This article is part of a series of player reviews for the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks . It was a surprising and marvelous year for the team as they won 84 games to make the postseason. They advanced to Game Five of the World Series before bowing out to the Texas Rangers. There are 54 players in all that had at least one at-bat or pitched at least one inning for the team this past season. They are being presented in reverse order of their aWAR (average WAR-Wins Above Replacement) produced, which is the average of Baseball Reference and Fangraphs WAR. These are their season stories.
On September 4th, the Diamondbacks needed to beef up their bullpen with a potential shut-down left-handed reliever. They were coming off a rough series against the Orioles. So, Arizona recalled Andrew Saalfrank. He was having an impressive season at both Double-A and Triple-A. The 26-year-old bullpen arm had been pushing for an MLB job for a while.
Saalfrank appeared in 23 games at Reno, had a 4-2 record with a 2.93 ERA over 30.2 innings, and gave up 22 hits, 15 walks, and 48 strikeouts. That was enough to get the reliever to MLB to serve as another key left-handed arm.
Saalfrank got into ten games in the regular season. He was nearly unhittable. The only true negative for him four were walks. Otherwise, he struck out six batters and gave up only seven hits. He did give up two unearned runs, but the contact was few and far between.
Against left-handed batters, Saalfrank allowed just a .220 OPS. It was a single hit in 14 plate appearances. Against right-handed batters, Saalfrank was quite devastating against. He allowed only a .583 OPS. Against all hitters, he allowed just a batting average of .189 with an OPS of .457. Simply put, Saalfrank was dominant over his short showing in the MLB. This all set up the belief that the Diamondbacks had found their best left-handed reliever all year. He would be their lefty weapon out of the bullpen for the postseason.
This turned out to be the case through the Wild Card and Division Series. Over three games, he had three holds, a hit, a walk, and a strikeout. However, there was concern for Saalfrank as he was failing to hit his spots when he pitched. He was working deep into counts with quite a few balls.
In the regular season, Saalfrank threw strikes at a 66% rate. His Win Probability Added (WPA) was a strong 0.415. Yet, in Saalfrank's first three games in the playoffs, he threw strikes at just 55% of the time. His WPA was a much lower 0.188.
This concern proved to be real in the NLCS. Over his five appearances in the NLCS, Saalfrank lasted just two innings. He walked seven batters and gave up three runs, two earned, a hit, and a strikeout. His ERA was 9.00 and FIP was an awful 12.76. He wasn't giving up contact, but he had lost all ability to locate pitches. He threw just 50% of his pitches for strikes. This was a major concern for the Diamondbacks as he was supposed to be their best left-handed pitcher.
However, he was able to get back to his strong performance in the World Series. Over his three games, he pitched 2.1 innings and allowed one hit. He pounded the strike zone over 65% of the time. This was the Saalfrank that the Diamondbacks expected to see in the playoffs. It's the one they are hoping to see for the next six years out of their bullpen.
2024 Status and Outlook:
Andrew Saalfrank is entering his age-26 season. He's not even lost his rookie eligibility. He won't hit arbitration until 2027, provided he stays in MLB nearly the entire time for the next three seasons. Beyond that, he won't hit free agency until after the 2030 season. The Diamondbacks have him for the entire prime of his career. This bodes well for both Saalfrank and Arizona. He can serve as one of their best relievers while being a cheap source of innings and performance. Plus, he still has three option years. This gives Arizona plenty of flexibility in the case that Saalfrank does struggle and needs a reset in Reno. However, considering that he was able to get back on track in the playoffs after struggling, there should be plenty of hope and confidence that Andrew Saalfrank will have a successful full season in 2024.
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