Nick Ahmed Quietly Sprints Out to Great Start
The Diamondbacks have been getting accolades from around the league for a hard charging style of play led by a fast, athletic, and youthful squad. Emblematic of this are young speedsters Corbin Carroll, Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas, who all rank among the fastest players in major league baseball. But it may surprise some that the next fastest player on the team is 33 year old shortstop Nick Ahmed. As Manager Torey Lovullo said "When you're talking about the elite speedsters that we do have he kind of gets lost in the shuffle."
Refusing to give in to age or be left behind, Ahmed has registered 28.1 feet per second sprint speed in nine competitive runs as measured by Statcast. Not only is that the 4th fastest on the team, it's in the 83rd percentile in MLB.
In achieving these sprint speeds, Ahmed has turned back the clock, running as well as he did in his 20's. He's also three for three in stolen base attempts and showed his speed this past Monday with a hustle double and also beating out the throw for a bunt single.
Looking at the shape he's in, it's obvious to see how fit and strong he looks. "His body looks amazing" Lovullo said. Being in such good shape is translating into all aspects of his game. In addition to running well, Ahmed is back to putting up great numbers on defense. He already has +2 outs above average despite playing just part time, and is on pace to put up double digits in that category. And he's off to a hot start at the plate as well, going 10 for 25, .400 in the young season.
Ahmed missed almost all of last year due to shoulder surgery. Prior to the shoulder injury he'd also battled knee and hip issues in prior years. Not being able to play last year or engage in baseball activities until the winter while recovering from the surgery, Ahmed focused his efforts on doing everything else he could to get his body into peak physical condition. We had a chance to catch up with him to ask him what he he worked on and here is what he had to say how he's been able to get into such peak physical condition.
"It was the time to actually dig into stuff and figure out different ways to get better. I used the time to figure out how to get better in every way I could. I couldn't swing a bat, I couldn't throw. I was trying to figure out what I could do to get better."
"Working on my sprint mechanics was one thing that I did a lot. I worked with some guys before spring training got started, working on running mechanics, and I feel like I'm running better than I ever have."
"Most people say as you get older, you're going to get slower. I don't buy into that narrative. I try to just get better every day. There's opportunity to improve mechanics. You know hitting, people talk about that all the time but they don't talk about that with sprinting and different things with throwing. Tweaking the throwing mechanics obviously after having the shoulder surgery , doing whatever I can to keep the shoulder feeling good."
Ahmed, who is in the last year of a four year contract extension and will be a free agent next season, is splitting time with Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop, each having started six games so far. About 60% of Ahmed's playing time has come against left hand pitching. For his career Ahmed has hit left hand pitching far better than right.
Vs. LHP: .274/.326/.462, .788 OPS, Vs. RHP: .221/.276/.348, .624 OPS
With the young Perdomo also playing well, the Diamondbacks have been getting tremendous production from the shortstop platoon. In fact they have the following team ranks in MLB at the shortstop position
OPS: 1st, 1.098, B.A.: 2nd .405, WAR: 1st, 1.0, Fielding Runs: 1st, +4
With top prospect Jordan Lawlar on the way perhaps as soon as this September, and Perdomo being just 23 years old, it's remains to be seen if Ahmed has a future with the team beyond 2023, or even beyond this year's trade deadline. Perhaps he and the team would be willing to continue having him in a part time role as a valuable platoon player. There is value to him being a mentor to younger players and veteran clubhouse leader too of course. But these are questions for another day. For now the extremely competitive Ahmed is focused on playing the best baseball he can and trying to win baseball games for his manager and teammates.
