Afters months of not being able to have our beloved sport back, it is time for the return. After a huge disappointment of finishing in last place in Major League Baseball last year, the Arizona Diamondbacks are looking to make a great improvement. A few of the names we will talk about later is Yasmany Tomas, Jeremy Hellickson, and Peter O'Brien.
The Diamondbacks have a lot of questions to fill with this spring training, such as the rotation, catcher, third base, shortstop, and left field.
Let's start with the rotation. The only two written in stone names right now is Patrick Corbin and Josh Collmenter, If either of them have a terrible spring then maybe a month or two in AAA could help them out, but as of now, Chip Hale said that they will be battling it out for Opening Day starter. As of the back end of the rotation, Bronson Arroyo's veteran leadership could earn him a spot at either 3 or 4. With that being said, Hellickson, Daniel Hudson, and newly signed free agent Jhoulys Chacin will compete for the last two spots. Chacin, who went 14-10 in the 2013 campaign could have only asked for the same results as he went 1-7 with a 5.40 ERA with the Rockies last season. Yet he pitched well enough against Arizona to earn him a spot on the spring training team.
With the departure of Miguel Montero to Chicago, that leaves a open position battle for catcher. The Dbacks announced today that they would be signing veteran 34 year old catcher Ryan Doumit. With the Braves last season, Doumit batted .197, ending his run with the team. He will be in competition with Peter O'Brien, a young 24 year old catcher with a lot of pop. In a almost a full season at AA Mobile, O'Brien hit .251 with 24 homeruns in just 76 games. If he could hit just over .230, he could see himself being an everyday catcher in Pheonix. O'Brien can also play corner outfield.
At third base, you have the Cuban Import of Yasmany Tomas, who has the power of about 20- 25 homers a year. Now the question is, is he mature enough to be at the Major League Level? He will be competing with Jake Lamb who is likely to win the roster spot while Tomas develops in the minors a little more.
At shortstop, you can expect to see both Nick Ahmed and Chris Owings PLaying shortstop this spring. Hale said in an interview that it could come down to whoever shows a better bat as both can field or if one is better then the other at lefties or righties, a platoon might be in order.
Left Field could be anyone. Cody Ross is fighting for a starting role with David Peralta and Peter O'Brien if he is not needed at catcher.
This season will be interesting. How will our Dbacks turn around a 98 loss season in one of the hardest divisions in baseball? Lets just see who will be our team.
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