Possible Kevin Newman replacement alert!
Attention has rightly focused on the bigger names leaving Arizona this winter, like Christian Walker and Joc Pederson. However, the team also has ti replace the production of the man who won the SnakePit award for Unsung Hero, Kevin Newman. He was a non-roster invitee, signed to little fanfare on New Year’s Eve, then released and re-signed in spring. But Newman ended up playing in 111 games and posting 2.2 bWAR at a cost of only a million dollars. He signed with the Angels this winter, and so the Diamondbacks now must look to find somebody to take over the utility role. Possible candidates include Blaze Alexander, who appeared 61 times, and Tim Tawa, covered earlier in this series.
Grae Kessinger represents another possibility. He started games at all four infield positions last year. Heck, Grae even pitched in the majors, retiring the Royals in order at the end of a 13-3 blowout. That’s something Newman has yet to accomplish. Looking at Kessinger’s MLB numbers, the obvious knock against him is a .131 average. Worse still, he went ohfer the entirety of his 2024 campaign, covering 21 at-bats. It was the largest in the majors since Mikie Mahtook went 0-for-23 on the 2019 Tigers. But perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to write Kessinger off, on the basis of a tiny sample. After all, he was considered good enough to make the Opening Day roster, on a team that would go on to win their division.
Kessinger certainly has baseball DNA. Most notably, his grandfather was Don Kessinger, a six-time All-Star for the Cubs, between 1968 and 1974, also winning two Gold Gloves. Don was a defense first shortstop (in 16 major-league seasons, his OPS+ never reached ninety), who was also the last player-manager in American League history, on the 1979 White Sox. He was their manager on the infamous “Disco Demolition Night” at Comiskey Park. Grae’s uncle, Keith Kessinger, also reached the majors, albeit only for 11 games on the 1993 Reds. His father, Kevin, was drafted by the Cubs in 1992, but his pro career was curtailed by a back injury, initially happening before he was picked.
Little wonder, then, that Grae’s first word was reportedly “ball”. Kessinger was born, brought up, went to school then on to college in Oxford, Mississippi. The Padres were the first team to notice him, selecting Grae as an 18-year-old in the 2016 draft, but he didn’t sign, instead opting to attend the University of Mississippi instead. After a rough first season, batting .175 across 55 games in 2017, he found his stride and two years later, was hitting .330, with more walks than Ks, including a 40-game on-base streak. He won the 2019 Brooks Wallace Award, given to the nation’s top shortstop, and was picked in the second round of the draft – the same round the D-backs found Ryne Nelson, Tommy Henry and Dominic Fletcher.
He got a $750K signing bonus from the Houston Astros, and after the COVID hiatus, Kessinger went to Double-A, but only hit .210 there in 2021-22. However, he changed his mechanics for 2023: “Kessinger is at his best when keeping his hands back in his batting stance, which he said allows his body to sync up with his swing. For most of his minor-league career, Kessinger could not repeat the mechanics required for good results. At the beginning of this season, though, he discovered a solution,” the player explaining, “That’s been an issue in years past. I knew what I wanted to do, just couldn’t repeat it. But I found something I like and trust and it’s repeatable. I’m feeling really good with it.”
To blunt, I suspect a move to the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League with the Sugar Land Space Cowboys might have helped Kessinger too. He hit .283 there in 2023, though that and his .832 OPS were each only about ten points above the PCL average. But his positional flexibility and good defense were enough to get him a look in June, as the Astros infield suffered an injury crisis. He hit his first, and so far only, major league home-run and RBI on Independence Day off the Rockies’ Kyle Freeland. But Grae made the ALCS playoff roster and hauled in a key catch during the ninth inning of Game 5, with two on and no outs, to help preserve a one-run lead for the Astros.
In spring training last year, he overcame a hamstring issue to make the Opening Day roster for the first time. But a rough start led to his demotion, and three further stints with the big-league club, in June, July and September, all provided equally fruitless. Ironically, it was the signing of ex-Diamondback Christian Walker which required the 27-year-old Kessinger’s spot on the 40-man roster. He was designated for assignment, and Arizona were able to swing a trade for Grae. They received the infielder from the Astros, in exchange for 22-year-old relief prospect, Matthew Linskey, a 16th-round draft pick who had a 2.78 ERA over 32.1 innings between A- and High-A ball.
Kessinger will now look to compete for a bench spot in spring training, but with two minor-league options left, there is no guarantee of a major-league spot. There are still potentially moves to be made by the D-backs, which could thin the spots available further. For example, signing a right-handed slugger like Randall Grichuk could mean only two open positions, to be decided between Kessinger, Tawa, Alexander, etc. Obviously, that kind of player at the end of the bench is never going to hit for much. Even Newman only had a 91 OPS+, despite his solid production. If Kessinger can get close to that number, his solid glove might make him useful, or at least above replacement. Key word there is “if”…
I think that’s now covered everyone on the 40-man roster who didn’t play for the D-backs last year – with the obvious exceptions of Corbin Burnes and Josh Naylor, who are hardly dark horses! However, hopefully by next week, we’ll have the full list of non-roster invitees, and I can start digging into those as possible candidates!