Why Ryan Waldschmidt Won't Be On D-backs' Opening Day Roster

Arizona Diamondbacks top prospect Ryan Waldschmidt was reassigned to minor league camp on Sunday morning. With that mostly ended his hopes of cracking the major league roster ahead of opening day.

As disappointing as that may be, there is still a bright future for Waldschmidt. Spending time at the Triple-A level and continuing his development path will ultimately lead to greater rewards in the future, as difficult as it may to watch a fan-favorite receive unfortunate news.

"I'm sure as he was doing some of the calculating with Gurriel hurt, Corbin Carroll... that he thought maybe [he] had a chance to make the big-league team," manager Torey Lovullo said of Waldschmidt on Sunday (Via Jake García of 12SportsAZ).

"That's kind of one of those conversations where I probably had to end a little bit of this dream cycle that he was on, but we laid it out for him. Keep working, keep doing what you have to do."

Arizona Diamondbacks Ryan Waldschmidt Sent to Minor League Camp

Lovullo is not putting a timeline on Waldschmidt's eventual arrival in the majors.

"There is no timeline. The time will happen when you tell us by your performance that you're good and ready. ... When he decides that he's gonna hone in his game and bring it to the level that we all feel comfortable that he's gonna be a big-leaguer. That's up to him; that's totally up to him," Lovullo said.

Waldschmidt responded to that news on Sunday with a 3-for-3 performance and a walk. It may ultimately benefit the outfielder to receive this initial disappointment — in part due to the motivation factor.

But Waldschmidt, though certainly mature beyond his years, has yet to play an inning at the Triple-A level. He struck out well north of 30% in Cactus League play, whiffing at more pitches than usual.

Much of Waldschmidt's game at the minor league level centered around plate discipline and an exceptional eye for balls and strikes. To Waldschmidt's credit, the pitches he's been missing in spring training have mostly been strikes, or close to them.

Another year of development (in an offense-heavy Triple-A environment) will likely help him develop that contact ability at a higher degree to prepare for MLB pitching. A player with Waldschmidt's mental makeup is one that inspires confidence in an ability to take that experience and apply it to his game at the highest possible level.

"As I told him, he's on the right path," Lovullo said. "He's a student of the game, he's around people that are talking baseball, teaching him. He accepts that, he takes those conversations to the next level by asking good questions and then he goes out with a great attitude and executes.

"He'll be fine, he's going to be a really good player for us at some point."