't as bad as we thought. In Saturday's Cactus League game against the Angels, Diamondbacks reliever Brandon Garcia, hit two batters, walked another, and left in the fifth inning with trainers at his side. And lower velocity than we've seen out of them and very, very poor command.

And, yeah, I was, I was ready to really overreact. Just end the season. Probably, probably just to end the season. Yeah, but the team quickly confirmed it was illness that he was removed for not an arm issue, relieving all of my worries and concerns because, again, I can't take any more injuries, Damon. I simply can't. Like, we had good news about Merrill. We have good news about Corbid.

And, of course, it felt like the universe's cruel way of balancing that was to be like, but we have to take another one of your arms for this, you know, that kind of thing. That's how I envision the universe talking to us because it's been very cruel to us for the last two seasons. But again, he is currently the only D.BAC's left-handed pitcher projected to make the bullpen. And again, it was a lot of relief there that we weren't going to be losing him like we have AJ Puck and Andrew Saul Frank or only other left-handed pitchers. But a lot going on with this team. The Diamondbacks made some moves when it came to their roster. They reassigned a bunch of players to minor league camp, including Daniel Egan,

Tommy Henry, Derek Law, Alfred Morillo, Landon Sims, Ben McLaughlin, who was just killing it, by the way. Ben McLaughlin probably couldn't have been doing any more than he was asked. Ivan Melendez, who is absolutely the opposite of Ben McLaughlin, and Drew Jones, who hasn't been doing too bad either. He will join his World Baseball Classic team, but he will be assigned to minor league camp. No need to overreact about any of these guys, of course.

The Diamondbacks have a very limited amount of space, as far as their roster is concerned. So really when it comes to getting these guys reassign the minor league camp, you could say it's just about having them start their development, their next progression in spring training. However, it is a weird time, Damon. I mean, I'm sure part of this is just the natural progression of spring training, but with all of the guys leaving due to the World Baseball Classic,

it just felt like why not leave a Daniel Egan, you know, maybe a Ben McLaughlin or Drew, well, Drew Jones would be joining his team. But like I said, some of these guys in camp, just to continue to get looks at them, just to give them more reps with the major league team at a major league level out there during spring training. But what do I know? I am simply a man that is dressed like grimace today. Don't they have to cut down on the roster? They do.

Yeah, the camp roster has to be cut down eventually. So you are right about that. Now it has 65 players, 25 non-roster invitees. So that was the part that need to be come down. They have 36 pitchers in camp, six catchers, 15 infielders and eight outfielders. So still some more cutting down to do. But, you know, there was, there's a lot of, I guess, lineup fluctuation going on right now.

And as far as Tori is concerned, he still doesn't know who is going to be healthy come opening day or who is going to be in his outfield and where guys are going to be. We discussed that with him on Friday here. This is what he had to say about the lineup kind of being an ever-changing thing right now. A little bit. It's a little challenging because we have.

the WBC group that's leaving. So Marte, Pernomo, Santana came in, worked out. This came for Ryan Holiday today. It was our guest speaker. And they're out for the next X amount of days. And then that's creating a little bit of a challenge for me. But we're going to layer in the healthy players where we can, when we can. But I got to make sure that we put the best team out there to evaluate, watch them perform, and then make a decision. is moving forward. It's a lot. It's a lot in a short amount of time.

And considering the impact of the WBC here on the roster, you know, you're not getting a chance to see your everyday guys out there. You're not getting a chance sometimes to see how maybe one of these outfielders is going to play with the rest of his outfield. Alec Thomas is with Team Mexico. You have Corby and Carroll out with injury, right? You're not exactly seeing how a Ryan Waldschmidt or perhaps, to, you know, Jordan Lawler is playing with the other guys who you know are going to be out there.

But again, it's still a chance to see more young players and guys, you know, that are getting an opportunity here that they wouldn't normally get due to this World Baseball Classic situation. So, again, just a longer look. And again, chance for guys to shine. We're going to talk about the outfielders doing that for sure. But before we move on to that, I did want to. give you Tori talking about how he is struggling just a little bit to let go of his world baseball classic players. Here's what he had to say about trusting that they're going to get the work

that they need to get with their teams when they're not under the watchful eye of Salvatore Lavella. It's a very awkward feeling. I know that they're getting good reps. They're getting the high intensity reps that we all want them to take. But we're watching them from afar. So I said goodbye to today, I put in, I put everybody in group texts. So I told those guys I'd be in touch with them and, and I want to hear from it. Like how they're doing, what they're doing, just because I'm curious and we enjoy the good moments. But it's a very awkward feeling for us to step away totally from what they're doing and allow

them to perform, but we know they're going to take care of business. Oh, man, that sounds like a complicated series of group chats that he has going on. He has to remember which guys or which thing. I wonder if he has them divided by teams and then how. has like a little flag for that team for each group chat, like yes, the Dominican team. And then he's getting all sorts of great pictures from that team. And then there's just Nolan Aronado all by himself in the team Puerto Rico chat and, you know, things like that. I don't know.

But good on Tori. He's got a lot to balance during this time of the year. And it's not very easy considering that. Again, you just have to trust that some of your most talented players, some of the guys that are going to be your everyday starters, are going off and getting, everything that they need to get prepared not only for this tournament, but for the regular season and return. Most importantly, let's hope everybody stays healthy

and comes back. Fine. Stronger, stronger than ever is what we want. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we are going to give you updates on the Diamondbacks currently being on a four-game winning streak here in spring and which guys are kind of leading the way when it comes to that. Don't you go anywhere? You're watching the PHNX

Diamondback show. Well, if you want to win yourself a brand new vehicle, how about a new Corvette? And you can do that through our friends at Heel of Rivers and casinos with their fabulous Corvette giveaway going on right now. The fabulous Corvette giveaway runs through April 24th, four casinos, four different Corvettes, four big chances to win. You can check out any one of their casino locations and qualify on Fridays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. With hourly drawings for free bonus play and finale entries, as well as on Tuesdays and Saturdays where you will earn four times the entries when you play with the card. And on Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. they have a hot seat qualifier.

where you can play with the car through your shot, once again to win one of these beautiful Corvettes. There's also exclusive swag giveaways throughout the promotion and so much more. For more information, visit playatheela.com, but more importantly, don't miss your chance to accelerate into luxury, play, earn, and win at any one of their four casino locations.

And let me tell you, my neighbors were doing some early improvements on their home next door with the roofing going on. I did not get a good night's sleep after getting up very, or staying up very late last night. But you know what? Ruin your neighbor's day

by improving your home and making a whole bunch of noise because now is it's a nice time to do so. It's beautiful outside. It's going to get hot fast this weekend. It was just a taste of how hot it can get. So let's make sure to utilize this beautiful weather to make some improvements on our home

and do so through the window depot. The window depot has far more than just windows, though, if you are looking to replace your windows, now is a great time to do so, and they are experts on that. But they also have so much more than that. countertops, cabinets, sinks, whatever you're looking to replace. Contractors love the window depot because they have job site ready quantities and unbeatable

low prices, plus no membership fee at all. So make sure you check out the window depot. You don't have a membership fee for you. And if you are looking to get help on your project, they have free in-house designers that will help you get started on your next project. They're there to help plan your space at no extra cost. From cabinets to countertops, they make it simple. The window depot, more than just a window store, visit the window.

window depot.com and get started on your next project right now. I just told everybody online that if we get to 100 live viewers, I'll do nothing but show live or pictures of jelly bean for the last 10 minutes of the show. So if you're into that kind of thing, tell your friends. But also get excited because the Diamondbacks are on a winning streak. Get in loser. We're going streaking. Diamondbacks are on a four game win streak if you care about such things during spring training. Damon, I know it's hard to care about spring training games, but I won't lie. I was a little concerned. I don't love the losing. Diamondbacks hung in there with the Dodgers,

but they lost that game, and they haven't lost the game since then. So very encouraging. Gabriel Moreno also got his first hit of spring, and as excited as I want to get, it was, I think, a two RBI single. It's still a little concerning to me that Moreno has struggled offensively

the way he has so far this year. But again, it's just spring training. I will not, I will reserve my, concern my worry for the regular season. I have enough gray hair already. I don't need to give myself more gray hairs. But the D-BACs did beat the Mariners on Friday out in Peoria. That was a fun game to attend. Shout out to my family members for letting me come sit and along with them and experience the joy of being a baseball fan again. I forgot that. I won't lie. Life is just like, like I said, baseball is just better from the lawn, just sitting out there, kind of paying attention

to the game, but not really. and enjoying, you know, the beautiful weather here and some time with my favorite people. But while we were out there, A.J. Vukovic hit a three-run bomb that landed right by us. So that was kind of fun. That was in the second inning. And that gave the Diamondbacks a lead and eventually the win there. They beat the Mariners by a score of three to one. Vukovic is hitting 250 this spring, but he does have a 1.150 OPS. So he is a guy that's been showing some power.

And again, he's a name that's been in the organization for a while. It's great to see him kind of starting to put some things together here during spring and making a good impression here. But when you talk about good impressions, Ryan Nelson was on the bump and he made his first start of Cactus League play. And of course, Nelly did what he does. He looked like an ace out there. Nellie went out there. He pitched two innings. Didn't give up a hit.

Didn't give up a run. Didn't give a walk and struck out three batters. His fastball is already hitting Damon 97 miles per hour. love it first start of spring and he's hitting 97 miles per hour get out of here with that you love to see it you love to see it this is what nellie had to say about hitting 97 and how his pitch mix has been so far early in spring yeah yeah i feel good honestly about the the whole pitch mix right now i think that we've been really working hard trying to get everything locked in um it's probably the best i've felt at this time of the year uh now just

build up some endurance and some length and yeah i like what's that best he's felt at this time of the year you'll love to hear that also it's good for nellie that i think at this point all of the like competition questions i think are are put to bed right about him being part of the starting rotation you know i asked him about that if he's preparing any differently and he said he's not i mean he said in the past he's just kind of prepared to be a starter and i think that you know the decisions for other things, as many players have said, and he agreed to, the decisions are out of his hands. All he can do is go out there and shove and do what is asked of him. And if it's asked that he goes into the pen, then he does so.

If it's asked to stay in the rotation, he does that as well. But he's just done an incredible job at whatever he's been asked to do. And I think it's finally time that Ryan Nelson is not only, you know, just thought of as a solidified starter for this rotation, that he's thought of as one of the best starters in the rotation. And he was asked about, you know, possibly making that start on opening day. I think he is one of the candidates along with obviously Zach Galen, which just feels like that is another candidate, regardless of where Zach is at in his progression,

feels like a possibility. But, you know, Nelly coming out here, hitting 97 and putting up, you know, two innings of scoreless baseball and striking out three, this is what an ace does. This is what someone that starts on opening day does in his first. spring training start. So this is what Ellie had to say about essentially getting ready and being ready

no matter where he starts for the Diamondbacks this year. I mean, yeah, I think it's, if the question is like, would I be ready for it? I think so. So I think just continuing to prep how I am and then whenever my first game is, I'm going to be ready for that.

Yeah, by the way, J.R. M. Strong was asking in the previous video, did I hear mind, mind, mind, mind, mind from finding Nemo's in the background. Yes, you did hear some birds squawking. Apparently, I think that was part of the game broadcast was coming into into the club outs there. Also very quiet. It was like me, Jose Romero, Ryan Deltz, and our guy, Shane from the Diamondbacks PR staff. Not a lot of people in that clubhouse. Not a lot of people made the trek out to Peoria due to the, again, the World Baseball Classic. And, you know, this roster kind of being trimmed down now. Those things led to this team, you know,

be in that place where you're going to see going forward a lot of young players in the lineup. You're also still going to see, you know, plenty of the starting pitchers. That's one thing that's not going to change. The Diamondbacks only lost Eduardo Rodriguez to the World Baseball Classic. So, and Uminlin, obviously to Team Taiwan. But the other guys here in camp are going to still be out there and still be starting for this team, giving this team a chance to win. Nellie did that and the Diamondbacks did win that game.

Meanwhile, they beat the Angels on Saturday by a score of 8 to 5. Luke and Baker, this giant of a man, he went two for three. He hit his second home run of spring. He had two RBI and that win. And then meanwhile, on Sunday, the debacks beat the Guardians by a score of nine to six. If you want to get excited, Damon, let's get excited. Ryan Walshmit, three for three, two doubles, smoking the ball. Yeah, Derek.

Smoking the ball. You already know I'm excited. people are people are starting to warm up to the idea of old damon dog the streets are saying that damon dog might have been right the whole time perhaps listen me and uh me and jarmie were talking yesterday on on on the socials i don't mean to act self-important i say this in the most humble manner that i possibly can but i am solely responsible for corbin carroll's rookie of the year award we all know that that's yeah i mean that's a well-established I mean, you remember, I took down each candidate one by one by one.

You didn't do anything to necessarily push Corbyn further. You just eliminated the hurdles in his way to that. Jordan Walker. Yeah. James Outman. Remember that name? Remember that guy? So, yeah, I mean, I had to do what I had to do.

Obviously, Geraldo Pardoma, we all know how responsible I am for his rise. the superstardom. Yeah. So this is your next. This is the next project number three here. It's Ryan Waldschmidt. Welcome to the show. We will speak it into existence.

107 mile per hour exit V-Lo on one double that scored two runs and a hundred and eleven mile per hour exit Velo on his other double in that game, Damon. Yeah. I mean, he really is ripping the ball. It's the guy is just a professional hitter. I keep saying it, but like it just feels like his floor as a as a major league caliber hitter is so high. Maybe he does, he does need a little bit of time in AAA. You never know. I'm not saying that he's actually going to be in the opening day starting a lineup necessarily,

but he is making things difficult. And this is exactly the scenario that I was like dreaming of, Derek, which is he's undeniably good enough where you have to start, he's starting to push the envelope of like, should he be on the opening day roster? This guy's maybe too good to, to leave off the team right now. So it felt like it was only, it was like if this and if this doesn't happen, if Corbyn's not ready and if Lordus isn't ready. But now it's seeming more seeming like you can't deny his talent. And it's going to be hard to imagine them.

The power, Derek. Putting someone above him. I mean, again, I don't want people to overreact, though, if the Diamondbacks do that. I don't want to, I don't want the, because there is always reasons for it and those reasons extend far beyond. the way these guys are playing on the field, right? You know, it's options and, you know, again, his development, the fact that he's essentially skipped AAA altogether,

that wouldn't be, that wouldn't surprise me if they want him to just go to Reno just so that he can continue to rip the cover off the ball there and then be available for them the minute that they need that depth. However, it's hard to imagine them doing that. The only reason why I say that is because they have a lot of young outfielders that are playing well right now. Christian Robinson, three for three in that game as well. two runs scored, hitting 417 right now with a 962 OPS.

Right? I mean, man, what a story that is. And again, I don't want to harp on it. It's just I think Robinson is a guy that was a top prospect for this organization, went through some real life struggles that were far past just struggles on the field and has done an amazing job at coming back, continuing to work and put in everything that every bit of dedication that he needs, two and looks great. He looks great. He looks physically in the best condition I've ever seen him.

And he's putting, he's putting up great numbers. So between those two guys, Loller, the way Alec Thomas was playing before he left for his World Baseball Classic team, like there's a lot here that the Diamondbacks, a lot of decisions they have to make. But again, probably would be described as a good problem for the front office and for Tori Lobello. This is what Tori had to say about that competition in the outfield being a good thing and how these. guys are playing. Great. It's been great to watch.

You know, Lawler is coming in here to show us what you can do in center field. He's been playing really good baseball. Burosa, you know, there's a lot of guys. They know who they are. The guys that are competing, I want them to create some urgency. The guys that are not competing, I want them to go out there and show that they're getting better every inning. But it's been a lot of really healthy camp battles that are just taking place very naturally. These guys are outperforming.

I'll tell you it's it's fun to watch but it also feels like no matter what there's going to be some guys were disappointed that don't make it and probably guys that don't necessarily do anything deserve to not be part of the major league roster when that decision is made just you know unfortunately some tough decisions are going to need to be made but the future of the outfield looks very solid for this team and again there is a lot of a lot of things that could happen going to be made. forward and again a lot of guys took a lot of i think a step forward during this camp as far as being closer to making their major league debut or being part of the major league roster we are going to take a quick break and on the other side of this break we're going to do what we do every monday on this show and we'll do until the end of time or at least until the end of my time we're going to do that here in a moment don't you go anywhere you're watching the ph next diamond back show well you know circle k is derrick's thir stop it's damon's third stop and it should be your third stop and it should be your because it is America's Thursday stop.

You know this weather is insane outside, so whether you need yourself a hot drink in the morning or a cool drink in the afternoon, Circle K, as you covered, with unbeatable prices, especially if you are a member of their inner circle, which you can join for free right now. Don't wait, download the app today, sign up, and then use your telephone number to score all sorts of deals in Circle K.

You'll save on gas, you'll save on all sorts of other things, like 79-set polar pops, 99-set frosters, and so much more. You'll get yourself ready for there's, Inner Circle fuel days. And of course, when it comes to gas right now, you can buy three Coca-Cola 20-ounce products and get yourself 25 cents off per gallon when you do so.

So do not miss out on all of these great deals at Circle K. Join the Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today. Terms and conditions do apply at participating locations. Visit CircleK.com for details. And let me tell you, I will sing the praises of Shady Ray's sunglasses from the mountaintops because I am a forgetful guy. and I lose my shady rays everywhere. Where have I lost my shady rays?

Well, I don't know that because if I did, I'd be able to find them. But possible locations that I may have lost them. The beach, several lifts and ubers, any time I'm getting in a car, there's a good chance I'm going to lose my sunglasses and all sorts of other locations. Universal Studios right now still owns a pair of my shady rays. But thanks to the good friends over at Shady Ray's, you will never be lost without sunglasses because thanks to their lost and broken replacement plan, they will send you out another pair of sunglasses.

No questions asked. Of course, if those, if there's any kind of manufacturing or any kind of defects on your sunglasses that you get, they're going to send you out another pair absolutely free. And of course, they feature crystal clear optics and some of the most amazing frames you can find. Plus, right now, we've teamed up with Shady Rays to bring you an exclusive offer. Head on over to ShadyRase.com and use our code of PHNX for 40% off those two plus pairs. You also get 35% off one single pair of polarizing. sunglasses, try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people.

And forgive me on that. It's a new code for us over at Shady Ray, so it's PHNXSR. So make sure to hop on that when you're getting yourself a new pair of Shady Ray. So let me tell you, I love mine. I really do. I tried to buy a cheap pair at a kiosk in California when I lost the ones I was talking about at Universal Studios. It wasn't the same. They were terrible. They were terrible. But you know what's not terrible? Mondays. Because every year on this program, as you know, is our year. Every year is the year of Jesse Jr. Every month on this show is Black History Month.

Every month on this show is Women's History Month. And every single month on the P.HNX Diamondbacks podcast, it's Black Women's History Month. Every single week is Shark Week, even though we root for a team comprised of snakes. And every single day is Earth Day because Damon recycles. I sometimes throw stuff in both. bends. I don't really pay attention to it. But on Mondays, 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. All right, what have we got in the

mailbag today, Damon? Our first question is from Travis Moore, who wants to know, say one of the big three, Carol Marte or Perdomo, were injured for a lengthy period and couldn't play. Would you feel any semblance of confidence in the front office being able to fill in for their position and replicate a decent amount of that player's production. I do now after seeing these young guys play, right? When you talk about an infielder potentially being hurt, you feel like Jordan Lawler with the way that he's performed could potentially slot back into the infield. And again, same thing with Corby and Carroll in the outfield. Now that we've had a chance to see so many of these young guys play and compete, I feel strongly about Ryan Walshmidt coming up. I even feel good about a Christian Robinson, perhaps,

being tried out. I mean, there are a few guys here in the outfield, maybe even guys that we haven't given the credit to that they deserve, talked about enough on here, for how they've come out and performed and played, right? So, I mean, if one of those guys were to go down, I would be devastated and I wouldn't recover. So I'm not going to sit here and act like I'm, I would be fine, Damon. There's no, there's no part of me that would be fine with losing either any of those three. But yes, if the Diamondbacks did only lose one of those guys, I do feel like in those positions that they have the ability to recover and have somebody step in. Is it going to be the same production? It's hard to say that. But again, you do feel good about the opportunity that

could be given and the Diamondbacks just have a lot of talent that feels like it's right there at that at that level. Robert Berman brings up Tommy Troy, and that's a great, great, great pick. I mean, I feel like Tommy Troy is a guy that has the versatility, at least of what we've seen out of him in AAA, to be an infielder, be an outfielder, and help them out with both of those roles as well. So, yeah, I mean, so far, the young guys give me confidence that they could step up and be that next star. I'm also not that worried overall here about the offense. I feel like the offense for the Diamondbacks is going to be fine. I have far more concerns about the impacts that that replacement could have defensively.

And again, I feel like pitching is still kind of a mess. But what else we got, Damon? Next question here comes from Jarmie, who wants to know. Waldie feels like a star, but we've been burned before. If he's called up, please compare him to Blaze and Jordan on their spring training seasons just before their eventual call-ups. I will say that neither Blaze nor Jordan. Blaze did have himself a good spring.

a few years ago, if I recall. And then we kind of went through the same thing where Blaise's name became kind of a name during camp. He didn't make the roster, but people always kind of held on to that. Then when he did, he had a lot of defensive mistakes at a major league level when he was playing in some regular season games. Jordan Lawler has really struggled. I mean, Jordan Lawler has struggled offensively, obviously, and at times at third base, he didn't look the strongest either. So I feel like overall what we've seen out of Ryan Walshman in camp is a guy that looks polished and ready to go. And in fact, he started a little slow offensively, but since then we've seen him do nothing

but absolutely smoke the ball, play solid defense, and, you know, be everything that you would expect a young star to be. Like, I don't feel the, I don't feel right now like there's any questions about his ability. It doesn't mean that he's going to put up this strong of numbers throughout a regular season or have this kind of success. If he was part of the Diamondbacks regular season roster on opening day. But I think that Waldy looks like the real deal. I really do. Or Waldo.

We still haven't come to a conclusion on that. Depends on how he does, but I think he's a star. I really do. And I think that he has the potential to be on the same level as a Perdomo or a Corbyn Carroll, for sure. All right. What else? High praise.

I mean, you can only speak to the results, right? Like I feel like if he was just doing some of the stuff he was doing in camp, I would feel pretty good about it even if his numbers weren't as good as they are. But the fact that he's already hit a ball over 115 miles per hour and then backs it up on Sunday with two doubles over 110, yeah, I feel he deserves that praise. I mean, yeah, he has he does have the raw power, it seems of like a very, very good majorly hitter, which is great to see. and I think he has a good approach and whatnot as well. I just think if we can just get him on the Gabby, Lordis, that tier of player, that's perfectly good enough for me. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Christian Walker, like a guy who's going to be in the middle of your lineup who's a really, really good player, but maybe isn't like the all-star top three to five at their position level good. Not the most consistent for sure. Yeah, but like I think that, you know, if he's just that caliber of player, And we're in for a very, very solid career for Ryan Walschman and left field. I agree. I agree.

It's, again, it's just encouraging. Like, if what you are looking for is for guys to come out, know that they have an opportunity to win time at the major league level in the outfield, and you want them to compete, they are doing that. They are all doing that. In fact, I would say that some of the best performance right now on this team is coming from their outfield. So good on them for stepping up and understanding the assignment when it comes to this

competition. What else we got? Our next question is from Michael Rokickey, who asks which of these would you most want to see this season, an 825 OPS for Jordan Lawler or a 300 batting average for Cavan Smith? Oh, man. I like Michael's questions. I like the way he frames them. You know what I mean? Yeah, I do too.

And I like this because of what it kind of says now. Oh, man. Because you could categorize both of these things as you don't need either one of these things to happen in order for the Diamondbacks to be. be successful. But what would drive their success more? Well, I feel like probably the Jordan Lawler 825 OPS, right? I mean, long term, yes. Payvon batting 300 is great, but Payvon's still going to probably be in a shared role over there at first base. Carlos Santana is going to get a lot of reps over there. So it's like Pavan Smith would not only need to have that 300 batting average, but he would have to be playing damn good defense in order for him to win the majority of the playing time over there. I mean,

I'm sure there would be a lot of Pave and Smith fans in our chat that would riot if you didn't earn that playing time with 300 batting average. But I actually don't see a Paveen Smith 300 batting average being that impossible in a limited amount of plate appearances. Meanwhile, you know, if Jordan Lawler is hitting that OPS and playing outfield successfully and a good defender, then my God, I think a lot of our, you know, questions are answered about the. future of this team. So yeah, I would take a Jordan Lawler 825 OPS. I feel like that's far more important to the organization as a whole than Pave and Smith hitting 300. Yeah, I think that that long term, that would be better for the for the team, for sure. I mean, not not, I know I'm a Pavan Smith hater, but I've also been considered a Jordan Lawler hater at times. So I think that, you know, this is a question almost designed for me. I mean, give me the 825 OPS from Lala. You could probably

just drop whatever pre to hater that you. you add and just say Damon's been considered. But also, Pavan could hit, you know, 240, 250 and still have a pretty good OPS because that's kind of what he does. He walks a lot. He doesn't really hit for, you know, anything other than, you know, trying to hit for power. So, you know, he could have like a 750 OPS and a 240 average and it would be an okay season for Pavin Smith.

You know what I mean? But, yeah, I mean, I feel like Jordan Lawler 825 OPS. that means he's going to be really damn good. Hey, Killer X is once again showing in the chat that he doesn't know ball. Killer X says if Carlos Santana doesn't have smooth by Santana and Rob Thomas as his walk-up music, he's a bum. Wrong. The right answer is Maria Maria by Santana and the product G&B. That's the right answer because during that song it says, to the sounds of the guitar.

Yeah, yeah. Played by Carlos Santana. Dan, da, da, tan, tan, that's way better. Having it, say, played by Carlos Natana as you approach, that's what we need. All right, well, else we got. We got one more, and then we'll take a quick break. Our next question here is from Flea Ball, who asks, not sure why managers can't challenge ABS calls.

What is stopping them from a quick signal to the catcher? Can't wait for ABS stats to be part of the player's back of a baseball card. I wanted it on the back of Gabby's baseball card. That's for sure. Is he wrong? I don't know. You guys know I hate this. And I think it's stupid.

I think that they took a good idea. and they went too far with it. I think impacting the broadcast, even though it's been impacted far less than we thought it was going to, or at least far less than I thought it was going to be, is still stupid to me. The fact that we took this system

that was essentially implemented so that we knew when balls and strikes were being called accurately and are making it into a Mario Party mini game within a baseball game is stupid to me. The fact that they don't want to let managers call it is stupid to me. The fact that the umpire could reject a challenge

because he thinks he's getting the information from an outside source is stupid to me. There's a lot of things that are stupid to me when it comes to this, and I don't like it. Also, you know who hates it more than I do? Ryan Thompson. Go ahead and ask Ryan Thompson, his opinion on it and be prepared for a lengthy conversation. I think he tweeted something about he's really glad that we did all of this to shorten baseball times with the pitch clock, only to now have a, you know, a game interrupted because a umpire, missed a call by 0.01 10th of an inch or whatever. But yeah, you know, again, I look, I think

it's dumb. I think everything about this is kind of lost the plot when it comes to what the purpose of this was. And I'm conflicted by it. I feel like a hypocrite because I do love, I do love the pageantry of it. I love everybody's eyes darting up to the big screen after a challenge has been called to see what it was. I mean, I feel like it. has like family feud vibes. Not for the answers when you're going down the line and each family member gets an answer and you have the three strikes. No, no, no.

I'm talking about when the other family has a chance to steal and it goes to them and they just have to decide collectively as a group on one answer and then they answer and then we go to the board to see if they were right. That's what this has the feels of, a game show. And that part of it, I love. You expect me not to love that, but still at the end of the day, I just find the fact that this technology was implemented only to make it into this is, uh, is, is, is, is dumb. It's, uh, but it is what it is. It's, uh, it's, it's, it's, at least I do think it's going to

be quick. I don't think it's going to impact the game time and be this thing that drags us down. And I think it's going to be fun when our team wins and crappy when our team loses. But we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to answer more of your questions from the mailbag. Uh, and we're going to do that in about two minutes. Don't you going anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback Show. Of course, do your research after an accident or serious injury. The lawyer you hire does matter. That's why we recommend checking out the husband and wife law team. Let's face it, after a serious injury, you want to hire an attorney that's focused on your best outcome and not how much the firm makes. That's the husband and wife law

team. This team brings hundreds of years of combined trial experience with multiple certified specialists and personal injury and wrongful death. In Arizona, the state bar has certified less than 1% of all lawyers or specialists in injury and wrongful death litigation. That is why you can trust the husband and wife law team when it comes to handling your case. And of course, nobody can guarantee the outcome of a legal case. However, there are promises that they are proud to make to you as their clients when it comes to their relationship with you. You can cancel their fee agreement at any time for any reason. You'll receive at least as much in your pocket as they receive for their fee, even if they have to reduce their attorney fee to do so.

and you may speak with one of their lawyers as often as you choose about anything you want to discuss. They are a law firm you can trust. And if you've had serious injury, call the husband and wife law firm Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit their website at the link in our show notes and tell them P.HNX sent you. And of course, if you are looking for some amazing hats, branded bills has you covered. Whether it's hats for this wonderful state we live in of Arizona, ASU or U of A as part of their campus collection, along with 40 other universities and schools or a Phoenix Sun's hat or two.

You can check out brandedbills.com. They have some of the best headware you can find. More importantly, if you are looking to have your business stand apart from the crowd, look no further than branded bills. They have you covered with the best custom headware that you can find. You can start your order and their dedicated team will help you create the exact custom apparel you need. And they have you covered when it comes to hats,

whether it's snapbacks, truckers, fitted hats, beanies, they have t-shirts, they have bags, they have accessories, they have some of the best logo work. that you will find on any hat as well. So check them out. They are a local company from right here in Mesa, Arizona. And you can head on over to brandedbills.com and use our code of BBPHNX to get 15% off your first order. Jay Army Strong in the chat says,

apparently the debacks are a negative score on challenges overturned. I thought Gabby was killing it, but maybe it's gone south. Dbacks are like minus two. Okay, so what you're talking about is batting challenges. So when Diamondbacks batters are in the box, the diamond backs are,

They've challenged seven times. They've won three, they won three, lost four. They are minus 1.1 on overturns versus expected when it comes to batting challenges. But they haven't challenged a lot, like I said, they're at the lower end as far as challenges are concerned for batters. Meanwhile, the Yankees have challenged 20 times and have the most challenges for batters in Major League Baseball so far in spring training. But when it comes to fielding teams, the Diamondbacks have 15 challenges, and they have won seven of them. them. So actually they are not bad overall when it comes to that. I believe, let's see, where are they ranked? Diamondbacks are ranked. Actually, yeah, it is kind of bad. 18th overall.

So in the bottom half, for sure, there, of overturns versus expected combined, not doing great, but doing much worse when it comes to batting. And again, not challenging a lot, so not giving themselves many opportunities. I'm sure that's coming down from Tori himself. I think that might be a mistake because now would be the time to challenge. Now it would be the time to try to work this stuff out and figure out what your strategy is going to be come the regular season. So I don't hate what the Yankees are doing by using a lot of challenges and again, trying to figure out when they want to use them, when they feel comfortable using them.

And again, trying to overall use spring training as a way to work out what your strategy with this new system is going to be. But we got more questions in the mailbag. A couple from Discord. Damon, what do we got? Yeah, our next question here is from Brentley Johnson, who wants to know. I know Walshman is a big name that we are all wanting to get a shot at the majors,

but is Christian Robinson equally, if not more deserving, of that fourth outfield spot? Due to him being Rule 5 eligible, his spring training numbers, small sample size obviously are looking really strong so far. They are. And I mean, again, Rule 5 eligibility definitely plays a factor into that for sure. But I think the Diamondbacks have enough time to make that assessment where I don't know of him coming in and winning a spot out of spring training camp is likely, but anything is likely.

I mean, again, the opportunity is wide open, and I think Waldy gets a lot of attention. The spotlight is kind of on him, but I do think that there are plenty of other guys that are performing well. And I think, again, Christian Robinson is one of them. I don't know if Rule 5 eligibility would play a factor now, but it would be a factor, you know, at the end of the season when they have to add into the 40-man roster and ensure that they protect him from that. it's weird. The Rule 5 thing always kind of is interesting considering that there's always the caveat

that that player has to stay on the team on the 26-man roster for the entire year in order for them to maintain and not give the team that lost them a chance to get them back. But again, I do agree that not only is Christian Robinson playing really well, but he is a guy that, again, I think, if you've been a Diamondback fan long enough,

you remember, was our top prospect, was our Ryan Waldschmidt at one point, was the guy that we believed was going to be the next great center fielder of this franchise. And he has gone through a lot. And I give him all the credit in the world for working as hard as he has worked to get back here and get to this point where he is killing it in spring training the way he is. I'm sure the Diamondbacks have noticed his hard work and I'm sure that they are not sleeping on him. But again, like I said, there are a lot of factors when it comes to making these decisions

on who's going to make the opening day roster and who's going to be a part of the big league club. I would not be surprised once again to see him part of the group that is essentially in Reno trying to stay hot and trying to stay ready for an opportunity should they need that outfield depth. I also think those guys playing well in Reno and being right there just a little bus ride away

keeps that pressure on whoever is on the major league roster that their job is not safe and at any point they could get outplayed and potentially replace. and that's not out of the question here with where the level that some of these guys are all at. I think the diamondbacks see a lot of these guys on a very equal footing as far as, you know, where they're at, where they are at in their careers. What else we got there, Damon? Our next question. Next question here comes from dumplings who asks who is going to be our Dodger killer this year.

What a question. Right. Is it Lordeus Gurriel Jr? I want to believe it's Lordus Coral Jr. Why is that? I don't know. I don't know. It feels like Lord's...

It's going to be Catel Marte. That's who it's actually going to be because Catel Marte is going to have a chip on his shoulder when he starts playing the Dodgers. Ctele Marte is going to be the kind of guy that wants to go out there on the biggest stage and perform. And we've seen him be able to step up in those moments, whether it's late in the game with the game on the line

or just under the bright lights of Chavez Ravine. So I think it's going to... to be Marte. I like Robert's pick as well. Robert says Nolan Oranato, Books Journey says Perdomo. All great picks. All great picks. I could definitely see it being Aronado as well, just because, you know, it almost feels like a Perdomo or a Marte is too obvious when it comes to asking who a Dodger killer would be. It feels like it needs to be somebody kind of inconspicuous off the roster that steps up and maybe is playing well, but plays much better for some reason when it's against the Dodgers. I like Gabby.

Yeah, Gabby is the first name I thought of, but it's hard right now with Gabby's struggling the way he is in spring to feel confidently about that. But I don't know. I'm also worried. I'm worried a lot. I spend the majority of my life riddled with anxiety. That's very true. Damon knows that. Damon hates me for that.

But at least I think he hates me for that. He doesn't actually hate me, but it's the anxiety. Once again, it projects the hate upon me. There it is right there. Manifesting. It definitely manifests. We got some questions from Discord, by the way, including one from our tribe mama, Chris. Yeah, Chris wants to know top three best sliders in Debex history, top five current MLB.

Oh, wow. That's, first of all, I first saw this question and I think I thought food. Not going to lie, when I was reading sliders, I was like, that sounds good. I was like chompies, right? I was like chompies, right? The Jewish sliders are chompies. Let's start there. No, best sliders in D-Bax history.

Top five current MLB. It's hard not to put the guys that are here right now in there. Being an older guy, I remember Tony Womack, just being really smooth and cool as hell. That, to me, is somebody that remains. Oh, is that what? I interpreted it as a pitch. Like the pitch, I guess, but silky smooth pop-up would make you think that it's like sliding, like, as in. stealing bags. Oh man. I guess we need a con yeah it's hard. You're right. I didn't even think of

this as sliders like slider. I was thinking like the pitch for some reason but I think that I think that you're right the silky smooth pop-up she's talking about like sliding into the bag. Right like Fernando Tatis Jr. Um has some amazing. If you're talking about current players right. Um, I mean, Eric Burns was a dive guy. Eric Burns was like like he's like the first guy that popped in my head was like yeah. Remember Eric Burns? getting dirty. Yeah. Nothing like it.

And I also think sliding, think about how many times we've seen Corbyn Carroll make amazing sliding catches and Alec Thomas. Like those guys make sliding to catch a ball and then popping up to throw it look like the easiest thing in the world. But they also slide into bases very good too. Corbin is the slide guy, I feel like out of everybody. Like he doesn't even dive head first. He doesn't even need to.

He only slides feet first. And really only slide catch. rather than dive catches in the outfield as well. So I'd say Corbyn has to be in that conversation. Is Javier Baez still considered a current player? Because he's still like one of the best sliders I've ever seen. Yeah, he was an all-star last year. Okay, I just wanted to make sure.

I didn't know if Baez was permanently banned from regular baseball like he is a world baseball classic. Javier Baez, he's like just the coolest slider. Like, you know it's going to be an event anytime there's a close play at a plate when he's sliding in. Kind of like Trey Turner, too. Like there's a lot, I'm sure a lot of highlight real slides from Trey Turner because he's just one of those kind of base runners overall.

But, oh, I got one. Who? Archie, MF, and Bradford. There it is. The greatest slide I've ever seen with my own two eyes watching a major league baseball game. I mean, you're telling me that slide, that pop up with the beard, ah!

I mean, that's, it doesn't get more electrical. than that. Yeah. No, I've, that felt like he rehearsed that, that slide in the pop-up in the mirror. I have a, I have a bobblehead that commemorates that situation.

Obviously, Randy Johnson, right? This is a lot of, if you want to call it the slide where they did the chalk outline of him over at first base because he just kind of fell into first base. What was, what pitcher did we have that actually stole some bases?

Was it? Granky? Yes. Dude, granky, granky slides were pretty elected. Gregi on the offense was electric, period. This man was a menace through opposing pitchers. Granky's slides were pretty electric.

Yeah, for sure. All right. We missed that in baseball. I know that it makes more sense and like having the weird American versus National League is crazy. Right. But like the amount of memories that we made over the years, I think being a team that maybe is not like a contender year in and year out,

maybe even makes it more. We're like trying, we're like, please give us something to be happy about. But man, like I'm thinking like Micah Owens. Yeah. I'm thinking Dan Herron almost hitting 300. Like Zach Granky, all of those offensive memories that Archie Bradley triple. DeBacks, we've had some pretty good offensive pitchers in our history. And I feel like those were like electric moments that like you can, you'll never be able to replicate Madison Bumgarner putting like.

eight balls over the fence for the giants. Just like going up there and swinging for the moon every time that he's in the box, not trying to do anything except connect on one and hit a bomb. Bartolo Cologne? I remember. It might be the go MLB moment, Derek. I forget the game and I'm probably, I could just be making these up,

but I'm pretty sure I remember one time speaking of Randy Johnson that like Randy Johnson participated in like he got an RBI and he was also like driven in. And then he won the game two to nothing. So he literally scored, but he was participating in both of the runs the team scored. And he went out there and struck everybody out on the mound. It just feels like I'm looking back on it and I'm thinking, man, we had some really fun offensive pitchers. And that was like a weird fun aspect of baseball. But it was a legitimate advantage when you did because it was such a throwaway spot in the lineup.

And you just knew sometimes even if you had something cooking. Like, oh, oh man, we got two on, two hours. We haven't had anything like this all day. Oh, here comes our pitcher. Yeah. You know, like that's how it was. But man, when it was the Diamondbacks every once in a while, you're like, you better watch out.

Micah Owings is about to hit it 375 feet. They're going to make him a hitter because he's so good at hitting. Oh, you're not wrong. All right. Let's get one more in from Tim's Taco Truck before we get out of your day. Yeah, we do have one last question here. So let's hit it here is from Tim's Taco Truck. And Tim wants to know any news on new food items at Chesa.

Chase, if no, if you could create one item, what would it be, Derek? Oh, man. We have not got any food items. And Damon will attest to this. The day that we get to try what's new at Chase Field is my favorite day of the year. This is a fact. Derek, I actually, like, I don't know if it's possible, but I'd love to actually make it out to this year's. I feel like that's one thing that, like, it's kind of ruined my life.

The Korean pork belly nachos, obviously not getting to try those. Well, it's because I come back here and I fill your head. I regale you with these tales of all the wonderful things I ate. even in some cases I'm still mad about how long it took for those smash burgers to get on the car course. A whole year, you're going to give me a little taste of them at this and then you're going to wait an entire season to give them to me. But yeah, no, there'll be some new stuff. I hope I just want to speak this into existence. I need them to bring back a decent Sonoran dog where the bacon is actually wrapped around the dog itself.

I know that they went away with that going with a higher quality of what they believed was bacon and like pork belly and then like kind of sprinkling it on top. No, we need, I need my Sonoran dog. It's wrapped in bacon. Yeah. I need half of the bacon cooked really well. And then the other half that's wrapped under the bacon to not be cooked at all. And I need the mustard and the mayo and the Pico de Gaio and I need all of that. I need the best Sonoran dog in the city should be found at a Diamondbacks game, period.

Period. Yeah. I mean, listen, Derek, we all know that like, you know, the maybe the best method of getting, you know, a sonoran dog. If it's not like out of a cart, out of a truck. It's out of somebody that just has a hot dog cart standing outside of a venue. A sporting event. 100%. And we need to find a way to get those hot dogs inside of Chase Field because I ballpark hot dogs are fantastic.

Don't get me wrong. That's a different type of hot dog. If we're talking some horn dogs, do it the damn right way. This is Arizona. Don't be disrespectful to my state. And come into my house and say my wife's name right, wrong. It's Christine. Yeah.

And you wrap the hot dog and bacon. Christina? It's the other guy's reference. It's Christina. Are you death or are you dumb? Perfect. Perfect. Yeah,

no, you're right. But he did ask what was, if there was one item I could add. Oh, that's a loaded question. Because, like,

immediately I think of like what places could I add. Like, I miss a Panda Express in there because, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm taking advantage with no Max Simpson. Oh, yeah. I love it, dude.

Uh, uh, let's see what else. We just talk about in there. Um, no, but if I'm inventing, let's see, if I'm inventing a new item, if I got to be honest, it would probably be like something ice cream related. Maybe, maybe give me ice cream in a helmet, Damon, right? We have some pretty damn good ice cream. But not the little helmet. I want it in the full-sized nacho helmet.

That's what I want my ice cream. Brother, I fell in love with Coldstone Creamery from going to D-back schemes. No, that's a fact. That's fair. That's fair. That's fair. You know what I really want? Earth cake remix, bro?

Damon, what I really want is the Coca-Cola Unlimited experience from the St. Louis Cardinals Stadium, where for $29, you get unlimited, not only Coca-Cola drinks, obviously, but unlimited hot dogs, chicken tenders, brought worsts, nachos, French. French fries, popcorn, peanuts, kettle chips, and ice cream cups. Wow. I'll never leave. Like, I won't leave. You'll have to bring the police in to get me to leave from that because that's where I live now.

I'm just going to live there in the All You Can Eat section. And again, tickets start as low as $29. So, I mean, that's breakfast, lunch, and dinner right there. Bring that to Chase. We just need to improve the all we can eat section of Chase Field. One of the other improvements that we need to make there. But I thank you guys for your questions. I think Damon.

for harassing me all the time and being here for me. You can follow us on social media. I'm at Cap underscore Cave Man with K. He's a Damon dog with a DAWG at the end, and we're all Damon's dogs. Bark, bark. I said bark bark. There it is.

Our show is at PH&X underscore D-Bex, but as always all roads lead to at PHNX underscore Sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys so much for your time. Appreciate you stopping by. We will see you again tomorrow at 12 p.m. No Diamondbacks baseball today. So go do something else with your life.

Go enjoy life a little bit without spring training baseball because we'll be back. Yeah. Remember you have a family sometimes. I don't. But I mean, you probably should. But again, we thank you guys so much for your time. Love you. And remember kids, baseball is fun.

But it's so much more fun when all of your players can get healthy.