Uncustomed Heroes of 2023: Diamondbacks

 

For obvious reasons, there weren't a ton of Diamondbacks left for me to do this month. This team had an excellent season, outdid expectations, outlasted some greats and went toe-to-toe with Texas in the World Series. There's still fundamental issues with how the D-Backs hung onto momentum while other teams couldn't that I'm sure will be addressed by Rob Manfred sometime after hell freezes over, but the D-Backs were still an entertaining and scrappy team, with enough heroes and excellent performances to warrant their ascent.

The strange part of Arizona going with a Gallen-Kelly-Pfaadt-opener rotation for the playoffs was that Ryne Nelson, who started 27 games for the D-Backs during the regular season, was mostly limited to relief work during the playoffs. I do get why they did it, despite Nelson's innings-eating he went 8-8 with a 5.31 ERA, it wasn't the cleanest break for the primary third man. Nelson thankfully made the most of a playoff long relief appearance, going 5 innings, allowing 3 hits and a run while striking out 6, which should be an indication to the D-Backs that he can still perform.

2024 Prediction: I think he will get some starts next year, but with Pfaadt a bit more prized now, Eddie Rodriguez now a major player, and the possibility of a Tommy Henry depth chart shift, I do not think he will be starter No. 3.

Speaking of people who might be demoted given an offseason upgrade, Emmanuel Rivera was once again a solid backup third baseman, this year getting some play due to the usual injury to Evan Longoria. Rivera was a strong choice, hitting .261 in 86 games, and playing some very nice defense at the corner. During the postseason he hit .235 with 4 hits and 3 RBIs. 

2024 Prediction: I don't think he'll be the primary corner next year either. The D-Backs want an upgrade, they'll get one, Rivera will do a lot of similar stuff to what he did this year.

Last year, Joe Mantiply was the D-Backs' only All-Star nod. This year he thankfully got a fuller bullpen to be a part of, and in a lot of cases he opened games for Arizona. In an injury-shortened season he had a 4.62 ERA and a 1.218 WHIP in 39 innings. During the postseason he went 2-1 with a 4.70 ERA, as he was one of the few Diamondbacks who lost momentum over the course of October.

2024 Prediction: An improvement, though I do fear his durability has lessened.

And then, with less than a month to go, the D-Backs brought up a rookie reliever named Andrew Saalfrank, who was scoreless in his 10 regular season games. Saalfrank, despite his MLB inexperience, became one of Arizona's most reliable relief pieces, with a 3.18 ERA overall, and only 3 hits allowed in 5.2 innings. If that's anything to go by, he'll be alright going forward.

2024 Prediction: Pitches the most relief innings for the D-Backs, shows the most consistency.

Coming Tomorrow- Several Dodgers players who couldn't get past these guys.

Mantiply Yourself

 

The Arizona Diamondbacks, who will be finishing in fourth most likely this year, have three players with a WAR of 4.5 or 4.6. Merrill Kelly, Zac Gallen and Christian Walker. Most noncompetitive teams are lucky to have like 1.

Gallen is in the midst of an insane scoreless streak, which he just does now whenever he wants to. You know how it is, sometimes you just forget to allow runs. Gallen's in one of those right now. So now his ERA is at 2.42, he's 11-2, and he's emerged as a late competitor to Sandy Alcanatra in the NL Cy Young race. And if it's those two, it's gonna be even funnier because the Marlins traded gallen to Arizona for Jazz Chisholm, which is a rare trade that's benefitted both sides pretty equally. 

Meanwhile, Merrill Kelly has definitely figured out the majors since coming over from Korea, and he's having another awesome season, going 12-5 with a 2.94 ERA and 147 Ks. That's a very full, very dominant season from a guy that the D-Backs have flagged as a potential ace. And the plan is to keep Kelly and Gallen around for a bit, though they really do need to work on securing Gallen this offseason unless they plan on trading him to a competitor eventually. I hope they can secure both, because I like the level of pitching that's forming around them [hell, look at Ryne Nelson]. 

Walker is the strange case. I think this is the best season of his career, and he's hit 32 homers and 73 RBIs. And the Diamondbacks need to question if that's a mark he's ever gonna match. I personally do not think so. I think he's had decent seasons before but has struggled with average, and this year it really came together for him. I don't see him having multiple seasons like this. I could be wrong, but I think they should bank on the people they know are gonna help them continuously, like Ketel Marte, Carson Kelly and Daulton Varsho. 

The D-Backs have all these kids coming up now, and some of them, like Alek Thomas, Tommy Henry and Jake McCarthy, are inheriting the team. They also have a lot of nice people they've accumulated, like Joe Mantiply, who was their all-star earlier this year. If they lock up the right people, and they continue to perform around the younger players, I do see this team competing very soon, and potentially getting very far. It's just a matter of a lot of things coming together at once, and by that I mean more than just 3 guys.

Coming Tonight: A 41-year old guy from Boston who throws hard.