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Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen talks to manager Torey Lovullo during spring training workouts at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale on Feb. 17, 2023. Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Do the Diamondbacks Rest Their Top Starters More than Other Teams?

Originally posted on Arizona Diamondbacks on SI
By Jack Sommers | Last updated May 13, 2025 5:06 PM ET

Last week, I wrote about the Arizona Diamondbacks' system of player load management and return-to-play protocols for injured players coming back from the Injured List. In that article I presented a clear description of the organizational structure in place, and the manager's role in the decision-making process.

Related Content: Who Manages Diamondbacks Player Load and Return-to-Play Protocols?

While that article made clear this is an organizational process, with guidelines issued to the manager from the medical team, that probaby doesn't satisfy most fans wanting to see the best players on the field as much as possible.

A frequent complaint that is often voiced on social media after lineups come out is that the Diamondbacks rest their starters much more than other teams. This article is in reference to position players, not pitchers.

While preparing for a guest spot on The Bickley and Marotta show on Arizona Sports 98.7, I decided to look into this and prepared some research. I began by searching for how many player seasons of 150 or more games started existed for each National League team since 2017.

I chose the since-2017 range as that is when Mike Hazen and Torey Lovullo took over the Diamondbacks' Baseball Operations and on-field management. This constitutes seven full seasons between 2017-2024.

I chose National League only, as half of this time there was no DH in the NL. And I chose 150 games started as an arbitrary, but I believe reasonable target for starts to represent "everyday players."

Jack Sommers

The Atlanta Braves are frequently cited as a team that does not rest their best players very much at all, and in fact they are the extreme outlier on the high side in this measure. The Phillies have the next highest number of player seasons over 150 starts with 12, which is a steep drop-off from 22.

The Diamondbacks are right in the middle of the pack with seven, which is about average. Three teams only have had two such seasons, and two others had only four.

Those seven D-backs seasons include two by Paul Goldschmidt (2017-2018), Eduardo Escobar and Nick Ahmed in 2019, Christian Walker in 2022-2023, and Eugenio Suárez in 2024. Of these players, the only one who did not see a drop off in September OPS from their previous five months was Suárez, who posted over a 1.000 OPS last September.

It's also notable that the St. Louis Cardinals, who are just ahead of the Diamondbacks on this table, received five of their 10 such seasons from none other than Goldschmidt.

So taking a long-term and objective view, the Diamondbacks have rested their starters right about the league average — no more, no less.

What about 2025? With a little more than a quarter of the season already played, I looked at how many NL teams had players with 40 or more starts. (A pace for over 150). The Diamondbacks are tied with the Braves with four. The Dodgers bring up the rear with ZERO.