One year ago, general manager Mike Hazen defined a successful 2023 season as being in a position to add impact talent at the trade deadline and play meaningful games in late September. The Diamondbacks far exceeded those expectations, as they not only made the postseason but also embarked on a run that took them all the way to the World Series. The postseason became a coming of age moment for a team consisting of players who were just cutting their teeth in the big leagues the previous season.
With their recent postseason success comes a new standard of excellence for the team. On Thursday, manager Torey Lovullo said that the team had set a new standard in 2023 and wants them to aim even higher in 2024.
"We have set a standard here, and what that means to be an Arizona Diamondback. We all want to raise that bar and move it north. We're going to talk about achieving that standard, and working hard to get to that standard that we have set up. We're only going one way, and that comes with a lot of hard work and determination."
Hazen wants the team to embrace those higher standards in order to become a consistent winner.
"You want to be a good franchise, good organization, a perennial playoff contender, the expectation is you're going to go out and be able to play a quality brand of baseball for 162 games. That's just the reality, if you want to be a good team you have to deal with that. If you don't embrace it, you won't be successful."
Hazen hasn't forgotten that the D-backs backed into the playoffs as the sixth seed with just 84 wins. He believes it's not a sustainable position to put the team in and that they did not accomplish their primary goal of winning a World Series. Hazen cites his own inability to acquire a starter at the deadline as a reason why their run came up three wins short, leading to the signing of Eduardo Rodriguez to stabilize the middle of the rotation.
The message has been embraced by key leaders in the D-backs clubhouse, with staff ace Zac Gallen and closer Paul Sewald echoing similar sentiments.
"[We] can’t have any complacency just because we won the National League," said Sewald. "There’s quite a few teams, even in our division that took that personally and added this off-season to make sure that they get to where we got to."
"It’s another 162, we’re going to have a target on our back for sure," said Gallen. "I’m sure a lot of people across the league thought what we did was a fluke, so, I think for us to have the mindset that we need to prove it again, nobody's going to hand it to us."
While the D-backs fell short of their ultimate goal, the postseason became a proving grounds for this young locker room. The young trio of Corbin Carroll (Wild Card Game 1), Gabriel Moreno (NLDS Game 1), and Alek Thomas (NLCS Game 4) each hit a series-defining home run on their run to the Fall Classic.
"Watching Alek Thomas hit a home run off of Craig Kimbrel in a moment like that, that's a real thing in this game" said Hazen. "Being able to, in that moment, as a young player, slow a game down against one of the best closers in baseball over the last 10-15 years. To do that in that environment, you never know that's in there until you see it. We have guys that did that in those moments, and it's the hardest thing to do in sports."
What made the D-backs postseason run even more impressive was that it wasn't just one player or small group of players delivered in those moments. Up and down the roster, there were players who became the unlikeliest of heroes. Kevin Ginkel was downright dominant in 11 2/3 scoreless innings, a rookie Brandon Pfaadt turned in his most impressive start in Game 3 of the NLCS with his team down 2-0, and Ryan Thompson had a 2.31 postseason ERA after getting signed off the street in late August. Seeing that gives Hazen the utmost confidence that his team has the ability to prevail in big moments and make another run at a championship.
While we're only three days into Spring Training, it appears that the team is showing signs of embracing the new standard they've set for themselves.
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