Yes, you are seeing that right. Chris Herrmann starts in center-field for the Diamondbacks today, apparently because Michael Bourn's call-up was left so late that he won't be able to make it to Chase FIeld in time for first pitch. I am not sure exactly what this situation says about the organizational skills at play here, but it does not appear to be anything good. Apparently, per STATS LLC, Herrmann will be the first player in the majors to start games in the same season at both catcher and center-field, since Brandon Inge in 2008. He'll also be the fourth different center-fielder to start for the D-backs this year, following Owings, David Peralta and Socrates Brito.
Meanwhile, we turn to our best pitcher, De La Rosa to stop the bleeding. I'll take "Sentences I didn't expect to be writing by mid-May" for $400, please Alex. But he has been the only one who seems to have shown any clue about how to pitch at Chase Field. Overall, our team ERA is 6.02 at home, compared to 3.16 on the road. We have allowed 31 home-runs here; 11 away. The opposing OPS is two hundred points higher in Phoenix. As Michael mentioned on Twitter, De La Rosa is the only guy on our pitching staff this year, with even 10 innings pitched at Chase, who has an ERA under six. Here's how all our rotation stack up in home ERA thus far:
- De La Rosa, 3.63
- Patric Corbin, 6.48
- Zack Greinke, 7.28
- Shelby Miller, 7.46
- Robbie Ray, 8.31
Ouch. That's also a 3-12 record for our starting pitchers at Chase. Is it bad preparation? A poor in-game pitch selection? Failure to execute? That's why we have a pitching coach, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. Fingers crossed Rubby's decent success can continue; if so, never mind Professor Collmenter, perhaps we need Professor De La Rosa to give lectures on "How to pitch in Chase Field".