Lovullo Excited For Start of Cactus League Play
The Diamondbacks will start their slate of Cactus League games tomorrow, squaring off against the Colorado Rockies at Salt River Fields. While the team has been grinding away for the past week-plus to get ready, there's a different feel about games vs. the monotony of drills and practice.
"I think they're ready to turn the page from all of the morning work and just a lot of the activity. It gets fairly monotonous. I know that they're excited to get on a field and see another uniform. Today was busy and then making sure that we checked all of our boxes, getting us ready to play Game 1 tomorrow. Everything that we've been talking about through the offseason, the meetings, the practices, we get to see in one package tomorrow on a baseball field and I'm really excited about that."
Entering the 2024 season, there is a different level of excitement surrounding the team. Fans have shown up in droves to watch the D-backs work out at Salt River Fields over the past week in support of their team. For Lovullo, the excitement hits very much the same on game day.
"Walking down these stairs, going outside, hearing the crowd, hearing the music, and being near the fans is really, really exciting to me. Tomorrow might be a little bit different. I'm sure the announcer's going to say National League Champion, Arizona Diamondbacks, something along those lines. First time I hear that publicly is going to be pretty special for me."
Eduardo Rodriguez was originally slated to start this game, but will instead have him throw on a back field. Instead Tommy Henry will take his place against the Rockies tomorrow at Salt River Fields. Henry is one of the candidates competing for the fifth starter job this spring.
Behind Henry, the D-backs will play their starting infield. Lovullo says he plans to get them two at-bats and four innings in the field for the first week of games. Next week, they plan to stretch them out to three ABs. This is what Lovullo wants to see from his hitters when they face opposing pitchers on a different team.
"For hitters, it's approach of the plate and how their bat path is. What's their balance points? Front foot is it down? Are their hands back? Are they serving in the strike zone the right way? Are they under control through the course of their swing? Are they showing basic concepts of hitting and counts? Are they able to hit with two strikes? I just start to hone in on that. I already know our players very well and I want to see some of the adjustments if necessary that they made."
As reported yesterday, Lovullo will have the starting outfield play on Saturday. Major League Baseball requires that teams have a minimum number of representative players on the field for a Spring Training game. The criteria is determined by reaching a threshold of innings or at-bats, with zero negotiations according to Lovullo. The D-backs have 17 such players who qualify, so in order to meet the criteria necessary, they plan to stagger their players early on in Cactus League games.
Tomorrow's spring opener will be at Salt River Fields, with the D-backs as the designated road team. First pitch will be 1:10 PM MST.
