The D-backs Have Limited Options Amid Rotation Collapse

The Arizona Diamondbacks rotation woes have been well documented. Their top three starters Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, and Eduardo Rodriguez are all on the injured list. Gallen's return from his Hamstring injury is still at least one-two weeks away.

Kelly has made only four starts and Rodriguez hasn't pitched this year at all. Both are slowly working back from shoulder injuries and are not likely to pitch before the All Star Break.

The only healthy starters from the originally intended rotation have provided mixed results. Jordan Montgomery is 4-4 with a 6.58 ERA and Brandon Pfaadt is 2-5 with 4.60 ERA

In place of the injured front line rotation members, the Diamondbacks have been forced to go with young pitchers originally ticketed for Triple-A Reno. The results are very poor.

Ryne Nelson is 3-5, 5.96 ERA. Slade Cecconi, who pitched poorly last night, is 1-5, 6.70 ERA. Tommy Henry is 2-2, 5.58 ERA. Blake Walston showed some promise, posting a 2.84 ERA in 12.2 innings, but he too ended up on the injured list with a sore elbow after a poor, walk filled outing.

Over the last two weeks the rotation has completely collapsed. In their last 13 games, D-backs starters have an 8.29 ERA, a .342 B.A. against, and have pitched just 51 innings, (3.9 per game). That's by far the worst in MLB over that stretch

Last night Torey Lovullo admitted it's been very rough.

"It's a grind, I'm not going to lie to you. It's a grind when your starting pitching gives you three, possibly four innings, and it's happened a couple turns now. We're looking for some of these guys to step up, pitch deep into the game, take a little pressure, a little stress off our bullpen "

When asked if Cecconi specifically would make his next start, Lovullo was non-committal. "I want him to, I want it to be Slade, but we've got to have guys get the job done."

I asked Lovullo if due to the seeming lack of rotation options he felt forced to just deal with the hand he's been dealt. The manager immediately pushed back on the idea that he didn't have options.

"I don't want guys being comfortable thinking that they're here because they're winning [a roster spot] by default. I want guys to earn everything. If that's what their thought is, and that's what's floating out there, that we don't have anybody else, that's a mistake. We have guys that can come in here and get the job done."

Those comments may have been more directed at the young pitchers who have been floundering than an actual analysis of his depth situation. In fact there are just two healthy starting pitchers remaining on the 40-man roster in the minors.

Humberto Castellanos was optioned back to Reno on June 8th. According to MLB Option rules, he is not eligible to be recalled for 15 days, unless replacing a pitcher going on the injured list. Castellanos has a 4.57 ERA with 6.43 FIP for Reno. He was knocked around for five hits and five runs in 2.1 innings in his only 2024 MLB outing just last week.

Cristian Mena is the only other healthy starting pitcher on the 40-man roster in the minor leagues. The right-hander's season began well, posting a 3.42 ERA over his first 10 starts in the difficult environment of Reno in the Pacific Coast League.

His last three outings have been rough however. In 16.2 innings he's allowed 16 runs on 25 hits including five homers. That has ballooned his full season ERA 4.73 to go with a 5.90 FIP

Perhaps the biggest issue with Mena is his fastball has been getting crushed, to the tune of a .480 B.A. and a .853 Slugging against. He only uses the pitch 34% of the time. His offspeed and breaking pitches make up 66% of pitches thrown, and he has a much better .180 B.A. and .322 slugging against.

Despite the issues with the fastball and his recent struggles, Mena last pitched on June 8th. He could be called up and inserted into the rotation at any time to make his MLB debut. It's possible this is who Lovullo had in mind then when he made the above comments.

Beyond Mena and Castellanos, the team would need to make a 40-man roster addition to be able to bring up another pitcher. There are currently 39 players on the roster with one open space.

One intriguing possibility for a player they could add to the 40-man and call up would be Yilber Diaz. He's had a largely breakout season in 2024, resulting in a promotion from Double-A to Triple-A just this week.

Diaz has a high octane fastball and generates a ton of swing and miss, but like many pitchers with that profile, he can struggle with walks at times.

Through his first 9 games he threw 47.1 innings and struck out 70 batters while walking 19. He posted a 3.23 ERA and a .194 B.A. against to that point. The walks have started to increase his last two outings however. He issued five free passes on June 1st, but thanks to just one hit allowed gave up only one run.

Diaz was not so fortunate his next outing. He once again walked five batters, and also hit a batter. This time the Tulsa Drillers got four hits off him too, leading to eight runs allowed in 1.2 innings. Despite that outing, Diaz was promoted to Reno soon afterwards.

The Diamondbacks may be forced to look outside the organization, but that will be difficult and costly in terms of prospects. Most likely they'll need to just figure out a way to piece things together with the pitchers they have within the organization until the All Star Break which is still a month away.

The D-backs currently have a 32-36 record but have managed to stay within striking distance of a Wild Card spot, just 1.5 games out but with six teams ahead of them. Whether they can stay that close for much longer will depend on the young pitchers doing something they've so far failed to do. Pitch deeper and more effectively into games.