Why is he recently batting better?
He made a change to his swing that helped his batting, which might be impressive with the Diamondbacks.
“Now, his hands start lower — below the letters on his jersey, sitting under the shoulders — which seems to be giving him more control and better rhythm as he moves into the zone.” — Tremayne Person, June of 2025
In AAA his batting and base stealing were excellent.
“After hitting just two home runs across April and May (with 24 RBIs over 50 games), Locklear has caught fire in June. He’s slashing .304/.402/.623 with a 1.026 OPS, five home runs, and 15 RBIs in just 19 games this month. On the season, he’s posted a strong .289/.378/.455 line with eight homers, 41 RBIs, and 12 stolen bases — a rare and intriguing blend of power and speed for a first baseman.” — Tremayne Person, June of 2025
Diamondbacks Prospects provided the following graphic on twitter:
The red in the top half of the graphic shows aspects of his batting that were great, such as exit velocity, barrell percentage and hard-hit percentage. The gray in the bottom shows aspects of his batting that were average, such as O-swing (chasing outside the strike zone), and whiff percentage. Overall, my perspective is that he is continuing to improve, which means it’s likely he will be the Diamondbacks first baseman for the next five years. Let’s compare him to Christian Walker, who played first base for the Diamondbacks from 2017 through 2024.
Comparing early batting of Locklear and Walker.
The following table compares the first two season (in the Majors) of the two first basemen. Data from FanGraphs.
Although Tyler Locklear is 24.7 years old, he could be a late bloomer, similar to Christian Walker. With the caveat that I am often optimistic, Tyler Lockear’s ceiling is likely similar to Christian Walker’s career stats that follow. Data from FanGraphs.
Because Tyler Locklear is under team control through 2030, when he reaches his performance ceiling, he will likely be a Diamondback!
Tyler Locklear’s Balanced approach
My view is that when he is on his game, he has a balance of patience and aggressiveness.
Patience: “…So trying to get myself in good counts, swing at good pitches, and put good contact on it….” — Tyler Locklear
Aggessiveness: “How good the guys [pitchers] are here, especially, you are really only gonna see one, maybe two [very hittable] pitches per at bat, so you gotta be kinda aggressive when your pitch is there and put a good swing on it.” — Tyler Locklear
With his balanced approach, his first week as a Diamondback was promising.
He had one home run in his first 25 PAs. That’s an excellent rate.
No errors in 66 chances. Combined with his increased range compared to last season, and his defense is likely on a path of improvement.
His excellent attitude: “It was really cool to do something for the team and see their reaction to it.“ — Tyler Locklear
“I like the approach; I like the ability to see some pitches. He just missed a couple of key opportunities.” — Torey Lovullo
His defense at first base looks like it is average and improving.
Outs Above Average (OAA). In 2024, playing first base for the Mariners, he earned zero OAA (36 fielding attempts). In 2025, playing first base for the Diamondbacks, he earned one OAA (14 fielding attempts, 4% success added). Caveat: these are small sample sizes.
Defensive Runs Saved (DRS). In 2024, playing first base for the Mariners, he earned negative one DRS. In 2025, playing first base for the Diamondbacks, he earned negative one DRS. One component that showed improvement: his range at third base increased from negative one to positive one.
“I think there was some excitement. He forgot to hold the runner on first base. I thought there were some really nice plays. It looked like he has some really good agility over there. We’re going to keep building with him and figure out what he looks like over there.” — Torey Lovullo
Recently he improved his hand position which improved his batting.
His batting approach is a balance of patience and aggressiveness.
His batting and base stealing results in AAA were excellent.
His defense at first base is average and improving.
His early batting is similar to Christian Walker. My optimistic view is he will reach the career stats of Christian Walker.