GLENDALE — The Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers were in very different situations entering their Cactus League matchup on Monday at Camelback Ranch.
Los Angeles played its penultimate game before its regular season begins next week in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs, having started spring training early. The Dodgers played most of their regulars — minus Mookie Betts — and right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw five innings.
The D-backs were coming off a weekend of split-squad games and travel from Las Vegas. While they brought the required number of regulars to Glendale for their only spring game against L.A., they left most of the squad home.
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So, can anything really be learned about the Dodgers from the experience?
“I think anytime it’s an in-division spring training game, like you’re going to see a (pitcher) that you’re probably going to see two or three times in a year, so there’s some valuable information,” outfielder Corbin Carroll said.
“It’s probably a bigger deal to everybody outside of our clubhouse, I think the guys coming here know they got to get their reps and get their at-bats,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “It was (John) Curtiss, Drey Jameson, (Scott) McGough and (Bryce) Jarvis, guys we’re watching very closely. I thought it was a good challenge for them.”
Lovullo noted that facing Yamamoto in a setting so close to his regular season could provide some insights, at least experience. He took on the D-backs twice as a rookie last year and won both games.
The Dodgers defeated the D-backs 6-2 on Monday after putting up a couple early runs off Curtiss. McGough struck out the side in his inning, including stars Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman. Catcher Gabriel Moreno hit his second home run of the spring.
Gabriel Moreno – Arizona Diamondbacks (2)* pic.twitter.com/4L4lFotIwU
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) March 10, 2025
When asked about moves made by not only Los Angeles but the division as a whole, Carroll said he’s grateful for the additions Arizona made this winter.
“I don’t think it really affects what we’re trying to do, it’s a competitive division,” Carroll said. “There’s always gonna be activity, offseason and (trade) deadline. So I think just, maybe more excited about the moves we made and what that could do for us.”
“That’s a really good lineup, but at the end of the day, it’s baseball,” Jameson said of the matchup. “As long as you execute pitches, you can get anyone out any given day.”
It will be a while until the two division foes meet again, as they don’t play until May 8.
Getting Diamondbacks youngsters in the game
The Diamondbacks’ busy schedule with five games in three days put some of the organization’s top prospects in game alongside their big league peers.
This was especially the case in Las Vegas, where the D-backs played two games against the Athletics this past weekend.
“(Yordin) Chalas had a real nice clean inning, (Ryan Waldschmidt) hit a bomb, got us back into a game we were losing 4-1 and then had one taken away yesterday. Center fielder robbed it. It was definitely going to be a home run,” Lovullo said.
“Chalas was lights out, really attacking the zone. I think the first couple pitches were big misses, and then he zoned in quickly, which I like to see young players do. And then (Demetrio Crisantes), he had a big line drive double to the left-center field gap that helped to score some runs.”
Chalas is quickly becoming a pitching prospect to know in the D-backs’ system. The 21-year-old right-hander showed off upper 90s heaters (sinker and four-seamer) in Las Vegas along with a slider. In 50.2 minor league innings last year between Low-A Visalia and High-A Hillsboro, he worked a 4.09 ERA with a whopping 72 strikeouts.
Waldschmidt, the No. 31 pick out of Kentucky last year, got his feet wet with 14 games in Visalia last year and at 22 years old is positioned to make some real strides through the system if he performs this year.
109.3 mph | 419 ft
Ryan Waldschmidt, the No. 31 pick in the 2024 Draft, clobbers his first Spring Training roundtripper for the @Dbacks: pic.twitter.com/yOv2Axau83
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) March 8, 2025
Crisantes, meanwhile, has shot up Arizona’s prospect rankings to No. 2 on many national lists. The 20-year-old infielder nailed a ball 106.6 mph in Las Vegas.
Tommy Troy and Slade Caldwell, Arizona’s first-rounders from 2023 and 2024, both received some run in Monday’s game.
Diamondbacks injury updates
Diamondbacks reliever Kendall Graveman (back soreness) threw a 22-pitch bullpen on Saturday and will throw to live hitters at Salt River Fields on Tuesday.
“We got to be careful with him, he was a very dependable reliever we want to be healthy, and once we know he’s healthy, we’ll sign him completely off,” Lovullo said. “He’s getting very close to that.”
Catcher Jose Herrera exited a game on Sunday with what the club deemed right wrist soreness. Lovullo said he is fine and will miss no time.
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