2022 Diamondbacks Reviews, #14: Emmanuel Rivera

Overview

• Rating: 5.69
• 2022 stats: (Cumulative MLB totals between Dbacks and Royals) 102 games played, 359 plate appearances, 12 hrs and 40 RBI. He struck out 83 times and walked 23. He had a .233/.292/.409 with an OPS+ of 97.
• Date of birth: June 29th, 1996. He will be 27 next season.
• 2022 salary: He is prearb and spotrac has him listed as $700,00 with the Royals retaining $349,986.

2023 status: I personally would like to see him get a chance to sink or swim at 3B, but I am going to bet that he ends up being a bench/platoon player.

RIvera was drafted by the Royals in the 19th round of the 2015 draft out of Universidad Interamericana in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He made his MLB debut on June 28, 2021 for the Royals against the Red Sox. He had 2 hits in that game.

He only played in that game and the next day before I guess getting sent down until August where he stated until mid September.

If you want a good article on Rivera with breaking down various stats and showing some highlights, click below. Keep in mind that article was obviously written before the Dbacks acquired him.
https://royalsreporter.com/2021/08/17/can-emmanuel-rivera-be-an-option-at-third-for-the-royals-in-the-post-moose-era/

As mentioned above, Rivera started the 2022 season as a Kansas City Royal. His season debut was in late April. In May, didn’t do well batting .237, with 4 hrs and 12 RBI. He walked 5 times and struck out 19 in 24 games. June was actually even worse than that. In 20 games he batted .159, with no hrs and only 4 RBI. He struck out 15 times to 3 walks. It did get better in July, as he had his season long 12 game hitting streak from June 28-July 13. During those 13 games (he appeared in 1 game as a defensive replacement in the 8th inning but did not get a PA), he had 44 PA, 2 hrs and 5 RBI with a .366/.409/.585.

On August 1st, the Dbacks acquired Rivera for Luke Weaver. He got his first Dback hit in his second game. It was against the Rockies, a game where IPK had a save and retired the side 1-2-3. From August 5th- August 15th, he he went 11-27 with 4 hrs and 6 RBI, .407/.484/.963.
In the 30 games he played the rest of the season he slashed .188/.266/.297. He struck out 30 times to 8 walks and had 2 hrs and 12 RBI.

His season ended during the final home stand of the season. He fractured his left wrist in a batting practice collision. He did not require surgery and appears to be fine to start the 2023 season.

Rivera actually had a reverse platoon split after the Dbacks got him.

batting .227/.410/.466 with five homers in 100 PA vs. righties, but just .227/.292/.341 and one homer in 48 PA vs. lefties.

https://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/analysis/diamondbacks-2022-season-player-reviews-emmanuel-rivera

Defensively I think he made all or most of the plays that “should” be made. I also think he has an accurate arm and doesn’t have great range. He did not make an error.

Maybe he did already have his chance as a starting 3B, given the Royals Reporter article and his up and down season this past year. I will leave what I wrote earlier for the 2023 status....because it’s my article. lol.

Some Rivera highlights form 2022, if you don’t want to watch any Royals part, click to 3:31. It starts off with his first Dback home run.

All 12 of his home runs.