The Non-Roster Invitee ended up logging more games played than Perdomo, Blaze, Peterson and Lawlar.
Overview
- Rating:
- 2024 stats: 111 G, 311 PA, .278/.311/.375, 91 OPS+, 1.8 aWAR
- Date of birth: August 4, 1993 (age 30 season)
- 2024 earnings: $1m (per Spotrac but there are differing reports)
- 2025 status: Signed with LAA for 1 yr/$2.5m
Voting overview
2024 review
Kevin Newman started off the year as a Non-Roster Invitee to Diamondbacks Spring Training after agreeing to a minor league deal with our club around New Year’s Day. His path to playing time coming into the season largely hinged on if he would be able to beat out Blaze Alexander to claim the short side of a shortstop platoon with Geraldo Perdomo. Torey Lovullo may have come out and stated that Perdomo would be the everyday shortstop, but Perdomo’s struggles against lefties were well documented and the right-handed Newman wasn’t likely to get much time spelling Geno Suarez or Ketel Marte, both accomplished right-handed hitters.
Newman got some looks defensively around the infield in Spring Training, but his bat did not look like a palatable option in Spring, especially when compared to the red-hot stick that his competition, Blaze Alexander, was wielding. It became clear that Newman would be the odd man out come Opening Day and he would presumably be behind Jordan Lawlar in the minor league infield pecking order, so he opted out of his minor league deal the day before the season kicked off. He was free to sign with any organization who might have a need for a veteran utilityman with a track record of competence. Then the dynamic in Arizona changed. On the same day that Newman opted out of his deal with Arizona, the club announced that Jordan Lawlar would need surgery to repair a torn UCL in his thumb. With that variable added to the equation, the Diamondbacks only had a rookie without any real prospect pedigree and Jace Peterson ahead of him on the organizational utlityman depth chart, so Newman re-signed with the Snakes on a fresh minor league deal a day after opting out and packed his bags for Reno.
Hopefully he didn’t unpack his bags too much, because barely a week into the 2024 season, Geraldo Perdomo landed on the IL with a significant knee injury that was expected to sideline him for months. The call that likely would’ve gone to Jordan Lawlar just a couple weeks prior went instead to Kevin Newman and on April 7th, the Diamondbacks called Newman up to the Major League roster and he didn’t leave the active 26 for the rest of the year.
Newman would go on to appear in 111 games for the D-backs and had a more than respectable season. On the defensive side, Newman had, in my opinion, a Gold Glove caliber season as a utilityman. He played 428 innings at shortstop, the most of any position he played this year, and it graded out as one of his best efforts at the position in his career. Per Fielding Run Value and Outs Above Average, it was only his second time in his seven year career as a positive contributor at shortstop. Both metrics were graded as significantly better than Geraldo Perdomo. His UZR/150 was the third-highest mark of his career at the position. Beyond shortstop, he also logged innings at the keystone, third, first and left field, with only his efforts at third base being considered below average.
Offensively, Newman stayed in line with his career norms. He didn’t walk very much, but he didn’t strike out a ton, either. His 89 wRC+ was one of the better marks of his career, and that’s despite the fact he was playing without the platoon advantage in far more of his plate appearances than the Diamondbacks had hoped he would at the beginning of the year. Looking a little closer at his peripherals, though, it seems he was a little more lucky than good. He outperformed all of his expected stats by a healthy margin, in fact among Diamondbacks with at least 200 PA, only Geraldo Perdomo outperformed his expected numbers at a higher rate. He got a reputation for delivering in clutch situations early in the season, notably earning this walk-off knock against the Reds in May to cap off a 4-hit night.
In reality, however, he was pretty bad in “Late & Close” situations (.464 OPS) and in High Leverage (.518 OPS). His best marks by far in situational hitting were when the margin was >4 Runs ahead or behind (.871 OPS) and when the Diamondbacks were ahead by any margin (.759 OPS). He wasn’t very patient, either, registering the least amount of pitches seen per Plate Appearance on the team (3.45) for anyone with at least 20 PA on the season.
By the end of the season, Newman went from needing to cover shortstop every day in Perdomo’s absence to being a platoon-y, bench utilityman that rarely played a full game. Through June 9, Newman played a complete game in 78% of his appearances. After June 9th, he played a complete game in only 42% of his appearances. The lack of consistent playing time didn’t affect his offensive production, compiling a .700 OPS after June 9th which was above his season-long mark of .687.
Every good team needs a ‘glue guy’ like Newman who isn’t going to be a major run producer, but comes out whenever his number is penciled into the lineup card and he gives competent, Major League play on both sides of the ball. No team in baseball expected Newman to be a nearly 2-Win player (evidenced by no team offering him a non-Minor League deal during the offseason), but he came to work every day and put in the time to be ready and answered the bell.
2025 outlook
Kevin Newman was one of the first free agents to find a new home this offseason. The very active Los Angeles Angels made him an offer for 1 year/$2.5 million with a club option for a second year at the same price and he jumped on it. I was personally hoping that Newman would be open to coming back with the D-backs in 2025, but alas, ‘tis not to be.
Steamer projects him to regress somewhat from his nearly career-best 2024 marks next season. He isn’t walking into a full-time role in Anaheim; he’ll likely be the third middle infielder there, and he may get a smattering of playing time at the corners, as well. However 2025 shakes out for Newman, I wish him the best as I thoroughly enjoyed rooting for him this year and he seems like a genuine class act.