Blaze Alexander Getting More Reps At Third Base For D-Backs

Blaze Alexander is starting at third base for the Diamondbacks tonight against Angels righty José Soriano, pushing Eugenio Suárez to the bench. It’s only Alexander’s third start at the hot corner, but that’ll be a more frequent occurrence.

Manager Torey Lovullo told the Arizona beat that Alexander was going to pick up increased playing time at third base (link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Lovullo stopped short of calling it a benching for Suárez but he acknowledged tonight is “day number one of a little bit of a change” in how playing time is split.

“I’m very curious about Blaze,” Lovullo said. “Offensively, he’s been playing at a very high level. The defense has been improving rapidly. I just felt like it was time to give him a few more opportunities, a few more reps.” Alexander has been in the lineup for 38 of Arizona’s 67 games. He picked up 16 starts at shortstop, eight games at second base and got 12 nods as the designated hitter along with his pair of third base starts.

The D-Backs reinstated Geraldo Perdomo from the injured list last night. He resumes his role as the everyday shortstop, while Ketel Marte is locked in at second base. Joc Pederson serves as the designated hitter against right-handed pitching. That leaves third base as the only spot for Alexander to get reps, unless the D-Backs wanted to use him on the short side of a platoon with Pederson at DH.

Alexander, 25, has managed decent numbers in his debut campaign. He carries a .279/.345/.403 line over 142 plate appearances. Alexander’s batted ball metrics aren’t aligned with his bottom line output. He’s putting the ball on the ground half the time he puts it in play, and a .371 average on balls in play has masked a 26.1% strikeout rate. Alexander has had a stark platoon divide. He’s hitting .217/.280/.290 over 75 plate appearances against right-handed pitching; he has mashed southpaws to the tune of a .350/.418/.533 slash in 67 trips.

While Alexander has played fairly well, the D-Backs wouldn’t have gotten him more third base reps if not for Suárez’s disappointing year. He’s hitting .197/.263/.312 across 262 plate appearances. Bob Nightengale of USA Today wrote over the weekend that the D-Backs were open to trade possibilities on Suárez, though it’d be difficult to offload much of his $12MM salary. Nightengale suggested that Arizona would curtail Suárez’s playing time if he sticks on the roster, and it indeed seems that’ll come to pass.

The D-Backs sent backup catcher Seby Zavala and hard-throwing reliever Carlos Vargas, who has spent the season in Triple-A, to Seattle for Suárez last November. The biggest appeal for the M’s was offloading the final year of Suárez’s contract. Arizona also owes him a $2MM buyout on a $15MM club option that’ll very likely be declined next offseason.