Blaze Alexander is beginning at third base for the Diamondbacks tonight towards Angels righty José Soriano, pushing Eugenio Suárez to the bench. It’s solely Alexander’s third begin on the sizzling nook, however that’ll be a extra frequent incidence.
Supervisor Torey Lovullo informed the Arizona beat that Alexander was going to choose up elevated taking part in time at third base (hyperlink by way of Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic). Lovullo stopped in need of calling it a benching for Suárez however he acknowledged tonight is “day quantity one in every of somewhat little bit of a change” in how taking part in time is cut up.
“I’m very interested in Blaze,” Lovullo stated. “Offensively, he’s been taking part in at a really excessive stage. The protection has been bettering quickly. I simply felt prefer it was time to offer him a couple of extra alternatives, a couple of extra reps.” Alexander has been within the lineup for 38 of Arizona’s 67 video games. He picked up 16 begins at shortstop, eight video games at second base and obtained 12 nods because the designated hitter alongside together with his pair of third base begins.
The D-Backs reinstated Geraldo Perdomo from the injured record final evening. He resumes his function because the on a regular basis shortstop, whereas Ketel Marte is locked in at second base. Joc Pederson serves because the designated hitter towards right-handed pitching. That leaves third base as the one spot for Alexander to get reps, except the D-Backs wished to make use of him on the quick aspect of a platoon with Pederson at DH.
Alexander, 25, has managed first rate numbers in his debut marketing campaign. He carries a .279/.345/.403 line over 142 plate appearances. Alexander’s batted ball metrics aren’t aligned together with his backside line output. He’s placing the ball on the bottom half the time he places it in play, and a .371 common on balls in play has masked a 26.1% strikeout price. Alexander has had a stark platoon divide. He’s hitting .217/.280/.290 over 75 plate appearances towards right-handed pitching; he has mashed southpaws to the tune of a .350/.418/.533 slash in 67 journeys.
Whereas Alexander has performed pretty properly, the D-Backs wouldn’t have gotten him extra third base reps if not for Suárez’s disappointing yr. He’s hitting .197/.263/.312 throughout 262 plate appearances. Bob Nightengale of USA Immediately wrote over the weekend that the D-Backs have been open to commerce potentialities on Suárez, although it’d be troublesome to dump a lot of his $12MM wage. Nightengale recommended that Arizona would curtail Suárez’s taking part in time if he sticks on the roster, and it certainly appears that’ll come to go.
The D-Backs despatched backup catcher Seby Zavala and hard-throwing reliever Carlos Vargas, who has spent the season in Triple-A, to Seattle for Suárez final November. The largest attraction for the M’s was offloading the ultimate yr of Suárez’s contract. Arizona additionally owes him a $2MM buyout on a $15MM membership possibility that’ll very probably be declined subsequent offseason.
