PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks have played one month’s worth of games, and if the playoffs were approaching, they would be a half-game back of the third National League Wild Card spot.
Only five more months to go.
At 15-12, the Diamondbacks have climbed up from preseason power rankings despite dealing with a series of injuries entering the year and since it began.
With Corbin Burnes, A.J. Puk, Justin Martinez, Jordan Lawlar, Gabriel Moreno, Pavin Smith, Tyler Locklear and Carlos Santana on the injured list, the D-backs have benefitted from heroic early-season performances, some from unexpected places.
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Ildemaro Vargas has provided a jolt in his latest stint with the club, Corbin Carroll has been one of the top producers in the game despite dealing with several ailments and Michael Soroka has been a standout addition to the rotation.
“Sitting where we stood at the very beginning of the season, what the schedule was going to look like, where we were on the injured list, ending up here at 13-10, 23 games in, I’ll take,” general manager Mike Hazen told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke last week. “Not excited about some of the parts of what’s going on, but I think these guys have grinded pretty hard and played really well in large pockets.”
“We’re deep, and we got guys coming back,” Soroka said on Thursday. “So it’s an exciting team to be a part of, and it’s easy to rally around guys like Vargas and (Geraldo) Perdomo who keep the life going around here. It’s been a good atmosphere.”
The Diamondbacks got through their Mexico City Series with the rival San Diego Padres with a pair of eventful games. Arizona suffered a deflating loss on Saturday by blowing a four-run lead, but its six-run comeback on Sunday was arguably the most impressive win of the season.
With something of a sample size one month down, here are three areas that have been promising and three others that could use improving:
Diamondbacks through 1 month of 2026
Promising: Banged-up offense is coming around
The D-backs scored two runs or fewer in six of their first nine games, with most of the lineup hitting below .200.
Since then, Arizona has averaged 5.7 runs per game, producing the seventh-most runs and fourth-highest OPS (.788) in the league in its past 18 games.
Vargas has been the surprise story of the season with a 23-game hitting streak (20 games this season), giving the D-backs three hits from the lead-off spot on Sunday with Perdomo down with an ankle sprain.
Carroll, despite dealing with back and hip issues, is top 10 in MLB with a .952 OPS.
Beyond the top two, Nolan Arenado and Perdomo have turned slow starts around, while rookie Jose Fernandez continues to pile up hits.
Among 239 MLB players with at least 70 plate appearances, Vargas leads the group with a .367 batting average and Fernandez is fourth at .342.
The offense has moved into the top seven in batting average and slugging percentage, helped by a National League-leading 54 doubles and MLB-leading 10 triples.
“You guys see today what this team can do and I hope we can continue to play the same way,” Perdomo said after an 11-run outburst against the White Sox on Wednesday.
Needs improvement: Grinding out walks
The Diamondbacks are 29th in walk rate and 26th in on-base percentage, which is an odd place to see them given the hitting philosophy of this team. From 2023-25, the D-backs were top six in both categories.
“Stubborn” at-bats are expected.
Arizona leads the league with an .894 OPS with runners in scoring position, but it has the fourth-fewest plate appearances in such run-scoring situations.
“We need to do a better job of grinding out at-bats, getting on base on the whole,” Hazen said. “That’s been an area of focus. That’s probably the biggest thing that I’m fixated on right now in terms of where the offense is at and driving run scoring opportunities.”
Arizona is seeing a lot of pitches, but pitchers are peppering the strike zone. So far, the D-backs have taken advantage, but the walks will have to increase for when the bats get cooler during the ebbs and flows of a season.
Promising: Pitching staff has kept D-backs in games … most of the time
We will get to the blowup innings that affect the club’s overall pitching numbers.
The starting rotation has an ERA of 4.62, which is bottom six in Major League Baseball, but it is weighed down heavily by two recent starts that went off the rails. Ryne Nelson allowed eight runs before getting out of the first inning last Sunday, and Merrill Kelly gave up eight runs in 4.2 innings on Tuesday.
Take those two starts out, and Arizona’s starting pitcher ERA shrinks to 3.69, which would be top six. Of course, every team’s stats would look much better without its worst two outings, but it goes to show that the rotation has kept the D-backs in games … for the most part.
Soroka (2.60), Eduardo Rodriguez (2.89) and Zac Gallen (3.14) have carried the load, with the D-backs 4-1 in Soroka’s five starts. Soroka is seventh in MLB in strikeouts per nine innings (11.06) among 79 qualified starters.
Kelly is only two starts into his return from a back issue that delayed him in spring, while Nelson threw a pair of gems before his last two rough outings.
The bullpen is a similar story, in the sense that if you take away innings from Joe Ross (since designated for assignment) and catcher James McCann, its ERA drops from 4.67 (22nd) to 3.75 (would be 11th).
Taylor Clarke and Juan Morillo have been standouts, while Paul Sewald has done his job in save situations (7-for-7) but not so much when he enters non-save situations (three innings, five runs).
Needs improvement: Avoid letting innings snowball
The Diamondbacks have struggled since the very first game of the season with stopping the bleeding, as they have allowed four runs in an inning 13 times, nearly every other game.
It has contributed to Arizona having seven games with at least seven runs allowed (fifth most in MLB), 12 comeback wins and 18 games decided by three runs or fewer.
A lot of that is on pitching execution in stressful spots, but certainly some of the blame goes to defensive plays left on the table.
Promising: Outfield defense has been superb
Alek Thomas looks like an early Gold Glove contender, and the D-backs’ outfield defense has generally been stellar this year.
Thomas has already accrued seven defensive runs saved, which is third in MLB for all positions. Carroll has continued to play a solid right field, Jorge Barrosa can go get the baseball from all three spots and even Lawlar played well out there before getting injured.
Fielding run value, a Statcast metric that measures how many runs defenders save compared to average players, has Arizona’s outfield ranked third in MLB with four, behind the Chicago Cubs and Padres.
Needs improvement: Infield defense
On the other hand, the infield defense could sharpen up. With -1 FRV, the D-backs’ infield ranks 18th.
Arenado has had some dazzling moments, notably his diving catch to end Sunday’s game, and also a pair of errors during the team’s opening homestand.
Perdomo has also made some highlight-reel plays — he let a low line drive bounce off his glove so he could complete an unassisted double play on Thursday with the bases loaded. But there have been mistakes that counterbalance those moments. His error on Saturday — the play during which he sprained an ankle — set the Padres up to take the lead.
Ketel Marte has been good at second base, while Vargas an Fernandez are making do at first base due to injuries, but a team obsessed with improving its defense in the past couple years has ample room to improve.
NL standings check-in
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Division leaders:
Braves 20-9 Dodgers 19-9 Reds 18-10Wild Card standings:
Padres 18-9 Cubs 17-11 Pirates 16-12 D-backs 15-12 Brewers 14-13 Cardinals 14-13Diamondbacks upcoming schedule:
@ Brewers (April 28-30) @ Cubs (May 1-3) vs. Pirates (May 5-7)Follow @alexjweiner
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