D-backs Preview #141: 9/10 @ Mariners

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves:

• Selected INF Seth Beer from Triple-A Reno.
• Optioned INF Drew Ellis to Reno on Thursday.

I think it’s safe to say that most of Diamondbacks’ fandom has been eagerly awaiting this moment, since Beer arrived from the Astros, as part of the Zack Greinke deal. How much of this is to do with his baseball talent, and how much is simply wanting a jersey with “BEER” written on the back... Well, we’ll leave that up to the individual. But it’s more evidence that the team is apparently looking to give anyone and everyone a shot. When he is announced, he will become the fifteenth player to make their MLB debut for the Diamondbacks this season. No previous season has passed thirteen debutants. Here are the dates and names of the previous in 2021:

• Riley Smith - 04-03 [see below]
• Geraldo Perdomo - 04-03
• Taylor Widener - 04-04
• Matt Peacock - 04-06
• J.B. Bukauskas - 04-20
• Joe Mantiply - 05-15
• Corbin Martin - 05-18
• Humberto Castellanos - 06-04
• Stuart Fairchild - 07-06
• Drew Ellis - 07-30
• Miguel Aguilar - 07-30
• Tyler Gilbert - 08-03
• Humberto Mejia - 08-23
• Jake McCarthy - 08-27
• Henry Ramos - 09-05
• Brandyn Sittinger - 09-08

Some have stuck around; others, not so much. We’ll see what the future holds for Beer. He had a .909 OPS with Reno, but I trust I need not tell you about the uselessness of that as any kind of predictive metric. He was the team’s #12 (MLB.com) or #17 (Baseball America) prospect, depending who you believe. I do note he led all minor-leaguers with 30 HBP this year; maybe this is the D-backs’ way of exploiting a market inefficiency? We’ll see how much playing time he gets down the stretch: with six games upcoming in AL parks, I would imagine we may see him DH quite a bit. Just not apparently tonight. He’ll be wearing #28, previously used by Bryan Holaday but probably most memorably worn by J.D. Martinez.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some prep work to do for my stand-in Beercap tonight. The headline is already writing itself...

Torey Lovullo notes

• Seth Beer callup: While not in the lineup today vs. a Left Hand Starter, he will be in at DH tomorrow. The schedule, with 6 games in AL ballparks affords some extra opportunity to get him AB’s. He will also play first base at some point, and although it’s been “challenging”, they feel he has improved a great deal.
• Tyler Clippard originally went on IL with “flu like symptoms”. However he actually tested negative for Covid-19. He will throw a bullpen tomorrow, and they are awaiting the results of another Covid test. If that’s negative, he could be cleared very soon. Torey declined to name an interim closer in Clippards absence. He will play left/right matchups in late innings.
• Merrill Kelly threw 4 IP, 66 pitches in an Arizona League game yesterday, (not Wednesday as previously advised). He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks, but struck out 7. Torey did not rule out that his next appearance could come in the majors.
• Kole Calhoun is still just taking live AB’s and has not advanced his running progression yet.

Torey Lovullo audio [or link]