Diamondbacks News
[MLB] Ryne Nelson ‘a little stiff’ after taking liner off elbow by Steve Gilbert
Lefty Jordan Montgomery, who was in San Francisco on Thursday, will be activated in time to start Friday’s game in his team debut, and the D-backs will need to make a corresponding roster move. While that had figured to be lefty Logan Allen, who was called up prior to Wednesday’s game against the Cubs at Chase Field, they may want to hang onto him to start in Nelson’s place if he has to go on the injured list.
Allen was in the bullpen when Nelson got hurt and immediately started stretching, knowing that as the long man in the ‘pen he would likely get the call if Nelson couldn’t continue.
[MLBTR] The Opener: Montgomery, Verlander, Yankees by Nick Deeds
Left-hander Jordan Montgomery is slated to make the first start of his Diamondbacks career tonight after two starts at the Triple-A level to help the southpaw build up after he missed Spring Training while lingering on the free agent market. Montgomery will take the ball opposite fellow late-signing lefty Blake Snell and the Giants in San Francisco, with first pitch scheduled for 7:15pm local time. The lefty is already on the 40-man roster, but Arizona will have to make a corresponding move to clear space for Montgomery on the active roster before tonight’s game.
The 31-year-old enjoyed an excellent season with the Cardinals and Rangers last year, pitching to a 3.20 ERA in 32 regular season starts before going on to post a 2.90 ERA with Texas in the postseason en route to the first World Series championship in franchise history. Now with the Diamondbacks on a short-term deal, Montgomery will look to avoid the slow starts to the season other late signers such as Snell (12.86 ERA), Cody Bellinger (75 wRC+), and Matt Chapman (82 wRC+) have suffered so far this season.
[MLB] Webb’s gem: Giants ace retires 19 straight D-backs by Sonja Chen
Webb got out of the first inning unscathed with two forceouts and a strikeout, then kept the D-backs off the bases until the seventh inning, when Christian Walker drew a one-out walk — and was subsequently picked off. In all, Webb allowed just three baserunners and struck out five.
Webb’s 19 consecutive outs against the D-backs were a career high, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. His previous record was 16 straight at Coors Field on May 18, 2022.
Spencer’s Spicy Supplement: Tonight (only on AppleTV+...) you can catch a game between the newest additions to SF and AZ’s pitching staffs: Jordan Montgomery making his season debut and Blake Snell hoping to prove he can actually have multiple high quality seasons in a row.
[FanGraphs] Five Things I Liked (Or Didn’t Like) This Week, April 19 by Ben Clemens
Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Agile Like a Cat:
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has worked tirelessly on his defense throughout his career. When he came up with the Blue Jays, he was a poor enough defensive infielder that they moved him to left field, the least demanding position on the diamond. He even struggled there out of the gate. He stayed afloat thanks to a huge throwing arm (14 runs above average per DRS, 10 per Statcast), but getting to the ball was always an adventure. Over the past few years, he’s gotten far better at the range aspect, buoying his overall defensive value to comfortably above average.
It’s not always the most graceful defense, though. Even while he’s helping his team out, he runs around the outfield like a bull in a china shop. Gurriel is 6’4” and powerfully built. He looks like a power hitter overcoming his own body to make good plays rather than someone born to do it.
Baseball News
[MLBTR] Max Scherzer Ahead Of Schedule, Could Return in Early May by Steve Adams
It’s a fairly remarkable recovery and a welcome bit of good news for a Rangers club that opened the year with Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle on the injured list — only to lose lefty Cody Bradford to an IL stint of his own after an excellent three-start run to begin his season. Texas called former No. 2 overall pick Jack Leiter to the big leagues today, but his debut effort didn’t go as hoped; Leiter was tagged for seven runs in just 3 2/3 innings. The Rangers have also seen veteran lefty Andrew Heaney yield nine runs in a dozen innings with particularly worrying command issues: seven walks and three hit batters.
Spencer’s Spicy Supplement: Also working their back from absences in the immediate or nearish future - Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga, Shane Baz and Jordan Montgomery. So prep your fantasy teams accordingly folks! And as fans, just be ready for the possibly overblown injury ridden top tier of arms to be replenished just as quickly as it supposedly depleted.
[MLB] Meet the pitcher who throws 95mph with both arms by Matt Monagan
The Brewers, impressed by a kid who could, you know, serve as both a right- and left-handed pitcher, selected Cijntje a month later in the 18th round of the 2022 MLB Draft. But the already college-committed student-athlete decided to enroll at Mississippi State.
Over the last two seasons as a Bulldog, the 5-foot-11 Cijntje has bulked up from 170 to 200 pounds. His fastball can hit 99 from the right and 95 coming in from the left. He led the team in strikeouts his freshman year and has been its ace so far this season — putting up a 6-3 record with 64 K’s and a 3.80 ERA.
He used to be much more comfortable pitching from his right side, but now his natural-born left is catching up. That’s great for him and scary for any hitters — lefty or righty — trying to face him.
“I’m feeling very comfortable with both sides right now,” Cijntje told me. “Even though I throw harder from the right side, my stuff from the left side is way better than last year. I believe in both of them.”
[FanGraphs] Hey, These Padres Are Still Pretty Good by Leo Morgenstern
Dating back to August 31, 2023, the Padres have the best record in baseball. They have the second-highest run differential in that time, trailing only the Brewers, against whom they just took two out of three on the road. To be clear, these are fun facts for the jumbotron rather than meaningful or predictive metrics. After all, the Padres of late 2023 look quite a bit different from the Padres of early 2024, and their performance from last September is doing most of the heavy lifting. Even so, it’s enough to make you stop and think, “Hey, these Padres are still pretty good!”
That’s not to say the Padres ever looked like a bad team. However, it would have been easy to write them off, at least subconsciously, after last year’s disappointing performance and the offseason that followed. The Padres ranked second in the NL in pitching WAR and third in position player WAR last season, yet they finished just 82-80. And although they were able to secure a winning record on the final day of the regular season, they certainly lost more than they gained over the winter. As their three biggest competitors in the NL West added six of our top nine free agents (and 10 of our top 21), the Padres lost their best hitter (Juan Soto), their closer (Josh Hader), their ace (Blake Snell), and three more capable arms from the rotation (Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, and Nick Martinez), all while slashing payroll by nearly $90 million.
