It's Time for Paul Sewald's Custom

 

The Diamondbacks are so diluted this year that when they do utilize something incredible you still feel taken aback. Ketel Marte's probably starting an All Star Game this year, y'know, damn, good for him. Joc Pederson's flirted with .300 this year, shit, I guess he's for real this year. Paul Sewald's been damn near unhittable since coming off the IL? Sure. Why not at this point?

And that's the fascinating aspect of all this. Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly are hurt, Jordan Montgomery and Brandon Pfaadt are underwhelming, Slade Cecconi can only do so much with this run support. The rotation's shot, the bullpen has a lot of bloated ERAs...yet they still have Paul Sewald, who's notched 10 saves in 16 games, and has allowed 1 run and 5 hits in that time, giving him a 0.61 ERA. You've seen Kirby Yates, Clay Holmes and Ryan Hensley's ERAs go down, you know it can happen, but Paul Sewald has just been unstoppable so far. And it really couldn't happen to a nicer guy either, he's found fans in Seattle and Arizona, everybody loves him. The twitter does a thing when he's up in the pen on a win/save situation, they just post 'It's Time for Paul Sewald to Pitch', as if it's a foregone conclusion what's about to happen. I love when closers have calling cards like that. The Nats used to have Todd Coffey, and they'd just put 'IT'S COFFEY TIME' on the tron as Coffey sprinted out there at full speed. Edwin Diaz obviously has his trumpet fanfare, making it a big deal whenever he comes onfield to inevitably disappoint the Mets.

But Sewald is the right kind of down-to-earth, likable guy for this moment in Phoenix. Cause they had a winner in Andrew Chafin last year, then they traded him for no reason, which would have been egregious had the Mariners not traded them Sewald for no reason. And Chafin was good for them, the fans loved him, but I think Sewald might be even more of a hit. There's a lot of those this year for the D-Backs. Sewald, Pederson, Tucker Barnhart, Kevin Newman. This is a very likable team, even if it's clearly not as good as last year's team.

And you could see it during the Phils series, they gave up at least 4 runs in all 3 games, and lost the last two pretty badly. Not only did Philly want revenge, but they took the steps to improve and came upon the right luck. And now, it seems like the D-Backs have run out of the luck that got them to the World Series last year. Without Gallen and Kelly, and without Moreno and Thomas honestly, they're several notches back from where they were, and considering that the Dodgers and the Padres HAVE improved, it's been a struggle to really stay relevant. They're ahead of the Giants at the moment, but who knows how long that'll last.

The D-Backs have got to be happy they have Sewald, Marte, Pederson and Walker. Because they sadly don't have much else at the moment.

Coming Tonight: Last year's AL starter for first base, finally approaching his 2023 momentum.