First things first: the Dbacks Dispatch crew and I will put in our two cents on games and their outcomes, but like any seasoned Spring Training vet knows, the numbers on the scoreboard are like the $7 churros at the Phoenix Zoo – I ain\u2019t buying it. Let\u2019s focus on the players. Whether it\u2019s the shoo-ins to the opening day roster, or the prospects to take mental notes on for future years, that\u2019s what really matters when you\u2019re watching from your blanket on the lawn. Brett reminded us that the D-Backs had the best record in the Cactus League in 2016 and look how that turned out? (Don\u2019t look; it was bad).<\/p>\n
Players are going to be focused on specific parts of their game. They focus on things like their stride when they load up to swing or hitting a big leaguer\u2019s breaking ball (you got this Jordan I believe in you). Yes, the actual product we\u2019re seeing on the field may not be the most exciting when it comes to end results, but Spring Training audiences are either there for the vibes or hardcore hardball psychos like you and me. Some people have the giant bat beer in their hand, and others have a radar gun in their hand. The cool ones have both. That\u2019s one reason why I love baseball.<\/p>\n
A Swing with No Kick to It<\/p>\n
One of our favorite annual traditions to watch for from camp is the mechanical transformation of Alek Thomas – his stride leg in particular (I swear that\u2019s why I\u2019m staring at his legs, guys). The Young King has arrived with a visible adjustment to his timing mechanism, notably shucking off his traditional leg kick in favor of a much simpler approach. Alek is currently trying out a no-leg kick style, often substituting a quiet toe-tap or a tiny lift for the straight up-and-down motion that defined his previous seasons at the plate.<\/p>\n
You hope to see a more consistent approach at the plate and that he improves his ability to stay balanced against the ever rising high-level velocity zipping in from the mound. As one of Alek\u2019s biggest fans whose copium is starting to wear off, he really needs to show some strong, consistent value at the plate. I say this only because the eye-test makes him seem like a liability, even though he actually had career highs almost completely across the board. In my opinion, Alek needs consistently productive AB\u2019s for PR purposes. If he can have a successful, consistent year with the bat, he should be able to shed this stigma that he\u2019s a defense-only outfielder. I know I\u2019m certainly rooting for him.<\/p>\n
Jordan Lawlar\u2019s situation has been quite the conundrum thanks to a mix of high expectations and low sample size, but this year Lawlar has his own PR problem when it comes to breaking balls. So far, he\u2019s been working on breaking that narrative in the few games he\u2019s played in so far. Despite claims from critics that he couldn\u2019t handle professional off-speed pitches, Lawlar has already left the yard twice this spring, clubbing home runs off both a changeup and a sharp breaking ball. I cannot emphasize enough that I\u2019m fully aware it\u2019s a drastically low sample size, but I\u2019m down to celebrate small wins as much as I\u2019m prone to scouring for areas to improve.<\/p>\n
Maybe more impressive than the home runs themselves is the consistency of his contact. Lawlar has been barreling the ball with authority, turning in multiple three-hit performances with exit velocities reaching as high as 106 mph. By proving he can punish pro pitches, Lawlar is building an interesting case for a permanent spot in the heart of the Diamondbacks\u2019 lineup, maybe even in the heart of the outfield. I chose to write about these two guys consecutively for a reason.<\/p>\n
On the mound, lefty prospect Yu-Min Lin has become a major focal point due to a significant jump in his physical stuff compared to previous seasons. Lin, who was known for a craftier approach sitting around 89 mph, raised some eyebrows by reaching 93 mph with his fastball in his first spring outing. This velocity jump surely is a testament to his physical development following a difficult 2023 season where he missed significant time due to mandatory military service in Taiwan, not to mention a scary line drive he took to the dome that he had to recover from not too long ago.<\/p>\n
Lin is pairing that newfound heat with a hard curveball that sits nearly at 80 mph. That\u2019s a pretty significant tick up from the low-70s rainbow curve he featured in the minors. The increased velocity changes the outlook for the young pitcher, giving him the deception and power needed to navigate Reno and possibly The Show. Having ramped up successfully to represent both the D-backs and Team Taiwan, Lin appears poised to climb the organizational ladder faster than many anticipated a few years ago.<\/p>\n
Spring Cleaning My Wallet<\/p>\n
While the play on the field provides plenty of optimism, the soulless corporation side of baseball remains a major point of contention for fans dealing with rising costs and declining quality in the team shops. Resentment is growing over the current state of sports memorabilia thanks to everyone\u2019s favorite manufacturer of transparent pants and jerseys with letters taken off the bottom line of the eye test chart. Fans have voiced frustrations that Fanatics\u2019 modern jerseys, which can cost upwards of $200, often feel thin and cheap with screen-printed elements compared to the high-quality, stitched Majestic versions that were standard only a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Hats are no exception either, with New Era\u2019s new Clubhouse Collection hats drawing heavy fire. Retailing for $55 pre-tax, these designs have been described as looking like they were speed-ran or hastily assembled in Microsoft Paint. When combined with the rising barrier to entry at the ballpark, where lawn seat at Salt River Fields costs as much as it used to be to take the whole family, the affordable family outing of Spring Training has become a nostalgic memory of the past. For many, the disconnect between the premium price tag and the declining quality of the jerseys and hats is reaching a breaking point.<\/p>\n
Say I wanted to take my son and daughter to a game for a classic dad outing in Scottsdale. I\u2019m only buying 3 tickets. Of course they\u2019re going to be lawn seats so they can roll around in the grass. I want us all to match so let\u2019s say I get us all jerseys, not even with a last name on the back. I won\u2019t even get the super cool purple Serpientes jerseys, just the standard cream colored home jersey for all three of us. Can\u2019t forget this year\u2019s Spring Training hats! One for each. I can\u2019t take them to the game without having a hot dog either! So dad will be cheap and get the value dogs since the regular ones are almost half the cost of a lawn ticket. Alright, so tickets, jerseys, hats, and value dogs. What\u2019s that ring up to?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s go ultimate discount dad. No jerseys for you guys because the logo is going to peel off before you even finish reading this sentence. Let\u2019s go just the tickets, no food because we have food at home, and let\u2019s not include any price for parking even though I definitely didn\u2019t park in the Target parking lot just south of the stadium.<\/p>\n
$80?! Our starters don\u2019t even play long enough for the shadows to hit home plate! But hey, as long as the management from corporations can afford to take their clients out to the game, who needs generational fans? Well, at least we can stay at home and watch the games on the broadcast, right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First things first: the Dbacks Dispatch crew and I will put in our two cents on games and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2404],"tags":[146,22,75770,76327,4314,77180,5,38,40669,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-591345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-diamondbacks","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","10":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks-analysis","11":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks-spring-training","12":"tag-arizonadiamondbacks","13":"tag-az-snake-pit-podcasts","14":"tag-baseball","15":"tag-diamondbacks","16":"tag-diamondbacks-opinion-analysis","17":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116129154079430568","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}