Arizona Diamondbacks making late Wild Card push
The Arizona Diamondbacks are making a late push for a Wild Card berth, even after trading away their ace pitcher.
Count me in as one who gave up on the Arizona Diamondbacks after the Zack Greinke trade. I saw it as a sign the team was going into rebuild mode, especially how far back from the division lead they were. They have hovered right around .500 for the majority of the season.
That has all changed in the last month, as the team has gone 8-2 in their last 10 games and 11 of their last 13 games. They have several players to thank for this, the biggest being Ketel Marte. He has been a part of every big in-game rally the Diamondbacks have had.
Marte, in his 5th big league season at 25 is setting all kinds of personal records. He is slashing .330/.390/.599 with 32 home runs and 91 RBI’s. To give some kind of perspective on that stat line is the fact that his previous career highs in home runs and RBI’s are 14 and 50 respectively.
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The way Marte is playing, he should be at least mentioned in the MVP race. Now I know he won’t win it because of how well Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Cody Bellinger and Milwaukee Brewers‘ Christian Yelich are playing, but again he should be in the conversation because of what he has meant to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
No one could’ve predicted this kind of output from Marte, but he’s not the only one exceeding expectations. Eduardo Escobar is also playing great ball as he is slashing .270/.323./.530 with 33 home runs and 110 RBI’s.
I haven’t even mentioned how well some of the trade deadline acquisitions have been playing. Zac Gallen has been phenomenal in the desert. He is 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA and 39 strikeouts since joining the D-backs.
Josh Rojas has also played well, slashing.261/.338/.406 with 2 home runs and 10 RBI’s in merely 22 games. Alex Young is another rookie pitcher playing well. He is 7-3 with a 3.38 ERA and 58 strikeouts.
Robbie Ray has also been great, going 12-7 with a 4.03 ERA and 207 strikeouts. All of this has been accomplished without Greinke and arguably the leader of the team, David Peralta.
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I’m rooting for the D-backs to get to the playoffs and get their young team some invaluable playoff experience. It will only help those young guys understand the pressure and what it takes to get to the postseason.