PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Is the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 1-2 combo of Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly one of the best in baseball?

Episode Date: August 9, 2022

The Arizona Diamondbacks just may have one of the best starting pitching combos in MLB with Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly while also remaining committed to giving their rookies more playing time than any other team in baseball.SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtubeWebsite: https://gophnx.com PHNX Locker: https://phnxlocker.com/Head on over to The PHNX Locker to pick up one of our new PHNX hats!SOCIAL: Twitter: https://twitter.com/PHNX_DbacksInstagram: https://instagram.com/PHNX_Sports Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app now (https://bit.ly/3Jl1dMX), use promo code PHNX and make your first deposit and get a RISK-FREE BET UP TO ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Minimum age and eligibility restrictions apply.If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, crisiscounseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (IL/IN/MI/NJ/PA/WV/WY), 1-800-NEXT STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO/NH), 888-789-7777/visit http://ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-BETS OFF (IA), 1-877-770-STOP (7867) (LA), 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY), visitOPGR.org (OR), call/text TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN), or 1-888-532-3500 (VA).21+ (18+ WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/LA/MI/NJ/NY/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Min. $5 deposit required. Eligibility restrictions apply. See http://draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.OGeez! We have free stuff for you! Enter the “Flavoring Life” sweepstakes. One winner will receive 3, YES THREE, bags of OGeez including Orange Creamsicle and Tropical flavors, an OGeez! Hat, a PHNX shirt of your choice and a PHNX annual membership. Sign up at gophnx.com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfIplqDYsxYeiotn5Zc6hRahaX0a5qG99eHVzkhOlGZDRdgUA/viewform Check out OGeez! online at ogeezbrands.com and on Instagram @ogeezbrands. You can also find their products at your local dispensary. Must be 21 years or older to purchase.Enter to win the “Toast of the Month” sweepstakes to win a $50 Four Peaks gift card, a PHNX shirt of your choice, and a PHNX annual membership. Go to goPHNX.Com or visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfOabxo8KQxOWwn9wTilMBuTMAJdrL0CaH9lzfuJqgKN9vfSg/viewform FOCO has you covered with the best Arizona Merchandise. They have officially licensed gear for men, women and kids and everything from bobbleheads to swimsuits to crocs. Head on over to foco.com. For all non pre-sale items use the promo code “PHNX” for 10% off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello and welcome to another edition of the PHNX D-Backs podcast right here on PHNX. My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX. This guy over here is the Thunderstick, also your vice mayor, the one and only Jesse Friedman. We're both wearing hats today. We got hats on today. We have hats on. We still need to name the snake. I don't like Rattler.

We need a name for this snake like he needs an actual human name. And we'll get you guys to do that later. But of course, this show is brought to you by the fine folks at the Draft King's Sportsbook app, America's top-rated sportsbook app. Jesse, Arizona Diamondbacks win. They keep this little winning train going, right? Much better than what the Padres got going on since they traded for Juan Soto. This is true.

Yeah, we tweeted out earlier today. The Diamondbacks, since the Juan Soto trade went down, are four and two, and the Padres are one and five. And I will caveat that by saying that I will give a caveat on that. because technically the Rockies beat the Rockies twice on the day of the trade. But Juan Soto was not a part of the team at that point. So I did not include those games in the calculation.

We have to give that little asterisk. But other than that, the diamond backs... That's fact. That is fact. That is absolutely fact. The Diamondbacks have vastly outperformed the San Diego Padres since the trade went down

and the Padres just aren't really scoring any runs right now, which is pretty ironic given what they did on trade deadline day. So here we are. and what the Diamondbacks didn't do on trade deadline. We talked a bit about this stretch. And again, we didn't want to say the words that we said at times during other series,

like the previous matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates. But we felt like at least for how difficult their schedule remains to be for the rest of the season, that this was probably the easiest that it was going to get, right? And at the very least, so far, the Diamondbacks have taken advantage of it. They're also the best bunting team in baseball. I don't know. I'm ready to call him that. What do you think? That was pretty impressive yesterday. That Josh Rojas bunt was, that was absolute perfection.

It was perfection. And they've started to do it more recently. And it's not just like, it's not just guys who are good at laying down sacrifice bunt. It's guys who are like pretty good at bunting for hits. I think the debacks at one point yesterday had two hits with runners in scoring position and both of them were bun singles. So that's how you, that's how you get the ducks off the pond, right? Just just bunt single everyone around. basis. But yeah, no, it was impressive. The Diamondbacks, it's certainly a skill that they have and

they've started to use it a little bit more. The first run that scored yesterday's game wasn't on a hit. So technically, if they would have ended the game and won nothing, it would have been not like there, there was something weird about that. Like that wasn't, the entire game was weird. But the Diamondbacks. You mean how like Alec Thomas didn't get an RBI? Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah, it was Alec Thomas not getting the RBI for the single and stuff. So, yeah, but Josh Rojas showed off his arm a bit. Dalton Varshow showed off his arm. Rojas at third base, proving us wrong about his ability to throw across the diamond because he did a good job yesterday.

Yeah, apparently he's been listening to everyone saying that he doesn't really have the arm for third base. Of course, we never would have put something like that out into the ether. But for everyone else saying those sorts of things, that was an impressive throw yesterday. Zach Allen said after the game that he thought the ball was foul and it was a fair ball just barely down the third base. And Rojas made a really, really nice pick. And then a very impressive, long throw all the way across the first base. He showed impressive confidence in Zach Gallen, who was yesterday's winning pitcher. Zach Gallen had an excellent outing.

And he said that with the way Gallant was throwing, that the one run they had was all he needed. But Ketel Marte contributed. He's been back both offensively and defensively. He's been his old self, it feels like, looking at Marte. And that was a really clutch hit that he got to give them that little bit of cushion. Yeah. You know, to make it not completely nerve-wracking in the ninth inning. Yeah, I mean, there's a fine line between ground balls that turn into like inning-ending double plays that disappoint you.

And ground balls like the one that could tell Marte hit that like barely inch their way into the outfield, right? There's not always a very big difference between those two things other than the final outcome. But yeah, apparently O'Neill Cruz needed to be like seven foot one, seven foot two in order to get to that ground ball. unfortunately for him he was only 6 foot 7 you love that joke I do I really do yeah this is basically just where I like replay all of the jokes that were in my head from last night he works on his material on Twitter and then he brings the good stuff here after he figured it out

but yeah I mean the yesterday's game by no stretch of the imagination was an overpowering win but it felt like the that gallon was pretty darn good the Zach Gallin was incredibly good right and you know the other thing that we saw was in the ninth inning turning to Ian Kennedy instead of Mark Melanson. So it's kind of interesting to see how that, I guess, job there in the ninth inning is going to develop throughout the rest of the season. Obviously, Mark Malanson was, you know, he got the save in the previous night.

But Ian Kennedy had also worked, what, like three out of the four last games? Yeah, yeah, last night made it three out of four for Ian Kennedy, which is about as risky as like pitching a guy on back-to-back night. So it doesn't always end well when you do that. But Ian Kennedy was reasonably sharp. I think he walked one guy on. on like four pitches or something but it was an uneventful ninth inning it just was it was it was like it just ended and it was like how you feel ninth inning should go but they don't go

for this team and i mean i think everybody's been a bit perplexed about what's going on with mark malanson but even in his save conversions uh he still doesn't have that same you know lack of of things happening in the ninth inning like we saw with ian kennedy on the matter yeah it It just felt very comforting, and it felt like the Diamondbacks were going to win, even with, you know, the man getting on base. Yeah. I do think it's kind of funny that, you know, since the Diamondbacks decided to go closer by committee, I think Ian Kennedy has had three outings and he successfully converted a save in two of them. And the other one was a tie game. And Ian Kennedy took the loss.

So it's sort of like, I'm not really sure anything's changed here at the end of the day. But you're right. It was an uneventful ninth inning yesterday, all things considered. And yeah, I mean, that's good to see. I think Diamondbacks fans have had more than their fair share of increased heart rate and blood pressure to come to the ninth inning. So it's nice to not have to deal with that one time. It's like it's like 930 at night, Jesse. I can't get my heart rate up that high and then expect to go to bed at a reasonable time, right?

Right. You know, those games. But what do you think going forward happens with Malanson? think we still see him remain the closer and then they just kind of lean towards Ian Kennedy or do you think Molinson's on a short leash at this point? I mean, he's not the closer, right? I mean, it's a closer by committee situation. So I still think he's in the mix. It's going to depend on matchups. I think he wasn't available or Ian Kennedy wasn't available in a game. And so we saw them go to Mark Malanson instead in a safe situation there. So I feel like Ian Kennedy is is probably.

probably the preference in the ninth inning. But as far as we know, it's a closer by committee, and it could be in Kennedy. It could be Joe Mantiply who pitched an outstanding eighth inning in yesterday's game. Or it could be Mark Melanson. So it's just going to depend on matchups and usage and those sorts of things. If they start to lean on Kennedy, though, what happens with Melanson? Do we see him turn into a bullpen reliever, someone that comes in in like the seventh or the eighth?

That's a good question. I don't know. I guess, yeah, he's still a reliever that you're probably using, like, more toward the end of games and in bigger situations, probably. But, yeah, I don't know. I mean, Mark Malanson has spent the vast majority of his major league career as a closer. So it's a little bit weird when you're in that spot. And then suddenly you get switched to a role that you're not really used to. So we'll see.

When they picked up both of these guys, there was a discussion, obviously, that they were picking up two closers. Yeah, that's true. From the get-go, there was no competition. It felt like from the press conference that we interviewed Ian Kennedy at for his introduction back to the team, they were already saying that he was going to be the setup man of Melanson, and we were asking him his feelings on that. He had a very amicable attitude towards it and was kind of okay with whatever role the Diamondbacks felt they needed him in. But that was always odd to me that, I mean, I get it.

Malanson, based on his numbers last year, probably warrants winning the job. just outright without there being an open competition. At the beginning of the year for sure. I mean, the guy led the National League and saves, right? So that's got to count for something, I guess. But it was on a very good team. The Padre's team is a very good team. And except after they acquired Juan Soto.

Yeah, right. Zing. Got him. I got it. But anyway, the Diamondbacks really didn't do much after the trade deadline. Jesse actually covered their lack of movement after the trade deadline. But so far, it's been, I feel like it. It's worked out for them, right? We've seen this team building on something. We're really seeing a core start to develop

and who this team can build around in the future. But most importantly, we've seen their starting pitching be very, very good, including Merrill Kelly and Zach Gowan. And we've talked about Gowan, but we saw Merrill Kelly coming up. This is what Merrill Kelly and Zach Gowan have done this year. And again, not enough people know about the D-Backs one-two punch. Jesse's absolutely right about this. Yeah, I mean, this was, yeah,

Yeah, last night, I was just thinking, like, there aren't that many teams that have this, right? And I'm not sure that, like, Diamondbacks fans are fully aware of, like, how good their first and second best starters really are compared to what some of the other teams of baseball have. Merrill Kelly and Tackle, I mean, there's no way around it. I mean, these numbers that you see on the screen are outstanding. I mean, Gallen after last night, seven and two with a three point one two ERA, a 1.02 whip, an opponent batting average of just over. over 200. He has 114 strikeouts and 11818 in a third innings. And then Merrill Kelly, right? 10 and 5 with a 286 ERA. And he's thrown 132 in a third innings this season is on pace to go for 200 this year. So it's really impressive what those two guys have done. And I know this Diamondbacks team is is not

that close, right, to where they ultimately want to go of being a playoff contender and a World Series contender. But it's, oh my gosh. Oh, Gabriel. Oh, Gabriel. You're my favorite. But of course, first, make sure to check out Jesse's piece. If you haven't already over at go phtonx.com on the trade deadline activity or the lack of movement by the Diamondbacks there. If you don't have a membership already, make sure to sign up for one. You can get an annual membership.

You've got your first month or you get your free annual t-shirt. This guy's walking in right now. Get out of here. Saul, just slowly walking and eating something. reminded me of how hungry I am. Anyway, that's why I can't think about things. But anyway, go go get your membership if you haven't done so already. Annual membership. You get a T-shirt over at the phnx locker.com. If you get a month-to-month membership, you'll get your first month for just 50 cents. Either way, you can get yourself all the members-only access to our Discord

and all the members-only discounts over at the pHNX Locker.com. Make sure to do that. We appreciate you guys if you've already signed up. We also appreciate you for being here. Hello to the entire Debex Discord crew. Good to see you. you guys. Make sure to leave us a little thumbs up. If you haven't subscribed to the YouTube channel, subscribe to the PHNX Sports YouTube channel, sign up for notifications, all that stuff. Also, subscribe on your favorite audio podcasting app and leave us a review. We would love you for doing so. Jesse, speaking of Gallen and Kelly, though, they've been pretty good, but we can't really decide here on who has been better for this team, who would be considered the ace.

Before we go forward, we should probably tell the audio-only people what Gabriel said in the comments. Oh, yeah. Because we never actually filled them in on that. Gabriel in the comments has his one is Zach slash Kelly slash gallon, two as Johnson slash shilling and three as DeGrom slash Scherzer. And I think he's pretty. In that order. He's pretty accurate, right?

Yeah. Yeah. DeGrom and Scher wish that they were as good as Merrill Kelly and Zach Allen. They really do. They really do. There's no more. There's like teams are so glad the Diamondbacks aren't going to make. the playoffs because they don't want to face that in the playoffs.

No, no, nobody. Nobody wants Merrill Kelly in game one of the World Series. Right. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants that. But of course, we talk about Gowan Kelly and at times I think Zach Gowan is anointed the number one guy. Actually, Madison Bumgarner is somehow still, I think, considered to be the number one

guy just based on seniority? I don't know. I don't. I mean, according to a poll that was thrown on the internet one of these recent days, 66% of DeBacks fans would have said that Madison Baumgartner was the ace of the staff. Really? Wow. There is no way that's true. Wow.

Who put out this poll? Sanderson Ford. Sanderson Ford. Well played. Well played. Oh, man. So, well, anyway, that's not really what's going on here. We know what's going on here. And the real

battle here for the actual ace of this staff is between Zach Gallen and Merrill Kelly. And today, just to finally settle this, we are going to introduce a brand new segment we're doing right here on the PHNXD Backs podcast that we like to call debates.

That's right, Thunderstick versus the mayor. I like how I still get to be the mayor and your Thunderstick in this situation. I feel like that's fair. If they called you the vice mayor, that's immediately put a bad position. So we have Thunderstick versus the mayor. And today we have agreed to each take a side

on this debate and decide who is the actual ace of this staff. This guy over here is going to be representing the case for Zach Gallen. I will be representing the case for Merrill Kelly. You will be judge and jury of who wins this argument. So, Jesse, I'm going to go ahead and give you the floor. Wow. I'm going to let you go first. Very nice of you.

Yeah, please, because I know you're a stats guy and I just want to get this out of the way first. I'll deliver some fireworks. All right. Okay. All right. We'll see. All right. So my case for why Zach Gallen is the true ace of the Arizona Diamondback staff.

So when you think of an ace, you're not just thinking of a pitcher with a good ERA, which I grant you. Merrill Kelly's ERA as of this moment is slightly better than Zach Gallen's ERA. It's much better. Very slightly. It's like 0.2. But you're thinking about more than that, right? You're thinking about strikeouts. You're thinking about stuff.

You're thinking about someone who could match up with like a Max Scherzer. or a Jacob de Grom like we were talking about earlier, or some of the other renowned aces around this game of baseball that we all know and love, right? And so in my mind, Zach Gallen is the guy that you want in that spot. If you're playing in a wild card game, if you're playing against the best of the best, right? Zach Gallen's stuff is going to play against those teams better

than Merrill Kelly's stuff will in my mind. And there's a number of things I can point to you for this. Zach Gallen has a higher strikeout rate than Merrill Kelly by a fairly significant margin. It's about 24% compared to Merrill Kelly's at about 20 and a half percent. Zach Allen has a lower walk rate as well. So more strikeouts, fewer walks. He has a much lower whip at 1.02 compared to 1.13 for Merrill Kelly.

He has a lower opponent batting average. Opposing hitters hit 202 against Zach Allen compared to 225 for Merrill Kelly. And in my mind, Derek, I mean, I mean, those are sorts of the numbers that I'm looking for when I'm trying to figure out who do I want to face, you know, a very good offensive team that you'd probably be playing in the playoffs or in some big spot in the postseason, right? Merrill Kelly is a tremendous regular season pitcher. He goes deep into games. I grant you, he goes slightly deeper into games on average than Zach Gallen does. But once you get to the playoffs, it's not as much about like, are you going seven or eight innings. It's like how effective are those innings? And how many runs are you giving up? How many hits are you giving up? Those sorts of things. And in my mind, Zach Gallen sets you up better for success in that regard. So there's- playoffs.

He's talking about playoffs. Isn't that the goal here, though? As part of his argument. Isn't that part of what makes an ace of a staff, though? Is like, sure, the Diamondbacks aren't in that spot yet. But presumably, hopefully, they're getting there eventually. And the ace of the staff is the guy that you want in, though. Oh, gosh, here we go.

He's turning on. he's putting on the glasses. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you the case from Merrill Kelly being the true ace of this team, as most of you already know that he is. This season... Are you like, what...

Like, you would sound like yourself right now. It's a southern attorney, sir. Okay, okay. This season, Merrill Kelly is 10 and 5 with a 2.86 ERA. You know who does that? Aces. The reason why is because Merrill Kelly's ERA

is eighth best in the National League, which being in the top 10 would immediately make you assume he's an ace. Who does that? Aces do that. Also, he's 10th and wins, tied for 10th and wins in the National League. Between Zach Gallin and Merrill Kelly, Zach Gallen has started 64 games

and four seasons for the Arizona Diamondbacks, going 16 and 17 with 355.1 innings pitched. Are you really knocking on his record right now after all the conversations we've had about how poor Zach Gallen can't get a way to save his life. 86 games started for Merrill Kelly. 86 with 505 innings pitched. That is almost 150 more innings pitched in four seasons, Jesse. He has a 33 and 32 record doubling the amount of wins that Zach Gallen has.

I don't know what's wrong with his ability. I don't know why he can't win. I don't know why Zach Gallen can't win. But here's the thing is most people. might say I was expecting him to use this argument and he didn't, but I will say most players will say that obviously Zach Gallen has youth. But as we both know, both players will be done with this team after 2025, Kelly due to age and Gallen due to Scott Boris. So that's a wash. There's no argument there. All right. I'm going to walk out. It's the truth. I'm going to walk out. I am dealing in facts

here today. I will start a go-fund me dealing in facts. To keep Zach Gallen in the state of Arizona. Well, Merrill Kelly has been there for this team and has been the most consistent player. But the most important thing is Merrill Kelly has gotten better with time. He is like a wine that becomes better with age. And I don't know at times if we've seen Zach Gallen necessarily get better. He was obviously incredible for that first stretch that he had that set an MLB record for the most starts consecutively without giving up more than three runs. However, that's not, that's neither here nor there. You do look like Gabe Cappler.

Hey, I'm all right with that. Gabe Cappler's a handsome man and I'm thankful for it. All right. Do we want to do closing arguments or is that enough? I think I don't think I'm anymore close to a closing statement. Oh, please go ahead. Oh, my gosh. Go ahead.

Let me take my glasses off and have you go on, sir. So you know who used to like lead the league in innings pitched or like be around the league lead innings pitch? Who's that? Bronson Arroyo. And we all remember Bronson Arroyo's illustriest. Diamondbacks career, right? Bruns and Royals is a great pitcher. There's nothing to take away from like the amazing career that a guy like that had.

But innings pitch is not what makes an ace. It's you're talking about, you're talking about quantity and I'm talking about quality, right? There's a difference between those two things. Also, you cite Merrill Kelly's win total and Merrill Kelly, yes, is 10 and 5 on this season. Zach Allen is 7 and 2. Have you looked at the Diamondbacks record, not the individual pitcher's records, but the Diamondbacks team records with those two guys on the mound. That's inconsequential,

it's inconsequential, he says. It's inconsequential because they aren't in games any longer. So let me tell you. So Zach Gallen, in his 21 starts, the Diamondbacks are 13 and 8 in Zach Gallen's 21 starts. Merrill Kelly, yes, he has those 10 wins, but the Diamondbacks when Merrill Kelly is on the mound are 11 and 11 when Merrill Kelly pitches for this baseball team.

So there you go. I don't, that is, that has nothing to do. Your, your honor, I, I request you to strike that from the record because that should. Oh, all right. Sounds like I made a good point. I don't think you did. I don't think you did. I don't think you did.

I don't. But I will say, of these two men, again, what I'm looking at for Merrill Kelly is the fact that Merrill Kelly is currently the ace. I feel like you are more talking about the potential that Zach Gallen could show. show or could reach versus him being the ace currently. I did not call Merrill Mid. Are I give you? I am in no way.

All right. We need to wrap this up because we're just taking our words and throwing them at each other now. All right, well, you guys get to be the judge on that. So make sure. I am not for the record. I'm not saying that I think Zach Allen, like if the Diamondbacks were playing in a wild card game,

which I guess the wildcard. card is different now than it was before. But they were playing in a must-win playoff game. A one-game wild card game. Zach Allen's the guy that I want on the mound. And there's really no question of my mind. Because Merrill Kelly is durable and he's reliable and he's had an outstanding season. Something I have a little concern about with Merrill Kelly is that his home run rate is extremely

low, like to the point where there's no way a major league pitcher could sustain that for very long. me, ladies and gentlemen. And so, no, it's just, like, Merrill Kelly's ERA is really low, but it's, it's not necessarily because of, like, the strikeouts and the walks and, like, some of the things that are more sustainable and predictive of the future. In some ways, it's because of the fact that the guy is given, I don't have the number in front of me, but it's a very, very few number of home runs this season that I don't think is going to be sustainable in a long run.

I think Zach Gallen's arsenal, his stuff, is going to play better in a one-game playoff situation. You know what's sustainable? Ground balls. Ground balls are sustainable for a long career because again, you don't need that power in order to be able to figure out how to get guys out. You know, it has a higher ground ball rate this season. Is that gallon 47.8 or 47.6% for gallon, 45.2% for Merrill Kelly. So. Oh, come on. That's a wash. That's a push. And more strikeouts and less starts. That's a push. Whose side are you on, Jacob? I think it's, I mean, it's pretty obvious, which,

pitcher I like more. Oh, God. It's favoritism. Now I know what I can blame it on if I lose. And yes, Jesse did call Merrill Mid, by the way, to everybody out there. I did not call Merrill Mid. I didn't know. I heard of say it.

So, Gabriel. Anyway, we thank you guys, again, for joining us and being here for all this. Make sure to check out our friends over at Four Peaks, which I just cracked open, a brand new hop-not IPA. This is the last hop-not IPA in our refrigerator. Before we get out of this office and go to somewhere, fun. But that's exciting other news that we'll find out more about next week. For now, make sure to join us when we are at Four Peaks at the 8th Street Pub broadcasting final Wednesday

of every month. Also go down there, even if we're not there. Try their food. Chicken tendies. The pizzas are incredible. Everything is good. And their beers are incredible. They have a wide variety of beers. They're all on tap there. You can get special edition beers that you can only pick up at the 8th Street Pub. If you're not able to make it down there, pick them up at your local grocery store, your local convenience store, liquor store, wherever. you get your beers at and make sure to try the whatever beer fits your style i mean i know i'm i still haven't gotten craigman to drink one of these ipas and enjoy it but i don't know i i it's gonna be a man he knows now yeah he is aware he's aware of me trying to sneak him an ipa so now like he's going

to be hypervigilant i don't think that's going to make him enjoy it anymore no no no and he's not going to trust anything i do right like so if i walk up to him with like a glass of water he's going to smack it like right out of my hand i don't know if he really has ever gotten i don't know if craig would ever really trust what you do but i mean i guess in this situation like even less so i don't know since when am i an untrustworthy person what has happened around here i had the mayor right i was elected that people trusted me that what was that you rule with an iron fist i do not that's not i'm a kind and benevolent king just like you did let me go first in our in our debate so i do I know I was going to beat you, but anyway.

Yeah, that's how that goes. So go down. I was talking about beer. So go pick up yourself some beer. Also go to go phmx.com and sign up for the toast of the month. Sweepstakes, you will get yourself. Potentially you can win yourself a $50 gift card over at our friends for Peaks as well as an annual membership and a t-shirt from the PHNX Locker.com. And that's not the only thing we're giving away.

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Check them out online at OGsbrands.com or on Instagram at OG's brands. That's OG EEZ brands. Must be 21 years or older to purchase. And same thing with our friends of Four Peaks. must be 21 years or older to enjoy them as well. I don't like you anymore now because we did the debate thing and everything. That's just you acknowledging that I won.

No, I don't really feel like that. But I will say that I'm very happy that the Diamondbacks have stuck to the game plan this season. You talked about their lack of movement at the trade deadline. I'm actually pretty happy with that. I still think there was some possibilities there. I still think that they might have gotten a pretty big return for Joe Maniplae, maybe Christian Walker. And I don't know how much I like saying that because I really enjoy those guys being a part of this team. I really think that they are both a big part of the success that they've had, especially after the All-Star break.

But the Diamondbacks are doing what they said they would do in regards to rookies, Jesse. They currently lead all of MLB in rookie position players games with 418. Wow. Yeah. So between Perdomo and Alex Thomas and a lot of these guys getting Tommy Henry getting the stuff, well, that's position players. So that's just position players. So I mean, what? That's also Buddy Kennedy. They're doing exact. Is that rookie eligible? Is he rookie eligible still? Okay. Yeah. So and there are 256 hits by rookies are second in Major League Baseball to the Royals. Yeah. I mean, the Diamondbacks have they followed through on on that front. And I think, that's a big difference between this year's team and what we've seen in the past, right? It's not, it's not Cole Calhoun and as Drewbel Cabrera and, you know, these guys who are, like, they're not

bad players, you know, like, especially, I mean, Calhoun was incredible in 2020, but they just don't really tell you much about the future or help you figure out, like, what's going to be, you know, who, who are going to be the main players on the next great Diamondbacks team. They don't really help you answer that question. So, um, I appreciate that the Diamondbacks have been. have been true to what they've said on that front. And Jake McCarthy is another guy who I guess would be rookie eligible at this point, who is probably going to be a pretty much everyday player from now through the rest of the season. Seems like that, yeah, for sure.

Yeah. So it's good to see. I mean, I think it makes the team a lot more fun to watch. I think fans have a lot more patience watching these younger guys than they do, you know, some of the veterans that they've had here in the past. Jake McCarthy is tied for fifth in stolen bases by rookies in the National League, and he's tied for ninth in doubles for rookies. He's not played very many games.

No, not at all. He's hitting 311 in his last 14 games. So, I mean, Jake has really been doing an outstanding job. And again, he is the reason why someone like David Peralta, who most likely was going to move at the end of the season, you know, that opening up that position for these young guys to have a shot at the outfield and more playing time, he's going to benefit from it. And I think that the advantage there is that he could really,

you know, get an opportunity to win the position. You know, like if Jake McCarthy does well over there, there's a good chance that they might not have to rush to call up Corbyn Carroll, even though that's something that we were hoping we'd see happen. Everyone wants. Well,

and I mean, obviously, as far as they're concerned, there's reasons to wait, right, with Robin Carroll. Yeah. I do think that, I mean, like, if you were to call up a Corbyn Carroll right now, there's sort of a question of like, where are you going to play the guy? You know, like you don't want to DH Corby and Carroll. And so you really want him to play in the outfield every day. But with McCarthy, Varsho and Alec Thomas, there's not like there's just not really a spot there. And so I do think part of the debacks hesitation on that front, which of course they could still call him up. But I have a hard time seeing them bringing up Corbyn Carol.

without the ability to actually play him on a regular basis. Like for now, it's more valuable for him to get everyday playing time and every day at bats whatever level he's playing at than to, you know, sit on the bench or have sort of a like platoon or, you know, some sort of a role where he's not really an everyday guy because he deserves that opportunity. Gabe says I'd rather see Stone Cold Garrett at this point.

I need to see those guns in person. Is that what we're calling him? because I love that. Stone cold. Yeah. I remember Josh Freakin Rojas yesterday, so that's what we will be calling him from now on, by the way. Where did that come from?

It came from a college, or I think it was one of his high school baseball coaches, showed up at a spring training game wearing shirts. Like, everybody had them. Like the entire group that they were with all had Josh Freakin Rojas shirts. So that's where that came from. And that's sticking because that's good. Josh said he was always called Roe. So that's not good enough for me.

I'm not taking Roe as a nickname. I'm sorry. Josh Ro Rojas. What are we doing here? I do see an article from 2017 where they're talking about Stone Garrett is one of the top-rated prospects in the Marlins organization. That's who he's with at the time. And the article is entitled Stone Cold Garrett. Stone-Cold Garrett.

So apparently it's a thing. I love it. I love it. Alec Thomas was kind of similar to what you were talking about with Corbyn Carroll when he got called up. We were worried at the time what was going to happen with him in center field. Dalton Varsho had been playing so well out there. Right. And that's like so far in the rearview mirror at this point.

Alec Thomas is is by far their center fielder. And I don't think there's any question about. By far, their centerfielder, yes. Which is wild because Dalton Varsho is so good there. He was so good. But he has a cannon of an arm. So he needs to play the corner outfield as he saw in last night's game. That was an incredible play.

in yesterday's game, right? Where Alec Thomas basically missed making a highlight reel catch himself and Varsho like picked him up exactly how you, like you couldn't ask for it to be done any better as far as backing up, you know, someone making a play like that

and then making an amazing play yourself to keep the runner from advancing. It was just, it was an incredible release time like like Alec Thomas, you know, trying to make this what would have been a spectacular diving play. I mean, it was very ambitious for him try to to go after this ball.

It was a mistake. Maybe you shouldn't have even tried, but all is well that ends well and Dalton Varsho made sure that happen by being right there to back him up, like you said, and throwing a dart right on the money to Geraldo Pardomo who was covering third base.

So it was impressive. I'm just going through the statute. See it Mark Melanson tied for eighth and saves in National League just still kind of blows my mind. But anyway, we'll move right past that. The young guys, have been incredible. And the one thing about it is

is that we could very well see this from the Diamondbacks again next season, right? Where they lead the league in rookie position player games and have these guys doing this stuff. I mean, Alec Thomas is second in hits for rookies in the National League with 66,

third in total bases with 105 and fourth in runs with 34 runs. Fourth, also tied for fourth and doubles with 13. So he's killing it in every way at the plate. Yeah, I mean, I think there's a lot more there, right? I mean, you're not, you're not calling up Alec Thomas and, you know, hoping that a guy who's

been that highly touted for so long is, you know, a 255 hitter with like a 730 OPS at his peak, right? Like, this isn't as good as we think he can be, but not that many guys come up and have success right out of the gate. And that's really important to remember a lot of very highly touted prospects come up. We've seen it this year. Some of these guys come up and it's a big adjustment hitting majorly pitching. And for some of these highly touted prospects, the transition is pretty difficult for them. So it's been nice to see Alec Thomas hit the ground running.

It's the reason why baseball rookies aren't typically that exciting, right? Because they can come in, they can have a big splash. They can have a big first week. But for them to come into their rookie season and consistently be excellent at a major. league level. It's so rare. Do you remember Mike Trout's rookie season? I don't. He was like completely pedestrian. He played 40 games. He was 19 years old.

So I mean, keep that in mind. But he had 220 with a 672 OPS in his in his first season in the big leagues. It was only 40 games. I don't care. I don't care. I like that. That was a good stat. And then the next year he finished second in MVP voting. So that's the trajectory Alec Thomas. Yeah, Alec Thomas has been better in his first year than Mike. Trout, so next year.

Probably. That's what my quick analysis says. Alex Thomas, 2024 MVP confirmed. You heard it here first on this show. You can go maybe even bet on it on the Draft King Sportsbook. I don't know if I would do that, but you could still bet on lots of things on the Draft King Sportsbook. That is a bullish thing to bet on.

I don't know if you can even bet on the, well, you say you mean 2023 MVP. 2023. So I'm going way ahead. I said 24, but I'm in a time loop. I don't even know what day it is. more, Jesse. I just know it's not Mailbag Monday. That's all I know. But of course, there's mailbag Monday, and then there's all the other days.

There's all the other days. They all just squished together. But again, make sure to check out our friends at the Draft King Sportsbook. If you haven't signed up already, sign up, use our code of PHNX. Make your first deposit and you will get a risk-free bet up to $1,000.

That's promo code PHNX only at the Draft King Sportsbook. Minimum Age and eligibility restrictions apply. See show notes for details. Of course, baseball. It's always fun to bet on. You can go in there and get great values on your odds. Sometimes it's almost a little bit unbelievable. And I think the reason why is because not everything is a sure thing.

There were a lot of locks for the Padres winning against the Giants yesterday. Obviously, that did not happen. So you never know what's a lock in baseball. And that's the reason why it's always fun. It's always exciting. And it makes baseball more fun to watch. So go get down on the Draft King Sportsbook app now. Make yourself a same game parlay, multiple game parlay.

multiple game parlay, whatever you want to do. More legs you add, the more money you win. And remember, you can bet whatever you want. So if you throw a dollar on there and bet on some games, maybe you'll put together multiple game parlay that'll win you some big bucks, especially with baseball. Sometimes baseball is very predictable, and then sometimes it's not. You can't predict baseball there.

You never know. Sometimes it just aligns perfectly, and you look at it, and you're like, I would have known all these days winning, but that's not the day you bet on, right? We know how that works. At least when it comes to me giving out Draft King's pick of the weeks and then not actually betting on them. But that's a whole other aggravation that I don't feel like talking about right now. So go get down on the Draft King Sportsbook as well.

If you're an existing customer, don't forget. They have all sorts of fun promotions and options. And sometimes you just got to log into the app every day and see what they got. I feel like in some cases they're almost giving away free money. Like one of the opt-ins was whether the Dodgers would get a hit in a game. So it's like, if you can get a promotion like that, you just got to get down on it. So make sure to keep an eye out for all of those promotions that they have over at the Draft King Sportsbook. As well as going over if you're looking for your licensed apparel for men, women, children, dogs, it doesn't matter.

Focos got you covered over at Foco.com. They have an incredible variety. I could sit here and talk about the bobbleheads all day. I love them so much and I miss bobbleheads in my life. Also, my dog will not wear unlicensed apparel. It has to be licensed apparel. Otherwise, she won't wear it. All dogs.

Dogs can sense evil. Oh, yeah. And they can also sense knockoffs. I don't know if you knew that. Yeah, really knockoffs more than anything else. It's like my wife has a knockoff Chanel purse. My dog won't start barking at it. It just barks at it in the corner all day long.

Yeah, I know how that is. yourself authentic merchandise or your dogs won't be happy so uh foko is the leader in sports merchandise and they have you covered with the best arizona sports merchandise including diamondbacks where cardinals cardinal season's coming up sun seasons coming up we get it where the sun is setting on us we understand so if you want to get yourself ready for those other seasons we're not going to shame you but just don't forget us that's all we're asking don't forget us uh and it doesn't matter what you need though fokos got you covered use our code of P-HNX and for all non-pre-sale items you will get 10% off.

So head over to phocco.com or click the link below in our description. And before we go, I just wanted to make a mention of it. The Diamondbacks sent out a press release just asking for people in regards to Nicole Hazen passing that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Nicole Hazen Fund for Hope that they've established. It's you can go to dbax.com slash Nicole Hazen. It is funding research, innovative therapies, and a cure for glioblastoma, which is the rare form of cancer that Nicole Hazen unfortunately had. And, yeah, we just want to put that out there.

So if you guys were looking to do anything or we're interested in helping out with that, you can go to dbax.com slash Nicole Hazen. It's still very devastating to me, Jesse, but at times we can't not talk about it. So it's like I just wanted to once again send our board. best wishes and thoughts out to the Hazen family. And we understand how difficult this time has been. So make sure if you have a chance to check out that link as well. And hopefully good things can happen for the Diamondbacks here going forward. Hopefully they can still stay on a roll like they have.

This Pirates team right now is very scrappy. And I wouldn't take them for granted at this point. But hopefully they can still continue this stretch that they. They've been on. It's Tommy Henry Day. It's Tommy Henry Day. And what do you expect to see out of him in his second start? Do you think we'll see, you know, now that the nerves have kind of settled,

see a bit more of what we've seen in Reno? Yeah, I think talking with Brent Strom, I think I mentioned this the other day. They've been kind of reworking his grip on some of his breaking pitches. So I would be looking for some extra depth on his breaking pitches. That's something I'm going to be looking for in this one. But, yeah, I mean, getting your first big. start out of the way is um in some ways it's it's just nice you know you can just sort of relax and um maybe not have quite as much pressure up against you um and also facing the pittsburgh pirates is

um you know Cleveland I mean they're not a bad team either um they don't they don't swing and miss much but um but the pirates don't hit in general particularly well so a more favorable matchup for Tommy Henry for sure Gabriel's uh putting out in the comments seven shutout innings for punch out Tommy let's go I love that let's get it out let's stay positive here when it comes to especially Tommy Henry because man it would be nice to have uh without with as excited as we are about the outfield and the young position players at the diamondbacks have it would be so terrific to add a young rookie pitcher to this rotation yeah much like ale thomas can stay here and contribute to this team winning yeah it really would and I mean I was thinking a little bit last night just

to next season and what this rotation will look like. You're probably not going to have Zach Davies next year, given the fact that he seems very unlikely to pick up his side of his mutual option for next year. So it's Bumgarner, Merrill Kelly, and Zach Gowlin. And then we don't really know after that, right? It's sort of unclear what the rest of the rotation will look like. Tommy Henry has an opportunity down the stretch here

to show what he can do and try to, you know, cement his name in that mix is as part of the Diamondbacks rotation for next year. Speaking of which, also Tyler Gilbert might find a way into that rotation when he returns from his injury. Humberto Castiano's just had successful Tommy John surgery yesterday. So unfortunately, he won't be an option until potentially the very end of next year and even that might be a stretch. So best of luck to him in his recovery.

I know from what I've heard recovering from Tommy John surgery and the rehab and everything it takes to get back. It sounds like a bit of a grind. Yeah, it's unfortunate. Best of luck to him. We thank you guys again for joining us. Of course, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at cap underscore caveman with a K. This guy over here is at Jesse and Friedman.

Our show is at PHNX underscore D-Backs. But of course, all roads lead to PHNX underscore sports on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you for spending your lunch. On behalf of Jesse and myself, we always appreciate you guys. being here and remember kids baseball is fun but it's so much more fun when you vote for me in the debate segment