Diamondbacks Spring Gameday Thread #23: vs. Guardians

Mar 18, 2023 - 8:00 PM

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I think Wes has an article he’s working on for tonight, so I’m just going to throw in my “Three up, three down” for the week quickly here.

Stock up

• Buddy Kennedy. Seen plenty of action, appearing in 15 games, and has an impressive line o .433/.528/.633 for a 1.161, with almost as many walks (5) as strikeouts (6). Might not make the Opening Day roster, but should be near the top of the list for a call-up.
• Madison Bumgarner. His second start was considerably better than his first, even if he did rely on relief help. Despite being bounced a day by rain, Madison tossed 3.1 scoreless. He said afterward, “As long as we keep that trend going I’ll be happy.” Us too, MadBum.
• Zach McAllister. Quietly accumulating games - only Luis Frias has seen more Cactus League action for the D-backs - and doing well in those appearances. Two runs on seven hits over 6.1 innings, with a K:BB of 6:1. A contender for the bullpen spots opened by injury.

Stock down

• Christian Walker. After nine games, Walker has no home-runs or walks, and just one extra-base hit. However, he has been having hip soreness after being hit by a pitch on Monday, and that may have been a factor. He sat out a few games, but is back in the line-up today.
• Drey Jameson. After appearing to have a clear path to the #5 spot, his spring ERA is now 7.45, basically indistinguishable from rivals Tommy Henry (7.71) and Ryne Nelson (8.38). Has allowed three home-runs in just 9.2 innings, and is no longer the obvious front-runner.
• Corbin Martin. When the best thing you can say about his past 7 days is, “Well, at least it’s not an elbow issue,” you know you’ve had a bad week. His torn lateral will sideline him for a good while - just when he was performing too, having fanned 36% of the batters he’d faced.

Line-up

1. Corbin Carroll, CF
2. Gabriel Moreno, C
3. Evan Longoria, DH
4. Christian Walker, 1B
5. Nick Ahmed, SS
6. Buddy Kennedy, 2B
7. Phillip Evans, 3B
8. Yairo Muñoz, RF
9. Caleb Roberts, LF
   + RHP Zac Gallen, RHP Jeurys Familia, RHP Scott McGough, RHP Kevin Ginkel, RHP Miguel Castro

Radio broadcast only for this one, available on Arizona’s Sports 98.7 FM. We’ll also use this as the Gameday Thread for the USA vs. Venezuela WBC quarter-final, which gets under way a little after 4 pm, Arizona time.