Welcome to the 2024 MLB Season, fans! The Arizona Diamondbacks had a busy offseason and an even busier Opening Series, outscoring the Colorado Rockies 24-4 in the first two games of the season. In this D-backs Newsletter, you'll find information about the team's latest additions, the 14-run inning, and what to expect in the future.

Offseason: Notable Additions

Eugenio Suárez (3B)

The D-backs' front office started off the busy offseason by trading pitcher Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala to the Seattle Mariners for the M's power-hitting third baseman Eugenio Suárez. Suárez had been a consistent hitter for the Mariners in previous years, batting above .230 with a total of 53 homers over two seasons with Seattle. He played seven seasons with Cincinnati prior to his years in Seattle. In his entire career, he has hit an average of 25 homers per season. His addition has filled a gap in the depth of the Diamondbacks organization at third base, which was previously filled by Jace Peterson and Evan Longoria in the 2023 season. His numbers are easily comparable to those of Christian Walker, making both corner infielders for the D-backs consistent power hitters. Downside: He strikes out a lot, and has led the league in strikeouts in three of his eleven years in the majors.

Eduardo Rodríguez (SP)

In December, Rodríguez was signed as a free agent to a four year contract with the D-backs. Rodríguez has been a familiar face to Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers fans, posting an average of a 4.03 ERA across his eight years in the majors. His numbers with Detroit last year (3.30 ERA, 13 wins, 9 losses) show how valuable he can be to the D-backs starting rotation. This 30-year-old can bring consistency to the D-backs rotation. Rodríguez is starting the season on the injured list due to an injury sustained in Spring Training but is currently on a throwing program to help him recover. Yardbarker reports that he should begin pitching off of the mound at the beginning of April.

Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. (OF)

Wait... wasn't he on the team last year? Yes! However, at the end of the season he was one of the multiple 2023 team members who elected free agency. But just over a month later, he was signed to a three year contract to return to Arizona. In the 2023 season with the Diamondbacks, he hit .261 with 24 homers and was one of the four D-back All-Stars. He was consistently good with the Toronto Blue Jays from 2018 to 2022, hitting an average of .285 and 14 homers per year. Don't worry, fans, the Piña won't be leaving the desert for the next few years.

Tucker Barnhart (C)

Barnhart was signed to a minor league contract, but made the majors after Spring Training to become the backup catcher to Gabriel Moreno. Barnhart is a two-time Gold Glover who played with the Chicago Cubs last season. He hit a mediocre .202 with only a single homer across 43 games. His best season came in 2017 with the Cincinnati Reds where he hit .270 with 7 homers and 44 RBI as their primary catcher. His hitting in Spring Training was not ideal, but his defense and MLB experience can add to the team and provide a reliable backup for Gabriel Moreno.

Joc Pederson (DH/OF)

In late January, the D-backs signed Joc Pederson as a free agent. Pederson is coming off of his 2023 season with the Giants where he hit .235 with 15 homers and played in 121 games. Pederson was an All-Star with the Giants in 2022, but had a rough spring with the D-backs, hitting only .154 across 16 games. Pederson will be a platoon bat for the designated hitter role with Randal Grichuk, another offseason addition (see below).

Randal Grichuk (DH/OF)

Grichuk was signed to provide the other half of the platoon at the DH position. He is coming off a pretty strong 2023 campaign, where he hit .267 with 16 homers and 116 hits across 118 games. Midseason, he was traded to the Los Angeles Angels, where he only hit .216, a major contrast to the first half of his year with the Rockies where he hit .308. Grichuk is beginning the season on the injured list, but will be back presumably within the first few weeks of April. He is currently in rehabilitation in the minor leagues.

Jordan Montgomery (SP)

Montgomery was signed a day into the season as a free agent, but won't be ready to play until mid-April. Montgomery is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, throwing a 3.20 ERA across two teams in 2023. Montgomery pitched against the D-backs in the World Series, and posted a 2.79 ERA in the second half of the season with the Texas Rangers. His addition further adds to the starting rotation, which will eventually come out to be one of the best in the league when all pitchers are available.

Torey Lovullo (M)

Shortly after the Diamondbacks' World Series run came to a crushing end, manager Torey Lovullo was signed to a contract that extends his managerial tenure through the 2026 season. Lovullo was a part of the Boston Red Sox coaching staff that won the 2013 World Series, and he won NL Manager of the Year in 2017, his first season with the D-backs.

Mike Hazen (GM)

Along with the Lovullo extension, General Manager Mike Hazen was extended through the 2028 season. Hazen worked with Lovullo in Boston, serving as their Sr. Vice President and General Manager for a year. Hazen won two World Series with the Sox as a part of their coaching staff, in 2007 and 2013. His tenure with the Diamondbacks began in October of 2016.

Offseason: Notable Losses

Evan Longoria (DH/3B)

Longoria remains an unsigned free agent, and is coming off of a decent 2023 season with Arizona, where he hit .223 with 11 homers. Longoria has played in the majors since 2008, and is currently 38 years old. He threw out the first pitch for the D-backs on Friday, and will likely end his career in the near future. Among his accolades, Longoria was a three-time All-Star with the Tampa Bay Rays, and played in all 162 games for the Rays in 2014.

Tommy Pham (DH/OF)

Pham was acquired by the Diamondbacks at the Trade Deadline in 2023, and hit .241 with 6 homers and 32 RBI in the second half of the year. Pham added to the team's outfield depth, and remains unsigned. The San Diego Padres have expressed interest in Pham, but reportedly haven't been able to meet his demands for the 2024 season.

Rock the Rockies

Now that the offseason is over, however, the Diamondbacks are knee deep in Opening Weekend, winning their first two games against the Rockies by large margins. Game three was their first loss of the season. Their game one victory, however, came with multiple broken records and a historical inning. Games two and three also included broken records and more fireworks from the D-backs (from players and the postgame firework show). All-in-all, the Diamondbacks broke eight records across the first three games in the series.

Game 1:

1. Franchise record for number of hitters in an inning. 

18 D-backs batted in the third inning of Opening Day, topping their previous team record from 2010 against the Pirates.

2. Team record for number of hits in an inning.

Those batters recorded 13 hits in the third inning, beating out the 2015 record of 10 against the Phillies.

3. Franchise record for number of runs scored in an inning.

Opening Day brought about a 16-1 D-backs victory, scoring 14 runs in the aforementioned third inning. Six Diamondbacks scored twice in the inning.

4. Modern-era record for runs scored in an inning. 

Since 1900, three teams have scored more than that. The D-backs did it without hitting a home run. The only other MLB team to score that many runs in an inning without a homer was the 1948 Red Sox versus the Philadelphia Athletics. 

Game 2:

1. Joc Pederson became the first D-back to record four hits in his Diamondback debut. 

Not a single one of his hits left the infield, and all of them were off the gloves of Rockies defenders.

2. Back-to-back three-hit games for Ketel Marte.

Marte now stands alone as the only D-back player to achieve this feat. 

Game 3:

3. Lourdes Gurriel, Jr. became the first player in D-backs history to homer in each of his first three games.

All three came against the Rockies, and all three traveled to the left field bleachers.

4. Gurriel, Jr. stands alone with the most D-backs RBI across three games.

Gurriel's eight RBI across three games sets the bar for future Diamondbacks.

Along with these records, the franchise's 2,000th regular season win was on Friday.

Mound Visit: The Future

What's to come for the Diamondbacks? Through the first two games of this season, it certainly appears that the D-backs have maintained their team's familial-like relationship, and they want to win. However, many fans and writers have predicted only a Wild Card birth for the D-backs in 2024.

MLB.com says that the Dodgers will beat out the D-backs and Giants in the playoffs to play the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. And the D-backs players aren't taking their previous success for granted, acting, according to the Arizona Republic, like "...a bunch of starving underdogs," despite their talents.

What should fans be concerned about? At this point, injuries. Key players in the D-backs organization have started the season on the IL: Paul Sewald, Randal Grichuk, Jordan Lawlar, and Eduardo Rodríguez among them. The Diamondbacks have struggled with injuries in the past, most notably in 2021 where they had 43 players injured over the course of the season, and 2022 was not great either, with 28 players absent due to injuries. Neither of these seasons were successful for the Diamondbacks, and, to compensate with the injuries, they relied heavily on young players and struggled with a lack of pitching depth.

This season their pitching depth is much better, and they have three young pitchers who can cover for the main starting rotation should they get injured. Two of the three, Ryne Nelson and Tommy Henry, had their struggles last season, combining for a 4.73 ERA across 46 games. The other, Bryce Jarvis, posted a 3.04 ERA across 11 games in the majors last season and allowed two runs across three innings in Game 3 of Opening Weekend.

Concerns aside, this season is going to be a blast, and fans should be excited to watch the team play with their new additions... Watch out, MLB, the snakes are coiled up and they are ready to strike!

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