PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks committed seven errors over the first five games of the 2025 regular season. A costly base running mistake in the third game ended a comeback bid against the Chicago Cubs. They went 11-17 in May, dropping to nine games back in the NL West before the summer months even began.
Arizona similarly started off poorly in 2024 with a 25-32 record by the end of May, with injuries playing a role in both slow starts.
It was somewhat of a perplexing issue, considering the Diamondbacks did not let off the gas pedal in spring training compared to previous seasons when they started off well (33-23 through May 2023).
But finding ways to start sharper will be something to think about, manager Torey Lovullo and general manager Mike Hazen made clear at their end-of-season press conference on Tuesday.
“ I feel very strongly we need to create a little sense of urgency in spring training, that when you walk into a big league season, it’s not OK to just kind of put your foot on the gas pedal and make a lane change,” Lovullo said.
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“We’re gonna probably have some more high level intensity types of practicing going on, and then just an awareness. I’ve already started that with some of the one-on-ones, what I want guys to do. When they walk into spring training, I want gloves broken in. I want arms in shape. I don’t want infielders to make mistakes because it’s four days into spring training. I want it to be crisp and accurate from day one. So I’m gonna create an awareness, make it a little more urgent.”
Hazen agreed with the sentiment, but he added that there is a fine line between pushing harder in spring training and gassing out your baseball team before the games even start. He did not name names, but he mentioned a couple teams that peaked early and flamed out this season.
“We played extremely sloppy this April,” Hazen said. “We have gotten off to really good starts in April almost every single year. I know that’s a way we train in spring training, and I know we didn’t do that much differently this year. I don’t know why we played that much sloppier this year early in the season. That’s definitely something we need to fix and get on top of. I would also say that there’s a balance between running out there in April and blowing the car out.
“We all wanna get off to a good start because we wanna set the foundation of what the team is. … I didn’t notice a ton of different in the way we prepared and practiced, but it is gonna be a point of emphasis because I do think the way we got off this year definitely set us on the wrong tone.”
Pitching and defense are going to be focal points this offseason, Hazen explained, as that is where the slow start largely stemmed from.
The Diamondbacks worked a 4.88 ERA through May with 25 unearned runs (tied for fourth most in MLB).
A catalyst to the Diamondbacks’ surge in the final third of the campaign came from significant improvements to run prevention at all levels, but the front office will have its work cut out this winter in maintaining that. Brandon Pfaadt, Ryne Nelson and Eduardo Rodriguez make up the rotation with holes to fill around them. Corbin Burnes is aiming for a midseason return from Tommy John surgery. There is also going to be a focus on bullpen improvements.
Hazen mentioned that defense will be prioritized when adding position players to build around the team’s offensive core. The roster has versatility built in, which will allow the front office to find fits.
The Diamondbacks have four months to figure out how to best handle spring training, whether there are changes in messaging or coaching.
“I had my deepest and most hardening conversations with the position players in April and May,” Lovullo said. “Like the aggressive types of conversations that you don’t want to have but maybe once or twice a year. … This is on all of us to make sure that we clean it up and we start to play better baseball so we don’t get into that space again.”
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