MLB Preseason Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks
MLB Preseason Preview: Arizona Diamondbacks
Vincent Armanino
After the Diamondbacks miraculous run to the World Series in 2023, the team did something that deserves to be commended. They’ve spent. They improved by five wins in 2024 before finishing one game under .500 last season. Compared to teams like the Dodgers this is abject failure. For the loyal fans of Arizona, these efforts that ultimately came up short, offer more than a glimmer of hope. The young core of Corbin Carroll, Geraldo Perdomo, and Gabriel Moreno looks poised to be important players for years to come. Long time D-Back Ketel Marte has put together a string of mid-to-late career seasons that are some of his best ever. New arrival Nolan Arenado and prospect Jordan Lawler are also primed to complement the rest of the lineup at third base and centerfield respectively.
The pitching staff has less to celebrate. Ace Zac Gallen appears to have moved into the “former” category, looking just about spent by the end of last season. The 2024 big free agent signing Eduardo Rodriguez has been mediocre at best. The arm they signed this year, Mike Soroka, was last effective in 2019 and has been hurt practically every season since. Young arms Ryne Nelson and Brandon Pfaadt could continue to improve, but this far into spring training this seems unlikely.
Arizona is going to have two fights this season. First, will they be able to score more runs than they give up. Second, will the reinforcements they bring in do any real reinforcing. Arenado had the worst season of his career last season for St. Louis and looks much slower than the perennial MVP candidate he was in Colorado. At the same time, Lawler is a prospect who has lost much of his shine. Despite being only 23, his two cups of coffee in the big leagues have not been promising. He has batted .165 in 42 games and has struck out frequently. There is a chance he turns it all around this season, assuaging all fears, but there is just as likely a reality where the season ends with him having proved he is not the player teams once thought him to be.
The Diamondbacks are going to have a tougher time making it to the playoffs than the Dodgers. Remember though, winning is not everything. Across the 162 games schedule that will see these teams compete for an NL West title, there will be flashes of brilliance worth seeing. It could come in the form of an Ohtani start that sees him also DH, a mighty Carroll swing that sends the ball on a long parabolic flight, landing somewhere among the bleachers, or a Perdomo clutch hit that wins a game many had already condemned as dead and gone.
It's a long season and these two teams are going to be ones to watch.