Torey Lovullo Discusses D-backs' Incoming Spring Training Changes

The Arizona Diamondbacks are going to take a different approach this Spring.

Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo blows a bubble during a spring training game against the Cleveland Guardians at Salt River Fields on Feb. 24, 2025. | Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks will be heading into 2026 Spring Training with a bit of a different approach, according to recent comments by manager Torey Lovullo.

Arizona struggled defensively in 2025, making 84 errors and ranking 15th in MLB. They had made the fewest errors in baseball in both 2023 (57) and 2024 (62). Safe to say, their strong defensive identity took a major hit in a strange 2025 season.

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Lovullo, speaking to reporters at the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida this week, gave some insight as to his approach to Spring Training this coming year.

Arizona Diamondbacks Torey Lovullo on Spring Training Changes

"I've thought about it a lot," Lovullo said. "There's a few things we need to change from day one. It's not making outs on the bases and saying 'beginning of the year, it's okay.' Or not picking up the baseball at a fast pace because it's the beginning of the year and it's only error one."

"I've been talking to a lot of different people about some of the drill packages, maybe some things that I'm going to do a little bit differently. I'm probably going to have a Monday meeting, get in front of the team every Monday and say, 'these are our objectives.'

"Typically I allow the coaches to do that, but I think if the message is coming from me it will be a little bit more insightful, a little bit more of a crisp message. That's one of the things I've thought about."

Lovullo said he has been in the process of examining potential drill package changes, but did not get into specifics.

As a whole, Arizona became younger, more athletic and more defense-over-power as 2025 went on. That came as a byproduct of losing slug-heavy players like Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor and allowing young players like Blaze Alexander and Jordan Lawlar to get more reps.

While the D-backs' pitching was certainly poor, there were numerous instances in which defensive issues exacerbated that lack of run prevention. Lovullo told Arizona Sports 98.7's Bickley & Marotta on Thursday that he's going to reduce his acceptance of early-season errors.

"There's a couple things that I've been really, really honing in on defensively. ... We think we prepare our guys the best that we possibly can, but we made so many mistakes in April and May [last season] that it was hard to play catch up.

"I'm going to tell the guys individually, 'how long can you getinto June without making your first error?' There's a newness to the season. ... You make that first error and you're like, 'oh, it's okay. It's April. It's okay.' No, it's not going to be okay. Let's go as far as we can without making mistakes," Lovullo said.