Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training Notes: March 19
There are 12 days left in Arizona Diamondbacks spring training. Here are the updates from Friday, March 19….
They have a lineup full of guys who can play several positions, giving manager Torey Lovullo a lot of flexibility. Someone asked if that makes things more challenging as a manager. Lovullo said it wasn’t any more challenging than other aspects of being a manager. To him, it’s like a chess match. He feels it’s up to him to put the pieces in the places that are most advantageous to the team.
Left-handed pitcher Caleb Smith had a rocky spring leading into Friday’s exhibition game against the Milwaukee Brewers. Before the game, Lovullo said he wanted to see Smith “establish his pitches from the get-go.” He continued, “I want him to make things easier on himself.” This included feeling good from the time he walked out of the bullpen, executing pitches and pitch plans, and keeping his pitch count down.
The team is keeping Taylor Clarke, Taylor Widener, and Alex Young “stretched out” so that they can be used in an emergency spot-start. It’s been challenging for the coaching staff, since they’re planning to “carry 14 guys into the season.”
Kole Calhoun will get some regular batting practice on Sunday. The team will use this as a benchmark to see how much more time he’ll need to fully recover from his knee surgery.
Diamondbacks Spring Training Player Notes
Caleb Smith
Smith’s approach to the game was to “pound the strike zone.” The two hard-hit balls in the first inning were sliders that he hung. Other than that, he felt that his performance was an improvement over his previous starts this spring. “It felt good to go out there and do better — to have better command of a lot more pitches,” Smith said. He said that he goes through slow starts “pretty much every spring, so I knew that I would come around. I knew I would figure everything out.”
Taking a lead early helped, especially since it came from a three-run tape-measure home run off the bat of Christian Walker. “Any time we take the lead first, that’s definitely a sigh of relief for the pitcher.” Smith continued, “But at the same time, you can’t get too comfortable when you have the lead like that.”
Overall, he feels good about where he is. “Obviously, there’s always room for improvement. The only thing I could say that I wish that I had more of right now is (velocity), but that will come as the season goes on.” He likes where his breaking balls and off-speed pitches are right now, with the exception of the two sliders he hung in the first inning. Smith also loved batting on Friday. He put it bluntly. “I love hitting — I think I like hitting more than I like pitching.”
Christian Walker
Walker “feels competitive” at the plate. “It’s comforting to be able to make some adjustments on the fly,” Walker said. “For example, in the first at-bat, I swung over a couple of breaking balls. I was a little jumpy to the heater and thinking about the sinker in, maybe. But I told myself, ‘Back it up. Relax. You’ve got time.’ All of a sudden, there was a good pitch to hit.” That pitch landed halfway up the berm after a towering three-run homer to left-center. But Walker wasn’t satisfied with the result so much as the approach he took. “Yeah, the result’s great, (and the home run) was awesome, but to be able to feel myself making these adjustments in the moment is important to me.”
One reason why he feels competitive is that he’s “not going out of (his) way to hit the ball in the air. It’s seems like it’s just happening right now.” That’s another great feeling for him, and it’s another reason why he feels competitive. “It’s a matter of timing and direction, and I feel that good things are going to happen.”
Lovullo Reflects Postgame
Right-handed reliever Tyler Clippard struggled in the eighth inning. He surrendered a double, a single and stolen base, a wild pitch that scored a run, a homer, another single and stolen base, a hit batsman (on the dome), and a double steal, in that order. Suspicions arose that something was wrong. When Clippard motioned to the dugout, it confirmed those suspicions. According to Lovullo, Clippard had “right shoulder discomfort.” More specific evaluation is pending. As far as Lovullo knew, there was not one specific pitch that sparked the feeling in Clippard’s shoulder.
Lovullo said that Caleb Smith did “a nice job” of “attacking the zone.” He was pleased that Smith pitched into the fifth inning, but also that his “fastball command was much better.” Furthermore, “the secondary stuff off of that was more consistent.” Smith was “able to fine-tune some things,” and Lovullo “thought it was a good outing for him.”
Main Photo
Players/managers mentioned:
Torey Lovullo, Kole Calhoun, Caleb Smith, Taylor Clarke, Taylor Widener, Alex Young, Christian Walker, Tyler Clippard
