The D-backs sit three game over .500, leaving them seven and a half games behind the division-leading Dodgers but just a half game back in the NL Wild Card hunt. There’s plenty of time for their outlook to change with the trade deadline two months down the road, but as things stand, Arizona seems likely to operate as a buyer at the deadline. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Snakes are expected to target a left-handed bat to plug into their first base and designated hitter mix. John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM Arizona Sports has suggested a similar approach.
It’s not an especially surprising area of focus. No team in baseball has gotten worse production from its first basemen than the Diamondbacks, who’ve seen Ildemaro Vargas, Carlos Santana and José Fernández take the lion’s share of playing time and turn in a collective .234/.264/.338 performance at first base. Vargas has hit well overall but curiously hasn’t done almost any of his damage at first base, hitting just .248/.283/.387 in 146 plate appearances at first base.
It’s a similar story at designated hitter. Arizona’s DH spot this season has produced an awful .209/.280/.293 slash — worst in the National League and second-worst in MLB, ahead of only the Royals (.168/.250/.282). Catcher Adrian Del Castillo has a team-leading 90 plate appearances in the DH spot, but Arizona has rotated 11 players through the position this season. No one with more than five plate appearances in the DH slot has hit well in that role. (Vargas is 2-for-5 with a homer in his lone action there.)
Given the bleak performance out of both those lineup spots, one might think the D-backs would be open to bringing in any bat, regardless of handedness. There may be some truth to that, but Arizona is slashing a collective .279/.337/.451 against left-handed pitching this season. By measure of wRC+, they’re second in baseball behind only the Yankees in that regard. On the flip side, they’ve been the worst team in the majors against right-handed pitching. Diamondbacks hitters have combined for a .228/.296/.370 slash against righties, resulting an 86 wRC+ that ranks 30th in the sport. They could clearly use some left-handed punch.
The Diamondbacks could have some in-house help coming. Pavin Smith was just reinstated from the injured list. He’s out to a 1-for-12 start to begin the season after a monthslong absence due to an elbow injury, but from 2024-25 Smith slashed .262/.357/.475 with 17 home runs in 446 plate appearances. The overwhelming majority of his production came against right-handed pitching. Smith is a career .221/.295/.300 hitter in left-on-left matchups but wrecked righties with a .271/.359/.493 line (134 wRC+) in 399 trips to the plate from ’24-’25.
Even if Smith can return to that form, the production at both first base and designated hitter has been so bleak that the Snakes would probably still like to bring in a second bat. They won’t be getting Santana back anytime soon after he moved to the 60-day IL, and he hasn’t hit well this season anyhow. Vargas, too, has cooled after improbably opening the season with hits in 24 consecutive games. Since his streak ended, he’s slashed just .190/.221/.241 in 122 plate appearances. Neither Del Castillo nor switch-hitting, out-of-options outfielder Jorge Barrosa has hit well this season. The Diamondbacks don’t have another left-handed bat on the 40-man roster, so if Smith can’t bounce back, the need will be all the more acute.
It’s still early to tell who might be available. Rosenthal speculates on names like Luis Arraez, Lars Nootbaar, Zach McKinstry, TJ Rumfield and Troy Johnston. I’d add Mickey Moniak (Rockies), Trevor Larnach (Twins), Alec Burleson (Cardinals) and Luis Garcia Jr. (Nationals) as possibly available lefty bats who could slot into the mix. It seems unlikely that anyone of note is going to be on the move nearly two months out from the deadline, but given the way things have gone with the D-backs’ first base/DH carousel, they’ll probably be monitoring the market in case anyone becomes truly available well ahead of the deadline.
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