PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - POSTGAME: D-backs Starting Rotation in CRISIS? Gallen SHELLED for 6 in Loss to Cubs

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

The Arizona Diamondbacks’ starting pitching continues to unravel, and this time it was Zac Gallen who couldn’t stop the bleeding, allowing six runs and exiting early in a tough series-opening loss to the Chicago Cubs. We break down the all-too-familiar first-inning struggles that keep putting this team behind the eight ball, plus another big night from Ildemaro Vargas as he extends his impressive hitting streak and Geraldo Perdomo helping spark a comeback effort that ultimately came up just one run short. What’s going wrong with the rotation, and what needs to change fast? We dive into the concerns surrounding the starters and what Arizona needs moving forward. Plus, we check in on some of the organization’s hottest prospects in another edition of Snake Farm. 0:00 Another early deficit leads to loss  2:40 Atrocious starting pitching  6:30 Ildemaro Vargas does it again  9:00 Players struggling right now  20:45 Zac Gallen's worst start so far  26:50 Bullpen does there job  33:25 Top SPs letting D-backs down  40:35 Game 1 loss in Chicago  46:40 Upcoming schedule lightens up  54:20 Top prospect updates Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $36: https://gophnx.com/intro-offer-youtube WHILE SUNS ARE IN PLAYOFFS Limited-time offer! Become a Diehard for just $32: https://gophnx.com/suns-playoff-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.

Why does it feel like we're never going to light this up ever again? That song, welcome it to another edition of the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast, brought to you by our friends right here in Studio K, by the good folks at Circle K. My name is Derek Monti, occasionally known as your mayor of PHNX, and there are no skis tonight or possibly in the future. You may never turn this cactus light on again, and Damon is sadder than he's ever big after watching the Diamondbacks.

Come back today, fall one run short, and a loss to the Cubs by a score of 6 to 5. Like I said, my name is Derek Monti. I'm your mayor. That is Damon, your dog, on the ones in Tuesday, a, aka Damon Farrell. And neither one of us are very happy about watching the Diamondbacks lose this game by a score of 6 to 5.

Pain. They drop to 16 and 5 on the season and have now lost seven of their last 10 games. This is the PHNX Diamondbacks podcast. We are brought to you by our friends at Bet365. Bet365, where winning is everything, something we don't know anything about lately when it comes to the Diamondbacks. Download the app today and use that code of PHNX 365. We're also brought to you by the fine folks at GameTime. Download the GameTime app and create an account.

Use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase. Turns to apply. Apparently, Bet365 is playing against the debacks every day. They're winning. Because winning is everything. Yeah, winning is everything to them. Meanwhile, to us, losing has been entirely too common lately. And the reason why the Diamondbacks have been losing so much is their starting pitching rotation.

It's another day where a starting pitcher struggled early in the first inning. First inning lately has been a disaster for the Diamondbacks. Put the debacks down early. Zach Gallen gave up three runs in the first inning. And then once again gave up more runs later on. Arizona could not dig themselves out of the early deficit, though they did crawl their way back to being one run shy of tying the ball game. and they deserve their credit for that. The fact of the matter is the Diamondback starting pitching

is once again atrocious. The worst in Major League Baseball over this last stretch. By far, I mean, when you look at the results, how many runs they've been given up, where they currently stand, this is a nightmare for the Arizona Diamondbacks right now. Eduardo Rodriguez is the only pitcher in their rotation that has a sub-4 ERA after Zach Gallen blew up today.

Michael Soroka now owns a 4.70 ERA Gallon. That changed quick. Ballooned. Yes, I mean, again, you get an outing where you give up six earned runs like Gallen did today and you don't make it out of the fourth inning. And suddenly your ERA is at 4.45 on the season for Gallen. Yikes.

Ryan Nelson has a 7.71 ERA and Merrill Kelly has a 9.20 ERA. Kelly has a minus.5 war. Nelly has a minus 1.1 war. And James McCann is currently listed in the Diamondbacks bullpen on baseball reference. That's where we stand right now. That's pretty good, right? No. And he, well, Derek, at least he has the worst war of any player in the Diamondbacks bullpen.

Right? Right. Wrong. He doesn't. There are not one, but two starting. pitch or two relief pitchers that have a worse war as a pitcher than James McCann.

That would be Joe Ross, who has a minus 0.4 war, and Andrew Hoffman, who also has a minus 0.4 war. Taylor Rashi, James McCann tied at negative 0.02, along with Brandon fought was a negative 0.2 war.

We're in trouble, guys. And pitching, of course, was supposed to be the thing that was different. It's different when you have essentially the same starting lineup outside of Michael Soroka being added to it and Brandon fought being moved to the bullpen. But everything that we experienced early on as far as success, as far as changes that were made, everything we thought that the Diamondbacks had changed with Jeremy Blige coming in. Everything has fallen apart for this team as

far as starting pitching is concerned. They are not even close to putting up competitive efforts here. And now the Diamondbacks sit here. Here. at 16 and 15, one game away from being 500. And it always feels like every time they have the opportunity to like really become a team that is like a true contender, they just, they completely fall off of a cliff. Am I the only one that feels that way? Like every time that they're like four games over 500 and you sit there and you go, well, if you could just beat the white socks in a series, then things are really looking up. And then who comes into town and kind of, you know, goes belt to ass? The Chicago White Sox, Derek, like, and then things start spiraling a little bit.

Yeah. It's, I mean, you're right. Even in that series, the Diamondback's starting pitching couldn't do much to control. A good White Sox team, a team that's been playing much better. They have themselves a star there in Miracami. But regardless, it was like that, that really was the moment where you started to question what's going on with this team, what's going on with the pitching. The relief pitching has been inconsistent, but you still have some great performances.

including Brandon Garcia, who just got called up and gives us hope that we might actually have a left-handed stud now in the bullpen. But this was a disaster of a day for Zach Gallen. He just was ineffective and he put the Diamondbacks down six to one early and did not give them much of a chance to win this ballgame. One person that is giving this team chances to win is I'll tomorrow Vargas. Put some respect on his name. I want to see nine months from now many children born with the name Ildamaro Vargas. He got a single in the first inning that immediately extended all of his hitting streaks. The Diamondbacks just have to send out this massive communication email now covering all of his

hitting streaks. His career best 27 game hitting streak remains the best longest hitting streak in Major League Baseball dating back to September 26 last year. It is tied for the longest streak in Major League Baseball since 2021, now tied with the 27th game hitting streak by Trey Turner from September 12th, 2021 through April 16th, 2022. Include streaks spanning multiple seasons. His 27 game hit streak is the second longest streak in franchise history behind Luis Gonzalez's 30-game streak. And his 24-game streak to start his season is MLB's second longest streak since 1940. Now with just won Ron LaFleur ahead of him from the

Detroit Tigers back in 1976. He has a single-season 24-game hitting streak, which is a single-season 24-game hitting streak, tied now, also for the second longest in franchise history, tying Tony Womack at 24 games. And including streak spanning multiple season, his 20-game road hitting streak is the longest in franchise history. He passed Stephen Drew and Jr. Spivey yesterday, and he continues to stack onto that franchise record, as well as his franchise record for the longest streak to start a baseball season. And he wasn't done there. Vargas couldn't be stopped today. In fact, Vargas got on base every single time he came up to bat going four for four with a walk and the debacks got two hits in the first inning including that single from Vargas that extended his hitting streak

but they weren't able to convert those runs and that seemed to be kind of the case for this team today they had runners in scoring positions several times and they just weren't able to convert those runners and every time it felt like a big inning was starting to build up the diamond back just kind of let it, you know, fizzle out. You had the third inning where Barrosa hit a lead off double. Jorge Barrosa continues to do amazing things for this team. In fact, he just, all he does essentially is get on base. That's what, that's what Jorge Barrosa does.

And in fact, the majority of the time he's getting extra base hits. He has 14 hits this season and 11 of them have gone for extra base hits. That's courtesy of our guy, PhX Logan, on Twitter. And even his buntz, as he says, goes for extra base hits because Barroso would bunt in the sixth inning up the third baseline on a play that Alex Bregman misplayed and that would score a run. But in the third inning, Corby reached on a fielding era that should have probably been a double play. So the Diamondbacks were finally gifted an opportunity here with two runners on.

And then ADC grounds into a fielder's choice and Gabby strikes out looking on a pitch. that Damon and I 100% agreed on. He should have swung at. He should have made an attempt. There's no reason with runners in scoring position and two strikes for you not to be doing everything you can to defend the plate, to fight off those pitches, to foul them off. I would so rather that you struck out swinging in that moment,

in that big moment for this team, rather than striking out looking. And it was a disappointment that Gabby, who just returned to the lineup today from injury, had so many of those inning-ending moments today. It was defeating. It sucks. I know he's back. I know he's just back.

I know how hard it is to get back into the swing of things. And he still put together some pretty good at bats, but that one was fairly egregious, Damon. I felt like that. I mean, it's hard to argue against that it's, that it's unacceptable. How could you say, or the swinging the bat is better than not swinging the bat. No, no, I'm not making it sound like we're standing on business.

here on something that's controversial. It's like, just like, how did you not? How do you not swing in those moments? How do you not try to give me a chance? Yeah. Put the ball in play. Like, you know, that's that's the name of the game, right? And I feel like, you know, Gabby is one of those guys where, you know, I had people that were

upset with me before the season started when or when Jose Fernandez started going off that I didn't put him in like the, the D-BACs pillars of the organization. And it's like, because I don't think that we've seen that consistent. from Gabriel Moreno in his career yet. We've seen the flashes where it looks fantastic. How about the playoffs in 2023, his rookie year? I mean, he looked like a superstar. It feels better to have his bat in the lineup than James McCann.

There's no question about it. Below 100, right? There's no question about it. But at the same time that, you know, I think that he has, I still a lot of room that he has to, you know, grow and get better in and provide more for this team. Him and Gurriel particularly, I think, right? Like, those are guys that we named as like kind of the,

middle of the order bats on this team and in this organization that are like you got to help out the dudes at the top and it's not like the dudes at the top have been playing fantastic but gabby and lordis really haven't been doing much of anything well perdomo was just recently back from injury and he had the biggest hit of the day in the sixth inning it started let's talk about it no let's talk about it let's talk about it uh jose fernandez started things off with a lead off single and then you got tim tawa pinch hitting for alec thomas because things are just so bad right now for alec tombs He is so unproductive at the plate. It's unfortunate.

And today it felt like the debacks just couldn't afford to have him out there. Tawa got on base. He walked in that moment. He also made a spectacular sliding grab or grab in left field. He really did. And Derek, guess who always believed in Tim Tawa? These two guys on this podcast, the two of us particularly. I feel like there's video evidence contrary to that.

not going to try to implicate myself here. What? Not doing ball because Tim Tawa, hero, legend. The way that you put out that video, by the way, would make it where there's only video evidence of one guy who was

doubting Tim Tawa. Now, if you go back and actually watch the things that were said on the watch along, that's three hours long. It's very long. Yeah, then you'll hear Derek saying plenty of disrespectful things towards our Lord and Savior,

but. It's fine. In that moment, yeah, I was like you got to wear that pitch. Yeah. Um, you got Jose,

Hernandez again, getting down with that lead off single. Tawa gets, gets on with a walk. And then Barrosa doubles on a bunt up the third base line, like we said. What was Brighman doing? I don't know. He was trying to be cute. He was. He was trying to like let it go foul. But you pick it up and you tag the base and you have an out right there.

Right there already made out. He was two steps from the back. I'm glad he didn't. I'm glad he didn't do it. Because, of course, Ben, with two on, Geraldo Perdomo, hit his second home run. of the year, aided by the wind a little bit out there in left field, but 100.8 miles per hour off

the bat, 366 feet to left, and at that moment, the debacks had cut the lead to 6 to 5, and it very much felt good. And by the way, Barrosa on that double, he did score Jose Fernandez that made it 6 to 2 at the time, and then with the 2 on, Prudomo's

home run, made it 6 to 5. And it felt very much like the comeback was on. It felt like the Cubs were reeling. Their bullpen arms weren't doing great, at that moment and then they locked in. Yeah. And then that's it again. Once again, another day where the offense perks up,

wakes up, shows its face, tips its cap, and walks right back out the door like Grandpa Simpson, right? The debacks would only have one base runner, Damon, for the rest of the game

after that sixth inning. And of course, it was Ilamar Vargas with a walk in the ninth inning, who tried. He tried. He got on base. He wanted to be that game-tying run,

and unfortunately, nobody could drive them in. And there were some mistakes made. I mean, you go back to that huge, huge defensive mistake made in the first inning by Vargas and Alec Thomas with two outs to let a pop-up get caught in a win and drop for a hit instead of an out. And instead of ending the inning, it pushed the Cubs lead to three to nothing at the time. You know, so again, this wasn't exactly entirely Zach Gowen's fault because he did have some bad defense behind him, as well as some weird win in Wrigley that always makes you look a bit foolish. but defensively, Tawa made an incredible play in left field to Rob Bregman of what would have been an extra base hit. And then Jose Fernandez also made an outstanding play to catch a pop-up from Carson Kelly in the eighth inning.

It sent him into the netting. It sent him over the tarp. Luckily, he didn't get hurt, and he held onto the ball, and he continues building his case for his statue outside of Chase Field. Just not a good day, I mean, from the pitching staff, the Diamondbacks, I often say, like, hey, the offense is as responsible here as defense. They did the thing, man. They put up five runs and the bullpen locked it down and did not allow an earn run after Zach Gallen

exited the game in the fourth inning. But it was already too much of a deficit. And that seems to be the case lately with starting pitching is that they put this team so far behind early that it's hard for them to make it up. And I will argue on some of the comments from yesterday's loss, like, yeah, I do think that giving up a whole lot of runs affects your offense. I do think that they kind of give up mentally and are already in a position

when they're down seven, six, seven, eight runs that they're not going to come back. You know, today showed that they still have that dog in them. They could still get there. They just couldn't finish the job today. And once again, it felt once they got one run short that they started kind of getting desperate, not making the best decisions as far as trying to advance runners and trying to, you know, get, get that one run, manufacture a run. And that's something the Diamondbacks have been a bit bad at this season. But Pardomo, two for five today with his second home run, three RBI and a run scored. Burosa, two for four with an RBI and two doubles and two runs scored. So those guys at least contributed, Damon. But of course, nobody's helping Ildomar

Vargas out very much and he cannot do it all by himself. He is our king's stake, though, to the surprise of nobody. Four for four today with a walk. He got on base every single time he came up to bat. He had an RBI. And of course, the most important thing is his historic 27 game hit streak that continues to roll on. And he's just such a joy. He's such a joy to watch. He's having so much fun. You can tell he's like he's he's really taken in the the vibes of this 27 game hitting streak. You know what I mean? Like he's not taking it for granted. He's definitely like you can see the emotion. Yeah. Every time he like extends it, you can see he's almost like, I can't believe this thing is still happening.

Yeah. And it's awesome to watch. Sean's right, though. Wasting a Vargy Masterclass and two shut down innings from Brandon Garcia. True. Troches. It's troches. And Brandon Garcia, who was just called up today, you know, if he can be what he was today, the Diamondbacks bullpen just got substantially better, substantially.

Okay. Because they have a left-handed arm that can actually throw strikes and has good stuff and a tax hitters, even though it did start out a little shaky, you know, Brandon Garcia, the one weakness he's had in Reno has been walks, and his first two pitches were nowhere close to the strike zone. And I was like, here we go again. But luckily, Garcia locked in and was excellent for this team. We're going to talk about it on the other side of this break,

along with Zach Gallin's terrible outing. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Pure Edibles, we need you. This is a day when we need you. I mean, for different reasons. If it would have been a, you know, again, they have a wide variety of strains, effects, and delicious flavors that are clearly listed on each tin.

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You do you at Hela River Resorts and Casinos. Visit playatheila.com for more details. Damon, there is a fly in this room that is bullying me. It's like breaking bad. I am upset. Like it might just derail the whole rest of the podcast. You know what's the most frustrating part is it's probably not even showing up on camera. So me looking at it all the time is probably making me look like an insane person.

Until Derek it lands directly on the lens and starts crawling across the lens, which I expect to happen at some point. Oh, man. Well, I'll tell you, it was another rough first inning for a deback starter. Zach Gallen did not look good today. not lock sharp out of the gate. His very first batter was Nico Horner, who doubled to lead off the first. Horner has been on fire this year, on fire for the Cubs, but he would seemingly get injured running the bases and had to exit the game.

And to be fair, that was a good thing for the Diamondbacks, because overall, Horner would probably have tormented us throughout this entire game. We'll see how that could potentially impact the remaining two games of this series. But, again, it's just this first inning, these first inning blues. the Diamondbacks have now given up seven earned runs in the first inning of their last three games. You just, it's not sustainable. You can't expect this offense that is struggling to constantly have to make up for the poor performances by their starting pitching staff. It's also a lot to ask this bullpen.

The Diamondbacks, yes, they had to send down Philip Abner and turn to Brandon Garcia, and I know that's a move. A lot of people were excited to see. But that wasn't due to Philip Abner pitching poorly. It was just merely due to them needing another arm and needing it fast, considering how taxed this bullpen has been this year. And that's another thing that's just going to seemingly, you know,

put the pressure on another portion of this team that could cause that portion that is doing well. Not going to get crazy about the bullpen, but a lot of parts of that of the bullpen are performing well. And again, you're going to apply too much pressure on them to make up for these poor performances by starters. and that, and they're going to go to hell. It's all going to go bad. It's all going to fall apart.

And it just doesn't feel great. The starting pitching staff has to figure something out here. They have to stop trying to once again revert back to being cute like they were last year, throwing around the edges and, you know, not challenging batters. I don't necessarily want to see Zach Gallen throwing his fastball right down the middle of the plate. But, I mean, we have his pitching chart here. And he just, again, it wasn't really about Zach missing a time. He just had, you know, a couple of his pitches, like his changeup, for instance, I think only landed in the zone one time.

His slider wasn't really doing much for him. And his foreseam is kind of all over the place. You see how much he missed on his foreseem throughout this outing. 32% forcing. He did throw a decent mix of pitches today. He threw his foreseeing, 32%. his slider 21%, his knuckle curve and his change up both 17% of the outing, and his sinker 14%.

But Cubs batters were just patient today. And Gallen wasn't really making them, or it wasn't challenging them in a way that let them, you know, have to swing at stuff. He did get 15 called strikes, but he only got five whiffs. And again, it all started in the first inning. Horner gets on to doubles to lead off. Moises Ballesteros, walks. There was a ground out by Breggman

that moved Horner over and then Hap walked below the bases. And of course it looked like it was an absolute disaster. And then he struck out Suzuki. Things looked like they were better. But Michael Bush hits a two RBI single to make it two to nothing and score the

first runs for the Cubs. And then Carson Kelly, who hates us so much seemingly, our old friend. He loves to hurt our feelings. RBI single to make it three to nothing before PCA grounded out there to end the innings. But again, seven earned runs

given up by the Diamondbacks pitching staff in their last three games in the first inning alone. Gallin did settle in after that over the next two innings but then immediately found himself in trouble again in the fourth and would not make it out of that inning. And again, it started with Carson Kelly. You

son of a bitch. Leadoff single by Carson Kelly followed by a PCA single. And then a mistake there by Alec who kind of threw it into Perdomo. Damon and I talked about it. It was supposed to be a single PCA, turned it into a double. It was heads-up base running by PCA, but also a lack of awareness there by, by Alec, trying to throw it to the cutoff man in Perdomo, instead of just

throwing it directly into second base to ensure that PCA had to stay at first. And again, that is important because PCA would score to make it a five-to-one game on a wild pitch by Zach Gallen just a few like two batters later. And Swanson, Dansby Swanson, hit an RBI single that scored Kelly to make it 4 to 1 at the time. The wild pitch, PCA scoring makes it 5 to 1.

And then with two outs, Alex Bregman hits an RBI double that scored PCA and made it 6 to 1. All of those mistakes are the reasons why the Diamondbacks lost today. The margins are too fine playing a team right now that is as hot as the Cubs. And you go back and you have Alex

take back both of those both of those situations and you don't know how that completely changes this game. Diamondbacks might win this one five to three if Alec Thomas makes the play on both of those. And he was removed from the game. So I feel like it wasn't just his at-bats that caused that. I think that it was also his defensive plays

because they moved Barroso over to center and they put Tim Tao out and left. But again, Gallen would not make it out of that fourth inning. He got one out and had to, had to be pulled from this game, or two outs, excuse me. He ended up going three and two-thirds innings pitch to give up seven hits, six earned run, walk three, struck out three. And that was another thing.

Walks today continued to haunt him because those walks scored. And again, it also made him drive up his pitch count. Gallen threw 95 pitches through three and two-thirds innings today. And he did throw, he threw 57 strikes. So he did hit 60% you know strikes as far as his pitches, but it just still wasn't enough. And Cubs hitters again were very patient against D-Backs pitchers, not just Zach, but the bullpen as well.

However, the bullpen performed as best as you could ask for in a situation like this where the Diamondbacks were trying to claw their way back into the game. Ryan Thompson goes out there. He wasn't exactly perfect, but he did make a really good defensive play to get the lead runner at second. and also only gave up one hit, one walk, no earn runs, gave the Diamondbacks an inning and a third pitched. But we got to talk about our lefty stud, Brandon Garcia.

He looked outstanding today. Six up, six down for Garcia in two innings of work. He had two strikeouts, no earn runs, most importantly, no walks. And again, we already loved Brandon Garcia for what he was able to do for this team last year. We knew that the results necessarily weren't the best, but his stuff was good and as far as a lefty was concerned, it very much felt like the Diamondbacks had two really good lefties

with AJ Puck and Brandon Garcia. But something happened, especially during spring training where Garcia would just randomly have these ridiculously bad outings, specifically when it came to control. Like all of a sudden his control would just be gone completely. And his control and command haven't been great in Reno, giving up 10 walks in, I believe 10 games.

But still, today, very, very good. And if he can be this good for the Arizona Diamondbacks going forward, you have to feel like you're gaining confidence in this bullpen and what they're ultimately able to provide for the rest of the season. Now, I don't know what we can do to get starting pitching back on track, but I do feel like one thing we saw out of Garcia today was, lo and behold, throwing strikes makes a big difference. Challenging batters makes a big difference.

and it just didn't seem to be something. It does not seem to be something the starting pitchers are doing any longer, despite that being a change in philosophy early on in the season that felt very important to this pitching staff. I don't know, bad habits are bad habits, right? You slowly just revert back to the same old crap, and it feels specifically like when it comes to starting pitching that that has happened. But oddly enough, this bullpen now feels like it's,

almost to a point where you would say it's good, right? They've had enough good performances that you would say it's good, but you feel like... I was going to ask you. It sounded like you feel like a little bit more confident that the D-BACs bullpen long-term is actually pretty set up. Yeah, because again, we're going to get some major pieces back, but what we needed to do was discover guys that we can count on. And I feel like Taylor Clark and Juan Murillo are that. I feel like Brandon Garcia could be that, though it's far too. early to say that. And even with how bad a few of his outings have been, Ryan Thompson somehow

continues to be very effective out of the pen. Kevin Ginkle has lowered his ERA and you and I have agreed that he has just looked much better in his last three outings, right? So like again, it's going to be to a point where hopefully, hopefully the Diamondbacks have tough decisions to be made about their bullpen and not necessarily just praying and hoping for AJ Puck and Justin Martinez to eventually return and save us. So far, the bullpen has not been the problem over this stretch. No. Right?

I mean, in some cases, they haven't helped. Which is atypical of the Diamondbacks when they go on one of these stretches where they, you know, are three and seven in their last 10. I feel like it's usually because you lose four of those games that you had a lead in late and the bullpen screws it up. But recently, you know, to your point, like, it's just been the starting pitching, putting you at a deficit so early in a game that it's hard to work your way out of. And the Diamondbacks have worked their way out of it two of these games recently in the last like six.

But before that, I mean, you just can't expect it every single time. You can't expect a team to claw back from a two, three, four run deficit. And it's been five games in a row, Derek, that you've gotten off to your opponent with the lead. I mean, it's just not, it's not a winning formula for, you know, a baseball team over the course of a season. You, you got to get off to hotter starts than that. It feels like something the Diamondbacks have typically done a really good job at. And finishing has been the issue. But apparently, like, they can, they can find a way to play six-ish innings of good baseball,

but they can't put together a full nine to save their lives. Right. And it's just like they can't. It's very hard to find games where you felt like they had a complete, performance. Or starting pitching was good. Offense was good. And the bullpen was good.

Again, it's like spinning plates with this team where it always feels like even though you're paying attention over here to something doing good. Now this one's falling off the damn, you know, rod or whatever the hell they spin plates on. I don't know. But again. Again, that must be something that just doesn't really even. Don't old age me. Don't old age me.

I know you're about to old age me. Spinning plates used to be entertainment back in the day. I guess I'm a little confused. It's just a turn of the phrase. I didn't live in these times either, Damon. I just, I don't know what you got a farm. I don't know what you guys used to pay a Nick one to go watch.

I had to put behind the horse where I was putting the cart in front of the horse. I didn't live in these times either just I read books. I read books. What can I say? That's what I'm guilty up here. But what was the last book you read? Oh, oh, uh, the Kaiju Preservation Society. And it's excellent.

Excellent. I love that one. Get out of here. I'm a reader, Damon. You just get out of here. think I'm dumb because I play a dummy on the show. My character's dumb. It's all an act.

It's just the character I play. It's a pro wrestling thing. It's the gimmick. It's the gimmick. What's becoming a gimmick is awful starting pitching with this team. And I hate it. I don't want it. And again,

I think that, you know, when you have Eduardo Rodriguez being the best pitcher on your team, it's a good thing, but it also feels like something bad has happened. So hopefully... It feels like something really bad has happened. When you are sincerely saying, Eduardo Rodriguez has the best ERA at 3.03,

the highest war at 0.7 besides Juan Morillo. Juan Murillo and Edward, Eduardo Rodriguez, have the same war right now at 0.7, just showing how valuable Juan Murillo and his 1.84 ERA currently is. Taylor Clark, 2.87. These guys are not the problem.

I think if you did a poll, Derek, before the season of the Diamondback's starting pitching rotation that they went into opening day with, and you said, which one of these players are you most confident would be the Diamondbacks ace. I think the order would have been Merrill Kelly, Zach Gallin. Maybe Ryan Nelson before. Ryan Nelson, I think.

Yeah. Maybe, yeah, probably Merrill Kelly, Ryan Nelson, Zach Gallin, Erod, then fought. Yeah. Yeah. And Soroka. And Soroka somewhere mixed in. I mean, Soroka was, I mean, to be fair, before.

E-Rod is lower on the list than you would expect. And the guys that are above him, Merrill has been horrible. Zach Allen had been decent until this outing today where he kind of blew up. And then Ryan Nelson has just, it's been kind of a disaster start to the season for Ryan Nelson. So it's just unfortunate because the guys that I think that you did have a little bit more confidence in are not doing so hot.

And maybe one of the two of us took a little bit of a couple of preemptive victory lap on the starting pitcher and rotation being better this season because this recent stretch has just been it's been brutal from the starting pitchers. It feels like an attack on me. Like it's to no, that's an attack on me because I was like trying to be like, I told everybody the starting pitchers we're going to have positive regression. Yeah. And then 10 games later, the starting pitchers are a joke.

They've been so bad over the last 10 games, Derek, that it's erased all of the good things that they did early on in the season because all of their stats stink now. And you're like, how? Michael Soroka just was Randy Johnson. We were just making Randy Johnson, Kurt Schilling jokes recently. The last game he pitched, I think I posted a funny Spider-Man meme about him being Randy Johnson. It's just ridiculous how fast things have changed here on us with these starters.

Team ERA combined ERA for the Diamondbacks currently at 3. 4.98. Team Whip 1.391. Bad. Bad. Anyway, we're going to take a quick break. On the other side of this break, we're going to talk about more bad numbers because we're going to take a look at the numbers from this game. And we are also going to take a look ahead at tomorrow's game. Hopefully the Diamondbacks can get things back on track. Don't you go anywhere. You are watching the PHNX Diamondback show. Well, we're not talking about baseball anymore. We're talking about soccer, baby. That's right. Damon, you want to get in on this?

Because I know you love talking about soccer. Yeah, man. This summer it's all about soccer. All about soccer with our friends over at Mickelope Ultra. You got to check out, of course, Michaelobleu Ultra, who is the proud sponsor of the U.S. men's national soccer team. The entire planet, obviously, will be locked in on the FIFA World Cup. We were just talking about one of our interns is going to be helping out with that.

So here in the valley and across the country, we will all be going crazy for Team USA. and Mickelope Ultra, which is brewed right here in the good old United States. They have the same grit that gets U.S. soccer players to the world's biggest stage. And, of course, Mikhailov Ultra is the beer to watch the big match. Whether you're packed in a bar, watching at a party, or yelling at the TV at your home, which I'm sure Damon will be doing all of those things. But for every single match, every goal, every play on the world's biggest stage, crack open something superior.

Micahlob Ultra, proud sponsor of the U.S. men's national soccer team, and official beer sponsor of FIFA World Cup 26. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026, Anheuser-Busch, Mikhail of Ulchre, St. Louis, Missouri. And Bet365, of course, wants to always make betting on live sports more fun right now. You can get back in on the action if you are new users. All new users have to do is sign up and make their first bet of $10, and bet $3.65 will throw you $200 in bonus bets, win or lose.

It's a lot easier than getting Chase Field pool tickets, that's for sure. But while we love spending our time watching a full game, especially one like this that we thought was going to be a blowout, we also love getting out of games early as well. I will tell you this, though, had the Diamondbacks pulled off the comeback today over at Bet365, you would have been a winner had you bet on the Cubs because they were up by five runs.

And with MLB early payout offer at Bet365, you are a winner regardless of the outcome of the game. When your team goes up by five, straight bets are marked as winners as well as parlay. selection. So get down on the action right now. Download the app and use code PHNX365 when you do. Bet 365, where winning is everything. Gambling problem called 180 gambler, 21 and over only. Must be physically located in Arizona. Terms and conditions apply in app only. Well, to Miniken, thank you so much for your super chat. But unfortunately, this is not an opinion you're

going to get agreement with here from us. It says unpopular opinion, but why not bring Trevor Bauer? He will pitch for the veteran minimum. Can't get anywhere. worse. Actually, yes, it can because Trevor Bauer sucks. He sucks in so many ways. He sucks at pitching. He sucks as a human being. And in general, it kind of sucks at social media as well. So no interest there. But I do just bad vibes. We always say this, Derek, and whenever this gets brought up, because you're not the first one too Minikin to bring this up. And it's, you know, you won't be the last one either. And it's, I understand like he's a pitcher who's had a lot of success. And he's very, like, vocal about like wanting to get back in baseball and you know we obviously don't have a

rotation that you feel great about but this team cares so much about culture and vibes and the power of friendship and i know we say that stuff tongue and cheek a lot but like it kind of is real when it comes to the diamondbacks and i just think Trevor bower is such the antithesis of that in the locker room culture that they want to cultivate with tori and the guys that are in the locker room. Like, I just don't think it makes sense in that regard. They got rid of Madison Bumgarner, who was, you know, curmudgeoning and not with the rest of the group and a problem.

And there was a reason they cut him. And it wasn't because he was just bad at pitching. It's because his vibes were off too. And I feel like that's just kind of the thing with Trevor Bauer is like he's, he's kind of a weird guy. Can I give you one other fact? Trevor Bauer last year had a 4.41 ERA. In the Japanese Central Lauer.

Oh, in Japan. He is not pitching in a true professional. I mean, yes, it's a professional baseball team in the idea that they exist and they pay people money to be on the team. But as far, it's not like the, you know, a big league in Japan, right? So he's not even doing well in essentially

what's like a minor league system in Japan. Nothing at all is going to tell you that this guy is going to come back and add anything to this team. And if you've ever needed more of a reason to know that Killer Rex doesn't know ball, it's the fact that he's. He commented, I wouldn't mind Bauer.

That's all you need to know about Killer X right there. But Damon, as far as the rest of this game is concerned, let's take a look at the numbers, even though I don't want to because they are going to hurt my feelings from today's game. And, of course, the Diamondbacks lost this one by a score of six to five. The Cubs had three extra base hits to the Diamondbacks. Two, runners in scoring position, Diamondbacks were three for ten, Cubs were four for 11.

And how does this happen? I want an explanation from people at baseball savant. I want an explanation from Rob Manfred. From the president. I need an explanation from Jack Summers and maybe even a physicist to get involved here because according to baseball savant, both the Diamondbacks and the Cubs had a hard hit percentage of 51.9%. It's crazy. It's crazy. Anyway, expected batting average here.

Diamondbacks 245. to the Cubs 312, and the Cubs were 0 for 1 on ABS challenges. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks were 1 for 2, and that last one was just more of a crossing his fingers by Catelle Marte, who came in as a pinch hitter, hoping that it would be changed, even though there was no information that would actually tell you that that was not a strike.

But again, this one, at the very least, should once again remind the Diamondbacks that, no matter how they felt when they were down 6 to 1, that they were able to come back in this one and make it a one-run game. And that is something that this team is fully capable of at any time. And that is something that hopefully they are just reminded by a little bit after losing, you know, two of those games to the Brewers by over 10 runs. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, Derek, I said it to you during the game. And, you know, it was before we knew what the result was going to be. It was around the seventh inning. And I know it's probably not what most people want to hear. I'm sure there's some people that are listening to this that like to hear a little bit of a positive spin. but like you do have to respect that this team gets the doors blown off of them yesterday and then comes out, gets down early and still fights back in the game. Sure.

And, you know, doesn't just roll over and die again. And I know that, you know, that's like what, what do you do? You know, what do you want for, you know, playing the game that you get paid to play? But I do think it's just human nature when you get down in a game like that, especially coming off of a blowout loss that you would just kind of roll over and die. And, you know, they got blown out by the Brewers. They had a comeback win the next game. They got blown up by the Brewers again.

They almost completed the comeback against the Cubs today. So, you know, I respect and I commend their ability to not like just completely give up on a game, I guess. But yeah, I mean, it's, it's, that's what we're, that's what we got to, we have right now. Well, they have to build on something. We have Bill tomorrow Vargas and we have, well, guys, we didn't give up. Those are the two things that we can hand. our hat on at night when we go to bed. We have Perdomo's home run.

That's what we have for this one. But let's take a look at the probable pictures for this series so we can see what the matchups are going forward. Oh, you're good. Our probable pictures are, this is exciting news, damon, but our probable pitchers are now brought to you by 1AZ. 1AZ rooted in Arizona and invested in you. And of course, we appreciate 1AZ for everything they try to do.

do for Arizona's, uh, Arizonans to help live their best financial lives. But of course, when it comes to the probabilities, Damon, uh, I don't know. I don't know what to say here. I don't know how to feel. I just need these guys to step up. I need Ryan Nelson to be better. We need Merrill Kelly to be better. We were just talking about it. Several people in the chat said Nelly would have been there number one as far as who is going to be the ace of this team. And he has very much not been that. Yeah. No, I think I, if I did a, If I voted on that poll that hypothetical poll that I made up, I would have voted Ryan Nelson. Yeah, for sure, for sure.

I mean, we- Based off the way I was talking about him this offseason. We were talking about that when it came to opening day starter, right? That Nellie probably deserved more consideration than he got, but Merrill Kelly was more of the sentimental choice, which the Diamondbacks tend to make. But now neither of these guys have very good ERAs. Ryan Nelson 1 and 2 with a 7.7 ERA going up against Shoda Imanaga, who continues to be good with his 3.15 ERA. And then Merrill Kelly, 9.20 ERA looking very ugly,

going up against Matthew Boyd there in the finale. And that feels that you feel every one of that 9.2 in his ERA. Boy, brother, do you. I mean, he has looked bad. I know. Bad the last couple of games. And you know, baseball. And he looked pretty good the first game.

Baseball is what it is, right? I mean, baseball, you look bad until suddenly things lock in and then you're back to being, you know, your old self. But it very much feels like Merrill Kelly of all people is very far from that right now. And considering the Diamondbacks just brought them back for what they brought him back for, it's not looking great. You know, it's not looking great. No, I mean, you have like what?

I think I saw today $43 million tied into Gallon and Merrill. And I saw people being like, why not go and instead of paying both of them $43 million, and go get yourself a Cy Young candidate for 45 million. And I, especially when you had already signed Michael Soroka. And I mean, just. And I was like, that's kind of a good point. Now that I'm reading that on paper,

I mean, I guess, you know, hindsight is 20-20. So maybe some people would have been like, give me the two pitchers that I think will be like above average than the one that's elite. But yeah, I mean, it feels like a miss right now. with that much money tied into into those two with the way that they've been pitching so far. Well, our guy Jay in the chat said, we are cooked. And we might be cooked, but I will say that as far as this stretch goes,

the Diamondbacks have a chance here to potentially turn things around against the Cubs. And then after that, Damon, I'm not going to act like the Dback schedule gets easy. But May is going to tell a pretty significant story about this. team. With all of their struggles that they've had, after they play the Cubs, they have a three game set with the Pirates. Then they have a three game set against one of the worst teams in all of baseball back at home against the New York Mets. Then they go on to take on the Rangers. After their three games series with the Rangers, Damon, they play 13 games in a row against the Rockies and the Giants. Three games with the Rockies, three games with the Giants, four more

with the Rockies and then three more with the Giants. And that's how they pretty much close out their month with a series with the Mariners in Seattle officially wrapping things up in May. As far as that 13 game stretch is concerned, I would love to hear from you guys in the chat what you feel like their record needs to be for them to be considered an actual playoff contender

after those 13 games are over, right? There's going to be some guys coming back in that time frame, but more importantly, guys that have missed time will have had a chance to fully be back after playing against the Mets and the Pirates and finishing up this series against the Cubs. Guys like Gabriel Moreno, Lordus Gurriel Jr., whatever the hell happens.

And according to you in the chat, they have to go 13 and 0 so far over that stretch. I don't know if that's necessary. I said 10 wins earlier, and then I pulled it back a little bit, said, okay, maybe going 8 and 5 is the worst that they could do over that 13 stretch,

that 13-game stretch that would make me not believe anymore, Damon. But, man, I'll tell you, it's not great. I mean, it's a great opportunity to create some distance from yourself and those teams in the division, right? And put yourself back in the category of the Padres and the Dodgers rather than kind of being in that grouping. Because you don't want to be in that grouping. You want to be with the teams that are competing for playoff spots, right? That Rockies team, though, I feel very similar about that Rockies team that I did about the Chicago a white socks. I was going to compare them to the white socks. Yeah, I, I know, and I, and I hear that, and I feel that too. Like, they're, they're definitely not as bad as their record might indicate, and they're like a team that you have to be weary about. Like, they're, they're somewhat of a trap series in my opinion. But so are the Giants, kind of. Like, because I just feel like it's a divisional opponent. It's not a team that we're typically super successful against, in my opinion. So, you know, I, I, you know, I, this is a huge stress.

It's a huge stretch between those games and the Pirates games. Like you just got to come out of it playing above 500 baseball if you want this team to be serious about making the postseason. I know this is diving directly too much into his wheelhouse, Damon. But Rex actually does have a decent question. Considering the firings we've seen this year, right? We've seen Rob Thompson let go from the Phillies. Do you think that the Diamondbacks, if they went, oh, and 13, over that stretch that that would be the end of Tori LaBolo's they're not going to go 0 and 13 it's

I mean yeah if they went oh and 13 I guess but the team is 16 and 15 right now they're I don't they're yeah they're not if they lose 13 straight games come back to this I'll quit my post as as producer slash co-host on the pH and XD back show Derek will do the whole show by himself no no and no I don't like that at all and I'll go it right off into the sunset with our guy Tori Levolva. You're going to leave me here behind without the eggplant parmesan and the garlic bread. You think that I'm just going to sit here and hold down the fort? No way.

I mean, me and him are piecing out together. We're riding off into the sunset on motorcycles. I mean, Tori's not going to be let go by Mike Hazen. Yeah. Yeah. Guys. Your dream is dead. We're seven months out from Christmas.

Mike and Tori are already planning on the Christmas lights this year. How they're going to change up the setup. You know, so it's... We're all going to have plenty of time in 2027. That's for sure. That's for sure. But I don't want to talk about that. Let's go ahead and take a break, Damon, and let's talk about some positive things because

some of the youngsters down on Snake Farm are doing the thing. And we're going to talk about it after this break. Don't you go anywhere. You're watching the PHA next Diamondback show. Well, the Window Depot wants to help make, help you make those renovations in your home that you've been dying to make. And right now the window depot and surprise is now open, making it easier than ever for the West Valley to get exactly what they need when they need it, including flooring,

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And yeah, take them up on that offer. Get three pairs. Get four pairs. Promise you, you will not be disappointed. Speaking of not being disappointed, regardless of the outcome of a couple of baseball games, I think we're all going to have a good time because we are once again taking over Chase Field. So make sure to join Damon, myself, and all of our fellow diehards out for two D-Backs games this season. one on Thursday, June 4th versus the Dodgers,

and another one on Tuesday, August 25th, versus the Chicago Cubs team. So that's going to be a fun time because we are going to be hanging out in the All You Can Eat section, stuffing our faces and watching some baseball. Your ticket includes a choice of a shirt or hat from the PHNXDVax merch line.

You get a ticket and entrance to the Bar S all you can eat section. And die-hard, you get 20% off, that amazing ticket package. So get your tickets now. Go p.hnx.com slash events. Damon, I need something positive to look forward to. I need to know about the future instead of the present

because the present is bumming me out. So let's take a look down at the snake farm at a couple of guys have been doing, including Kaysen Cunningham, who they brought up on the broadcast today. He is in Basalia and he is killing it. Currently leads all California League players there with a 388 batting average.

He has six extra base hits. currently has a 970 OPS and 14 RBI. He is a shortstop for the Vassalia Rahide. Meanwhile, another shortstop for the Diamondbacks in their organization, guys that Damon never wants to see playing time of as far as he's considered. Come on, man. I mean, that's not exactly true.

Here's the thing about playing shortstop when you're in the minors. That doesn't mean that you're playing shortstop in the majors. Oh, we've definitely figured that out. You know what I mean? The Diamondbacks will find a place for these guys to play. Well, and I think that like a lot of times your best, Fielder plays shortstop at different levels of baseball, but then once you get to the top of the top level,

that gets kind of weeded out a little bit. And a guy like Justin Upton, who played shortstop ends up playing outfield playing right field. You know what I mean? I feel like Jordan Lawler, right? Jordan Lawler has made that conversion. Exactly. And that's because he played,

he played shortstop. He played second base. He played third base. So I can essentially do it all. I hope these dudes do play for the major league roster because they're so damn good that we have to find a spot for them on the baseball diamond. Well, and I mean, we could sit here and talk, obviously, about Tommy Troy and Ryan Walshmidt and

Lou James Groover again, as we have on the snake farm before, because those guys are still killing it. And those guys absolutely, absolutely deserve consideration to come up and help this team in their outfield, considering how much Alec Thomas is struggling and considering the way that things are going right now for this team, right? They can use another spark the way that Jose Fernandez provided that when he came up. And I really do think Walt Schmidt or Troy could do that. And Lou James Gruver, obviously, he continues to do the thing at a minor league level.

He's just, he's been de-hching more and such. So I don't know where Groover would necessarily fit in. However, Waldschmidt and specifically Troy, Troy's been playing several positions. So just kind of love him. But another name that I cannot stop seeing is Manuel Pana, who plays for the sod poodles, also at shortstop. He is nearly hitting 300 for the Saudis. He's hitting 298. He's got a 968 OPS.

He has nine home runs this season and 21 RVI. So again, another good player developing there at a double A level. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get promoted to Reno before the end of this season. Last but not least, another name we're very familiar with is Gilbert Diaz. He just got a save in last night's game for the Reno Aces. And again, another pitcher who has been putting up some outstanding numbers in the PCL, mind you. He's been coming in late in high leverage situation or a closing situation. In 14 and 2 thirds innings pitched.

He has a 1.23 ERA. He has a 0.886 whip. And he has a 4.20 strikeout to walk rate. Currently has 21 strikeouts on the season. So, Jill Burr is a guy that already has major league experience. And again, he is another arm that could immediately impact this bullpen upon being called up. Because he's already made his debut, because he already has that major league experience, feels like it's no-brainer.

to give him that opportunity. And I don't necessarily believe he was given many opportunities recently, right? So the Diamondbacks have kind of converted him from a starter to a closer, and that could be what he does going forward, or at least a high-leverage bullpen arm for this team. As far as these three guys are concerned, Gilbert is by far the one that is closest to being called up and should receive consideration overall here from the Diamondbacks

when they need another arm, which could be as soon as the end of this series with the Cubs. Who the hell knows, Damon? But anyway, this is where we're at. Appreciate these guys for what they're doing. And again, a lot of talent in this system that I think that the Diamondbacks need to stop dragging their feet on and maybe turn to more internal options here to try to get things going, specifically the offense. But today was not a day that the offense faltered.

Today was a day where basically the Diamondbacks starting pitching did not give them much of a chance to win. So maybe tomorrow will be different. Hopefully it will. Maybe Ryan Nelson can figure things out. And the turnaround starts now. So we will be back on Monday with another episode of this show. The Diamondbacks are off Monday. So we will be recapping the series as well as answering your mailbag Monday questions on that episode.

plus we might have a little special surprise guest stopping by Damon. I'm not sure. Maybe a D-backs legend. Okay. One of the greatest Arizona Diamondbacks of all time. Maybe, perhaps, the man that got the winning hit in Game 7 of the World Series to bring home. I guess people are just going to have to. I mean, it's decipher the clues.

We're definitely leaving some red crumbs around as far as who this person could do. be, but again, tune in on Monday to see if that actually happens because it might or might not. Probably definitely happen next week if it doesn't. But any. Can I also wanted to say something on manual Pena. I think it's, I don't know if it's Pena. Is it Pena or Pena? Because I genuinely don't know because I was, you know, you said it like that.

The chat started asking. I looked it up. I'm not seeing an enne on the page. I don't think that that means that it isn't Pena necessarily, but it, It's, yeah, that might be something that we look into here pretty soon. We got to know. We got to know how to say people's names. Definitely, definitely.

But he's a, he was a very, very high level international prospect. Yes. Like when it comes to the Diamondbacks class that they signed in 2021, he was considered to be the cream of that crop of prospects that they brought in. Correct. They gave him a $1.75 million signing bonus, I believe. So they had high expectations for Manuel Pena. And, and yeah, it just, it hasn't necessarily worked out thus far in his career. He hasn't been fantastic at the plate.

But he's kind of seeing an awakening right now where I think you could see him kind of push into that top 30 back into the top 30 prospect list with the surge you've seen recently. And as we saw with Jose Fernandez, not every time is a guy like necessarily on the radar of these scouts. Right. when they just kind of click and figure it out and things change for them, right? And so he's a guy who's played 20, 21st overall prospect and people expect him to be like 27th, I think even. Yeah, he is not very highly ranked. Yeah, so he's, I mean, this is, this is an interesting player, I think that has a profile that you would say,

there was a time where people were like, wow, he has tools that could be major league caliber. And then now he's kind of surging at this moment in time. I think he's a player to be somewhat excited about. 22 years old. So hopefully we see them soon because that would be, that would be cool. And I think Cunningham will play second base at the major league level. He's playing shortstop right now, but I think that that's a guy who's going to move to second base. Fair enough.

Fair enough. That's probably pretty accurate. And again, you know, what the future holds for someone right now that is in high A is pretty far off. But the Duffin X have not been shy about moving guys through their system quickly when they deserve it. And hopefully, you know, they can find that next Jose Fernandez, that next young player that they could potentially call up as perhaps an outfielder that could give them that injection of, you know, just offense and just that excitement of a new player being called up. And perhaps, perhaps that guy's name is Walt Schmidt. So we'll see what happens. But again, we thank you guys so much for stopping by for today's postgame show.

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We hope you all have a wonderful weekend. See you back here on Monday at 12 p.m. And until then, behave yourself, Sean. And remember, kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when you're starting pitching doesn't give up a bunch of earned runs in the first. Thank you.