Them's the Snakes

 

The Diamondbacks are a very puzzling team. Fundamentally they are good, and have some of the best players in the majors playing well for them, but they're a sub-.500 4th place team in a competitive division, 5 and a half games out from the nearest competitor, they just lost their best pitcher to Tommy John [the second starter they've lost to this in 2025], and they've been responsible for some of the most notorious losses of the past week. Brandon Pfaadt and the gang taking 12 batters and 8 runs to record an out? Yeah, that was them, care of the Nats. And that's just the one you heard about. 

Recently, the D-Backs have lost a game 10-1 to the Pirates, gotten cleaned out by the Reds 13-1, and got swept by the Cardinals on three straight 1-run games. The necessary precautions are being carried out, and Scott McGough, the scapegoat reliever, is off the team. But aside from sweeping the Braves due to the Braves having even worse luck than them for a second, the D-Backs are still kinda in freefall. After hitting .269 in May, the D-Backs are hitting .222 in June so far, and their defense is shockingly below-average, with only Ketel Marte and Tim Tawa looking like commendable defensive players. It's very good that Carroll, Marte, Naylor, Perdomo and Suarez are hitting, but the back half of the lineup drops off and can't really match up.

What is apparent is that the pitching is beginning to rebound from its 5ish ERA in May, and is driving the bus a little more in this stretch. Merrill Kelly, in the wake of Burnes's injury and Gallen's inconsistency, has become the default ace, and has been very strong, going 6-2 with a 3.43 ERA and 72 Ks. This is the sort of uniform quality Kelly was responsible for before his 2024 injury, and with everything else that's gone wrong for this rotation, it's important that he's back to where he was. Meanwhile, Gallen, Pfaadt and Rodriguez are all struggling, and Ryne Nelson is doing his best in the back half. This is not what the D-Backs had in mind going into this year, a rotation trying to keep up with itself, but because of all the overthrowing going on systematically, two of the team's best pitchers are hurt and two more are struggling to recover from their own injuries. The good news is that Justin Martinez is back, and looks good, while Shelby Miller has been a pretty strong RP1 presence. It's not perfect, and it's barely good, but there's been a palpable improvement.

The Diamondbacks have an impossible situation and are just trying to make the best of it. There's enough great seasons that they'll be able to come away from 2025 with some dignity, but given the amount that's got wrong it's a wonder they'll have their dignity to begin with.

Coming Tomorrow- A DH for a team that, until recently, was doing quite badly, and now is improving somewhat.