Diamondbacks Spring Training: March 29, 2022
Tuesday saw another Arizona Diamondbacks spring training workout in the morning. The big news, of course, was the Ketel Marte contract extension. In the afternoon, the team hit the road for a 1 pm exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs at Sloan Park in Mesa. Zach Davies made his first spring start as a Diamondback. It was fitting that it came against the Cubs — his former team — at a stadium that is a 15-minute car ride from Mesquite High School, his alma mater.
Davies went three innings, coughing up three runs, all earned, on two hits, a hit batsman, and a walk. The runs all scored on home runs, a two-run shot by Willson Contreras in the first and a solo poke by former Diamondback Ildemaro Vargas in the third.
Torey Lovullo Pre-game
Manager Torey Lovullo opened the pre-game media session with an injury update on shortstop Nick Ahmed. The team does not yet know “exactly what’s going on. (Ahmed) is being evaluated with a second opinion right now,” Lovullo said.
Merrill Kelly pitched in the B-game Monday afternoon at Salt River Fields. Lovullo said that he got in all his pitches, 60 in 3 2/3 innings, despite the threat of rain.
Lovullo said that Davies, despite the game being against his former team and close to his alma mater, “was very focused. I know he’s excited to get back on the field and compete in a place that he obviously knows well, having pitched on this mound several times. But it’s about him getting in his reps and working through some of the things that he needs to work through. Make pitches when he needs to, just to get the blood flowing and get it going in the right direction against a team that’s in a different uniform. The other part of it, I think he does a good job of blocking out. I know he’s close to home. He’s got to be excited, but I think he’s probably most excited about getting on the mound and competing.”
Zach Davies
Davies felt that “command was good today.” He continued, “I felt comfortable with all my pitches. I’m only going to have a short spring, so I’m trying to get a lot of pitches in a lot of different counts, trying to work that, as opposed to your typical ramp-up in spring training. So I had a pretty good feel for everything that I threw today and fine-tuned some things. A couple good pitches were hit out, but you tip your hat and move on.”
In a typical spring, Davies would work on certain counts and sequencing and “build up from there.” This spring is “all of it at once. Throw the kitchen sink at them. Get comfortable with whomever is behind the plate and face big hitters.”
Command has been Davies’ strength in the past, but 2021 saw him struggle with walks. Davies said that the best way to counter that is “trying to be aggressive in the zone. Try to get ahead of hitters, knowing that certain hitters will have a certain approach off of you. If you can get strike one with no swing — trying to get ahead, really. So mentally, probably the biggest thing for me was getting back on track and finding the zone to get ahead of guys. I try to play off that as opposed to working from behind and trying to be to fine with things.”
Looking Ahead
Diamondbacks spring training continues Wednesday, March 30. They will hold camp in the morning before playing a 1:10 pm exhibition game against their co-tenants, the Colorado Rockies. Zack Gallen will make his first spring start, facing Rockies ace Germán Márquez in a battle of right-handers. Lovullo said that Gallen is looking more and more like he’ll be ready by Opening Day. “I don’t want to put a timeline on when or what’s going to happen or how it’s going to happen,” he cautioned, “but yeah, I think there is enough time for him to be built up and ready.”
Main Photo:
Players mentioned:
Ketel Marte, Zach Davies, Willson Contreras, Ildemaro Vargas, Torey Lovullo, Nick Ahmed, Merrill Kelly, Germán Márquez
