Diamondbacks Make History with Ronnie Gajownik
The Diamondbacks will play two split squad games in today's Cactus League action. They will host the San Diego Padres at Salt River Fields, and also travel to Scottsdale Stadium to face the San Francisco Giants. Both games begin at 1:05 P.M.
The D-backs continue to make history. Ronnie Gajownik, the first woman to be promoted to manager in affiliated minor league baseball, will be Lovullo's bench coach today, at his request. Said Lovullo:
"Her work ethic, her attention to detail, has made her a good coach and will also make her a good manager. Her ability to ask questions , and to continue learning and growing and searching out every single day the basic necessities that she feels will make her a better teacher and will eventually help the players get better."
"She has an unbelievable baseball mind, she's going to bench coach today. I told her we're just going to sit down and talk baseball for nine innings and let's have some fun with it. I said that you think that I'm going to be probably teaching you things, but you're going to be teaching me things as well."
Game Preview
2022 D-backs Minor League pitcher of the year Brandon Pfaadt will be making his second spring appearance, facing the Padfres. He was impressive in his first outing, needing just 23 pitches to navigate two efficient innings. Pfaadt is in competition with Drey Jameson, Ryne Nelson and Tommy Henry for the 5th rotation spot. While Jameson and Nelson are considered the favorites to open the season in the rotation, nothing is set in stone at this point. Pfaadt will not have to face the full juggernaut Padres lineup we saw last week, but Fernando Tatis Jr. will be playing today.
Blake Walston gets the ball in Scottsdale Stadium against the Giants. He'll face a tougher lineup today than last time out when he threw two scoreless innings against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Walston has yet to reach the velocity projections many thought he'd reach as his tall thin frame filled out. His fastball has been averaging about 92 MPH. He had a very strong second half run however and is on track to be a back of the rotation starter within the next couple of years.
From the lineup cards below, we can see that Torey Lovullo chose to have most of his veterans stay home and send a younger, prospect heavy lineup to Scottsdale Stadium.
Inside the Diamondbacks Notebook
Madison Bumgarner will make his first start of spring training tomorrow in Goodyear against the Cleveland Guardians. Torey Lovullo emphasized that he's looking for good location in and around the zone and avoid the mistakes in the zone that have been hurting him the last couple of years.
Merrill Kelly, who was first reported to have been suffering from fatigue and dehydration was actually dealing with a migraine post outing. Kelly was working on a slider in yesterday's start. He gave up a home run on a 2-0 slider. Those are the types of things that happen in spring that cause managers to disregard that kind of result during spring training.
Zac Gallen is most likely going to start on Tuesday, March 7th at Salt River Fields against the Oakland A's
