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D-backs Could Look To Move Eugenio Suarez

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The Diamondbacks could be in the market to move on from one of their top offseason acquisitions, as USA Today’s Bob Nightengale wrote in his Sunday Notes column that the Snakes are “willing to listen to offers” on third baseman Eugenio Suarez. That’s perhaps some charitable terminology, as Nightengale himself goes on to note that the 33-year-old Suarez has struggled to the point that he could soon lose his hold on an everyday role at third base.

Suarez, acquired in a salary-driven trade that sent backup catcher Seby Zavala and relief prospect Carlos Vargas to the cost-cutting Mariners, is earning $12MM this season and has a $15MM club option for the 2025 campaign on his contract. The Diamondbacks do not intend to exercise that option at this time, per Nightengale, which is only natural given Suarez’s bleak .200/.265/.317 slash in his first 257 trips to the plate with Arizona.

While Suarez hasn’t seen his already hefty strikeout rate creep any further north — he fanned in 30.4% of last year’s plate appearances and is at 28.8% in 2024 — there are nevertheless plenty of worrying trends that suggest his decline isn’t necessarily an early-season fluke. He’s chasing pitches off the plate at the highest rate of his career and making contact on said swings at a career-low rate. His average exit velocity (87.5 mph) and hard-hit rate (33.5%) have cratered from last year’s levels (90.3 mph and 43%). Suarez has never seen a larger percentage of his fly-balls be of the infield fly variety, either; after popping out to the infield only 10 times in both 2022 and 2023, he’s already hit eight harmless infield pops this season.

Suarez actually got out to a hot start this season, and even as his production began slipping a bit in the second half of April, his batting line to that point in the season was within arm’s reach of league-average. Since the calendar flipped to May, his bat has taken a nosedive. In his past 131 plate appearances, Suarez is hitting .161/.221/.280 with a 30.5% strikeout rate.

Finding a trade partner for Suarez in light of recent swoon and considerable salary won’t be easy. Generally, veterans in this situation are likelier to be designated for assignment and released. But there’s also typically at least one or two exchanges of bad contracts every deadline season, with last year’s Guardians/Dodgers swap of Noah Syndergaard and Amed Rosario standing as one recent example. With four players signed through at least 2026 and three through 2027, the D-backs might not want to take on a particularly long-term player, but swapping out Suarez for another impending free agent or perhaps someone signed through 2025 at a lesser annual value could make some sense.

Despite his downturn at the plate, Suarez has accounted for nearly every inning at third base for the D-backs this season. Jace Peterson got one start there before being cut loose. Rookie Blaze Alexander has made three appearances there (two starts). All three have come in the past 12 days, however, lending further credence to Nightengale’s assertion that Suarez could soon be pushed out of his regular role.

Alexander, 24, is a natural shortstop who’s hit .283/.345/.409 in his first 139 MLB plate appearances this season. That line is propped up by the disproportionate rate at which the right-handed-hitting Alexander has been platooned. He’s seen nearly half his plate appearances against lefties and tormented them with a .350/.409/.533 batting line. Against right-handed pitchers, Alexander’s .224/.288/.299 slash doesn’t look any better than Suarez’s season-long numbers.

The top alternative in the upper minors would be Deyvison De Los Santos, who’s in the midst of a breakout after failing to make the Guardians’ roster as a Rule 5 Draft pick. In 238 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A this season, the 20-year-old slugger touts a combined .358/.412/.656 batting line and 17 home runs. He’s also trimmed his strikeout rate from the 26% he logged in Double-A a year ago to a much stronger 21.4%.

All in all, the D-backs rank 29th in the majors in terms of production from their third basemen, by measure of wRC+. Their combined .200/.258/.317 slash is 36% worse than average when weighting for home park and league run-scoring environment, leading only the White Sox (.197/.248/.288, 52 wRC+).

Phillies Showing Trade Interest In Jake McCarthy

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As the Phillies look to put some final touches on a talented roster, Philadelphia is “keeping an eye on” Jake McCarthy as possible outfield help, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale writes.  Such a trade would naturally depend on whether or not the Diamondbacks are still in the playoff race by the deadline, and even if not, Arizona would still be hesitant about moving an outfielder who is controlled through the 2028 season.

McCarthy has been been frequently mentioned in trade rumors in the past, even if his stock has ebbed and flowed over his first two full MLB seasons.  McCarthy finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022 and was subsequently a much-discussed figure that offseason as the D’Backs looked to sell from their surplus of left-handed hitting outfielders.  (Daulton Varsho ended up being the outfielder moved in the December 2022 trade that brought Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to the desert.)

However, McCarthy ran into a sophomore slump last year, hitting .243/.318/.326 over 312 plate appearances and he was demoted to Triple-A, before an oblique injury then sidelined him for the Diamondbacks’ playoff run.  As per a report from Nightengale in February, Arizona offered the White Sox either McCarthy or Dominic Fletcher in a trade for pitching prospect Cristian Mena this past winter, with Chicago opting to take Fletcher.

If McCarthy’s Diamondbacks tenure really was that close to coming to an end, he has done well in his second act with the club.  McCarthy hit his third homer of the season in today’s game against the Padres, and entered Sunday’s action hitting .268/.354/.370 over his first 160 PA.  Today’s home run was a rarity for a player who hasn’t shown much power and whose barrel and hard-hit ball rates are both mediocre — McCarthy’s 22.5% hard-hit ball rate ranks only in the second percentile of all batters.

A .327 BABIP has accounted for a good chunk of McCarthy’s success, but his excellent speed has also been a benefit in turning some of those balls in play into extra hits.  His strikeout and walk rates are both above average, and on the defensive side, McCarthy has been roughly average to slightly below average as a right fielder.  The D’Backs have deployed McCarthy in left and center field on occasion, but he has mostly been used in a right field platoon with the right-handed hitting Randal Grichuk.  Oddly, McCarthy has hit southpaws much better than he has right-handed pitchers this season, with a .917 OPS in 32 PA against lefties and a .674 OPS in 128 against righties.

Between his years of control, his age (27 next month), and his past draft pedigree as the 39th overall pick in 2018, McCarthy would be far from a rental piece for the Phillies for any team looking to pry the outfielder away from Arizona.  The Phils’ acquisition of Brandon Marsh from the Angels at the 2022 trade deadline could be a comp here, as that deal also saw Philadelphia land a left-handed hitting outfielder with some past prospect appeal who hadn’t quite gotten it all together at the MLB level.  That one-for-one deal saw the Phillies land Marsh for Logan O’Hoppe, another well-regarded young player who was blocked at catcher by J.T. Realmuto, so the Phils and Angels mutually addressed each other’s needs for outfield and catching help.

Marsh has gone on to become a solid regular in the Philadelphia outfield, this season acting as the strong side of a left-field platoon with Whit Merrifield.  Marsh is currently on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring injury that isn’t considered too serious, so in the event that McCarthy was acquired, the Phillies would likely view him as a left-handed hitting complement to Johan Rojas in center field and even Nick Castellanos in right field.

Rojas hasn’t hit at all this season and his once-impressive center field glove has been much closer to average.  Castellanos’ defensive limitations are well-known but the bigger issue has been his bat, as Castellanos is hitting .215/.275/.360 with nine homers over 269 PA.  The veteran is on pace for the second negative-fWAR season in his three years with Philadelphia, which isn’t a great sign considering that Castellanos is still owed $40MM over the remaining two years of his five-year, $100MM contract.

The lack of production from Castellanos or Rojas hasn’t much slowed the Phillies down in their run to the NL’s best record, but the outfield does stand out as a natural area to address as one of the club’s relatively few weak links.  Acquiring a rental player at the deadline might be a more logical idea for the Phils given how Castellanos will still be in the mix for the next two years, and trading for a shorter-term outfielder would come at a much lesser prospect cost than McCarthy’s price tag.

Since only four National League teams are above the .500 mark, the Diamondbacks are still just outside the wild card picture despite their unimpressive 30-35 record.  There is still plenty of time for the reigning NL champions to turn things around, and the D’Backs would have to be pretty decidedly out of the running at the deadline for the front office to turn to selling, considering that the team has invested heavily in trying to remain a top contender.

Even if Arizona does sell, impending free agents and veteran players figure to be the team’s first options for trade candidates before getting around to considering moving controllable players like McCarthy.  Even if it’s true that the D’Backs were willing to take Mena (not a highly-touted pitching prospect) for McCarthy last winter, Arizona might be in a position to demand more in return for McCarthy now, given his improved numbers and some extra leverage the Diamondbacks might hold in shopping him to needy contenders come July 30.

Diamondbacks Designate Logan Allen For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks announced this morning that they’ve designated left-hander Logan Allen for assignment. Lefty Tommy Henry was recalled to the majors in a corresponding move to replace Allen on the club’s active roster.

Allen, 27, is not to be confused with the 25-year-old Guardians left-hander of the same name despite the fact that he too was once a fairly well-regarded prospect in Cleveland’s farm system. Acquired from the Padres in the three-team blockbuster that sent Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes to Cleveland, Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati, and Taylor Trammell to San Diego, Allen pitched only briefly for Cleveland in the majors prior to the 2021 season, where he struggled badly with a 6.26 ERA in 50 1/3 innings of work across 14 appearances (11 starts).

The peripherals matched that lackluster performance. Allen struck out just 16.7% of batters faced while walking 7.7% and allowing an eye-popping 22.2% of his fly balls to leave the yard for home runs. Even with a solid 45.1% groundball rate, those brutal results and the peripherals that indicated they were largely deserved left the Guardians to part ways with Allen in May of 2022. He was initially claimed off waivers by the Orioles, although he struggled through just three appearances with Baltimore before they too designated him for assignment. This time, he passed through waivers successfully and was assigned outright to the minors.

The lefty spent a few months in the Orioles minor league system before eventually getting released and signing with the Rockies on a minor league deal that August. He remained in Colorado into the 2023 season but was released in mid-July, though he found a job with the Mariners just weeks later. Across four organizations and two seasons, Allen struggled badly at the Triple-A level with a 5.77 ERA in 110 2/3 innings of work and never sniffed the majors after he was outrighted by the Orioles. Nonetheless, Allen was able to find a minor league pact with the Diamondbacks this winter. Unlike his past minor league deals, this time Allen found some success with a 3.00 ERA in 12 innings of work with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Reno.

That was enough for the Snakes to decide to call Allen up to the majors as a long relief option in mid-April. He’s made 12 appearances for the Diamondbacks since then, often pitching as many as three or four innings at a time, and had generally impressed with a 3.67 ERA and 3.84 FIP through his first 11 outings as a Diamondback. Unfortunately, the lefty was torched for six runs on six hits (including a home run) and a walk in one inning of work against the Padres last night, a disastrous outing that ballooned his ERA to 5.46 and his FIP to 4.31. With Arizona in need of a fresh arm and Allen out of option years, that left Arizona to DFA him in order to get Henry, who has acted as optionable starting pitching depth for the Diamondbacks since his debut in 2022, onto the roster.

Arizona will now have one week to either trade Allen or attempt to pass him through waivers. If Allen clears waivers successfully, the Diamondbacks would be able to outright him to the minor leagues, although he’d have the right to reject such an assignment as a player who has already been outrighted previously in his career. It’s not inconceivable that a pitching-needy team would be willing to look past Allen’s rough outing against San Diego last night and take a chance on him based on his previous 11 appearances, although it’s also possible the lefty’s shake results both at Triple-A and in the majors prior to joining the Diamondbacks could turn otherwise intrigued clubs away.

Diamondbacks Select Humberto Castellanos

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The D-Backs announced they’ve selected right-hander Humberto Castellanos onto the major league roster. Arizona also recalled lefty reliever Joe Jacques from Triple-A Reno, a move which was reported this afternoon. To clear the necessary spots on the MLB roster, the Snakes optioned southpaw Brandon Hughes and placed lefty Blake Walston on the 15-day injured list with inflammation in his throwing elbow. Arizona also reinstated righty Luis Frías from the 15-day IL and optioned him to Reno.

Arizona had an opening on the 40-man roster, which they’ll use to give Castellanos his first MLB look in two years. The Mexican-born hurler pitched in 25 games, including 16 starts, for the D-Backs between 2021-22. He turned in a 5.30 ERA over 90 innings before undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2022. That led Arizona to outright him off their roster at the end of the season and forced him to sit out all of last year.

The Diamondbacks brought Castellanos back on a minor league contract over the winter. He’s healthy again and has logged 43 2/3 innings over 10 appearances in Triple-A. Castellanos has a 4.57 earned run average that is quite impressive considering Reno is among the toughest places to pitch in affiliated ball. He has punched out a solid 24.3% of opposing hitters, although he has also issued walks at a career-high 11.4% rate.

For most of his MLB career, Castellanos has shown the opposite profile: plus control without the ability to miss many bats. He has a modest 16.6% strikeout rate with a 7.3% walk percentage in 100 2/3 innings between the Astros and D-Backs. Castellanos doesn’t throw especially hard, but he can work out of the rotation or in long relief for Torey Lovullo. He still has a minor league option, allowing the Diamondbacks to send him back to Reno at any point without putting him on waivers.

Walston, a first-round pick in 2019, has made his first three MLB appearances this season. The North Carolina native has allowed four runs over 12 2/3 innings, striking out 11 against nine walks. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out of action. The Diamondbacks will presumably play things cautiously with any elbow issue for one of their more talented young pitchers.

Diamondbacks Claim Thyago Vieira

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The D-backs claimed hard-throwing righty Thyago Vieira off waivers from the Orioles, who’d previously designated him for assignment, per an announcement out of Baltimore. The Diamondbacks already have two open spots on the 40-man roster and thus will only need to open a 26-man roster spot for the out-of-options Vieira.

Vieira isn’t the only bullpen move coming for the Snakes, however. Ari Alexander of KPRC-2 reports that they’re calling lefty Joe Jacques up from Triple-A Reno for what’ll be the southpaw’s team debut. Arizona claimed Jacques off waivers from Boston back in April.

The 30-year-old Vieira made just one appearance for the O’s, who acquired him from the Brewers following a separate DFA. He faced five batters in his lone Orioles appearance but didn’t record an out, yielding a hit and four walks. He’d go on to be charged for three earned runs. He also struggled through 22 1/3 innings in Milwaukee and currently sports an ugly 6.85 ERA on the season. In 51 career innings at the MLB level, Vieira has a 6.71 ERA with a 20.7% strikeout rate and bloated 13% walk rate.

It’s a nondescript track record, but Vieira is also one of MLB’s hardest throwers, averaging 98 mph on his heater and frequently touching triple digits. Command has been an ongoing issue for him, but the raw power of his repertoire continues to pique teams’ interest. The right-hander also had a nice run with the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball from 2020-22, posting a 3.61 ERA with a hearty 26.2% strikeout rate. Since Vieira is out of minor league options, he’ll immediately join the big league bullpen, but that lack of flexibility could also have him on a short leash if he continues to struggle as he did in Milwaukee and Baltimore.

Both Vieira and Jacques will add fresh arms to an Arizona bullpen that needed to cover seven innings in a blowout loss after Jordan Montgomery lasted just two innings. Relievers Bryce Jarvis, Brandon Hughes and Logan Allen all pitched at least two innings yesterday and figure to be unavailable today if at all possible. Righty Kevin Ginkel threw 35 pitches a day prior as well, adding to the currently taxed nature of manager Torey Lovullo’s relief corps.

MLB Issues Lifetime Ban To Tucupita Marcano For Betting On Baseball, Announces Four Other One-Year Suspensions

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Major League Baseball announced Tuesday morning that Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano has been declared permanently ineligible for violating the league’s sports betting rules and policies — specifically Rule 21(d)(2). Per this morning’s press release:

In March 2024, MLB learned from a legal sports betting operator that it had identified past baseball betting activity from accounts connected to multiple Major and Minor League players.  MLB obtained data from that operator and other sportsbooks, including authentication data for bets.  None of these players played in any game on which they placed a bet.  Further, all of the players denied that they had any inside information relevant to the bets or that any of the baseball games they bet on were compromised or manipulated, and the betting data does not suggest that any outcomes in the baseball games on which they placed bets were compromised, influenced, or manipulated in any way. None of the players are appealing their discipline.

Under Major League Rule 21, “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has no duty to perform, shall be declared ineligible for one year.” Whereas, “Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee, who shall bet any sum whatsoever upon any baseball game in connection with which the bettor has a duty to perform, shall be declared permanently ineligible.”

MLB’s investigation found that from Oct. 16-23, 2022 and from July 12 to November 1, 2023, Marcano placed 387 bets on baseball, including 25 bets on Pirates games where he was a member of Pittsburgh’s roster. All 25 of those Pirates bets came while Marcano was rehabbing from a season-ending ACL tear, so he did not appear in any of the games in question. The bets nonetheless violate the league policy and have thus triggered the lifetime ban.

The league’s investigation found that Marcano placed more than $150K worth of bets on baseball. Most of the bets in question were parlays, some including his own (at the time) Pirates club. Marcano’s bets typically involved the Pirates winning the game or were over/under bets on the number of runs scored within the game.

Major League Baseball also announced that Athletics right-hander Michael Kelly, Diamondbacks lefty Andrew Saalfrank, Padres minor league pitcher Jay Groome and Phillies minor league infielder Jose Rodriguez have been given one-year bans for violating Rule 21(d)(1). All four players were found to have made bets on Major League Baseball games but were not on the Major League roster or injured list of any teams involved in the bets they placed.

Kelly, 31, is an active member of the Athletics’ bullpen and has pitched to a 2.59 ERA in 31 1/3 innings this season. His bets were all placed in Oct. 2021, when the right-hander was with the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate. He made only ten bets for a total of $99.92, with three of those bets coming on games involving the Astros’ big league club during the postseason. Despite the meager total of Kelly’s bets, his gambling activity was a violation of the rule in place and will trigger that one-year ban.

Similarly, each of Saalfrank ($445), Groome ($453) and Rodriguez ($749) bet under $1,000 on Major League games back in 2020-21. All were minor league players at the time — Saalfrank with Arizona’s Low-A team, Groome with the Red Sox’ High-A affiliate and Rodriguez with the White Sox’ Double-A club.

Commissioner Rob Manfred issued the following statement on today’s suspensions:

“The strict enforcement of Major League Baseball’s rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority: protecting the integrity of our games for the fans. The longstanding prohibition against betting on Major League Baseball games by those in the sport has been a bedrock principle for over a century. We have been clear that the privilege of playing in baseball comes with a responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people. Since the Supreme Court decision opened the door to legalized sports betting, we have worked with licensed sports betting operators and other third parties to put ourselves in a better position from an integrity perspective through the transparency that a regulated sports betting system can provide. MLB will continue to invest heavily in integrity monitoring, educational programming and awareness initiatives with the goal of ensuring strict adherence to this fundamental rule of our game.”

MLBTR readers can view the league’s entire press release, which contains further specifics on the nature of each player’s bets, in its entirety at MLB.com.

Matt Bowman Elects Free Agency

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Reliever Matt Bowman has elected free agency after being designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks on Sunday, tweets Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. The right-hander, who turned 33 today, went unclaimed on outright waivers.

Bowman pitched in four games for Arizona, allowing six runs over 6 2/3 innings. The Snakes had acquired him from the Twins in a cash trade on May 2. Bowman had pitched five times for Minnesota as well. He allowed eight runs in 14 1/3 frames with 10 strikeouts and six walks between the two teams. That’s already the Princeton product’s heaviest MLB workload since 2019.

Injuries essentially robbed Bowman of the 2020-22 seasons. He underwent Tommy John surgery late in the ’20 campaign and didn’t return to full health until last season. Bowman spent most of last year in Triple-A with the Yankees, turning in a 3.99 ERA with a decent 22.6% strikeout rate and a strong 51.9% grounder percentage over 58 2/3 innings. New York briefly called him to the majors last fall but cut him loose at season’s end.

Bowman signed with Minnesota on a non-roster contract and again pitched well in Triple-A. He didn’t allow an earned run over his six innings, leading the Twins to call him up during the second week of April. Bowman is out of options, so Minnesota couldn’t send him back to the minors once they added him to their 40-man roster. That led to his trade to Arizona, but Bowman struggled in his limited time in the desert. Based on his recent Triple-A production, he shouldn’t have any problem finding a new minor league deal now that he’s back on the open market.

Diamondbacks Place Zac Gallen On Injured List

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The Diamondbacks announced that right-hander Zac Gallen has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain. Fellow righty Slade Cecconi has been recalled in a corresponding move.

Gallen, 28, took the ball in last night’s game against the Mets but departed after just six pitches, with the club later announcing the hamstring strain. There were some signs pointing to a mild injury, as manager Torey Lovullo told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo show earlier today that he expected Gallen to miss one start without going on the IL, as relayed by Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. Though it seems the club decided to put him on the IL after all, putting him out of action for the next two weeks at least.

Even if it does prove to be a short absence, it’s not good news for the Snakes, as Gallen has emerged as one of the better pitchers in baseball in recent years. In 725 career innings, he has allowed 3.20 earned run per nine frames. Since the start of 2022, he has a 3.05 ERA, 26.3% strikeout rate, 6.1% walk rate and 43.3% ground ball rate.

Subtracting that kind of performance would hurt any rotation but it’s especially concerning for the Diamondbacks, as Gallen now joins Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodríguez on the injured list. The defending National League champions have gotten out to a slow start so far this year and are currently 25-31. Climbing back into a playoff position will be tough without those three pitchers and neither Kelly nor Rodríguez have started a rehab assignment yet, so the club will definitely be hoping that Gallen just needs a quick breather before returning.

For now, the club’s rotation consists of Jordan Montgomery, Brandon Pfaadt, Ryne Nelson, Blake Walston and Cecconi. Both Nelson and Cecconi have an ERA over 6.00. Montgomery is at 4.69 and Pfaadt at 4.16. Walston’s ERA is just 2.16 but in a tiny sample of 8 1/3 innings. Tommy Henry is on optional assignment, though he has a 5.40 ERA in the majors so far this year. Cristian Mena is also on the 40-man roster but has yet to make his major league debut.

Diamondbacks Release Kolten Wong

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The D-backs have released veteran infielder Kolten Wong, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. Wong had been playing with their Triple-A affiliate in Reno after signing a minor league contract. He’s now a free agent.

A two-time Gold Glove winner at second base, the now-33-year-old Wong entered the 2024 campaign in hopes of rebounding from a disastrous 2023 season that saw him bat just .183/.256/.263 in 250 plate appearances between the Mariners and Dodgers. Wong signed a minor league deal with Baltimore and spent spring training with the Orioles but opted out of that pact when he didn’t make the team. He subsequently signed with the D-backs, putting pen to paper on a second minor league deal back on April 10.

Through 31 games, Wong has turned in a .271/.339/.383 batting line that looks respectable enough relative to MLB batting lines but is about 18% worse than average (by measure of wRC+) in the supercharged offensive environment of Triple-A’s Pacific Coast League. He’s homered twice, swiped a pair of bags and collected six doubles. Wong has also shown modest improvements in his strikeout and walk rates, which sat at 21.2% and 7.2% in the big leagues last year but are at 18.2% and 8.3% in Reno.

Miserable as Wong’s 2023 season was, the veteran infielder is still just one season removed from a .251/.339/.430 performance with the 2022 Brewers — a season that saw him swipe 17 bases and club a career-best 15 home runs with a strong 9.3% walk rate and considerably lower-than-average 17.7% strikeout rate. From 2017-22, Wong was an above-average regular at second base between St. Louis and Milwaukee, hitting a combined .269/.349/.414 with 54 homers, 72 steals, a roughly average walk rate, strong bat-to-ball skills and plus defense.

The D-backs haven’t needed any help at second base with Ketel Marte logging a .275/.322/.493 slash in his first 233 trips to the plate this season, and there are other second base options on the 40-man roster ahead of Wong on the depth chart as well. But there are plenty of teams around the game — Red Sox, White Sox and Angels, to name a few — that have struggled to get much of anything out of their second basemen this season. Wong could make sense as a depth option with any of those clubs or even an immediate big league replacement in some spots, if a team wants to send a struggling young player back to Triple-A for some more seasoning.

Diamondbacks Designate Matt Bowman For Assignment

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The Diamondbacks announced this afternoon that right-hander Matt Bowman has been designated for assignment. Left-hander Blake Walston was recalled to the big league roster to replace Bowman on the club’s active roster.

Bowman, who will celebrate his 33rd birthday on Friday, joined the Diamondbacks earlier this month when he was acquired in cash deal with the Twins. At the time of the deal, Bowman had been squeezed off of Minnesota’s 40-man roster despite a solid showing in five appearances, where he posted a 2.35 ERA in 7 2/3 innings of work. Unfortunately, the wheels have come off for Bowman across his four appearances with Arizona, as he’s been shelled for six runs on eight hits and two walks in 6 2/3 innings of work that have ballooned his ERA to 5.02 on the year.

A 13th-round pick by the Mets in the 2012 draft, Bowman had considerable success with the Cardinals in the first two seasons of his big league career from 2016 to ’17. In a combined 126 1/3 innings of work, Bowman posted a solid 3.70 ERA (112 ERA+) with a stronger 3.47 FIP. That seemingly portended a successful career near the back of big league bullpens, but things didn’t work out that way as Bowman struggled to well below average results with St. Louis the following season, prompting the club to part ways with him.

He pitched for the Reds in 2019 to an impressive 129 ERA+ in 32 innings of work but a series of elbow injuries, including one that required Tommy John surgery, wiped out Bowman’s 2020-22 campaigns. The veteran resurfaced with the Yankees last year but was torched for a 9.00 ERA and 6.51 FIP in four innings of work before returning to the minor leagues. Arizona will now have one week to trade Bowman or attempt to pass him through waivers. The right-hander has been outrighted previously during his big league career and as a result can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency should he so choose.

Replacing Bowman on the club’s 40-man roster is Walston, who is slated to take the ball for today’s start against the Marlins. It’ll be the first big league start and just the second MLB appearance of Walston’s young career. Arizona’s first-round pick in the 2019 draft, the 23-year-old climbed his way through up the minor league ladder to make his big league debut earlier this year, when he struck out five in 3 2/3 innings of work against the Dodgers while allowing two runs on three hits and four walks. That admirable effort against one of the league’s most intimidating offenses has earned Walston another opportunity in the majors thanks in part to the injuries facing the Dbacks rotation. Marquee offseason signing Eduardo Rodriguez has yet to throw a pitch for the club this year due to a strained lat and he’s been joined on the 60-day injured list by veteran righty Merrill Kelly, who is battling a shoulder strain.

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