2022 Diamondbacks Reviews, #48: Nick Ahmed

Overview

• Rating: 2.46
• 2022 Stats: 17 G, 12-for-52, 2 BB, 15 SO, 3 HR, 7 RBI, .231/.259/.442 (95 OPS+), -0.1 bWAR
• Date of Birth: 03/5/1990 (32 at time of publishing)
• 2022 Salary: $7,875,000
• 2023 Status: $10,375,000 (Final year of 4-yr/$32.5MM contract)

2022 In Review

Things did not end well, physically speaking, for nick Ahmed in 2021. Those issues carried over into 2022. In fact, Ahmed wound up missing the start of the season and did not debut until the team’s 14th game of the season. Then, 24 days later, he played in his final game for the season. In early June he had surgery on his problematic right shoulder. That put Ahmed on the shelf for the rest of the year. With such a small sample, it is difficult to really peg much for certain about his 2022 performance. His strikeouts were up. HIs walks were down. Despite this, he was still managing to put up league average offensive numbers for a shortstop, not far off from what he posted in 2019.

Usually, this is where I proceed to post a string of Nick Ahmed defensive highlights. However, with only 58 total chances spread across 16 games (15 starts and only 14 complete games) there really isn’t much to choose from. Though, we do get to see that he has a strong, accurate arm here in this highlight. If nothing else, this play gives us two other pleasant sights that were entirely too rare in 2022, Ketel Marte making a good defensive play at second and Mark Melancon securing a save.

2023 Outlook

By all accounts, Ahmed has done everything he has to in order to be healthy and ready for spring training come March. If this is indeed the case, fans can expect Slick Nick to open the season as the team’s primary shortstop. It remains to be seen whether or not the injury and subsequent surgery will impact his ability to play defense or to drive the ball. Only time and reps will tell. If Ahmed can turn in the sort of season he did in 2019 and 2020, his return to the roster will be a substantial upgrade over what the time experienced from Ahmed in 2021 and from Perdomo in 2022. Again, the sample size was small, but the 2022 version of Nick Ahmed, despite playing injured, sure looked like he had a little something left in the tank. Arizona sure hopes so as, with the departure of Sergio Alcántara, the team has only Geraldo Perdomo for backup behind the two-time Gold Glove winning Ahmed.

If things go according to the “plan”, Ahmed should see the lion’s share of starts at short in 2023. If he plays well, then the team’s place in the standings will likely dictate whether he finishes the season in Arizona or not. All things considered, it is probably 50/50 that Ahmed is around to pass off the torch to Jordan Lawlar as the team’s potential shortstop of the future in September. Though, with Lawlar having his own injury issues, Ahmed may just end up handing the position to Perdomo to keep warm for an additional half-season or so.