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To this point the Diamondbacks have used nineteen more players than in the last full season of 2019 (64 vs. 45). But that turnover hasn’t been on the everyday front. Arizona has had six players appear in 100+ games, only one fewer than in 2019. And this year, Eduardo Escobar and Asdrubal Cabrera would probably have hit the mark, if they not traded away after 98 and 90 games respectively. The difference is the churn at the back-end, in an incredibly long “tail”, where we saw more cups of coffee than a Seattle Starbucks. In 2019 only five players registered single-digit appearances: two starters (Zac Gallen and Taijuan Walker), two relievers (Matt Koch and Joel Payamps) and one position player (Y*sm*ny T*m*s).
But, with little more than a week left, there are fifteen such players this season - and none of them look likely to leave the single-digit club over the remaining eight games. Five of those are currently on the injured list (Tyler Gilbert, Chris Devenski, Seth Beer, Corbin Martin and Jon Duplantier). The great majority - twelve of the fifteen - are pitchers, but there are a surprising number of starters (five). All told, Arizona has used sixteen starting pitchers, and oddly, they have all made at least two starts. Tonight’s opponents, the Dodgers have used nineteen starting pitchers in total, but eight have been one-start wonders, mostly converted relievers as they’ve had a lot of bullpen games.
Torey Lovullo notes
The D-backs will use a 6 Man Rotation the rest of the way. We won’t see projected starters against the Giants until tomorrow most likely
Seth Beer’s surgery went perfect, he’s feeling fine. There was no technical term given for the surgery he had, it was just to “Repair Shoulder Instability”
Nick Ahmed is still out of the lineup. ”This is lingering a little longer than we had anticipated, including Nick. But I don’t want to put him in a situation where things will really back up on him if he’s not ready to go out there”. Torey admitted that he does have concerns due to this injury lingering longer than expected. It sounded like it would be at least a couple of more days before he returns to the lineup. No one play was identified as the cause, it’s due to wear and tear
Zac Gallen’s change-up usage: I asked about the reduced usage and effectiveness of the pitch. Nick Piecoro helpfully pointed out to me to his 2nd note from THIS ARTICLE. It talks about how Zac actually feels the change-up is coming around, but backed off using it as the game went on, due to the situation in the moment.