Arizona will have to deal with Paul Goldschmidt being absent from the middle of the lineup. He is off in St. Louis now, and this means they lack a big power bat in the lineup. The Diamondbacks will be looking for health from Jake Lamb, and David Peralta took a step forward last season. A 30+ HR hitter is needed to be truly successful, and the Arizona lineup is looking more built on extra base hits and getting on-base. Eduardo Escobar is another stable piece in the front half of the lineup, and middle infielders Ketel Marte and Nick Ahmed will look to build upon a pretty successful 2018. Arizona might be looking to move more pieces if they are truly trying to sell off for a full rebuild. This could end up being a weaker lineup than expected coming into the season.
2019 Arizona Diamondbacks Pitching Analysis
Arizona lost Patrick Corbin in free agency, who is coming off a career year. Their staff is certainly going to miss him, but overall they stand in a pretty good spot to be an above average rotation. Zack Greinke ate up 200 plus innings last season, sporting a 3.21 ERA, and had 199 strikeouts. Greinke’s another year older, and his velocity has been trending downwards. He has relied more on off-speed stuff, so he is not totally lost given he is not his younger self anymore. Look for Arizona to rely on him again as a workhorse and ace. Robbie Ray had a limited year due to injury, but he was his usual high strikeout self. Ray is prone to allowing some home runs, and walks are always going to be a concern given his off-speed usage us high. He has one of the nastiest curveballs in the game, and relies heavily upon that. Ray will look to improve on last season, and a key goal for him is going to be staying healthy. Ray will come in as a middle of the rotation guy, either behind Zack Godley or in front of him.
Godley has been a reliable option in the middle of the rotation, and relies on a good ground ball rate, and his curveball. We saw Godley have some walk issues at times last season, and like Ray, it is because of the high curveball usage. Godley should pump out 170+ innings again, and double-digit wins should be there even though the offense is going to be worse than prior seasons with all the bats gone. Arizona had the fourth lowest team ERA, and Godley was a part of it. They will likely float back to the middle of the league with Corbin gone, and Luke Weaver isn’t necessarily a low ERA arm. He came over in the Goldschmidt trade, posting a 4.95 ERA last season. Weaver is a young arm still with potential, but the swing and miss stuff as started to evaporate from his arsenal, which is a big concern. A change of scenery might be a good thing for him. Arizona signed Merrill Kelly from overseas, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him gain the final rotation spot heading into the season. Kelly is going to take more of an adjustment period getting used to the majors compared to other pitchers from overseas.
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