{"id":482834,"date":"2026-02-18T10:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482834\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T10:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:48:10","slug":"d-backs-notes-del-castillo-thomas-rotation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/482834\/","title":{"rendered":"D-Backs Notes: Del Castillo, Thomas, Rotation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Diamondbacks are expected to begin the year without catcher\/first baseman Adrian Del Castillo<\/a>. Manager Torey Lovullo said Monday that the 26-year-old is dealing with a left calf injury that\u2019ll keep him out of game action for the bulk of Spring Training (link via Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports<\/a>). He\u2019ll be reassessed closer to Opening Day but it seems unlikely he\u2019ll get enough exhibition reps to avoid a season-opening injured list stay.<\/p>\n

Del Castillo is third on the catching depth chart after\u00a0Gabriel Moreno<\/a> and\u00a0James McCann<\/a>. He nevertheless had a strong chance to win a bench job if healthy.\u00a0Tyler Locklear<\/a> will begin the season on the IL as he rehabs elbow and shoulder surgeries. The lefty-hitting Del Castillo has a fair bit of first base and designated hitter experience. Arizona doesn\u2019t have a ton of position player depth on the 40-man roster, leaving a couple bench jobs up for grabs.<\/p>\n

After an encouraging 25-game debut two years ago, Del Castillo struggled last season. He struck out 47 times in 131 plate appearances (a near-36% rate) while hitting .242\/.290\/.392 over 44 games. The Miami product has posted strong numbers throughout his minor league career, but they\u2019ve always come with a concerning level of swing-and-miss. He\u2019s a below-average defensive catcher, putting more pressure on the bat if most of his work comes in the first base\/DH mix.<\/p>\n

Pavin Smith<\/a> and\u00a0Carlos Santana<\/a> are projected for a first base platoon. They\u2019ll also get a decent number of DH reps, while Lovullo said\u00a0Ketel Marte<\/a> will log some time there in addition to his primary second base work. The D-Backs are reportedly poking around the trade market<\/a> for a utility piece after they dealt\u00a0Blaze Alexander<\/a> to Baltimore for reliever\u00a0Kade Strowd<\/a> and a pair of minor leaguers. They\u2019ll ideally find someone with more offensive punch than Tim Tawa<\/a> and non-roster invitees\u00a0Ildemaro Vargas<\/a> and\u00a0Jacob Amaya<\/a> to play that role.<\/p>\n

The bottom half of the lineup would be an even bigger concern if\u00a0Corbin Carroll<\/a> opens the season on the IL. Arizona\u2019s star right fielder will miss most of Spring Training following last week\u2019s hamate surgery<\/a>. The hope is for Carroll to make it back by the beginning of the regular season. Fellow outfielder Alek Thomas<\/a> tells Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic<\/a> that he\u2019s working mostly between left and center field with the expectation that Carroll will be in his typical position on Opening Day.<\/p>\n

Thomas has played all three outfield positions in the minor leagues. He has played exclusively center field as a big leaguer, logging more than 3000 innings up the middle. Thomas is a quality defender who shouldn\u2019t have any issue adjusting to a corner if the D-Backs need him to move around. Arizona is trying to get\u00a0Jordan Lawlar<\/a> acclimated to playing center field.<\/p>\n

Lawlar has a higher offensive ceiling than Thomas has shown over 420 MLB contests, so the latter would be best suited for a fourth outfield role if everyone\u2019s healthy. They\u2019ll probably need both players in the starting lineup to begin the season, as Lourdes Gurriel Jr.<\/a> will also open the year on the injured list after last summer\u2019s ACL injury. Thomas could be a stopgap left fielder until Gurriel returns and\/or prospect\u00a0Ryan Waldschmidt<\/a> plays his way to the big leagues.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a fair bit of opportunity in one of the more top-heavy lineups in MLB. Carroll, Marte, Moreno and\u00a0Geraldo Perdomo<\/a> make for an excellent top half of a batting order.\u00a0Nolan Arenado<\/a> is on the downside of his career but should still be a solid everyday third baseman. The bottom third of the lineup and most of the bench is a lot less established.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not quite as extreme on the pitching side, but there are some parallels. Free agent returnees\u00a0Merrill Kelly<\/a> and\u00a0Zac Gallen<\/a> are locked into the rotation; Lovullo has already named Kelly his Opening Day starter.\u00a0Ryne Nelson<\/a> figures to have a mid-rotation spot secure, but the Diamondbacks aren\u2019t making any firm commitments beyond that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t even really make comments about any projections or what the starting rotation is going to look like,\u201d Lovullo told reporters (including Steve Gilbert of MLB.com<\/a>). Right now, it looks as if\u00a0Eduardo Rodriguez<\/a>,\u00a0Brandon Pfaadt<\/a> and\u00a0Michael Soroka<\/a> are battling for two spots. Rodriguez and Soroka will be on the MLB roster, but Pfaadt has a pair of minor league options and could open the season in Triple-A. Soroka has the most experience of that group in a swing role and would be the most familiar with pitching in long relief if the D-Backs want all six pitchers on the active roster with a five-man rotation. One injury might take the decision out of Lovullo\u2019s hands, but it\u2019s another camp battle that Arizona fans will want to follow during exhibition play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Diamondbacks are expected to begin the year without catcher\/first baseman Adrian Del Castillo. Manager Torey Lovullo said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[6992,168344,24930,49,48,195010,146464,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-482834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-adrian-del-castillo","9":"tag-alek-thomas","10":"tag-brandon-pfaadt","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-eduardo-rodriguez","14":"tag-michael-soroka","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}