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Diamondbacks Gameday Thread, #141: 9/7 @ Cubs

With Nick Ahmed gone, who are the longest-tenured Diamondbacks now?

By Jim McLennan
/ new
SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images

Today's Lineups

DIAMONDBACKS CUBS
Corbin Carroll - RF Mike Tauchman - CF
Ketel Marte - 2B Nico Hoerner - 2B
Tommy Pham - LF Ian Happ - LF
Christian Walker - 1B Cody Bellinger - 1B
Alek Thomas - CF Dansby Swanson - SS
Gabriel Moreno - C Seiya Suzuki - RF
Pavin Smith - DH Jeimer Candelario - 3B
Jordan Lawlar - SS Yan Gomes - C
Geraldo Perdomo - 3B Christopher Morel - DH
Ryne Nelson - RHP Javier Assad - RHP

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves:

  • Selected INF Jordan Lawlar (No. 10) from Triple-A Reno.
  • C Seby Zavala (No. 59) reported to the team and is active.
  • Recalled RHP Ryne Nelson from Reno.
  • Designated INF Nick Ahmed for assignment.
  • Optioned C Jose Herrera and RHP Bryce Jarvis to Reno following yesterday’s game.

No particular surprises here. We discussed the Lawlar and Ahmed moves already: the former goes right into the starting line-up. The swap of Zavala for Herrera is a little odd. Pitchers seem to like throwing to Herrera, though he hardly hit, with an OPS+ of 57 (that’s lower this year than Carson Kelly, whose departure largely triggered dancing in the streets). Nelson replaces Jarvis, to give the D-backs an additional bullpen arm, after their relievers were quite taxed over the final two games of the Colorado series. Fortunately, with rosters now having expanded by a couple of slots, that will help spread the load over more arms, and give Torey Lovullo additional options, as we start a crucial series in Chicago.

The departure of Nick Ahmed ends the time here of the longest-tenured Diamondback, and the only man ever to appear in ten different seasons for the club. With him gone, who takes over as the longest-tenured D-back? To answer that, I’ve gone through the 40-man roster (+ 60-day IL) and pinpointed how long they have been with the D-backs. To this end, I am mostly interested in time as part of the big-league club. For players who made their debut with Arizona, that means the date of their first MLB game, but I will also list in brackets when they came to the franchise. For existing major-leaguers, I’m using the date from Baseball Reference that they came to AZ, be that through a trade or as a free-agent.

  1. Ketel Marte: November 23, 2016
  2. Christian Walker: March 28, 2017
  3. Merrill Kelly: April 1, 2019 (signed December 4, 2018)
  4. Zac Gallen: July 31, 2019
  5. Corbin Martin: July 31, 2019
  6. Kevin Ginkel: August 5, 2019 (drafted June 2016)
  7. Joe Mantiply: January 3, 2020
  8. Pavin Smith: September 12, 2020 (drafted June 2017)
  9. Tyler Gilbert: August 3, 2021 (Rule 5 drafted December 10, 2020)
  10. Jake McCarthy: August 27, 2021 (drafted June 2018)
  11. Luis Frias: September 19, 2021 (signed November 24, 2015)
  12. Kyle Nelson: November 24, 2021
  13. Mark Melancon: December 1, 2021
  14. Geraldo Perdomo: April 3, 2021 (signed July 2, 2016)
  15. Zach Davies: March 23, 2022*
  16. Jose Herrera: April 9, 2022 (signed July 2, 2013)
  17. Alek Thomas: May 8, 2022 (drafted June 2018)
  18. Emmanuel Rivera: August 1, 2022
  19. Tommy Henry: August 3, 2022 (drafted June 2019)
  20. Corbin Carroll: August 29, 2022 (drafted June 2019)
  21. Ryne Nelson: September 5, 2022 (drafted June 2019)
  22. Drey Jameson: September 15, 2022 (drafted June 2019)
  23. Carlos Vargas: November 15, 2022
  24. Miguel Castro: December 2, 2022
  25. Scott McGough: December 15, 2022
  26. Gabriel Moreno: December 23, 2022
  27. Diego Castillo: December 23, 2022
  28. Evan Longoria: January 5, 2023
  29. Austin Adams: January 20, 2023
  30. Dominic Fletcher: April 30, 2023 (drafted June 2019)
  31. Brandon Pfaadt: May 3, 2023 (drafted June 2020)
  32. Justin Martinez: July 7, 2023 (signed March 5, 2018)
  33. Paul Sewald: July 31, 2023
  34. Jace Peterson: July 31, 2023
  35. Peter Strzelecki: August 1, 2023
  36. Tommy Pham: August 1, 2023
  37. Slade Cecconi: August 2, 2023 (drafted June 2020)
  38. Bryce Jarvis: August 15, 2023 (drafted June 2020)
  39. Ryan Thompson: August 19, 2023
  40. Andrew Saalfrank: September 5, 2023 (drafted June 2019)
  41. Seby Zavala: September 6, 2023
  42. Jordan Lawlar: September 7, 2023 (drafted June 2021)
  43. Blaze Alexander - N/A (drafted June 2018)
  44. Jorge Barrosa - N/A (signed July 2, 2017)

* - Davies technically was a free-agent after 2022, until re-signing with Arizona in January 2023. But since he never signed anywhere else, I’m giving him tenure from the original signing.

So, we can see that Walker and Marte are now the longest-tenured, being the only ones to play before 2019. They were here for the last season the D-backs made the playoffs, though Christian appeared in only 11 games and did not make the post-season roster. However, I was surprised to learn that the man who has been in the organization for longest is actually Jose Herrera. He joined the Diamondbacks even before Nick Ahmed came here. He signed with the team as a 16-year-old in July 2013, making this his eleventh season playing for Arizona, at one level or another.

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