{"id":44719,"date":"2021-03-18T13:52:03","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T17:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=44719"},"modified":"2021-03-18T13:52:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T17:52:03","slug":"diamondbacks-spring-training-20210317-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2021\/03\/18\/diamondbacks-spring-training-20210317-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training 2021 Notes: March 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training Notes for March 17, 2021<\/strong><\/h2>\n

News from Arizona Diamondbacks spring training with two weeks left before Opening Day\u2026<\/p>\n

Kole Calhoun had a great day Wednesday. He was able to do some functional baseball activity outdoors, including taking some swings in the cage. The medical team felt great about his progress. According to manager Torey Lovullo, Calhoun said he \u201cfelt great.\u201d Lovullo said that it is difficult to determine a timeline right now, but he\u2019ll announce the timeline when he knows it.<\/p>\n

Lovullo saw both Ketel Marte and Nick Ahmed today. Ahmed will continue to get back on his feet and get closer to playing a game. What is keeping him out of the lineup is \u201ca very minor personal situation.\u201d Marte said he felt good, but at this point of spring training it\u2019s better to have him sit out and get closer to full health. Both are listed as day-to-day.<\/p>\n

Assessment with about a week and a half to go \u2014 Lovullo loves where the team is at this point. \u201cWe\u2019re coming together inning-by-inning and day-by-day in a way I\u2019m very pleased with,\u201d Lovullo said. He loves how the coaches and players have responded to each other. The team believes in one another, is functioning as a team, and is playing good baseball together. The offense has stood out to him at times, the pitching has stood out to him at times, and the defense is consistent.<\/p>\n

Lovullo is having all kinds of lineup ideas get bounced around, but he\u2019s not going to into any further details until he talks to all the players involved.<\/p>\n

Player Notes from Diamondbacks Spring Training<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Josh Rojas has \u201cworked really hard at aligning himself to the pitcher\u2019s mound. Not spinning and turning off the baseball. Trying to stay in the big part of the diamond. Working on his direction to strike the baseball,\u201d according to Lovullo. Rojas worked on those for the entire offseason. Lovullo has high regard for his talent. \u201cHe is gifted bat-to-ball\u201d and \u201chas a relentless work ethic\u201d to go along with a persistent attitude \u201cthat doesn\u2019t quit.\u201d Lovullo said he\u2019s \u201con a good wave. We\u2019ll expect that to continue. He\u2019s done a nice job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zac Gallen<\/strong><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Zac Gallen pitched 4 1\/3 innings in Tuesday night\u2019s exhibition game against the Texas Rangers<\/a>. His line \u2014 six hits, three runs (all earned), no walks, and three strikeouts. One run came in the first. Shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by left fielder David Dahl. Another run scored in the second. Second baseman Nick Solak hit a leadoff single. With one out, Solak scored from second on a single by right fielder Ronald Guzman. Solak scored again when he led off the fourth with a home run to right field.<\/p>\n

After leaving the game, Gallen said, \u201cI felt fine\u201d other than feeling \u201ca tick off on some command things. I was rushing a little bit, but the changeup felt good. The cutter was okay,\u201d but his command suffered from rushing. He was focusing on the changeup a bit more than his other pitches. He wishes he was in midseason form but acknowledges that it\u2019s \u201cunrealistic on March 17.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s frustrating to Gallen when his body doesn\u2019t cooperate with what his mind wants to do. \u201cI know what it feels like \u2014 it\u2019s second-nature\u201d for a while and then suddenly \u201cdisappears.\u201d He continued, \u201cYou start searching for that feeling, and then it can lead you down the rabbit hole if you\u2019re not successful. Knowing where to be in those positions and how it\u2019s supposed to feel \u2014 it\u2019s frustrating when that doesn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Post-game Reflections on the Diamondbacks Spring Training Game against the Rangers<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lovullo felt that Gallen was \u201ceffective.\u201d Gallen was \u201ckeeping his fastball down and working both sides of the plate. I think he misfired on a couple of changeups early that led to some base hits\u201d and some \u201chard-hit balls.\u201d Gallen recovered in a way that pleased his manager, however. \u201cHe made some quality adjustments through the course of his outing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Diamondbacks offense struggled, with their lone hit coming from a two-out single to right by shortstop Domingo Leyba in the fifth inning. \u201cWe were missing some pitches in the zone \u2014 some fastballs in the zone.\u201d He liked some conversations that were happening in the dugout about approaches at the plate, but it \u201cdidn\u2019t seem to translate into productive at-bats.\u201d<\/p>\n

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