Diamondbacks to Play Insane Schedule, Testing Depth Early

The Arizona Diamondbacks have been dealing with their share of bumps, bruises, aches, and pains as the players begin to ramp up towards opening day just three weeks away.

The most prominent issue at the moment is the lower back issue that has kept Corbin Carroll out of games since Sunday. Originally scheduled to back in the lineup by Wednesday, that's now been pushed out to Friday at the earliest. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is dealing with a tight left hamstring and was removed from Wednesday's game after two at bats.

Jordan Montgomery is scheduled to appear in his first spring game on Friday. He's been delayed by a left index finger strain. Reliever Kendall Graveman has been down with a back strain and is at least a week or more away from getting back in games.

Blaze Alexander is out till at least the end of the month with an oblique strain. And the team lost two non roster invitees to Tommy John Surgery, Thyago Vieira and Josh Winder.

Keeping players healthy as the team moves forward in ther preparations for opening day is going to get even tougher over the next few days. Due to a quirk in the spring training schedule, they are going to be tested to the extreme, playing seven games in four days.

First they have split squad games Thursday night, one at home against the Seattle Mariners at 6:40 p.m. at Salt River Fields and the other on the road in Goodyear to face the Cleveland Guardians at 6:05 p.m.

Then after a day game on Friday against the Angels at Tempe Diablo Park, they'll have split squad games on both Saturday and Sunday.

Torey Lovullo will lead a group of players off to Las Vegas to face the A's for two games at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, NV over the weekend. Meanwhile bench coach Jeff Banister will manage a road game against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday and a home game versus the Texas Rangers on Sunday.

This presents challenges for Torey Lovullo and his staff to get he right players the right playing time both before and during this stretch, trying to keep everyone healthy.

"I don't love that we're playing seven games in four days. I don't love it, but we knew the schedule, we knew the landscape, and we've been making adjustments and preparing for it."

Those preparations have included staying away from having certain players appear in back to back games prior to now, as it will be unavoidable in many cases over the next four days. Lovullo is trying his best to avoid adding to his injured list.

"I'll be holding my breath that we get through it on Monday. I'm hoping I'm having the same type of conversation with the same injured guys that are advancing."

At the same time this stretch presents an opportunity to accelerate evaluations. The team has a camp battle going on for the utility infield backup, and it's been difficult to get the innings and at bats to all the players competing while still giving all the starters the necessary innings and at bats to ramp up for opening day.

"It's been a big challenge for me to get the right guys innings," Lovullo said. "That's the situation I'm in right now with some really good quality backups that we've got to evaluate."

The list of those names Lovullo rattled off included Garrett Hampson, Grae Kessinger, Ildemaro Vargars, Connor Kaiser, Tim Tawa, and Gino Groover. But he was quick to add, "I don't like to name names because I'm forgetting people."

One name that wasn't mentioned however was Jordan Lawlar. The team has stated a preference to have their top prospect play every day in Triple-A to get more reps and experience before he's called back up to MLB.

Lovullo will take the following position players with him to Las Vegas, so he can field "representative lineups" with a minimum of four starting players in each game, according to MLB spring training rules: Josh Naylor, Geraldo Perdomo, Ketel Marte, Jake McCarthy, and Adrian Del Castillo.

Beyond that the understudies, including non-roster invitees and minor league players will populate the lineups in Las Vegas. Likewise, over the weekend games back here in Arizona, Banister will have the remaining starters and a pool of reserves to draw upon.

The primary rotation candidates will remain in Arizona over the weekend, while Blake Walston and Tommy Henry will likely get starts in Las Vegas. Lovullo did not say which relievers will be making the trip to play the A's.

The team is expected to make their first round of cuts and minor league send outs either Sunday night or Monday morning, following this stretch of games. Stay tuned to Arizona Diamondbacks ON SI for all the latest news and updates as the D-backs gear up for opening day on March 27.

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