What did Make Hazen say about him?<\/p>\n
He has an opportunity to win a position in the bullpen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s got great stuff. We\u2019ve always liked him from afar.\u201d \u2014 Mike Hazen<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to go into the mix and there\u2019s going to be opportunity in our pen. \u2026Coming into spring training, we should be a very attractive place for players to come in and compete. We have a number of good young arms, but there are still a couple spots in our pen that are not established.\u201d \u2014 Mike Hazen<\/a><\/p>\n He chose the Diamondbacks.<\/p>\n At least three teams (Cubs, Giants, and D-backs) made contingent offers<\/a> to Loaisiga. The offers were contingent on him pitching in the Nicaragua Winter League.<\/p>\n In December\/January, in the Nicaragua Winter League, he pitched in 5 games for Indios del Boer. After that, he seriously considered two solid offers.<\/p>\n \u201cLoaisiga passed on [a] one-year, $1-million major-league contract with the Minnesota Twins to accept a minor-league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he\u2019ll make around $3.8 million if he makes the club out of spring training, Nicaraguan baseball reporter Levi Luna told NJ Advance Media.\u201d \u2014 Levi Luna<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s impressive that Jonathan Loaisiga bet on himself; he bet that he will win a position in spring training instead of accepting a guaranteed million dollars.<\/p>\n Another positive was that the Diamondbacks have warmer weather and Chase Field has a roof \u2013 perhaps helping him avoid injury. Another positive was that he would allow less home runs at Chase Field (home run park factor of 88 compared to 102 for the Twins).<\/p>\n How would I choose bullpen pitchers?<\/p>\n With the addition of Nolan Arenado at third base, I would look for pitchers with high ground ball rates, and especially high ground ball rates to third base.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s compare four right-handed relief pitchers who are competing for a bullpen position. My view is that these four pitchers will have roughly equivalent ERAs in 2026 (based on their xERAs last season). A caveat is that Cristian Mena\u2019s 3.07 xERA was better than the other three xERAs (3.56 to 3.77). Also, they all have fastball velocities higher than 94 MPH, which a foundational requirement for success as a reliever per this AZ Snake Pit article.<\/a><\/p>\n The following table compares the four pitchers. My first focus was on ground ball percentage of balls-in-play (BIPs) and ground balls to third base percentage of BIPs. Next, I considered hard-hit percentages and bases-on-balls percentages. Data from Baseball Savant.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769794356_791_PNG-Loaisiga.png\"\/)
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