Arizona Diamondbacks Game Preview, #99: The Shipley era begins

Braden Shipley RHP, 0-0, N/A

Chase Anderson RHP, 4-10, 5.50

Jean Segura - SS	Jonathan Villar - SS
Phil Gosselin - 2B	Scooter Gennett - 2B
Paul Goldschmidt - 1B	Ryan Braun - LF
Jake Lamb - 3B	Jonathan Lucroy - 1B
Rickie Weeks - LF	Kirk Nieuwenhuis - CF
Yasmany Tomas - RF	Hernan Perez - 3B
Tuffy Gosewisch - C	Ramon Flores - RF
Braden Shipley - RHP	Martin Maldonado - C
Michael Bourn - CF	Chase Anderson - RHP

The Shipley era begins for the Diamondbacks tonight, and we'll be interested to see what he brings to the mound. I think expectations are probably a little lower than they have been for some of our previous top prospects. While we're still excited to see Shipley, there seems to be a lower level of hysteria than for Archie Bradley, Trevor Baier, Max Scherzer, etc. Whether this is a realistic result of lower expectations, or just that most of our enthusiasm has been beaten out of the Diamondbacks fanbase by the merciless pounding our hopes and dreams have received this year...

He goes up against a former D-back who has been having a bit of a tough haul lately. Anderson was part of the deal with Milwaukee for Jean Segura [whose return to former pastures is another storyline for this series]. But after allowing no earned runs over his first two starts, Anderson has fallen off a cliff. His last five have lasted just 18.2 innings in total, without once getting through five. His ERA is 9.64 over that time, and he has walked close to a batter per frame, with a K:BB ratio of 12:17. Earlier this month, our siblings at Brew Crew Ball concluded, "Chase may be in danger of losing his turn if he can’t improve his performance in the second half."

On the other hand, does look a bit of a B-lineup for the D-backs, with Weeks, Gosselin and Gosewisch all starting for Arizona tonight. The Tuffy decision perhaps may have been a choice based on Shipley, Gosewisch will be more familiar with him, having presumably worked with the starter during their mutual time in Reno, before Tuffy was promoted to the majors at the beginning of July. Makes sense to have a battery who have worked together previously, and Tuffy's reputation as a good pitch-caller and defensive catcher is probably more important tonight than Castillo's offensive capabilities.