{"id":34076,"date":"2020-07-10T04:37:56","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T08:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=34076"},"modified":"2020-07-10T04:38:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-10T08:38:12","slug":"carson-kelly-arizona-diamondbacks-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2020\/07\/10\/carson-kelly-arizona-diamondbacks-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Carson Kelly: The Arizona Diamondbacks Are “Gonna Be in a Good Spot”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly: \u201cWe\u2019re Gonna Be in a Good Spot\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Carson Kelly<\/a><\/strong>, catcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a>, spoke with local media via Zoom after Thursday\u2019s Summer Camp workouts and intrasquad game. He ruminated about several topics.<\/p>\n

Madison Bumgarner<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Madison Bumgarner<\/a><\/strong> was one of the pitchers in the intrasquad game. According to Kelly, he \u201clooked good. He was executing his pitches. (Bumgarner) went out there with a plan, stuck to it, and did a really good job.\u201d Kelly later added, \u201cHe\u2019s ready to go \u2013 he\u2019s a fierce competitor who holds himself to a high standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bumgarner and Kelly have already developed a good relationship, and it\u2019s continuing to improve. \u201cEvery time we go out there, and every time I catch him (or even) play catch, we always strike up a conversation. \u2018Hey, will this help me?\u2019 He\u2019s always trying to learn. He takes that mound, and he\u2019s a fierce competitor who has a plan, but he\u2019s always trying to learn. That\u2019s something that\u2019s great. It\u2019s going to help our team and help him as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rest of the Starting Rotation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Robbie Ray<\/a><\/strong> and Luke Weaver<\/a><\/strong> have stuck out to Kelly so far in summer camp. About Weaver: \u201cTo see that ball explode out of his hand, the poise \u2013 it seems like he\u2019s coming into his own.\u201d Ray \u201clooks really good. He\u2019s enhanced a few of his pitches \u2013 his slider and his curveball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zac Gallen<\/a><\/strong> is \u201canother guy who has stood out.\u201d Back in the spring, outfielder David Peralta<\/a><\/strong> told this reporter that Gallen\u2019s cutter was working well \u2013 describing it as \u201cnasty.\u201d When that was mentioned to Kelly, he nodded deeply in agreement. \u201cThat cutter and change-up, the command of the heater \u2013 we\u2019ve got some guys that can throw the ball. Collectively, we\u2019re gonna be in a good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Competition<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Archie Bradley<\/a><\/strong> faced Bumgarner in Thursday\u2019s intrasquad game. This matched two of the fiercest competitors on not only the Diamondbacks but in the entire NL West. Kelly certainly enjoyed that. \u201cIt\u2019s great when you can get some competition within the team because we don\u2019t get to do it very often. Getting out there and having both guys go at it was pretty cool \u2013 pretty fun,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Afterward, Kelly noted that Bumgarner\u2019s competitiveness has rubbed off on the rest of the club. \u201cHe\u2019s got that presence. In every clubhouse and every team, there needs to be that guy that has that presence. He\u2019s definitely got it. He goes out there and continues to throw the ball with authority, and he\u2019s trying to mow everybody down, which is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lockers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Carson Kelly has a prime locker spot between Bumgarner and fellow catcher Stephen Vogt<\/a><\/strong>. \u201cWe\u2019ve got our spacing, though,\u201d Kelly added with a grin. MLB Clubhouse protocols mandate that all players have a minimum of six feet between their lockers.<\/p>\n

Summer Camp<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The shortened preparation for the season does not feel rushed to Kelly. \u201cI feel that when everything got shut down, everybody was on the same page. (They were) getting their workouts in and being prepared, physically and mentally. So right when we started camp, I felt like we were in a pretty good spot. Over the last couple of days, you could see those little baseball things start to come back. (You could see) those instincts, those quicker decisions \u2013 those are starting to come along. I think we\u2019re in a really good spot and going to have a good year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>