Key to the game: score some runs, why don’t you?
Today is Corbin Burnes’ home debut. It should, of course, have happened during the opening series against the Cubs, but… for whatever reason (and we’ll not go into all that again here), he didn’t pitch until after the team had gone off to New York. Probably for the best, because Corbin’s first two starts in an Arizona uniform were nothing to write home about, allowing 11 hits and 7 walks over just 9.1 innings, with a resulting ERA of 5.79. Much better is to be expected, especially at the price. If this evening can bring Burnes his first W as a Diamondbacks, we’ll all be that much happier. Otherwise, comparisons to other over-paid pitchers are going to start getting by made in certain corners of fandom.
This is interesting. Earlier this afternoon, Jack asked Torey Lovullo about whether Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks are in line to start seeing higher leverage work – especially at the expense of Joe Mantiply. While the manager had Joe’s back (you wouldn’t expect anything else from Lovullo), it does seem a move up could be in the cards, especially for Miller. He now has an ongoing no-hitter of six innings this time around with the D-backs, while Beeks has allowed one run over 9.1 innings with a K:BB ratio of 8.1. Considering they were perhaps not expected to be more than place-holders for the injured Kevin Ginkel and Randall Graveman, their performance so far has been a very pleasant surprise.
I asked Torey Lovullo about the report that pitching coach Brian Kaplan is pushing for high leverage innings for Shelby Miller and Jalen Beeks, and how that ties into Joe Mantiply’s struggles of late#Dbacks #Relievers pic.twitter.com/XmSNOkLG3q
— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) April 12, 2025
It’s always interesting to watch how roles in the bullpen can be fluid, as players gain and lose the manager’s confidence. So far, A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez have split the four saves for the team evenly. Behind them, I’ve been a bit surprised how Ryan Thompson appears to have been relegated: he hasn’t come into a game yet, where the margin is less than three runs. Here’s how the average leverage index stacks up so far for the members of the D-backs’ bullpen – a good gauge of whether they are getting into key situations or not. Seems that Miller may already be getting the work his pitching coach is pushing for.
- A.J. Puk – 1.49
- Justin Martinez – 0.93
- Shelby Miller – 0.78
- Joe Mantiply – 0.53
- Ryne Nelson – 0.46
- Jalen Beeks – 0.37
- Ryan Thompson – 0.36
- Bryce Jarvis – 0.22