Snake Bytes 4/24: Brotherly Love

Diamondbacks News

[MLB.com] Manaea, Machado win AL POW; Corbin nets NL - Patrick Corbin was named the National League Player of the Week, his first time taking home the honor in his career. He previously had won NL Pitcher of the Month in May of 2013, and has a strong chance of doing so again this month. In five starts to begin the 2018 season, he is 4-0 with a 1.89 ERA, 48 strikeouts, 6 walks, and 0.66 WHIP over 33.1 innings. His success can be attributed to his ability to alter the velocity and break on his slider. Corbin is throwing his usual ~82 MPH sweeping variant that drops down near the back foot of a right handed hitter, but he has now added ~73 MPH variant which some references are classifying as a curveball. Opposing hitters are having an absolutely dreadful time attempting to make contact with the pitch, successfully doing so roughly 14% less than they were last season. We have been spoiled with beautiful pitching efforts from him so far this season.

“He’s amazing,” Arizona pitcher Robbie Ray said. “The way he mixes the different speeds on his slider, he’s turned it into two pitches really -- a curveball and a slider. He’s leading us right now, and we’re doing our best to keep up with him.”

[USA Today] Patrick Corbin may be the next Yankees ace. For now, he dominates for the Diamondbacks. - If Corbin finishes the 2018 season in Arizona, and continues to pitch the way he has this month for the rest of the year, it would be prudent for the Diamondbacks to tie a qualifying offer to him. MLB Trade Rumors already has him ranked as the 6th best player in an eye popping list of free agents after this season. Qualifying offers for the last offseason were set at $17.4 million dollars, the mean salary of the league’s 125 highest paid players. Please click on the link above if you want to learn more about qualifying offers (I do not want to throw you in the weeds while reading Snake Bytes). If the Diamondbacks were to offer Corbin a QO that he ultimately declines, they could stand to earn a compensatory pick after the first round and before Competitive Balance Round A of the 2019 MLB Draft at best. The Diamondbacks’ biggest threat in competing for Corbin’s services? That could arguably be the New York Yankees. The Yankees were heavily tied to him in trade rumors this offseason, and Patrick was raised in New York as a Yankee fan growing up. J.D. Martinez will have my full fledged support to mash Corbin should he make the move to the Evil Empire.

“It would definitely be great to play there,’’ Corbin says. “I grew up a Yankee fan. My whole family are Yankee fans. My mom, my dad, my grandpa, everybody. Really, every generation of my family has been Yankee fans.

[AZ Central] Diamondbacks relying on David Peralta’s energy, positive mindset during red-hot start - We all should know by now David Peralta’s remarkable journey on his path to the Major Leagues. An unsuccessful start to his career as a pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals organization led him back to his native Venezuela to train as a position player with his father. He returned to the United States and worked minimum wage jobs at fast food restaurants in order to afford a bus ticket just so he could play in the independent leagues. Fast forward to 2018 and the man we now know as the “Freight Train” is in charge of setting the table at the top of the lineup. He brings with him an infectious, positive personality because he knows just how hard this game can become.

“Everybody has tough days,” he said, “but as soon as I cross this door and walk into this clubhouse, all my personal problems or if I’m having a bad day, I just leave it out there. It’s out there and I just concentrate in here because this is my job, this is what I love to do, this is my future. I have a family and everything, so whatever’s personal I just leave it out there, put on my jersey and I’m ready to do my best. People may never know if I have a problem or not because I’m always going to be smiling.”

[Arizona Sports] D-backs’ Lamb to be re-evaluated, won’t join team on road trip - Turns out the Diamondbacks will be without Jake Lamb for a bit longer. Too much Fortnite with Archie Bradley back at the house led to right elbow tendonitis, I guess. The Diamondbacks are being cautious in bringing him back, understandably so with the team playing as well as they are during his absence.

“Through his intensity, the work habits and all the good things that he’s doing to get back here as quickly as possible, this may have caught up to him. Like I said, we want to make sure he’s comfortable and 100 percent healthy so if we need to wait a little bit more time to [reassess] this, we’re going to do it.”

[The Athletic] Can you tell what Brad Boxberger is thinking? - We have already touched on this a handful of times here at the Pit. Brad Boxberger does a tremendous job of keeping his emotions in check on the mound, and gives straightforward answers in his postgame press conferences. It is a perfect contrast to his very vocal teammate, Archie Bradley.

“To go out there and show no emotion is kind of the player I strive to be,” [Boxberger] said. “Then when things are going good, they’re going good. And when they’re going bad, no one knows.”

[Fox Sports] Phillies, D-backs a battle of surprise early powerhouses - The Diamondbacks have predominantly played NL West rivals to begin the 2018 season, with only three of their twenty one games to date played against an opponent outside of their own division. A six game road trip through the red hot Philadelphia Phillies and preseason division favorite Washington Nationals will be a good litmus test for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who own the NL’s best record.

Around the league

[ESPN] Power Rankings - The Diamondbacks are among MLB’s best teams, and it reflects in the power rankings this week. ESPN places the snakes in the top 3 behind Boston and Houston, respectively. USA Today concurs with that assessment. Ditto for CBS Sports. Bleacher Report puts Arizona ahead of the Astros at #2. Sports Illustrated ranks the D’backs the lowest at #4 behind the Mets, but their rankings came out on Friday, so we will let them off the hook... for now.

[MLB Trade Rumors] Indians To Sign Melky Cabrera - The Hot Stove is heating!... Wait, the season has already begun? The Cleveland Indians have signed bat first Melky Cabrera to a minor league deal hoping to aid their anemic offense. Cabrera, 33, is coming off a three year $42 million dollar contract signed with the Chicago White Sox.

[CBS Sports] White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar expected to remain in hospital three weeks -

[Washington Post] Is Brandon Belt’s 21-pitch at-bat truly the longest in MLB history? - In before, “Millennials have ruined the game of baseball.” Can any of our elder statesmen here at the Pit confirm that an at bat has lasted longer than Brandon Belt’s 21 pitch appearance on Saturday? Surely someone has the proof filed away in a score book in the attic.