Diamondbacks vs. Nationals discussion

NATIONALSDIAMONDBACKSJames Wood – DHKetel Marte – 2BCurtis Mead – 3BCorbin Carroll – RFAndres Chaparro – 1BGabriel Moreno – CCJ Abrams – SSNolan Arenado – 3BDylan Crews – RFPavin Smith – DHDaylen Lile – LFRyan Waldschmidt – CFJacob Young – CFGeraldo Perdomo – SSNasim Nunez – 2BLuJames Groover – 1BKeibert Ruiz – CTommy Troy – LFZack Littell – RHPE. Rodriguez – LHPThe Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.

• Recalled from Triple-A Reno: RHP Drey Jameson
• Optioned to Reno: RHP Kade Strowd (following last night’s game)

Strowd left the game with what Torey Lovullo called a “dead arm”, but the fact he’s not immediately going on the IL is, hopefully, good news. Lovullo said today that the pitcher is alright “so far,” but will continue to be evaluated. Given he threw 32 pitches, it’s likely he would have needed a day or two off anyway. Also, Taylor Clarke should be back tomorrow, and one imagines Abner will be going back down, especially after his terrible performance last night.

Anyway, the main topic is a question Chicharron asked in last night’s recap: “Are the D-Backs on their way to setting an MLB record for most innings pitched in a season by position players?” Of course, that kinda depends on your definition of “position players”. Does Shohei Ohtani count? I mean, he certainly is a position player. The list of teams with most position player appearances on the mound is dominated by two-way players. The top pair are the Brewers in 2003 and 2004, with 42 and 33 respectively. But all 75 of those were by Brooks Kieschnick, who appeared as an outfielder, DH and pinch-hitter for Milwaukee too. Rick Ankiel and Ohtani also appear in the top ten.

The “true” record since the D-backs entered the league probably belongs to the 2022 Tigers, who used a position player on twelve occasions to pitch twelve innings, Cody Clemens appearing seven times. The only other team to reach double digits might be a surprise: the 2022 Dodgers, who won 111 games. Hanser Alberto pitched 11 innings for them – but just two of those were in blowout losses, the others seeing him come in with at least an eight-run lead. The D-backs so far are at five appearances and 5.2 innings after Adrian Del Castillo’s outing. So the pace is there, but last night was the first such since April, when James McCann pitched in four games. Stay tuned, folks…

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