Evan Longoria to Provide Leadership in Platoon Role
Evan Longoria had an engaging session with the Arizona media today to discuss the signing with the Diamondbacks and his role on the team.
Reasons for signing with Arizona
When Evan Longoria thought about where he wanted to play in 2023 he had it narrowed down to three teams. Returning to the Giants was a consideration because of familiarity, and returning to the Rays organization where his career started was also among the possibilities he considered.
But the attraction to Arizona, where he ultimately ended up signing, was the strongest. The reasons he cited were centered around family.
"This made the most sense for me and my family. We live 7-8 minutes from Talking Stick, (Home of Diamondbacks Spring Training) and 25 minutes from downtown Phoenix. In terms of being idyllic overall it doesn't get any better for us."
He made clear that wasn't the only factor he considered. The opportunity to play with a young, up and coming young team was just as big an attraction.
"I watched this team from across the diamond a lot last year and I really do believe that this team has a chance to make a run, has a chance to be special. There's a ton of young talent, the pitching staff I think is primed for a big year."
Playing for a team that was trying to put a winning team on the field with a chance to be in the playoffs was important to him.
His Role
Longoria spoke with Torey Lovullo and Mike Hazen extensively before the signing and they were all on the same page. He is expected to be in a platoon with Josh Rojas at third base with Rojas getting the starts against right handers and he getting the starts against lefties. But he expected to also get some starts against righties if Rojas were spelling Ketel Marte or others around the infield. Some DH at bats are also a likely, something Mike Hazen mentioned earlier as well.
On being a mentor
The topic of veteran presence and mentor ship came up a lot today. Longoria believes he can help add wins in ways that may not show up in the box score.
"I think that having a solid mix of young talented and also veteran guys who have been around the game long enough to understand how to win and understand what it takes down the stretch is very important in building a championship team."
Early in his career with Tampa Bay the two players that had the biggest impact on him were Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd. He was young and inexperienced at the time and they gave him guidance. Not so much on the field, but off the field he learned from them how to conduct himself as a professional, how to handle travel, how to treat people, who to tip, etc.
"I've tried to continue to do that for the younger players I've been around. Sometimes if you don't have that and you have a lot of guys who are young and making a lot of money now, staying at the nicest hotels and eating at the nicest restaurants around the country, if you've just got only young guys it's hard to know what to do and how to act.....where to go, where not to go. I found those things to be the most influential parts of my young career and helped me stay out of trouble and stay focused on the most important things and how win games."
When looking back on the aforementioned players that mentored him he said
They may not have contributed a lot on the field but I think those wins show up in different ways. If I can help a guy to become the kind of player that we as an organization believe he can be we are adding wins in another way. Although I hope to be on the field as much as possible and contributing physically, my role has definitely pivoted a little bit.
He also gave a really interesting anecdote about playing with veteran champions in San Francisco and how that helped understand how to help younger players maintain composure in late game situations.
"I remember my first couple years in San Francisco ....I was still looking at Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt in big situations and trying to look at their facial expression or look at how they were going to the plate or how their heart was beating because these are guys who have won championships and played all the way to the last day of the season and won."
His Health
He addressed the elephant in the room, which is he's had trouble staying on the field for two years, playing just 81 games in 2021 and 89 games in 2022.
Longoria suffered a small crack in his thumb at the end of last year. But that is fully healed and he has been hitting for the last week, which is his normal schedule. Beyond that he said he was feeling good and that most of the injuries he's suffered were not chronic type injuries, but "freak injuries". That included a collision with Crawford that cost him two months of the season. He has had hamstring injuries to deal with as well however.
"I think that the [platoon] role that we can carve out here will allow me to be as healthy and be as productive as possible. "
His Production
When he's been healthy Longoria has hit well the last two years, posting OPS+ of 119 in 589 PA spanning 2021-22. He mentioned the difficulty of hitting in a park like San Francisco where the wind and conditions tend to knock the ball down. He prefers hitting in a domed stadium and believes home games in Chase Field in particular will be beneficial to him. During the last five seasons while with the Giants his numbers in Chase Field have been spectacular:
.384/.438/.663, with 6 homers and 23 RBI in 23 games.
If that is any indication of how he might perform for the hometown fans in Arizona he will be much more than just an off field mentor.
