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Diamondbacks Joakim Soria on IL, call up Matt Peacock

April 6, 2021 by AZ Snake Pit Leave a Comment

MLB: Arizona Diamondbacks-Workouts
Arizona Republic-USA TODAY NETWORK

The former 23rd round pick will get his first taste of the big leagues

To no one’s surprise, the Arizona Diamondbacks have placed reliever Joakim Soria on the injured list with a strained calf in his left leg. Soria suffered the injury covering first base on a ground ball against the San Diego Padres on Sunday. After suffering the injury, Soria proceeded to miss badly with his last few pitches before being taken out by the training staff. To fill his roster spot, the Diamondbacks have recalled RHP Matt Peacock from the alternate training site.

Here’s Torey Lovullo’s reasoning for the move


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The first question you’re probably wondering is who the heck is Matt Peacock? Peacock is a 23rd round pick from the 2017 MLB Draft out of Alabama State University who slowly and steadily climbed up the ladder. He received a camp invite before the 2020 season and spent the season at the team’s alternate training site at Salt River Fields. The team added him to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. He was likely going to start the minor league season with the team’s AAA affiliate in Reno while waiting for a call-up opportunity.

Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen ranked Peacock as the 32nd best prospect in the D-backs system with this summary of the 26-year-old pitcher:

Peacock has a heavy, low-90s sinker (he was 92-94 for me in the Fall) that enabled him to generate a 68% groundball rate in 2019. His slider has a 2800 rpm spin rate and is hard at 86-89, but visual evaluations of that pitch put it closer to average. His changeup moves and tails; at times it’s plus, at others it’s easy to identify out of his hand due to altered release/arm speed. On one level, Peacock is a one-pitch 25-year-old, but on another, he has a dominant, grounder-inducing fastball and his secondaries have some characteristics that may just need to be refined for one or both of them to be effective. He projects as an middle reliever. (Fall Instructional League)

This is the summary of a pitcher who has intriguing tools, but hasn’t quite put it together yet. The spin rate on that slider would have put him in the top 10 in baseball, but the lack of efficiency takes a lot of movement and tilt off the pitch. The altered release on the change-up is a problem because that’s a tell for MLB hitters. His possible outcome as a pitcher is kind of murky, as he’s maybe only a few adjustments away from being a bottom of the rotation starter or he’s simply another young bullpen arm to eat up innings.

He’ll likely spend most of his MLB action in 2021 out of the bullpen, although he is another potential starting pitcher option down the road if the team needs to go to him in that department.

Here’s Peacock reacting to the news of his call-up:


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Good luck in your Major League career Matt, let’s hope it’s a long and fruitful one.

Filed Under: Diamondbacks

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