Spring Training Gameday Thread, #24: 3/24 vs. Indians

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Diamondbacks line-up

1. Ketel Marte, CF
2. David Peralta, RF
3. Josh Rojas, 2B
4. Eduardo Escobar, 3B
5. Asdrubal Cabrera, 1B
6. Nck Ahmed, SS
7. Carson Kelly, C
8. Tim Locastro, RF
9. Caleb Smith, LHP + RHP Yoan López, RHP Anthony Swarzak, RHP Jon Duplantier, RHP J.B. Bukauskas, RHP Carlos Navas, LHP Tyler Gilbert, LHP Taylor Guilbeau

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made 6 roster moves and have 33 players in camp.

Optioned to Triple-A Reno:

• C/OF Daulton Varsho

Reassigned to Minor League camp:

• LHP Miguel Aguilar
• LHP Ryan Buchter
• RHP Seth Frankoff
• INF Domingo Leyba
• INF Juniel Querecuto

In case you’re wondering the difference is that players on the 40-man roster get optioned, while non-roster invitees get reassigned. If the latter end up on the major league roster at any point, a spot on the 40-man roster must also be cleared for them. The biggest name in this batch is Varsho. He was almost an ever-present for the team after the trade deadline last year, starting 21 of 25 games in September, and responded well. But this spring has been a big disappointment, Varsho hitting just .136/.174/.295, for a .469 OPS, a 13:1 K:BB ratio, and looking shaky on defense. It’s probably better for him to be a full-time catcher for the Aces, than a third banana in Phoenix.

Aguilar was another name who seemed to have an outside shot at the roster, the left-hander opening his account with four scoreless appearances covering 3.2 innings. But the wheels came out in his last game – that terrible ninth inning against the White Sox – as he retired one of five batters faced, the others all scoring. Domingo Leyba’s OPS was ten points lower than Varsho, and Querecuto had precisely zero walks in 19 plate-appearances, though did hit .316. All three may well still be back at some point this season, as need requires.

Torey Lovullo notes

Torey still not ready to name opening day starter and the rotation shakeout. He does not want to say too much too soon and then have to back track. He’s still evaluating some people, and wants to give them a chance to compete before taking next steps.

Reuniting with Asdrubal Cabrera 14 years after being his manager in the minors has been fun. He used to take video of him taking groundballs at shortstop and show them to his son, a young kid at the time, to show him how to field the position cleanly

Daulton Varsho didn’t have a great spring. He needed to earn a spot and was not able to do so. He will get plenty of innings behind the plate in Reno, which should be his primary position, but will also play outfield too. They seem more focused on getting his bat right. He needs to get back to his consistent form and work on some fundamentals that were outlined to him.

Asked about the starting staff in San Diego: They were already good and have added pieces that will strengthen them of course. But Arizona will have a gameplan [drink!] to attack them, and will do their homework.

Kole Calhoun is still on the mend. He took BP today, should face live pitching soon. Tracked some fly balls in the outfield too. Zac Gallen played catch today, went through the “pick package” (working on pickoff plays to various bases I think). and felt fine.

Torey Lovullo audio [or link]

Game coverage

From what I can see, tonight’s game is going to be on Fox Sports Arizona PLUS, with the regular channel showing the Suns instead. Here’s the channel finder if you’ve forgotten where that is. It will also be getting webcast, radio-style for free on dbacks.com tonight, so you have options.

And, as the SnakePit heads towards Opening Day, the recappers will be stretching out, Keegan bringing us the report on tonight’s contest. So stay tuned for that.