Snake Bytes 6/16: District of Clobbering

Arizona Diamondbacks 10, Washington Nationals 3

[D’backs.com] 3 takeaways: Marte and Clarke up, Bradley in - Here’s a key takeaway. The D’backs have been very, very good on this road trip. They bashed another five home runs yesterday afternoon and wasted no time doing it either. Ketel Marte deposited the very first pitch of the game into the Nationals bullpen en route to a multi-homer game himself. Altered baseball or not, Marte is playing out of his mind this season. He’s hitting the baseball much harder this season, 41.7% hard hit rate per baseball savant, and is keeping it off the ground more with positive results.

“He’s done a great job,” shortstop Nick Ahmed said of Marte. “I think he’s always had that power from the right side, but this year from the left side he’s really learned how to keep the bat in the zone a long time and he’s really strong and fast-twitch and he’s doing a good job swinging at the right pitches.”

[AZ Central] It’s a Father’s Day weekend to remember for Diamondbacks rookie Taylor Clarke - Yesterday’s game had a strong possibility to shatter the MLB record for most home runs hit between two teams combined in a single game by the conclusion of the first inning. The previous record of 13 set by the D’backs and Phillies this past Monday would have lasted less than a week. Arizona hit two off of Stephen Strasburg in the first, but Washington countered with two of their own in the bottom half of the inning. D’backs starter Taylor Clarke settled down after that first inning and prevented further damage before being lifted with two outs in the fifth.

“Maybe in the first (inning) I might have been a little amped up,” Clarke said. “But I tried to harness it the best I could and I was able to calm down and work lower in the zone in the later innings of the game.”

[Arizona Sports] Arizona Diamondbacks hit five homers, beat Washington Nationals - Nick Ahmed fell a home run shy of the cycle, but still went 4-for-5 in the contest. Archie Bradley and Zack Godley were withheld from entering the game in relief because...

Diamondbacks News

[Arizona Sports] Diamondbacks to start Archie Bradley Sunday against Nationals - Bradley has been named the “starter” for the series finale in Washington. Emphasis on the quotations because chances are he’ll only face the National’s lineup one time through the order. He’ll likely serve as an “opener” and then give way to Godley out of the bullpen for length.

“I’m on a pitch-to-pitch basis. I’m not looking into it, not trying to be a starter again or anything like that,” Bradley said of the start. “I’m not looking ahead of it, just trying to get the first batter of the game out and go from there.”

[MLB.com] Saturday’s top prospect performers - D-backs: Drew Ellis, 3B (No. 14) –2-for-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB (Double-A Jackson)Ellis powered the Generals to victory with a pair of home runs, hitting a three-run blast in the first inning and a solo shot in the sixth in Jackson’s 6-3 win over Biloxi. The 23-year-old third baseman, Arizona’s second-round Draft pick in 2017, pushed his season total to six home runs with the multi-homer performance, which was the first in his 229-game career. He’s batting .258/.365/.423 in his first Double-A campaign after producing a .246/.331/.429 line with 15 homers and 34 doubles a year ago in the hitter-friendly California League.

[FanGraphs] Consider Ketel Marte Broken Out - Ketel Marte’s production has taken off this season. Some improvement is to be expected with a player of his age and increasing experience. He’s in the prime of his career at 25 years old. Not many players work as hard as this young man in the offseason. I’ve been raving about his offseason workouts for about two years now. Go watch them on Instagram and feel terrible about your physical fitness.

[The Athletic] Nearly half of Nick Ahmed’s strikeouts are looking; here’s why he’s OK with that - Outside of being more selective at the plate resulting in more called strikes, umpires aren’t doing Nick Ahmed any favors by calling strikes outside of the zone against him.

Around the League

[MLB Trade Rumors] Yankees Acquire Edwin Encarnacion - The Seattle Mariners are open for business. They’re sending AL home run leader Edwin Encarnacion and roughly $7 million in cash to the New York Yankees. In return the Mariners are receiving a 19 year old prospect, Juan Then, who they had just traded to New York in 2017. Appears Jerry Dipoto was suffering from a case of seller’s remorse. Mike Leake and Dee Gordon should on the rading block next for Seattle.

[MLB.com] 5 games. 4 homers. History for Astros phenom - An embarrassment of riches in young talent for the Houston Astros. 21 year old Yordan Alvarez hit his fourth home run in his fifth career game yesterday joining Trevor Story, Yasiel Puig, and Mike Jacobs as the only players to accomplish that.

“It’s super, super impressive,” All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman said. “He’s got an unbelievable swing and approach at the plate. He has so much trust at the plate for a young hitter that he knows what he’s good at, he knows what pitches he’s going to hit, he looks for them and, right now, he’s not missing them. It couldn’t happen to a better guy, either. He’s an unbelievable kid.”