The future is now, apparently…
Recaps
[AZ Central] Diamondbacks lose finale, split emotion-filled home series – The Diamondbacks (21-20) won the May 8 and May 10 gams, but gained no ground in the National League West Division on the first-place Dodgers. Arizona could have had three wins if not for a blown three-run lead in the ninth inning on May 9. “We played pretty well,” said Sunday’s starter Zac Gallen, who took Sunday’s loss. “Obviously, the second game, letting that one slip away is kind of tough. And then not being able to win the series (May 11), would have been momentum. It’s a little bit unfortunate. The positives come from setting the tone early in Game 1 and then bouncing back (May 10). But I still think collectively there’s some things we just kind of have to be a little bit better on.”
[SI] Zac Gallen, D-backs Succumb to Dodgers’ Offensive Juggernaut – “This was a tough game, this was a tough game to stomach all the way around,” said Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo. “We never really got anything going offensively, the Dodgers seemed like they were playing at a very different pace than we were.” Zac Gallen dealt with a lot of traffic, much of it coming from the top of the Dodgers’ lineup. “I felt like I made some good pitches, I felt like they made some good swings, that’s what I think it boils down to,” Gallen told Arizona Diamondbacks on SI’s Jack Sommers. “Overall, I felt pretty good, I had pretty much everything working. Sometimes you got to tip your cap, they put good swings on decent pitches.”
Team news
[AZ Central] Sources: Diamondbacks to promote top prospect Jordan Lawlar – The Diamondbacks are set to recall Jordan Lawlar from Triple-A Reno, creating room after the top prospect essentially forced his way to the big leagues with a scorching start to the season, sources said Sunday evening, May 11. In 37 games with Reno, Lawlar, 22, hit .336/.413/.579 with 23 extra-base hits and 13 steals in 14 tries. The move comes on the same day manager Torey Lovullo offered clues to how the club could find at-bats for Lawlar… The one thing Lovullo said he was initially worried about was the potential for Lawlar to struggle defensively at any of the positions, but he made it sound like the club’s internal belief in Lawlar’s versatility has quelled those concerns.
[Dbacks.com] Lawlar ‘knocking as hard as you can’ on MLB door – “We are very well aware of Jordan Lawlar and his progression and his development, and he is coming on quickly,” Lovullo said. “We know that he’s doing his job, and I’m really proud of him because he is a very talented player that is knocking as hard as you can at the big league door. Based on some of the things I’m telling you — guys needing days off — we could, if we need to, we could probably get [Lawlar in the lineup] 3-4 days a week, and that’s enough at-bats per week. There’s different criteria for different players.” Lovullo mentioned a desire to have a player who impacts the game with the bat — check. Glove — check. On the bases — check. “He is just a different breed,” Lovullo said of Lawlar.
[MLB] ‘Your name is all you have’: How mom shaped D-backs’ top prospect on and off the field – In the Lawlar household, mom and son didn’t just have a catch, they had full-on batting practice sessions. Hope fed the pitching machines near their home in Carrollton, Texas, and if that didn’t work out as they wanted, she just tossed baseballs herself so the precocious youngster could hone his self-made swing. “I have encountered the high of the highs and the low of the lows and we fought through it,” Hope said. “When those moments come and he walks through the door and he goes, ‘Mom, we did it, we made it,’ it’s always a ‘we.’ Even though he’s playing the sport or he’s got the test, it’s always, ‘Mom, we did it.’”
[Arizona Sports] Signs point to Diamondbacks RHP Kendall Graveman returning vs. Giants – Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Kendall Graveman was in the clubhouse at Chase Field before Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and all signs point to his return coming this week at the San Francisco Giants… Graveman pitched two rehab games for Triple-A Reno this week, and his return will provide needed depth to the bullpen for a key series against another division rival. “ I know a guy and it’s a really good sign,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “He’s checked every box possible, so he is here. You guys saw him in the clubhouse. I don’t want to deny that. We feel good about it happening here sooner than later.”
And, elsewhere…
[Purple Row] Rockies dismiss manager Bud Black and bench coach Mike Redmond – The move is one that many Rockies fans have been eager to see after an absolutely abysmal 7-33 start to the 2025 season. Despite the recent win, Colorado finds themselves with the worst record in MLB and dead last in most statistical categories. Black’s managerial tenure ends after nine seasons at the helm.His record with the team stands at 543-690. Under his leadership, Colorado made the postseason in 2017 and 2018, the only time in franchise history that the team made the playoffs in consecutive seasons, but they’ve since finished last place in the NL West for the past four seasons, with a fifth seemingly a foregone conclusion.
[MLB] See which prospects made big jumps on the freshly updated Top 100 list – This year, graduation day arrived on May 11. That’s when prospects who began the 2025 season on Major League Opening Day rosters exceeded 45 days of service time and exhausted their rookie eligibility/prospect status. Around here, we say that’s when they graduate from prospectdom. We’re taking this opportunity of pomp and circumstance to give the ranking a shakeup, or what we call a market correction. [That includes adding D-backs outfielder Slade Caldwell, at #99]
[Toronto Star] ‘It’s a beautiful story.’ Maple Leafs pitcher Ayami Sato throws two hitless innings in her historic debut – Sato, 35, is widely considered to be the best female pitcher on the planet and a trail-blazing role model for women in baseball. Her numbers with Japan’s national team and two different teams in the now-defunct Japan Women’s Baseball League have been eye-popping; she has seldom logged an ERA higher than 3.00 and she has won six gold medals at the women’s World Cup, where the Japanese team has won seven of 12 tournaments. She finished the day with one strikeout over two hitless innings, inducing weak contact while pounding the strike zone. She needed just five pitches to retire the side in the first inning, and the Panthers never managed to hit a ball out of the infield in either frame.