PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Ep. 8: Evaluating the Draft, Picking All-Stars, & More

Episode Date: June 12, 2019

We discuss MLB's "home run problem," which Diamondbacks are mostly likely to find their way on the All-Star team, and much more. 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.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to episode 8 of the Rattle podcast. As always, I'm your host, Jesse Freeman along with Jeff Weiser, my co-hosts here on The Rattle, and we know it's been a little while since we've been here joining you to talk some Diamondbacks baseball here on the Rattle, some international traveling on my end and just some general busyness on Jeff's end, got in the way of our show last week, but we are happy to be back with you this week to talk some more Diamondbacks baseball. Jeff, this team 3533 coming into today. It's kind of really just continued a trend that we've talked about all season of the Diamondbacks, not really being in the thick of the playoff race, but also not really being counted out either.

They seem to have held steady. They had a nice series over the weekend against the Blue Jays with a big sweep there. They outscored the Blue Jays 22 to 4 in the series. And then at the moment, as we speak, they are in the midst of a three-game set with the Philadelphia Phillies. they've split a game each way so far. Diamondbacks hit a, I believe it was a franchise record, eight home runs in the first game of the series. There were 13 home runs all together in that game,

which I'm sure we'll talk about later in the show. But Jeff, just kind of thinking big picture here to start off the show, Diamondbacks sitting pretty much right where they have for most of the season, kind of right in the middle of the NL West race. Yeah, welcome back to America, Jesse. I'm happy to have you back on the conference. continent. It's a better continent with you on it. I think, you know, it's interesting. I mean, we've seen this team go through struggles and now they're over their last 10. You know,

I keep coming back to the sort of thought that I feel like the Diamondbacks. And so I'm not sure. I'll be interested here what you think. But whether it's a baseball trend or just a Diamondback strength, they really seem to be playing like up and down to the level of competition. Have you, I mean, the Blue Jays are not a particularly good team. You know, we've seen them really struggled against some better teams. We've seen them just absolutely pummel some not so good teams. So, I mean, I guess I'm sort of feeling like, you know, on a nightly basis, I'm just like, oh, I mean, what team are they playing? I feel like I could almost predict with some reasonable level certainty how the series will go based on who they're playing.

And there hasn't been a lot that's really surprised us. the wins have come against bad teams and the losses that come against get teams. And that seems to be the way it's sitting. The Diamondback so far this season have had some, I guess it's really more as of late. They've had some struggles in their starting rotation, which has been especially noticeable over the last couple days with Taylor Clark on Monday and then John Duplontier yesterday,

both really struggling in their outings. They were able to pick up Clark on Monday with, as I mentioned before, the eight home runs, but yesterday not able to pick up DuPontier and something that I noticed, I think this was mentioned in an article on the athletic by Zach Buchanan. The Diamondbacks literally have three rookies in their rotation right now. You've got Granky and Ray, of course, and then it's Merrill Kelly, Tyler Clark, and John DuPontier. This is something that at the beginning of the year, we probably wouldn't have envisioned, but the Diamondbacks are in this position nonetheless with the injuries that they've had to go

through. Jeff, do you think this is a rotation that is sustainable for the Diamondbacks? And that can maybe take them back into the playoff race at some point, or are they going to have to make an addition? I think if they're really serious about chasing this thing, I think there is an addition that needs to be made. Whether that's looking for an impact kind of addition or whether it's just more depth, I mean, frankly, I mean, they've had to dip into the miners for Taylor Clark

and for John DePontier and, you know, the next guy kind of on that list would have been Taylor Wyden but his season has been, you know, quite frankly, kind of a mess. So there's not a lot of depth at this point. I mean, I think they entered the season and even entered last season with a lot of pitching depth, a lot of starting pitching depth. I mean, not all of it was necessarily good, but there was quite a bit of it. At this point, they've exhausted a lot of it.

I mean, Taiwan Walker's had a setback, and I really wouldn't bet on seeing him this season. They've lost Luke Weaver. It's just, it's kind of, they're kind of running. out of arms, I guess, if I, you know, had to sort of frame it that way. And so, you know, Dallas Kichols off the market now. I don't think they were ever really a player for him, but, you know, they're going to have to probably add somebody. And we kind of heard those whispers of Mike Leak. So I'm not sure where they go, but I think if they really want to chase this thing, they're going to have to do something because we all know, like, all of these guys are like one pitch away from, you know,

suffering another injury. And at that point, I don't really know where you turn. Yeah, you mentioned the trade rumors that associated the diamond backs with the right-hander Mike Leak. And Jeff, I know we were talking a little bit just over text about the Diamondbacks, maybe being interested in Leak. And you look at the numbers this season, and it certainly hasn't been horribly pretty for Leak. The ERA is not too bad at just a little bit over four. But this guy has allowed almost 20 home runs in a little bit over 80 innings of 1. work. So if that's not a red flag, I'm not sure exactly what is. But, you know, something you

mentioned to me when we were talking about that is, you know, Mike Leak does give you innings. And he's done that pretty well this season. He averages more than six innings per start. So are those innings, you know, particularly good or effective? Maybe not, but they are innings nonetheless. And for a Diamondbacks bullpen that we've seen strained a little bit in the past and maybe even more so now with Taylor Clark and John DuPontier struggling to give them a whole lot of length, and You know, maybe they are in need of a guy who is not necessarily going to be excellent when he's out there, but he's at least going to be out there for a significant portion of each game that he pitches. Yeah, and I mean, if we look at how many starts he's made, he's made 14 starts and he's pitched almost 90 innings.

I mean, he's averaging more than six innings per start. He's, you know, essentially pitching into the seventh, you know, every night for the Mariners. And some of that might be because the Mariners need those innings too. and don't have a lot to really turn to. But, you know, having that sort of innings eater type guy can, you know, be beneficial. And I don't know that it really raises their odds. I mean, you know, I think if we were, you know, forecasting what we'd like to see, you know, you'd probably like to see something a little bit better in terms of quality of the Mike Leak.

But we also don't know who's out there. We don't know what the market looks like. It is still a little early. So the fact that they're looking as pretty. probably more substantial than necessarily who they're looking at in that regard. But I don't think they're going to get some, you know, they're not adding a Zach Granky-like arm to this rotation. This was from Ken Rosenthal, I think just a couple days ago.

You talked a little bit in a column about the Diamondbacks position and whether or not they would be buying come the trade deadline. And he found them to be in a position similar to their NL West counterpart, at San Diego Padres. He said, and this is a direct quote, many expect that Arizona will ultimately be sellers, but he speculates that the Diamondbacks could try to deal for a veteran starter soon and then flip that starter at the July 31st trade deadline if they fall out of contention by then. So an interesting take here by Rosenthal, maybe it is true. The Diamondbacks are going after a Mike Leak-esque starting pitcher. And then with some time, still remaining between now and the

trade deadline, you could always flip that guy if you don't feel you're really in need of him and you're really not going for it this season. That's the benefit of kind of working early. I mean, I guess that benefit is sort of twofold. If you make that trade early, you have that player on your roster for, you know, a longer duration of time, which is, which is good. If you make that trade right at the deadline, I mean, you're looking at two months of production. If you make that trade today, you're looking at like three and a half.

So there's some benefit there. I also think that, you know, it does give them a little bit more time to be flexible and play their, you know, kick the can a little bit. And if there's one thing we've seen kind of from Mike Hazan, it's that he's really been reticent to like make a firm directional decision on where the organization is going. And the one sort of through line that I do see is that, you know, he will he will look for value anywhere he can get it. you know, the Eduardo Escobar deal early in the off season. I mean, that's a tremendous value. The extension of Contell Marte, who now has, I believe, 17 home runs, was a value move. So I think he'll look for value, and I really wouldn't be surprised to see them be sellers and buyers simultaneously

and just look to, you know, again, marginally improve the roster. I don't think there's some big humongous tear down coming, but I think if they can find the value in places, I think Haysen will pull the trigger. Well, you mentioned the big home run totals for Escobar and Marte, and I think that leads us perfectly into a conversation about Monday's game, which I alluded to earlier. The Diamondbacks hit eight home runs in this game, which was a franchise record. The Philadelphia Phillies hit five home runs of their own, 13 home runs all together between the two teams.

And I believe that set a Major League Baseball record. I think I saw that tweeted that tweeted out by Nick Bacora, which I was surprised to see because, you know, in today's version of baseball, it almost felt as business as usual, like, yeah, the Diamondbacks hit eight home runs. That's just kind of how the game works nowadays. But it was a significant one, nonetheless, for baseball. And I think indicative of the position that baseball is in right now. You know, this is a game that the long ball has become very, very important to a lot of teams. And maybe could tell Marte, is a good example in himself. This is a guy who really wasn't seen as much more of a, much more than a slap hitter through the first few years of his career. Now he's got 17 home runs. He's on pace for, I believe, right at 40 home runs on the season, which is not really a guy you'd expect for a man of Citell Marte's frame.

Jeff, is this good for baseball? You know, I think that's, I think to each their own there, I'll say personally, I don't, you know, when you're hitting 13 home runs in a game, they start to feel pretty meaningless. Like, oh, there goes another one. You know, and it just doesn't carry the same gravity. So I don't really think necessarily it is good for the game. I mean, I think with all things, right, I mean, even if we, I mean, thinking sort of economically, but thinking about, you know, hitting a point of diminished returns, I mean, you know,

Is the third or fourth home run, you know, exciting? Sure, you know. Is the 12th home run exciting? Maybe, but only because you just tied a record. Is the 13th exciting? Sure, but only because you just set a record. You know, I feel bad for the guys that hit, hit like home runs like eight and nine because they were just kind of like ho-hum, home runs.

But somewhere in there, you know, it just feels like, you know, does this really matter? I mean, this is really important. And, you know, it's kind of like watching a college football game when the score ends up, you know, 65 to 48. It's like, well, there were a lot of touchdowns scored, but, you know, what were they really worth? I mean, so I think there's a sort of break-even point in there somewhere in between, you know, hitters, pitchers, and adduced baseball, we're losing some of the, some of the nuance of the game. And I do think it can be detrimental. I mean, we've already seen some trends, you know, embedded ball profiles, the way pitchers are attacking guys that have either, you know, know, if they haven't slowed the pace of the game, they haven't necessarily made it more appealing.

And so I don't think, you know, a ton of home runs is the best direction for baseball. But I, you know, I don't also want to be that person that tells everyone else how to enjoy a baseball game. I'm really just speaking for myself. I think it's a fair point that there is a break, you know, a break-even point, like you mentioned. I think that's a really good way of putting it. For me, I would probably put that break-even point maybe a little bit higher than most people would. I think that the home run is really what sets baseball apart. I'm not really sure if there's anything in other sports like it.

You know, just something that carries the grandeur, if you will, of a home run in baseball. I think it's just a really, really cool moment for fans to watch. But like you're saying, I think it's a fair point that as cool as the home run is and as unique as it is for baseball, you know, there comes a point when if something's just happening all over the place, then it kind of loses that uniqueness a little bit. And so I think there definitely has to be that point. I think, you know, if a guy like Cite can hit 40 home runs in a season, I think, you know, maybe that's a sign that we're a little bit past the break-even point.

Obviously, we've, you know, seen some of the smaller guys in baseball come out in recent years and really flash some power, which I think is great. But, you know, Cotel Marte is not alone in this. They're, you know, smaller players and players of all shapes and sizes across Major League Baseball right now, hitting all kinds of home runs. And I think it's probably a fair point that baseball is just a little bit beyond that break-even point that you're talking about. One other thing I want to jump into, speaking of Escobar and Marte really, is the Diamondbacks' All-Star candidates. And I think Escobar and Marte probably are leading that charge at the moment.

And Escobar coming into today is 2.5 wins above replacement this season, according to fan graphs, which if you do the math, that's a pretty good number for this point this season, probably looking at a pace of about six, maybe a little over six wins above replacement by the end of the season. Escobar, a WRC plus of 139. Wobah is up at 386. This is a guy who is, you talked about value plays earlier, Jeff. I think Escobar, if anyone on this Diamondbacks team has to be in position to make an all-star appearance for Arizona this season. Yeah, he's probably the most clear-cut candidate for, you know, really for that, for that all-star nod.

His season has been outstanding. I mean, it's really amazing to watch guys. I mean, come into this kind of production, you know, as they're older players. Escobar is by no means necessarily old, right? But he's certainly had his big league time. I mean, he's north of 30 now. So I think that's been really exciting to see. And I think he's probably the best representative, you know,

to probably carry the dimeback's flag into the All-Star game. I think Zach Grinke is also very deserving. But on the position player side, it's probably Escobar. And, you know, and maybe David Peralton, I think Catea obviously, like, merit. some some attention although you know he might have had a better at shortstop than he will in center field but no complaints about Escobar I mean this is a move that at this point in time you know he's essentially you know been worth his contract already to this point for like the

entire duration of his contract so it's like everything you know from the middle of this season onward will almost be surplus production from Eduardo Escobar. And that is, you know, that's a, that's a feather in the cap of Mike Hazen for sure. Major League Baseball just released a voting update. And Eduardo Escobar is currently seventh in voting for third baseman, which I guess really just goes to show what the third base field is like in the National League. He's behind Nolan Aranato, Chris Bryant, Justin Turner, Josh Donaldson, Anthony Rendon, and Mani Machado.

So Escobar certainly has some ground to make up. And I guess that's up to you, the fans, to help out Eduardo Escobar, certainly deserving with those numbers that I mentioned earlier. Cotel Marte, I found this interesting. I'm not sure if you noticed this, Jeff, but Cotel is actually listed as a second basement on the All-Star ballot. So as much as he's probably, I believe he's played well more time in the outfield than he has on the infield, but for some reason he's listed as a second basement,

and that's probably to his benefit. As in the voting update released by Major League Baseball, he landed third in the National League behind only Ozzy Albis and Mike Mustakis. So Ketel Marte actually, as of right now, is probably maybe the most sure candidate of the Diamondbacks position player core to make an appearance in the All-Star game, although, of course, we certainly still have some time to go before. That will be determined.

I don't believe David Peralta, made the top 15, I believe it would be for the outfielder pool. So still some work to be done there as well. Jeff, another thing that I wanted to touch on just briefly is that the All-Star voting process has actually changed this season. I don't know if they're trying to pay homage to the United States electoral process that is about to commence in just a few months. but the All-Star voting process for Major League Baseball has been adjusted a little bit

to kind of reflect the political process here in the United States. They have what is called a primary vote, and then they have a final vote, which will ultimately select the players who will start in each league. So basically how it works is between now and I believe it's June the 21st at 4 p.m. Eastern. That's the primary vote. And so basically Major League Baseball will take the top three players, players from each category.

And those players will then be brought into the final vote, which lasts a period of about 28 hours, I believe, just over a day. And in that 28-hour period, all of the voting numbers are wiped clean. It starts from the beginning. And fans are then given the opportunity to vote for the starters. So the primary narrows it down to the top three in each category. And then you've got the final vote nailing down the starter at each position. Jeff, kind of a confusing change, not totally sure what to make of it yet, but I'm curious what your thoughts are.

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, yeah, I don't, we've never done this like voting for your local congressman, right? Which of them is going to start, which one's on the bench? No, it's interesting. I do think there's a level of engagement that they're after with the change. And I think it probably stems from the fact that, you know, by that cutoff date, it's pretty clear who the biggest vote getters are going to be. And so then by implementing that 24-hour push for the starter window,

they're probably looking for just a really big push and a really big boost in terms of who those people are. So I do think it's kind of cool in sense that there's this level of engagement that happens early on and sort of filling out the contenders. And then from there, they'll make another really big push. And I think a lot of it's aimed at social media, a lot of it's aimed at, you know, Twitter and sort of these campaigns to bring awareness back to baseball.

And so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out, you know, and whether it really achieves that goal. But I do think it's it's worth trying something because at some point, right? Like Nolan Aronado is the runaway third base, you know, vote getter, you know, for example, you know, and then you wipe that clean and it's like, all right, you know, for Rocky's fans, hey, like, you know, you bring out the vote one more time. Like, if you're really serious about this, bring it out one more time. So I think that could be kind of cool, but it is, it does on its base seem a little

convoluted or, you know, overly difficult. Yeah, yeah, certainly a little bit complicated. The technical name, I called it the final vote before, but Major League Baseball is calling it the starters election. That is the 28-hour period following the primary. So they're going all political on us with all of these. different names, but it will be really interesting to see how things play out in this first season. One thing they did mention, which I thought was interesting and really a valid point,

is one of the reasons for the change. They said that, you know, using this starter's election process and wiping the slate clean, it kind of erases all of the votes for players who might have, you know, been really good in April or May or just, like, started the season really well and got, you know, accumulated a lot. lot of votes over those first couple months and then kind of fell off. I think this, you know, maybe gives those players, you know, puts them in a little bit of a of a more difficult situation and gives fans the opportunity to kind of recast their vote if maybe some things have changed as the course of the season has gone on.

So something I just wanted to touch on quickly. I thought it was definitely an interesting change. Yeah, no, definitely is. I'll be interested to see if it works that way or if it's still just a popularity contest. Right. Yeah, the famous problem in Major League Baseball. We'll see what happens here in 2019. Another thing that happened since we last recorded, probably one of the more significant events of the season. And potentially, in history of this franchise, was the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 3rd and in the couple days following, taking part in the MLB draft. Certainly a big draft this season for the Diamondbacks with all of those draft picks that they accumulated in the top 100.

I believe they had seven of them. And by all accounts, Jeff, the diamondbacks seem to do pretty well. Analysts have really given Arizona some pretty high marks so far. Obviously, you really can't judge draft until probably four or five years down the road. So, you know, you have to take everything you hear with a grain of salt. But the diamond backs will just give a few names, a few of the more headliner names. And then, Jeff, I'll pitch it over to you to make some comments on what you liked and maybe didn't like coming out of the draft.

The Diamondbacks took Corbin Carroll, the high school outfielder, who I know is a player that you would pinpointed earlier as a guy they might be interested in taking. He has some comparisons to Alec Thomas, who is one of the Diamondbacks' top prospects, maybe just a tick better than him in probably across the board in just about every category. So he was the Diamondbacks first pick. And at number 16, they took Blake Walston, who is a left-handed pitcher. they took him at 26. Brennan Malone, who is a guy I heard get a lot of play with a mid-90s fastball, good curveball. He's a right-handed pitcher. They took him at 33.

Going down the line, Dre Jameson, they took him at 34. Ryan Nelson, they got him at 56. Tommy Henry at 74. Dominic Fletcher at 75. There are, of course, plenty more names that I could read out, but I'll stop it right there. Jeff, by all accounts, I think the Diamondbacks, did pretty well. You think that's fair to say? Yeah, I think that's fair to say. I think, you know, they were presented with a unique opportunity of having the excessively large bonus

pool thanks to all the picks. You know, and by and large, they played the draft pretty straight. They went with probably the best player on the board with their first pick. And, you know, picking at 16 was always going to be a little difficult. I mean, there's 15 other names that come off the board before you get to make that first selection. So, you know, getting, Corbyn Carroll was probably, you know, the best move they could have made in that position. And, you know, it was really interesting to see them, you know, early on with those first three picks go with, you know, really what could be described is like, you know, upside high school type talent. Corby Carroll has been a team U.S. has performed at a high level for a high school

player. Brennan Malone, similarly, you know, you mentioned the fastball already up in the mid-90s, a big strong kid. They're listed at 6.4205. Probably has a little bit more filling out to do. And then Blake Walston is, you know, probably the project of the bunch. A lefty who can throw strikes but has a lot of room for physical projection. And at 6.5-175, you know, he's going to grow and fill that frame out. So even their fourth and fifth round picks.

I mean, Dre Jameson has a power fastball out of Ball State. and Ryan Nelson out of the University of Oregon has been clocked, you know, up into the upper 90s and is really just now kind of focusing on pitching full time. He's a converted position player, but has been effective. And scouts think he has a chance to actually, you know, to start and not move to the bullpen, but be a starter. So it's a pretty dynamic group. I think it was interesting to see them go high school early, then really start to mix in the college guys. they did, you know, kind of slide in Glenn Allen Hill Jr., who's another high school position player, a shortstop there in the fourth round and then continue to sort of fill out the top 10

with those college picks. So they did a nice job of mixing it up. There are a lot of arms here, and if we think about the Diamondback system, and we did just kind of touch on their pitching depth. Even throughout the system, they're a little thin on arms. So I think they played it pretty straight. They got a really nice haul. They didn't go with some big, bold strategy of trying to throw a ton of money at one high school kid and then, you know, go underslot with a bunch of senior signs throughout the draft.

So I think they used the opportunity well and they collected, you know, I think what would be seen is, you know, probably just a really deep collection of talent at different ages, different levels, different positions really to bolster the farm system. and I think, you know, there have been some kind of interesting reflections. I think the Diamondbacks will probably, you know, at this point in time, probably have a top 10 farm system now thanks to this draft and provided they sign all these guys. And one of the trends with the pitchers that's kind of come up is that the Diamondbacks picked a lot of pitchers that have, you know, kind of more of an over-the-top vertical arm slot, guys that can really spin the fastball, the sort of high-spin fastball that plays well up in the zone, and can really conversely spin the curveball to really tunnel those two pitches well.

So that arm slot tends to play really well in terms of high spin pitches. We know that spin rates are becoming more and more important throughout the game. So just some kind of trends that we saw throughout the draft. Yeah, you mentioned the Diamondbacks. We'll have to go ahead and actually sign these guys with how the MLB draft works. It's, you know, you don't just draft them in there on your team. There's still a signing process that has to happen. And last season, the Diamondbacks missed out on signing their first round pick Matt McLean.

So we'll see if they're able to sign everyone this season. Definitely something to watch in the coming weeks. Jeff, one last thing before we jump into a couple questions here. Carson Kelly has really come on strong this season after kind of looking like the same hitter that he was in St. Louis when the season started. His average was lolling in the 100s for a while. didn't seem like he really had a whole lot to offer offensively, which has really kind of been his MO in his first few years in the big league.

But as the Diamondbacks have given him more of an opportunity this season, he's really taken to it pretty well, 264, the 346 on base, slugging up over 500 now. He's really starting to look like he could be the Diamondbacks catcher of the future. And you have to go really all the way back to Miguel Montero, I would say, to find a catcher that the Diamondbacks have kept on their team for multiple years is kind of a franchise type guy. Maybe Jeff Carson Kelly can be that guy for the Diamondbacks. Yeah, I think there's a good chance of that.

And I think that's why they were motivated to make a move. You know, we kept hearing, right, like, well, he needs a chance to play every day or just about every day. He really needs the regular reps. He needs to spend the time on the Major League roster and not be shuffled up and down. And that sounds all well and good until it happens. but you still have to wait for it to happen. And, you know, fortunately in this case, it's played out, you know, kind of the way that everyone hoped it would. So that's great.

I don't think the power numbers will probably continue to trend quite as high as they are right now, but that's okay. He's got room to give there. I mean, this is looking like, I mean, he's played like an above average major league catcher, you know, at this point. Yeah. I don't know if that continues completely. But that's part of the cool unknown with a guy like Carson Kelly. Like we actually don't know. We don't know if there's another gear left in his game.

He's young enough that you would think there probably is. But we look now, I mean, he doesn't strike out too much. He walks plenty and he's hitting for power. So, you know, maybe there's a lull. Maybe there's still a few adjustments that need to be made. You know, maybe pitchers will adapt to him and he's going to have to do some adapting back. But, man, this is a great baseline to work from. I mean, that situation itself couldn't really have worked out any.

better for the Diamondbacks. We've got several very interesting questions from our friend Jim Ellis. Unfortunately, Jim, we don't have time to get to all of them, but one I do want to hit on, which we tried to talk about before the show, kind of a dumbfounding question, but a really interesting one nonetheless. Jim asks, what pitch do you want the next call-up to have mastered and why? Jeff, I need a couple minutes myself to think over my answer. I think you have one, so I'll go ahead and pitch it over to you. Yeah, I was thinking about this, and the things that, you know,

if we're thinking of call-ups, we're not thinking of guys that'll get signed or traded for, per se. But I think if we're thinking of those kinds of guys, you're probably looking for, you know, just some kind of really, really plus pitch. And, you know, what the Diamondbacks have struggled with a bit is finding guys that are able to really elicit

that swing and miss component. So for me, me, you know, I look at, I look at probably like a like a plus or plus plus, either fastball or slider. If a guy could have both, that'd be fantastic. Those are kind of the pitches that jump to mind for me are just, you know, I tend to think too, especially about guys that maybe come out of the bullpen because I think that's been really a focus for us lately is noticing the, you know, just kind of the mediocrity of the

bullpen at times. So you look at some of the swings and misses. the guy like Andrew Chafin gets on his slider. He throws it to one spot most of the time, which is low and away for him. That would be like down and in. Towing away from lefties. And man, guys swing at it and they just almost never hit it.

So I would like some more of that, please. So give me that plus slider. The guys just can't lay off. I think for me, I've got a, there's two pitches in my mind. One is just a high velocity fastball. You know, we see stories. you know, on Twitter, on social media, and all the different platforms about Jordan Hicks throwing 103

and are all this Chapman, of course, doing his thing for years and years. And it just seems like it's been a long time since the Diamondbacks have had their own guy like that. And frankly, I'm not really sure if they've really ever had one. I think Archie Bradley's velocity was pretty up there maybe a couple years ago. Still pretty high now, but certainly with the way baseball has trended toward higher and higher velocity, I don't think the Diamondbacks really have anyone really in the upper echelons of velocity right now. So that's something I would love to see. Another pitch that I've kind of missed from this team is the change-up.

You know, you've got Zach Granky who's been doing his thing for years. I just wish that Granky could maybe find a way to teach that change-up to someone else on the roster. Not quite sure if that's how it works. But it's a pitch that we really haven't seen any Diamondbacks pitchers specialize in, aside from Granky in quite some time. I think of, you know, the recent starters that the Diamondbacks have had perform well. Robbie Ray, of course, his main out pitch is the slider. Patrick Corbin also threw a slider.

Looking up and down this roster, I really don't see, you know, a really good change up outside of Zach Granky. So that's probably what it would be for me. Yeah, and with Luke Weaver on the shelf, they really don't have it because Luke's is pretty good, but, you know, he's going to miss an extended amount of time now. So it even creates like a bigger void for that pitch. Another question we got from Jim Ellis is how will Christian Walker's second half shape out? This has been a guy who really came on strong for the Diamondbacks. I think as of late people have been calling for Kevin Crome,

the recent call up to maybe take his place a little bit. Christian has struggled, certainly with the strikeout. He's got a lot of swing and miss to his game. Jeff, for me, I look at Christian Walker and I kind of see this. is a balancing out act. I think what he is right now is probably about what he is at the major league level. But, you know, you've got a whole lot of power in there. He's certainly a guy who's capable of hitting home runs at a high mark.

And maybe there's, you know, he's certainly not a young guy coming up from AAA. You're not used to seeing guys in their upper 20s as Christian Walker is. But maybe there is maybe something left in there that the diamond backs can harness over over these last few months of the season? I think if anything, it's just trying to find some consistency in his game, you know, avoiding the prolonged slumps. Yeah. You know, and I kind of wrote about him recently at Baseball Perspectus,

and then he proceeded to go on a tear and make me look like an idiot, which was just fine. But it's interesting. I mean, I think his wing at times can get a little long when he keeps it short and, you know, he really can kind of make that contact. You know, there are some holes in his game. game defensively he's been you know actually really strong over at first base he's been a really really good metrics or maybe a little mix on that but we've seen him make some plays that look

pretty good at times so uh i think i think he in some ways kind of is what he is i think he's a bit of a flawed player i think for um for the diamond backs it would just be maybe trying to find some consistency i mean he doesn't have to go out and beat the world all the time we know what he can do when he gets his pitch. It's going to be kind of, you know, mitigating some of the, the holes in his game. And if he can do that, I think he can remain a useful Major League player. If he can't, you know, he may struggle to keep his job, like, really long term. So if I had to guess and had to bet, you know, I think Walker's a hardworking guy. I think I would probably hedge towards him maybe making some of those improvements and maybe evening out his game. And, you know,

know, sticking around as kind of maybe a low-end regular first baseman. I think he's got that in him. But if he can't close some of those little holes in his game, it's, you know, could be the end for him as a regular player, you know, kind of sooner than later. Greg Littleton asked us about sending Archie Browley to AAA, which I think is something that we've definitely heard from fans a few times now. Archie has certainly struggled quite a bit this season.

I know he looked pretty good. in his last few outings, he started to actually have some innings thrown where he doesn't give up two base runners in each inning, which is good to see, something we haven't really seen a whole lot of this season from Archie, whose whip is still sky high. I don't have the number in front of me. But Jeff, do you think this is something that Diamondbacks would actually consider doing? I believe he has options, I want to say, but at the same time, you know, a guy who is really one of the faces of your franchise a couple years.

ago, if not the face of the franchise, it certainly seems like a pretty radical thing to send him down to AAA. Yeah, he actually does have an option left. I did have to look that up. I wasn't entirely sure, but he does have an option to your left, so he can be optioned down. I don't think, I don't think for me, I don't think moving him to AAA is necessarily going to be that advantageous. I think his stuff will play there, and I think he knows it.

If you're looking to just, like, get him some confidence back, I think you can, you can can probably pick your spots on when you deploy him. And maybe rather than setting him to AAA, try to use him in, you know, continue to use him in some maybe lower leverage situations against, you know, maybe the bottom half of the order. That might be the way to do it. I sort of hate to say this, but I think sometimes the sort of phantom injured list assignment can also be useful.

It's just, it's really difficult for relief pitchers to make adjustments during the season because they get called on at a moment's notice. It's not like they can go out into the bullpen, you know, before a game and throw 100 pitches and try to, you know, really work on something because they need to be fresh at night. So it's really, really challenging to really make that, you know, make those adjustments and do that work on the side. So, you know, if he was, you know, sometime assigned to the disabled list

with the injured list, that's I really have a hard time with that, with something as little as, you know, a sore foot or, you know, a stub toe or something or a bad pinky, you know, maybe we see that at some point. But he's been up and down enough that we've seen enough of the good outings to know that it's in there. So I think it's more a matter of trying to figure out how to kind of corral that because there have been some outings where he has looked sharp and the results have been good. So I'm not quite sure how to do that. there are people that get paid a lot more than me that make those decisions and I would trust

them to do that work. But I'm not sure that sending him to Reno is necessarily the best move. One other question, the final one we're going to hit on here in today's show, asks about the first half of the season for some of the Diamondbacks top prospects. Jazz Chisholm has really hit for power. But the batting average is sub 200. Taylor Widener. Our question asker also mentions down in the PCL, which of course is a a tough pitching environment where he has struggled, which, you know, maybe that's just the Pacific Coast

League. Maybe Taylor Widenerst does a few things to iron out in his game. Jeff, what do you think? I'll pitch it over to you as our resident prospect genius. What have you seen and who has impressed you and who has maybe disappointed so far this season down in the Diamondbacks farm system? Yeah, Dominic had some great questions. And I think if we're kind of looking at some of those top prospects. You know, John DuPontier is doing just fine. So I really not, I'm not concerned there at all. We haven't seen Christian Robinson yet this season. He will begin his season in Hillsborough, and I will be there frequently to see him play, very frequently, as much as time allows, frankly. You know, Dalton Bar Show, I think, he's missed some time due to injury, but he's been okay.

He's kind of continuing the process, and he's sticking behind the plate, which I think is probably the most notable piece. You talked about Jazz Chisholm, batting like 179, but, you know, when he hits the ball, it tends to go out of the ballpark. There are probably some adjustments that need to be made there. There is a spot where that, you know, all of a sudden becomes, you know, less advantageous. So he's got some work to kind of mitigate. He's kind of a three true outcome shortstop, which is a little odd for baseball.

But there's some refinement there. I've been kind of up and down, but the projections still looks good. I don't think anything's really changed there. He's just hitting the ball on the ground a lot, which is causing us in trouble. Taylor-Widener season has been a disaster, and what I haven't heard are any reports on his stuff, I don't know that that's necessarily taken a step backwards. So I don't have the clearest picture there, but it is concerning. Alec Thomas has hit a ton, but he's hitting a ton of ground balls, and that doesn't necessarily play so well up the ladder.

Jake McCarthy missed some time, but he's back, and he's holding a ton of. his own. He's had some plate discipline issues and the power hasn't really shown up, but his season has been a little disrupted. Taylor Clark is kind of what we thought he would be. Kind of a number five type starter, sort of an up and down type guy. And that's valuable because at this point, I mean, you have to ask yourself, where would the dimebacks be without Taylor Clark right now? So I think he's doing his thing. And Pavin Smith, you know, we've seen a little bit more power. We've seen fewer ground balls. That's all good. It's still kind of a, you know, fringy profile for first baseman. So I think, you know, overall, it's been kind of, you know,

ho-hum. There's been a few maybe, you know, stand-out, stand-outs. But I don't think anyone's really drastically altered their stock at this point. I think for all the guys that you could look at their triple slash line and say, oh, look at what they're doing, there may be a few things you could point to that aren't quite on track. So that's a bit of a mixed bag. But I don't. think anyone's really done anything to like catapult themselves like into the national spotlight at this point. Big thank you to everyone who submitted a question for today's show. That's all that we have here for episode eight of the Rattle podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you haven't already, be sure to give us a follow on Twitter. You can find us at the Rattle A-Z. And as well, be sure to

check out our website at therattle.net where you can find some good and original commentary on the Diamond badge. We've got some good material up there now and of course some new things in the works as well, some exciting content that will certainly fill you in on soon. So be sure to look out for that. Thank you once again so much for listening. That's all that we have for this episode and we will see you once again next week for more on the Arizona.