The starting line-up seems largely set. The bench? Not so much…
Any questions about the starting infield for the Diamondbacks in 2025, were largely put to bed with the signing to a long-term contract of Geraldo Perdomo, who therefore becomes the presumptive occupant of the shortstop position for the foreseeable future. Here’s where we stand, along with the contract state of the five men in question.
- Catcher: Gabriel Moreno, signed through 2028 (.696/.830)
- First base: Josh Naylor, signed through 2025 (.801/.673)
- Second base: Ketel Marte, signed through 2027, team option for 2028 (.772/.904)
- Shortstop: Geraldo Perdomo, signed through 2029, team option for 2030 (.666/.633)
- Third-base: Eugenio Suarez, signed through 2025 (.771/.838)
It does look like there will need to be decision made about the corner infield spots at the end of the season. Hopefully, there will be progress made by some of the team’s prospects so that one of those – the hot corner seems the most likely – can be filled internally. But let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I would expect the five men above to be in the line-up on an almost everyday basis. Last year, Suarez played 158 times here, and Naylor 152 for the Guardians. Marte would have been over 150 too, if not for the sixteen games he had to miss, after going on the IL, courtesy of Phillies’ backup catcher, Garrett Stubbs. Those are the numbers I’d expect to see from that trio again in 2025. However, it is possible they may get some starts at the DH position, so a backup should still be considered.
The last set of figures above is the player’s career OPS platoon splits: first, against RHP and then against LHP. That can give us an idea as to whether the handedness of the backup should be a factor. For example, that might be more of a factor at catcher, where Moreno has hit righties 134 points worse, than at third, because Suarez’s splits show just half that gap, at 67 points. Admittedly, that breaks down at second-base, because even Marte’s “weaker” side, with an OPS of .772, was better than the overall figure for just about any qualified player at the position last year. I don’t think Ketel is going to find himself getting platooned very much this season.
Catcher
The two leading candidates in the frame appear to be Jose Herrera and Adrian Del Castillo. The former is a switch-hitter who did bat better against right-handers last year, and the latter a pure leftie, However, in Herrera’s career, his OPS starts with a five both ways, so still considerably worse than Moreno. For Del Castillo, we don’t have much major-league data to work with (just 87 PA), but across all at-bats last year, the numbers were 1.000 vs. .931, which is definitely more consistent than Moreno. For offense, Adrian is clearly the way to go. But his defense was unimpressive, especially at holding runners, where he only caught two in 29 attempts (and one was a trick play). Not that Herrera was better: 3 in 31.
First base
Though Pavin Smith saw fewer innings at 1B in the majors than either LF or RF last year, the situation was reversed in Reno, where he played most at first. The problem is, he’s left-handed like Naylor; that probably makes him a better platoon partner at DH, with right-hander Randall Grichuk (we’ll get to that position in the next article). The three other infielders on the 40-man roster are all RHB: Grae Kessinger, Blaze Alexander and Tim Tawa. However, none have even 300 innings of professional experience at first (Tawa has most), and Garrett Hampson, a non-roster invitee considered a roster possible, has hardly any. Last year, Josh Bell was the main Walker sub, especially when he was out in August.
Second base + shortstop
I kinda want to put the middle infield positions together, because we would typically look for one player to act as back-up at both. Here, any of the four alternates mentioned above would be at least somewhat credible, though Tawa’s experience is very heavily weighted towards second. It begins to feel like there’s a jigsaw puzzle being assembled here. If Tawa makes the roster, that’d be 1B and 2B adequately covered, with the other spot going to someone who can play on the left-hand side of the infield. Alternatively, if the team goes with Hampson, his experience is mostly at 2B and SS, so we’d be looking for coverage on the corner infield spots with the other player.
Third base
The problem here is, everyone is a right-hander, which also goes for Suarez. However, his splits aren’t bad enough to merit significant platooning. Kessinger is the one with most experience at the hot corner, having played almost 750 innings at third across all levels. Alexander had 463.2 IP, while Tawa has 166 and Hampson 123 innings. However, Blaze did not exactly look impressive at the position in 2024. Though if you’re looking for offensive production, it could come down to being between him and Tawa, because Hampson and Kessinger are very much glove-first players. Again, it could be a case where the team goes with one of each: an offensive bench player and a defensive one.
Another factor is that most of the candidates can play the outfield (for some loose definition of “play” in certain cases). With 13 spots for position players, I suspect the D-backs will likely use two for infielders, and might lean towards those that can play OF in a pinch. Then they’d need just one “true” outfielder – likely a CF – in addition to the specialist backup at catcher. To summarize, the table below lists the five most likely contenders for back-up spots on the infield, with the innings they have played at each position, regardless of level. How do you think the decision will shake down, bearing in mind the need to have at least SOME degree of coverage at all the spots?