5 HRS AGO - Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images A look at who could make up the Diamondbacks’ next HoF Class A few years ago, my brother and I were having a conversation about who would be the next Diamondbacks’ player to get his number retired. My brother had argued, as he had the many times we had this conversation, that David Peralta should get his number retired. I always recoiled at the thought of retiring a zero-time All-Star’s number. His argument centered around how Peralta’s name litters the franchise’ all-time Top-5 leaderboard in just about every offensive statistical category. Beyond his exploits on the field, Peralta also had a magnetic personality that he turned into a real connection with the fans. The Freight Train was the soul of Diamondbacks baseball for nearly a decade. I didn’t agree with my brother about retiring his number, but I understood it.* Fast forward a few years and the Diamondbacks introduced their own franchise Hall of Fame. No longer was Collapse

22 HRS AGO - Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Can the D-Backs thread the needle between buying and selling? For the second straight season, the MLB trade market has been extremely slow to develop. It’s certainly partly due to the extra playoff spot that has allowed a larger swath of the league to hold onto hope of making it to the playoffs and then following in the D-Backs footsteps. This is also a period where pundits and baseball writers aplenty attempt to arbitrarily group teams into buyers and sellers, which might make for better material, but doesn’t always reflect the full reality of a team’s possibilities. With that in mind, I wanted to take a swing (pun intended) at a strategy that does both for three impending free agents for the D-Backs - or, more accurately, two unrestricted free agents and one mutual option. I also want to add a couple qualifiers: I know these trades would not be popular among the fanbase and I am by no means suggesting this is what the Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Photo by Mike Christy/Getty Images Unsung Hero? Or just plain lucky? Bryce Jarvis is bucking traditional success in the bullpen and is on the path to one of the best bulk inning relief seasons in D-backs history. Bryce Jarvis probably didn’t expect to be an MLB player in the bullpen. Sure, he’s made some appearances out of the bullpen in his early college years - but drafted in 2020 out of Duke in the 1st round, the D-backs expected him to rise quickly through minors and take a start every 5th day. He had blemishes like every prospect; he struggled with command and there were questions about whether he could continue his velocity spike, but he continued to show good stuff and worked his way quickly through the minors despite traditional statistical struggles and ultimately made his debut with the big league club late in 2023 as a reliever. He talked with Inside the Diamondbacks about the position switch. “They value me as a pitcher, no matter what the role is,” said Jarvis. Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images TL;DR: Timely hitting, excellent fielding, and one of the most exciting ninth innings this year combined for an incredible rubber match series winner. Through the first eight innings of this game, the headline might very well have read: “Isolated power not enough in tough, tight loss.” Instead, I can happily swap those headlines and report a happy flight home to end an excellent 4-2 road trip through Chicago and Kansas City. It’s not often you see an offense truly pick itself off the mat like the D-Backs did tonight. It also required some impressive timely hitting and more than a little luck. For a team that is just under league average for home runs, the D-Backs have found their power stroke over the past two months that have led to decisive increases in their SLG from the low in May (.364) to their recent highs from June and July of .433 and .449 respectively. Unsurprisingly, that improved offensive output tracks exactly with the step up in Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images After a humbling defeat on Thursday night, the Diamondbacks found a way to overcome some persistent issues and to win handily on Friday night in support of Jordan Montgomery. Diamondbacks News Arizona 6, Kansas City 2Jordan Montgomery had one of his better outings of the year. The offense stole multiple bases. Ketel Marte had multiple hits, including a two-run home run. The bullpen came through once Montgomery left the game. All around, a good win in response to a bad loss. Montgomery ‘Pain Free’ Over Five Innings in Return from InjuryWould the real Jordan Montgomery please stand up? This sort of outing from the lefty is precisely what Arizona needs from his spot in the rotation every five days. If, being healthy now, Montgomery can pitch like this more often than not, Arizona will be getting a return to health as good or better than any possible trade. Diamondbacks, Jordan Montgomery Both Bounce Back Versus RoyalsJordan Montgomery made his Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - Yiber Diaz after pitching 6 innings. | Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images He is a success story. What were the secrets of his success? Yilber Diaz had a dream to be a professional baseball player. Circumstances caused him to step away from his dream of professional baseball. Two fortunate things helped him. The first fortunate thing was Jhonathan Carrillo, who motivated him to get back into practicing baseball on weekends. When Diaz had developed sufficiently to impress, then Carrillo sent videos to baseball academies. To make a long story short, the Diamondbacks’ scout (and a crosschecker) decided to admit him to their academy in Dominican Republic. However, it was March of 2020 and Covid stopped scouting activities. Yilber Diaz was stuck in limbo at the academy for 8 months. The second fortunate thing was he worked hard (extraordinarily hard) to prepare, not knowing if he would ever get an opportunity. “...What they told me about Yilber was that he was a Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - Photo by Kyle Rivas/Getty Images Today's Lineups DIAMONDBACKS ROYALS Ketel Marte - 2B Adam Frazier - 2B Gabriel Moreno - C Bobby Witt - SS Lourdes Gurriel - LF Vinnie Pasquantino - 1B Christian Walker - 1B Salvador Perez - C Randal Grichuk - DH Michael Massey - DH Eugenio Suarez - 3B Hunter Renfroe - RF Corbin Carroll - RF Drew Waters - LF Kevin Newman - SS Maikel Garcia - 3B Alek Thomas - CF Kyle Isbel - CF Yilber Diaz - RHP Cole Ragans - LHP Into Kauffman Stadium go the D-backs, and hopefully I will remember how to spell the name of the ballpark without looking it up, at some point over the series. [How many F’s? M’s? N’s?] There have only been twenty previous games between the two sides in this location, and only a handful in the last dozen years. Obviously, that will be less the case going forward, with a series every other season. That’s one thing I do miss about the unbalanced schedule: the sense of there being Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images Martinez was tested, and found wanting. Recaps [dbacks.com] D-backs take solace in another series win after ‘pen falters late - The D-backs were able to take a 1-0 lead into the late innings Sunday was thanks to another outstanding pitching performance by Brandon Pfaadt. The right-hander allowed just one hit, an infield single to Christopher Morel in the second, while striking out seven over seven innings of work. “The fastball has some carry to it a little bit, so we saw a lot of fly balls that just didn’t do anything,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of Pfaadt. “And he was executing pitches, too. We saw him in the playoffs pitch some really nice games, and this was a well-pitched game.” [AZ Central] Cubs’ late comeback sinks Diamondbacks, spoils Brandon Pfaadt’s strong outing - He seems to be getting better as the year goes along, his velocity creeping up as his results are improving. Over his past seven starts he has a 2.14 ERA, with 12 Collapse

5 DAYS AGO - Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images Team News Gallen grinds through ‘odd’ start to notch 5 scoreless frames “It was kind of odd,” Gallen said. “Considering the six walks, I felt pretty sharp. I felt probably the most in control of my body and how it was moving and I felt like I had a good feel for all five pitches today, which is good. It’s just odd to say with the six walks.” https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/news/zac-gallen-d-backs-beat-cubs Alek Thomas, Zac Gallen lead Diamondbacks past Cubs “They remembered what it felt like and what it looked like to go out and win baseball games through those four days,” Lovullo said. “I give them all the credit in the world for coming out and playing focused baseball.” https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2024/07/20/diamondbacks-cubs-zac-gallen-kyle-hendricks-saturday-updates/74474053007/Zac Gallen and the Bullpen Shut Out the Cubs in 3-0 Diamondbacks Collapse