Your Guide to 2023 D-backs non-roster invitees, part 2

See here for the first batch of right-handed pitchers, plus background on this series. And, without further ado...

Ryan Hendrix (68)

One of the younger, non-prospect NRI’s, Hendrix only turned 28 in December. He debuted with the Reds in April 2021, but the results that season and last were not great, with a 5.85 ERA. Allowing eight home-runs across forty innings of work will tend to do that your numbers. He’s another hard-throwing reliever by D-backs standards, with an average fastball in his MLB career of 96.4 mph. A problem here is he’s out of options, so if he gets added to the major-league roster, he has to stick there or risk the waiver process. With plenty of bullpen candidates who do have options, feels like he will have an uphill battle to survive spring training.

Bryce Jarvis (93)

Selected with the 18th overall pick in the 2020 draft, Bryce had a decent first pro campaign the following year, striking out 89 over 75.1 innings, and ending the year at Double-A Amarillo. Last season proved more of a struggle, as over 25 starts there, he was lit up for 27 home-runs in 106.2 innings. As Jack noted, Amarillo is the most hitter-friendly park in the minor leagues. However, an 8.27 ERA is still high, even by Texas League standards, and the park can’t really be blamed for the 60 walks Jarvis issued. But it is worth noting that Jarvis’s road ERA was more than five runs better away from Hodgetown (5.63 vs. 10.66), with about a 50-inning sample size for each.

Zach McAllister (22)

Likely the best-known name on this list, with almost 600 innings of MLB experience. Though you might be forgiven for not knowing why, since he last reached the majors in 2018. He was solid with the Indians in 2015-17, reaching the World Series in the middle of those seasons. But after falling out of the majors, he suffered a couple of injuries which cost significant time on the road back. The worst was fracturing his humerus while playing catch in April 2020, keeping him off the mound for 16 months. Last year, he had a 3.99 in Triple-A for the Cardinals’ affiliate there, with a K:BB of 90:27 across 67.2 innings. Be quite the comeback story if he returns, approaching five years after his last major-league pitch.

Michel Otañez (60)

This one might be a poster child for Mike Hazen’s new power pitcher initiative. Otañez was recorded last year as hitting 102 mph. So why did the Mets let him go? Simply put, Michel struggled with the transition from AA to AAA: in particular, batters were much better at recognizing his pitches out of the zone. At Double-A he walked six batters and struck out twenty in fifteen innings. At Triple-A, the K-rate remained similar, but the walks ballooned to an eye-popping 35 in just 29.2 frames. Doesn’t matter how hard you throw with that issue. And so, a man described in April as, “could potentially have the best fastball in the Mets entire farm system”, ended up looking for employment in November.

Brandon Pfaadt (90)

Perhaps the pitcher with the best chance of having an impact long-term for the franchise is Pfaadt, generally regarded as the best pitching prospect in the D-backs system. He struck out 218 batters across 167 innings between Double-A and Triple-A - 32 more than any other minor-league pitcher. He even managed to slay the Reno beast, putting up a 2.63 ERA across ten starts and 61.2 innings for the Aces. That’s despite Brandon being only 23, a full four years younger than average for the level. The fifth spot in the rotation for Opening Day may be between him, Ryne Nelson and Drew Jameson. Even if Pfaadt doesn’t make it, it’d be no surprise to see him contributing later in the season.

Peter Solomon (89)

Solomon made a good impression in 2021, allowing two runs over 14 innings out of the Astros bullpen, despite not having thrown above High-A when he made his debut. He was also named the Triple-A West Pitcher of the Year for 2021, although wasn’t able to reproduce the success in 2022, with a 5.58 ERA, mostly as a starter. Solomon ended up being claimed off waivers by the Pirates in September, and the Diamondbacks then took Peter in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft, last December. He has a Twitter, which contains some questionable hot takes. :)

Mitchell Stumpo (91)

Stumpo turned heads with his 2021 campaign, when he played in five different leagues, rocketing up through A, A+, AA and AAA, before finishing the year off in the Arizona Fall League. Last year was considerably less nomadic for Mitchell, as he worked all season out of the Reno Aces bullpen, and performed impressively, with a 3.53 ERA across 43.1 innings, although there were a few too many walks, with a K:BB of 51:31. The 26-year-old seems likely to be a contributor at the major-league level this year, and is in a mix for an Opening Day roster spot. As DbacksEurope recently wrote, He’ll also be appearing for the Italian team in the World Baseball Classic, alongside team-mate Dominic Fletcher.