PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - Merrill Kelly To Land on Injured List For D-backs Ahead of Opening Day

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

Opening Day is just a week away, but the Arizona Diamondbacks are already facing a major setback: Merrill Kelly is expected to begin the 2026 season on the injured list. What does that mean for the rotation, and how long could the D-backs be without one of their most reliable arms? We break down Kelly’s timeline for return and why Zac Gallen is the obvious choice to take the ball in Los Angeles. Plus, Alex D’Agostino joins the show to dive into the latest from Spring Training, including key injuries, roster battles, and what’s trending heading into the regular season. We also recap the D-backs’ explosive 16-8 win over the Cubs, highlight Corbin Carroll’s first home run since being injured, and take a look at some more wild food creations coming to Chase Field this year. 0:00 SkeeYee & happy March Madness  4:30 Alex D'Agostino joins the show!  13:00 Merrill Kelly injury setback  21:15 Jordan Lawlar's breakout year  24:00 Other injury updates  29:00 Reinforcements incoming  34:20 Opening Day one week away...  41:50 Spring breakout game rosters announced  49:35 New food at Chase Field Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube JOIN THE SUPPORTERS CLUB ➡️ https://tinyurl.com/yc6km2r4 An ALLCITY Network Production SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports MERCH https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/phnx-locker ALLCITY Network, Inc. aka PHNX and PHNX Sports is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Phoenix PHNX Events: Get your tickets to PHNX events and takeovers here: https://gophnx.com/events/ ALLCITY — including us here at PHNX — is teaming up with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for an exciting three-year partnership. To learn more, visit https://www.bbbs.org/allcity/ Branded Bills: Use code BBPHNX at https://www.brandedbills.com/ for 15% off your first order! Husband & Wife Law Team: If you’ve had a serious injury, Call The Husband & Wife Law Team first at 602-783-8841 or visit https://husbandandwifelawteam.com/?utm_source=allcity-padcasts&utm_medium=digital-phx&utm_campaign=allcityShowNotes bet365: https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485317 Use the code PHNX365 to sign up, deposit $10 and bet $5 to get $150 in bonus bets! Disclaimer: Must be 21+ and physically located in AZ.  If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-NEXT-STEP, text NEXTSTEP to 53342 or visit https://problemgambling.az.gov/ Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Shady Rays: Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: PHNX for 40% 2+ pairs of off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you! When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I know. There's basketball on. I get it. We still got to talk about baseball and we still got to talk about Merrill Kelly landing on the IL before opening day. We're going to do that right now. Oh, wait, we're all the thing. Haski. Welcome in to another edition of the PH&X Diamondbacks podcast live from Studio K, presented by our friends at Circle K. Thrilled to have you guys here. Welcome in to a baseball podcast. I know. That seems insane to even be. do on a day like this. I don't expect any of you to be fully paying attention to the show, but I am so pleased that you're here. My name is Derek Montaigne.

I won't. Occasionally known as the mayor of March Madness. That name you hear is a very bitter man who has no interest in producing or co-hosting this show today. He is Damon Dogg, aka Damon Farrell on the ones and twos, and he is understandably not thrilled to be here. Let's go High Point. It means everything.

Oh, High Point does mean everything. It completely busts my bracket. But welcome in to the rest of you guys. Thank you for being here. We have so much to discuss today, including our guy, Alex Dagostino, is going to be joining us here shortly. And, of course, we cannot wait for, oh, Damon, can I get that link again, if you don't mind?

We are going to be joined by Alex as soon as we get him the correct link. But I did want to address something. And, of course, Katie's bringing it up right now. in the chat, Damon. She is saying, she's asking about this being a jelly bean podcast. I have to address some rumors, some speculation even, perhaps some false accusations. There was a break-in at a pygmy hippo pen. And this... I mean, only the serious stuff up off the top.

Katie right here says, anyone checked on Captain Caveman to make sure he wasn't trying to kidnap jelly bean. And according to this report, a man was arrested for climbing into a pygmy hippo enclosure at the zoo. Now, my, my, first of all, that obviously is not jelly bean. Like, look at that face. Look at the features. Look at his ears. That is not my precious baby jelly bean. This is obviously Moodang. And you might not know ball if you can't tell one baby pygmy hippo from another. No offense. No. offense. I mean, apparently, some people care and some people don't, Derek.

Also, like, the very thought, Damon, that I would still steal this wonderful creature away from its mother and try to feed it its diet. Like, baby, I bet you didn't know this. Baby pygmy hippos, they're foragers, unlike a regular hippo. Other, regular hippos, they're grazers. Baby pygmy hippos, they like to forage. Got to hide their food. They like tall grass and stuff.

It's difficult to find. Plus you got to feed them like 55 pounds of food a day. I don't have the ability to keep up with that kind of amount of vegetation. Not to mention, Derek, that, you know, you're a good uncle. It's, it's Theoderic. Right. And for, to- It's definitely T-O-Deric.

To accuse Theoderic of stealing your nephew, jelly bean. It's wild. It's wild. Disgusting. Or niece, right? Jelly bean is a girl. Jelly bean is a girl. Yes, niece.

We got Moodyng here. And honestly, to the person that attempted it, your days are numbered too. Don't come for any hippos or baby pygmy hippos specifically and not expect the wrath of this baseball podcast. Correct. Rain down upon you. We will find you and we will kill you. That's the way it works. That's the way it works.

But now that we've addressed that, of course, we are very excited to be joined by a man who is far more serious about covering baseball. I am. It's the one, the only Alex Dagestino. Alex, thrilled to have you here, man. Thank you so much for joining us. And again, we're almost there. We've almost made it to opening day. We are one week away.

Very excited. How you feeling? Feeling good. I think everyone's pretty excited for the regular season coming. I think Ketel Morte is pretty excited for the regular season by way of saying, I don't like spring training very much. I think we all kind of share that. Yeah.

That's one time where he will say that to a group of reporters and have everybody just nod their and agree it's be like yep we're with you on that one we are with you on that one but of course we do have Zach Gallen on opening day you did a tremendous job by the way of covering everything fans need to know about opening day here and about the last kind of week or so of spring with your diehard article over on go p hnx.com but we have gallon now starting on the mound gallon has looked good so far this spring his velocity has looked good everything about gallon seems to be trending in the right direction him to be that opening day starter, especially in that big moment there in Los Angeles, you know, basically with the spotlight on him.

Yeah. You know, he's, he's looking a little bit sharper, I would say, in spring than usual. Yeah. I think the, the velocity's way up. I don't know what's going on there. But, I mean, he's averaging, I want to say, like 94, 6 or something like that on his fastball. In previous seasons, it was like 92, 93, 5, stuff like that.

So it's significant. He's also working on a two-seem fastball, which he brought in last year a little bit, started using it. He calls it a runner, not a sinker. He's, you know, it's very, very Zach Gallen of him to insist on calling it. I'll call it what I want to. Yeah, something a little bit, just ever so slightly different. But it's basically just a two-seem fastball. And he's going to incorporate that a little bit more into his arsenal.

Yeah, I mean. I expected it to be Zach Gowan on opening day pretty much from the beginning. I, as much as it would have been awesome to see Ryan Nelson out there, I do think that it's just, it's, it's always going to come down to that experience and that and that rapport with the organization, no matter how much I think Tori might not want to say that. Sure, sure. They have a way of feeling people deserve it. but the deserving nature of it isn't necessarily like you deserve it because you've been the best pitcher during spring training. You deserve it more because of what you've done for the organization in the past or what you did last season or your whole tenure here rather than it necessarily being just a simple reflection of your performance at this time. But what I will say about Zach is the one thing that was consistent last year about Zach's game was the way in which he stepped up for big moments.

like this, you know, and again, even when he was really struggling, he still peppered the really good outings magically against the Yankees and in New York and in other situations where those were his shining moments throughout 2025. And, you know, again, it was just more about the consistency overall for Zach. But I do feel because of that, Zach has essentially the makeup to go out there on the mound against the Dodgers and give the Diamondbacks their best chance of winning that game. And Alex, I know this might be loser talk, but I don't give a damn if they lose the series. If they win opening day, you're not going to be able to shut me up. It's world series bound from day one if they beat the Dodgers on opening day. So I feel like it is kind of important.

It does set a certain kind of, I don't know, I guess, you know, precedent for this season a little bit if they're able to come out on that first game and beat the Dodgers in L.A. Yeah, it would just, it just would set the tone, right, for the whole season. Like you said, It doesn't really matter, and especially because you've got 162 games, and two games against a loaded team is not really the end of the world. What I'll say about Zach is that he is built for the moment, as much as people might not think so in terms of results. If you watch Zach Gallen pitch and he gets blown up, the reason why he will struggle will be the exact same reason why the Colorado Rockies might blow him up as opposed to the Dodgers. Like there's no, there's no lights are too bright moment. That's a great point.

Yeah, that's a great point. He will shut down an elite lineup out of nowhere. And if he struggles, it's because something's going on and any team is going to beat him that night. You know, obviously, I think we're hoping for better overall results in general. And I think that's very likely that that happens this year. And we did see those better results after the trade deadline, which was just such a weird thing where it's like, Zach almost felt this level of guilt of not being able to be traded due to the way he performed in the year and then, you know, like stepped up. I still think there's other factors that impacted that.

I still think James McCann was a big factor for Zach. Even if it wasn't about him catching behind the plate, I still recall when we were in the clubhouse with James and he said that he had to look at Zach one point and say how much he hated as a hitter to hit against Zach. you know and just kind of remind him that you are him you are still him deep down inside even if you're struggling right now but i also i also think like i don't know zach might have just felt the pressure of what last season was there was so much riding on last season and it was like almost his entire major league baseball career no matter how good or bad he did prior to this all came down to his performance in 2025 and you know it's got to feel pretty terrible that

that was one of your worst seasons when you kind of needed it to be one of your best in order for you to get that big free agent contract that you were hoping to eventually get. But now I feel like maybe, you know, this year he's gone through it. He, you know, still is here and it's not the worst thing in the world. He still has a chance to prove himself and do the exact same thing at the end of 2026. But now this year is even more important than last year for him in a way because if he, If he fails and is inconsistent again, then it feels like that's the end of the discussion as far as Gowan, getting a long-term deal, you know, worth the money that he was most likely seeking. Yeah, it's almost like once worst-case scenario happens, then you're not afraid of worst-case scenario happening again. Right.

Right. And that's basically what happened. I can get back up, you know. So, you know, he has the worst year of his career. He doesn't get any enough interest in his market to cash in for, you know, a multi-year, deal and it's like, okay, well, you know what, then I got nothing to lose, right? So you never know. I think it's very, very possible that we're going to see a significant improvement. I don't know if it's ever going to be back to like 2022 or 23 levels, but it's not, I don't, I don't see it being

an ERA close to five again. I don't see it being that like, oh my God, Zach Gallen is pitching again. Like, oh boy, buckle up, right? Like, I think I think we're going to see more consistency. One thing I saw last year when you were, when you were saying that, like when you were saying like it didn't matter if it was the Dodgers or the Rockies is it felt like the defensive mistakes behind him really let Zach down you know and I'm I'm not like on one hand I think that that's kind of soft as a pitcher for you to be impacted like you kind of just got to turn around and get the next out but I will also say there were so many games where Zach was just cruising along and suddenly with two outs one mistake by by you know one of his infielder's behind him

suddenly yielded a four-run inning and Zach being unable to get that final out of the inning or whatever the case may be. I know there were a few outings like that. So I guess that just takes me back to the focus for this team during this offseason being an improvement on defense and trying to make sure that they have the corners locked down with Aronado there and Carlos Santana and that they don't really have those defensive issues again. But I still think that again you're that that's part of being a pitcher and you got to go back out there and attack no matter how disappointed you are that you know perdomo or martay behind you missed a ball yeah and that was that was the disappointing part I think because it's like sure sometimes stuff happens

sometimes under and runs are going to happen but it would be like a defensive mistake would happen and then he would throw a ball for 98 miles per hour a six feet out of the zone and it's like what okay like that's your head out right now right like focus like like like like you can get the next out like you're capable of doing this and then the next ball would be you know a hanging slider that would go 450 feet so yeah it was just and that's that's one of those things that is just kind of part of the game like you said and i think having that lockdown defense behind you is great you still have to execute your pitches and that's true for the entire staff this year absolutely well we just saw them beat the cubs 16 to 8 yesterday no surprise at least that the Diamondbacks were able to throw up 16 runs during spring, right?

But we know that the focus is on pitching. And all of the question marks for this team, I feel like, are around pitching, who's going to play where defensively? Like, it's all on that side of the ball. Offensively, I think that this team is in a solid place. And not only that, but we had so many guys participating in the WBC that you feel like Kattel and Pardomo and Arnato and all those guys are going to be off to relatively hot. hot start due to that. But with the big news now being yesterday that Merrill Kelly admitted himself

that he is not going to be ready on opening day as much as it sucks and as much as he doesn't want that, it sounds like he will start the season on the IL. It doesn't sound like he'll miss a tremendous amount of time. But Kelly said yesterday for a little bit there, I was pushing the knocko on the IL. I was in LaVallo's ear and I'm in pitching coach Brian Kaplan's ear. and from what I understand, I'm pretty sure I'll start the year on the IL. So I know that I've kind of talked about it. I don't love the idea of him doing spring training games and then having to probably go to one of the minor league affiliates and do, right? Like, I mean, what is Kelly going to do to get those starts a simulation game?

Like, what does he do to continue to get stretched out and be ready maybe, you know, a week or two into the season? Yeah, so he was talking about that a little bit too. I think what's going to end up happening is he's probably going to, so he said he's going to pitch in the exhibition game at Chase Field against the Guardians on Monday. Right. That's what I figured was going to happen. That's how things kind of lined up. Yeah.

And then after that, he said he was going to pitch again on Saturday, which the Saturday of the regular season while the team is already in L.A. Okay. Now, what I am not sure about is if that's going to be an affiliate or if that's just going to be like a backfield minor league game. I almost feel like it's probably going to be a backfield game. Yeah. Feels like that makes the most sense, especially considering, you know, things haven't gotten rolling in spring or for minor league yet either. Yeah. And he's said he's hopeful to only have to make one rehab start. Now, obviously that could change. But it feels like he would probably be back

12 days into the season because you can, you can retro, you can back date the IL stint three days into spring training. So you would only have to miss instead of 15 days, you don't have to miss 12 days. And that's days, not games. Yeah. So that's one start, essentially, for a start or two at the most. Yeah, like, what like two turns through the rotation, I think is what he would have to miss, which is not the end of the world. I think what he said, it's like, it's, it's better to have me ready for September than to push the first couple of starts. And maybe it's a blessing in disguise given his Dodger Stadium track record as well. Yeah. No, that I agree with. That I agree with. Keep him away from Dodger Stadium.

And again, it's one of those situations where we have to be so thankful that this team was not only able to bring Gallen back, but also able to add Michael Soroka to where this situation isn't a complete disaster for this team right out of the gate. And I know it's just a few starts, but still, man, wouldn't this be like panic mode already if with Christian Mana being shut down and Merrill Kelly being injured that you're going to have to go to, like a Bryce Jarvis again yeah Bryce Jarvis maybe Gilbert Diaz like I mean I don't know man but I mean it just it would not feel great

even if it was for just one start right so again this this this does make I think or should make Diamondbacks fans very thankful that they did add two or three additional starting pitchers this off season to ensure that they have the depth in in case something like this happened yeah and and if you're if you're getting a couple of decent starts out of Soroka, too, that could be really good going

forward just because you never get through a season with five, six, seven starting pitchers. Like there's always multiple injuries. So I don't think it's, like you said, it's not the end of the world if Kelly has to miss a few starts. And I think in some ways it might be helpful to sort of see what you got. And yes, it is considering the reaction of bringing Zach Gowan back, by some of the fan base, it ended up being like one of the best moves of the off season. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, you know. And I know it's not ideal for someone like Michael Soroka who probably signed here thinking that he was firmly going to be a part of the starting rotation at the back end of it.

But it still doesn't mean that he can't compete for a role. And especially having, you know, especially playing in regular season games, compete then, right? Like, it's not just spring training and meaningless games. He's going to get some starts during the regular season. and this team is going to get a chance to see them. But I'm still kind of up in the air as to what this team is going to do to maneuver these pieces around once Merrill Kelly is healthy.

And, you know, all of these guys have had a couple of turns through the rotation. I mean, it's not, once again, it's not a bad problem to have. And like you said, there's a good chance that we will need whoever the Diamondbacks move out of the starting rotation again in the future. It's just a matter of what do we do with them until then, right? but the bullpen has so many questions about it still that I think any additions to the bullpen are going to be welcomed right we have Brandon Garcia who has not looked good in his last two outings and I mean honestly I know it's just just two outings but I still am very concerned about it considering how much the diamondbacks needed him as a left-handed arm to be locked in and then to be a valuable weapon out of the pen yeah he had like two of the best outings I've ever seen and then two of the worst I've ever seen So I was genuinely concerned that there was some sort of injury issue going on, and that doesn't appear to be the case. Tori basically was like he's not mixing his pitch as well.

He's not hitting the zone. The sinker velocity is all over the place. I mean, it could be 93 or it could be 97. The sweeper is not landing, and that's, you know, he's kind of, it feels like he's trying to brute force his way through outings when something isn't working. Sure. And yeah, that's pretty concerning. It really is because the only other left-hander is Philip Abner. And Abner has looked solid, but he's still throwing,

he's like a 91-90-91-mile-per-hour guy who isn't exactly dominating spring training. He's been solid, but he's not dominating. He's the kind of guy that I feel like once more information is out there about him, hitters will be able to get him better. But Brandon Garcia's stuff, like you said, at times, looks incredible. So he is the guy that still feels very important to this pen. And again, I mean, with limited left-handers as it is, I don't know what the Diamondbacks are going to do if he isn't able to be effective, right? I mean, Abner, like you said, is a decent option, but just not as nearly as elite.

Katie in the chat, by the way, had a question for you, Alex. Damon, would you mind scrolling up a little bit there? Katie wanted to know, and this is a question a lot of people have had this off-season. And I'd love to hear Alex's thoughts on Lawler predictions. I'm feeling hopeful for him. We've been talking a lot about Jordan Lawler and his progression. Yesterday was a weird, kind of weird day for him, where he went out to left field, clanked the very first ball off that was hit to him for an error,

and then proceeded two batters later to make a fairly amazing catch where he robbed Michael Conforto of a home run. Like, I think that was the perfect display of his lack of experience, but also his lack or his is incredible athleticism because there he was just kind of making a robbery like that of Comforto look effortless but again makes an error on the first flyball hit to him. Yeah, so you just use the word there. You use the word athleticism. That's that's that's Lawler's word.

I mean, that's what he said he wants this year to be about is being athletic. And so what that means is and you talk about it a lot with guys who are instinctual defenders as opposed to, you know, maybe technical. It was, that was kind of the thing with Blaze Alexander, too, right? Like when he's thinking about it, the routine play can be the hardest because you're overthinking it. And I think that's what's going on with Lawler. I think he knows just as much as everyone else how difficult this has been, this transition process has been to being a major leaguer. And I think he's trying, it's like the joke of a hitter trying to hit a five-run, home run every time he steps up to the player.

I think he's doing the same thing on defense, which is why, yeah, ball coming right to you, right in front of you, you're going to clank that. But as soon as you've got to turn around and make a crazy athletic play, he's got that ability. And so I actually like what I'm seeing from him in the outfield a lot. I think he is an instinctual athletic defender, and that can be helpful, especially if he's staying in center field. I know Damon has some reservations about that, but it is a lot easier to read the ball in center field. and so that might be a little bit better for him. As far as hitting, I like what we're seeing of him being able to hit off speed and breaking pitches from right-handers.

That's the biggest deal. There's still a lot of swing and miss, though. So it might, I wouldn't be surprised if we're not looking at crazy numbers, but the power is there. The contact ability against same-handed pitching is improving. And so I think it's still going to be a slow process. He's still pretty young, but he's going to have to be a productive major leager this year. And I think he can't.

I think he can. Well, we have a couple of injuries that obviously we know about. And then we have a couple of new ones like what's going on with Pavin Smith and Gabriel Moreno. Do you think either of these guys are going to miss regular season time? And I mean, obviously we kind of know who they have there to fill in should those guys miss time. But what do you foresee happening with the forearm tightness on both of those guys? Yeah, so I think Gabby is probably going to be okay. Pavan doesn't, I don't know, that one's been a little odd because they talked about it once,

and then they just are like, oh, yeah, he's not getting imaging. He's fine. He'll be fine, but he hasn't been playing. So I don't really know what's going on with Pavan, but it seems like it's not an issue that's going to be a problem. Gabby, the problem is, like, can he throw? He was never feeling the issue when he was swinging. So I think that's a good sign to begin with. I would suspect he's okay for opening day.

That's what Tori keeps saying, but you never know. He's supposed to start throwing Monday or maybe it was this. I'm actually a little mixed up on that. I think it's next week is when he's supposed to start throwing. Okay, because he was talking about being asymptomatic like yesterday or or something like that. So the timeline's a little confusing there. Sure. Well, and I mean, I think the bigger problem there is him hitting, right?

Like he was he kind of had a slow start to spring training at quite a few at baths before he got his first hit and then again now you have another delay where he doesn't have a bat in his hand and he's not out there getting those getting that action as far as trying to get himself into a groove before opening days. So that's kind of a bit of a concern. Yeah. And I did see him in full gear at Salt River a few days ago. So he was like he was he he's not shut down. He's not like having, you know, the whole like being shut down from baseball activity. I think it was just, just throwing was really the main concern with him. So there's no structural damage. There's nothing going on. There's no tears.

There's no breaks. We'll see. But I think he'll be ready for opening day. If I had to guess, I would say he'll be ready. All right, man. Well, we thank you so much for your insight, your updates. Of course, make sure to check out his piece on go phtonx.com. That once again for diehards only.

so make sure to sign up for a diehard membership as well. Alex, the heat is going to be oppressive. So make sure you stay hydrated, drink your water, and try to stay out of the sun. Stay out of that left side of the stadium. Yeah. It's so hot. I don't care with time the game starts.

Stay away. Stay cool. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your time again. Appreciate it. All right. Well, we are going to take a quick break. but on the other side of this break, we're going to talk about the Diamondbacks beating the Cubs 16 to 8 yesterday.

And, of course, our baby boy, Corbyn Carroll, being more back than ever. You are watching the P.HNX Diamondback show, don't you go anywhere? Well, believe it or not, summer is not here yet, folks. In fact, spring isn't even here yet. Spring starts tomorrow. And summer is still three months away. You know what that means? We're in for a hot one.

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So find all of your options to manage your bills at APS.com slash let's talk right now. And also, Bet365 wants to give you the best offer that they've ever given you. And the reason why is because we made it, folks. We made it to the best time of the year. March Madness is happening. Opening day is a week away, and we have all of this wonderful sports to enjoy. The best part of the sports calendar is finally here.

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New customers only, 21 and over only. Time limits, minimum odds and terms and conditions apply in-app only. Void were prohibited. Well, we got good news from our guy Abner, who had a chance to see the lineup card. He said Gabby is D-Hing today. So excellent. Like Alex just said, hopefully it's just him throwing that's been shut down, but hopefully we won't see Gabby miss any time or miss opening day. Yesterday was a great sight to see Diamondbacks outscored the Cubs 16 to 8. What? Insane.

Most important part about yesterday's victory is that Corbyn Carroll hit his first home run of spring. Suck it, Haymate, Bone. You're a stupid bone. You don't even need to be replaced. You don't even need to be fixed. We can just remove you from our hand. And we can still hit dingers. Corbyn Carroll, one for three, one home run, three runs scored.

One for three, Damon. No walks. Three runs scored. How? How? Corbin's a magician. He reached on a fielding error in the first, and he grounded into a force out in the third.

I mean, he's going to get on base regardless, even if he records it out. But then he hit a home run in the fourth inning. The center left field 410 feet 105.5.5 miles per hour off of his bat. He's back, folks. I mean, it's wild to think about the fact that Corbyn Carroll broke this bone in his hand. I'm not exactly up to date on where Francisco Lindor or Jackson Holiday is at. But last time I checked, neither guy had even resumed.

hitting yet, if I'm not mistaken. And Corbyn Carroll is out here playing in spring training games hitting dingers. And Zach Gonzalez is not wrong. Zach says 410 feet is not a cheapie. You're damn right, it's not a cheap one. And the Diamondbacks did not hold back on lighting the scoreboard up yesterday. They put up six runs in the third inning, seven runs in the fourth inning. It was kind of hilarious because I believe the Cubs had hit a,

Grand slam to go up by a score of 5 to 1, and then the Diamondbacks just never stopped putting up runs for the rest of the game. Alec Thomas, he's back in the lineup. He was 1 for 4 with a home run. He had 2 RBI and 2 strikeouts. Raldo Perdomo also back in the lineup. He was 2 for 3 with a strikeout. And one run scored. We got Carlos Santana also 2 for 3 back in the lineup with an RBI, a run scored and a strikeout.

Jordan Lawler, one for two, two runs scored, two walks, and Jorge Barrosa, two for three with a home run and two RBI. Diamondbacks were seven for 13 with runners in scoring position. So great day offensively out there for this team. And as I alluded to earlier, offense is not going to be a problem for this team. It really just comes down to how much they have to put up in order to keep themselves in games with this pitching staff. Merrill Kelly did not have a terrible game by any stretch of the imagination. This was his second outing since returning from injury. The first batter did reach on a fielding error.

That was the aforementioned Jordan Lawler clanking it off of his glove. But then he came right back and he happens to make an incredible play. Two batters later where he robbed Michael Conforto of a home run. But then Merrill, he gave up a single in the first but no runs. Same thing in the second inning. One single allowed no runs. in the third inning he gave up a lead-off double to Matt Shaw, who ends up scoring on a McGillamia RBI single, and then he got the next batter to ground into a double play and gave up one more single, which ended his day.

That runner would go on to score once Merrill left the game. Kelly ends up going two and two-thirds innings pitched, five hits allowed, two earn runs, zero walks, zero strikeouts. I don't mind these results, and I think Merrill is on a steady path to be back. I do think that he is behind and it puts him in a little bit of a, you know, an awkward position considering how much of spring training he's missed and how much of these, you know, these hitters, especially the actual starters returning to the Cubs lineup, you know, have already seen as far as baseball is concerned. So many of these hitters have already seen like high leverage innings by participating in the World Baseball Classic. So, again, it's not exactly easy for Merrill to come in after having the delay and try to get, you know, put up the exact, you know, zeros across the board we would like to see. However, at this point, it's really just about Merrill getting himself comfortable, getting stretched out and trying to get his ready as soon as possible so that he can return to the rotation. Hopefully not too much time will pass and hopefully he won't need to be on the aisle for too long.

Today, Michael Soroka is on the mound for the Diamondbacks that is out at Camelback Ranch. That's a 605 first pitch tonight. And Soroka, not great in Cactus League play 9.82 ERA 4Ks, but still nonetheless, still out there working on getting ready for opening day. And of course, a guy who will be part of the Diamondback starting rotation as Merrill Kelly ends up on, will end up on the IL. That has not been made official yet, but that sounds like that is just pending an official designation from the team. But opening day, once again, Damon, one big week away.

Can't wait. Cannot wait for opening day. You, in fact, should come and join us. We're going to all watch that gallon together. And hopefully the Diamondbacks win in L.A. against the Dodgers. First pitch scheduled for 5.30 p.m. We will be out at Crybaby starting at 5. That is when doors open.

We are going to be doing a pregame show. There are huge TVs to watch the game, food and drink available for purchase. And Crybaby is right here in downtown Phoenix, 818 North First Street, right across from the Churchill. So make sure to join us. Join Ryan. Michael Dixon asks, what the heck is Cry Baby? Cry Baby is a, what would you classify it as bar slash club, Damon? It's a bar, I think.

Yeah. But it's specifically like- It's got a pretty hop in nightlife. I would say it's specifically like a great watch party bar. That's the biggest point. Insane amount of TVs all over the place. Very open space area. I mean,

it's the perfect place to do a watch party at. It absolutely is. It's downtown, very centrally located. It should be convenient enough for everybody to pull up. Yeah, join Derek, me, the crew at PHNX out there for opening day coverage. And you can RSVP for free over at go phtnx.com on our events page. So we will have the link for that in the show notes as well. But we will have our opening day broadcast team

featuring one of our very own heroes, Damon. We have proper representation on the opening day broadcast team. Jason Benetti, the legend, will be the play-by-play announcer. And he will be joined by analysts Luis Gonzalez and Oral Hersheiser. That is going to be the official broadcast booth for Diamondbacks versus Dodgers on opening day on NBC. Pretty electric. I like that group of individuals

and I'm excited for that broadcast team. You need to make sure you got the Diamondbacks properly represented. They needed Gonzo on there. So that's definitely something I'm pumped about. Also, Jason Benetti, he's an outstanding, outstanding guy. So great to see him getting these opportunities overall. And I cannot wait for opening day.

Let's hope Gallen smashes, smashes the Dodgers. But we are going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we are going to talk about the spring breakout game being played this weekend. We got the entire spring breakout thing happening for four days across baseball. So we're going to talk about that on the other side of this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the P.HNX Diamondback show. Well, I've said this time and time again, but I hope that nobody watching this ever needs the services of the husband and wife law team.

Hopefully, you're never in a serious injury or accident situation. but if you ever are, the lawyer you hire does matter. And that is why you should call the husband and wife law team. First, Mark and Alexis Breyer are the husband and wife law team. And after a serious injury, you want to make sure that you are working with an attorney that's focus on your best outcome, not on how much the firm, on how much the money the firm can make. So that's the husband and wife law team. This team brings together hundreds of years of experience and they have multiple certified

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They'll bring Vegas, only at Heela Rivers and Casinos. Visit play atheela.com for the full calendar of events. We got some amazing comments here. Jeremy Strong says the Dodgers video montage of the World Series and the three Pete hype is going. going to be obnoxious in LA. So obnoxious. But think about what beating them on their opening night is going to feel like.

It's going to be amazing. Everything. Yeah. It's going everything. Michael Dixon says, speaking of Vegas, going in April, I have a one,

four and seven year old. What is fun out there for that age range? I won't lie. The one year old definitely makes it difficult. For sure. The four and the seven, we can make work. Like you go to the flamingo.

Yeah. Go see all the birds. Absolutely. Yeah, there's, he's absolutely right. Like the flamingo. When I was, I was about four when I went to Vegas the first time and the flamingos enthralled me. I mean, I was, I was like, can we just stay here at the, at the mingo all day?

I called it the mingo. There's other places, right, that have like the, I can't think of which place has it, but like the big aviary with like a bunch of plants. Like, it's almost like a botanical garden. There's plenty of places inside of casinos along the strip and in Vegas that are free. And they have great stuff for kids to look at. My daughter was a Percy Jackson freak when we went. And all she wanted to do was go to Caesar's Palace and some fake casino that didn't actually exist that she kept talking about like the White Lotus or something like that.

I know that's an HBO show, but whatever it's called in that book. But there are lots of cool things to do. The M&M store. That's a great one. Coach store. Yeah, New York, New York has a great arcade. There's lots of arcades, legendary arcades. So New York, New York is fun for kids as well.

That's a good, that's a good shout. Yeah, yeah. You got the, I mean, again, can't go on the roller coaster, but neither can my friend Tim, and he's a full-size adult. He was too big to fit on it. And any chance I can, Tim's not a heavy guy. He's just tall. He's just tall.

He's just a tall big guy. He's like Shane. He's kind of like Shane. Shane's not riding the roller coaster at New York, New York, no matter how much he wants to. They will not allow it. Your ambivalence to the situation is troublesome. Oh, it's troublesome for sure.

But, I mean, speaking of ambivalence, ambivalence to a situation. We might be experiencing that when it comes to the spring breakout game. Because the spring breakout game is happening this Saturday. The Diamondbacks announced their final rosters today for their spring breakout game. And if you're not aware of what it is, this is where it's a prospects versus prospects game, the top prospects from each organization in the lineup taking on the top prospects from another team's organization. In this case, the Diamondbacks are facing off against the Rockies on Saturday, March 21st there.

And that happens at 5 p.m. after the Cactus League game that starts supposedly at 110. Good luck with that game on Saturday. And again, good luck possibly moving it around because you have this spring breakout game that's occurring in the evening. But I will say as far as the ambivalence is concerned, Damon does the fact that the World Baseball Classic has made us see so much of these prospects kind of ruin something like this,

take a little of the allure off? Like, don't get me wrong. you kind of had to be a complete baseball sicko to get pumped about the spring breakout game. But at the same time, you do have the fact that this is just kind of fun to see our top prospects versus another team's top prospects. And to have it, you know, be a game that is purely about those guys, those kids, you know? I don't know. I don't know if I'm reading this the wrong way, but it feels like because of the World Baseball Classic and how much we've already seen here. of all of these guys.

Again, I'm not sick of seeing prospects. Don't get me wrong. I just feel like perhaps this being a little bit more exclusive during a regular season makes this mean more. Rather than now, this just being more of Ryan Waldschmidt, you know, and everybody else that we've already seen quite a bit, Jose Fernandez, you know, all of those guys. Yeah, if it was like the first chance we got to see of Ryan Waldschmidt this, you know, spring training session, and we might be singing a different tune right now. Yeah. Where it's like, oh my God.

Ryan Waldschmidt is playing baseball today. We get to see him start and we get to see this. It's like, no, we've seen Ryan Walshmit start plenty. And honestly, he's done great this spring. Nothing Waldy has done has kind of disqualified him from being, I guess, on the Diamondbacks radar other than time and him not really being ready. And I mean, I guess you could say that about a couple of other guys. Jose Fernandez, he's another guy who really impressed this spring. But again, these are the guys that are there.

Number one prospect, Walt Schmidt, Kaysen Cunningham, the number two overall prospect. Demetriot-Cresontes, the number five overall prospect. Southern A-Z stand up? Yep, that's right. Do I mean, do I get to claim Nogales people as well? Yes. 100%.

I mean, you already claim Bisbee and everybody else down there. Well, that's what I guess what I'm asking. Right. All of Southern Arizona gets to be under the Tucson umbrella. Yeah, anything south of anything Tucson and lower. Marana or lower. Yeah. And then not anything north of the actual United States border, right?

Yeah. Exactly. You're not taking credit for Hermesimo. We might take. We might take Rocky Point. No, absolutely not. Why? No.

No, I'm not allowing that. But because you already have a lot of cool stuff happening for you guys there. But Lou James Gruver, Yonsea Louise, Drew Jones in the lineup, Carlos Verohanda, Brian Curley, Wellington, Arasina. The list goes on. So the Diamondbacks top 30 prospects. So many of those guys are participating in it. There's 16 games.

The Brewers and Phillies inexplicably will play twice because of the odd number of teams in the grapefruit and cactus league. So the Brewers get to do that. And these will be streamed live and blackout free on MLB's digital platforms, MLB.com, MLB. MLB. And the MLB and part in the platform. But I'm having a problem, Damon, and I don't mean to throw shade at MLB. But I do find myself being told at times that Diamondbacks games are being streamed, like, on Dbacks.com.

And I go over to Dbacks.com looking to settle in and watch myself a spring training game. Lobehold, it's nowhere to be found. So I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but I hope this game's on TV for sure. Yeah. What is happening out there? I'm having a difficult time. I know you're not even listening to me. I know you're not.

Would you want to just tell us what's happening in the March Vandness? High Point just stopped Wisconsin. Wisconsin up one. High Point got a stop. Threw it up the court. Dude was napping on Wisconsin. Free layup, high point up one with 11 seconds left. Wow.

Wow. They might take down Wisconsin, Derek. That might be the best thing that ever happened to your school. Just get that logo out of my face. Get that logo out of my face. Ooh. Well, again, I need one stop, fellas. Hold the line.

I want to take a moment to tell everybody that's, here, I appreciate you, and I thank you so much for taking time away from basketball to join us to talk a little baseball. That's a great reminder of that. Yeah, a great reminder of that. Also, Derek, are you seeing this Duke score? They're down 11? At halftime.

Oof, they're going to come back. You think? Ah, they're Duke. I'm hoping not. I mean, my bracket's going to be busted as to or a lot. That's high point hoops. Come on. They win?

They just got fouled. And their fans are going crazy. 1.6 on the clock. Wow. Wow. Wow. Well, we need to take a break because I got to prepare myself to talk about this milkshake that the Diamondbacks are serving at Chase Field. I know insulin isn't cheap, Damon, but I'm ready.

I'm ready and I'm willing to get diabetes on behalf of the name of this milkshake that the Diamondbacks are releasing and all this other food that they're going to put out. So don't you guys go anywhere. Damon, let's take a quick break. We're going to come back for this break and talk food. You are, of course, are watching the PHNX High Point Podcast. Well, you know I want to multiply all of the good things in my life. For me, sometimes that means multiplying the amount of time where I can sit around and do nothing, because that's very rare for me.

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The one thing I still can't stop thinking about is what they are calling the barbecue brigade. That was the barbecue plate that I was talking about. It has burnt and brisket in it. It's loaded barbecue pulled pork potato. It has a third of a rack of St. Louis ribs. vinegar slaw, mac and cheese, beer pickled onions, pickles and house barbecue sauce, all in a big to-go container. They say it's for four people.

I would argue it's for one, and that one is me. Chef Tilder said me and him together could probably polish it off. And I, there's no doubt in my mind that that's the case. But they also have a burnt and brisket and pulled pork mac and cheese. That was the one I was talking about. Did not know it had both brisket. and pulled pork in it. That's the reason why that mac and cheese was so delicious.

White cheddar mac and cheese, Jack cheddar blend, smoke, that's on top of the white cheddar. White cheddar, with then the jack cheddar blend, that's like the crispy cheese on top, smoke bacon, barbecue sauce, scallions, amazing. And even, we even saw the big food, right? We saw the 50-50 stretch, which is half of a chicken parmesan sandwich

and then half hot pastrami. That also carries in a large carrying case. Right? We also saw what else, Damien? I mean, we saw plenty of things, but we did see that they have a shareable souvenir nacho bucket. Not hat, not helmet, not bag. No, it's a bucket. And it's a hundred and twenty eight ounces. A hundred and twenty eight ounces of classic nachos with the choice of barbacoa beef, pork carnitas or vegetarian fajita on top. an entire bucket of nachos. Special. But nothing.

Nothing beats this. This thing popped up on social media yesterday on MLB's account. And it took the internet by storm, including Jason Kelsey, who is going to make plans on coming out to a Diamondbacks game simply to drink this milkshake. Him and I are going to lady and tramp the hell out of this thing. Let me tell you. But Damon, if you wouldn't mind putting it. it up there. We have to look at the take me out to the ballpark shake. Derek, I could just see me and you splitting a Kit Kat on this thing together. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I mean that like it's it's it's one

kit cat you start at one end. I started at the other and the next thing you know we meet in the middle. Damon this thing is incredible. It is incredible. This is a salted caramel milkshake topped with whipped cream, peanut butter sandwiches, Craig Morgan's favorite, Kit Kat bars, and Cracker Jacks? And Cracker Jacks? And Jason's asking the true questions, the real things that we need to know, where was this milkshake at on press day for us to try? I needed little sample versions of this. I am such a sucker, Damon, for these kind of things.

I won't lie. I'm a sucker for this. I'm also a sucker for cups that are cool and collectible. And I hate to admit it, but the Dodgers have one that makes me very jealous. It's a water cooler. It's a water cooler. I showed it to my wife and she said, ooh, we should get that and we'll just cover up the Dodgers logo.

And I appreciate her for saying that. But let's see. Ryan said, I'm sorry. I thought you said bucket. Did I not say bucket loud enough when it came to the nachos? 128 ounces. There's also a smaller one for people that can't hack it. That's 64 ounces of nachos.

It's crazy. I think I like what Chef Tilder said. They're wow items, right? They're items that when you walk around the stadium holding them, it's hard not to look at it and immediately ask that person where those items are. I need to know where they're at. And again, another thing that we keep slipping on, the hand-dipped foot-long corn dogs

topped with chili cheese or street corn. So they got a lotte or they got the chili cheese version. Ernesto says it's $128. Probably. I don't know. No guarantees on that. $128 is crazy. Yeah.

It would be like an insane amount of money. It would be. It would be. I mean, I want the barbecue plate. And I know that there's probably the barbecue. Barbecue Brigade and I know outside of getting four friends to go in on it with me I probably won't be able to afford that but again so much amazing new food coming out there and the other thing we were being far too sensible the other day we should have leaned hard into these kind of items but the chicken tinga burrito bowl the plant powered burrito bowl there's a lot of things that again as someone that's at the ballpark quite often I'm thrilled that they're bringing just to have more reasonable options because I'm not going to be able to drink to take me out to the ballpark shake every time. I'm out. Yeah, even as much as you might want to, I don't know if that would do do great things to your physique, Derek. Just once a week though, Damon. Yeah, sure. Of course. And we're going to tell

my cheat day. We're going to tell our general practitioner that that's, we're just going to have to factor in the 3,000 calories that are included in. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It might be more than 3,000 cars. Katie's asking for a D-BAC's food cast when the season starts. I need to know what's worth getting. In fact, Damon's putting together a little vlog from the other day. But I think, Damon, we absolutely will do that for you. We'll try to get ourselves. As you may or may not know at one point, I was a certified, actually I still am. My certification has not lapsed. I am a certified snackologist. This is true. Yeah, you don't lose that. I went. I went to the university of snackology. I studied in snacking. It's the reason why I don't have a horse in this race. Our school didn't make it. But my friend Tim,

again, the guy that's too big to fit in the roller coaster. He is my partner when it came to that. I think we had like 150 episodes of us instituting what we refer to lovingly as the per system where we would pick a snack, eat a snack, and rate a snack, pick eat, rate, per. So again, if you are interested at all in snacking, snack ratings, look it up. It's called Derek and Tim eat snacks. I still believe it's on the internet. I know I can't give away ads for other things, but I think I can give away ads for old podcasts I used to do, right?

Sure, yeah. That seems fair. That seems fair. But anyway, regardless, appreciate. you guys so much. Thank you guys so much for being here. We will be back here tomorrow with another 12 p.m. show. I would ride this out until 1 o'clock, but I am fairly certain that everybody that's watching this show right now is also watching March Madness. And I'm fine with it. I don't care. I'm not going to. I'm here for it. I'm here for it too. I want to know what's going on. I want

to see High Point lose or win. Let's do it. But anyway. It's Sienna time, baby. Oh, it's Sienna time beaten Duke. Let's let's just ruin the brackets. Let's. Let's ruin every. I'm down for it. We appreciate you guys again for your time. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll be back here tomorrow with our final show of the week. And then, of course, next week we got our big opening day week.

Cannot wait for that. We are off on Wednesday next week, but we'll be bringing you three postgame shows, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for that series in Los Angeles. So make sure to come back here for that. Also, join us for our watch party out of cry, baby. Join us for our pregame show on opening day. And join us to watch this air is. and Diamondbacks team hopefully surprise a lot of people in 2026 you can follow us on social media

i'm at cap underscore cave nam of the k damon dam of the k damon is at dammed dog with a d a wg and as always we're all damask we're all panthers oh wait sorry i got that wrong oh yeah i thought we were all high point panthers we are we're all high point panthers rar our show is at p h and x underscore dbacks but as always all roads lead to at p h and x underscore sports on twitter instagram and facebook don't Mitch, miss this, the watch-along that we have going on here for NCAA March Madness tournament, everything else we got going on here. We appreciate you guys so much. We love you. We thank you for your time. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then, behave yourselves. Ryan, make sure all RSBPs for the event, by the way, go through Ryan. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you

have extra starting pitchers and you don't have to worry about an injury.