The Jace Peterson Problem
From my Cheeto stained arm chair
Torey Lovullo is in my book the best manager in baseball at relationships & getting a team to buy in. For vets, rookies and everyone who works in the organization he is a great leader to them. He deserved his contract extension and he will be here for a long time.
It’s well known the front office has a lot of say in lineups, strategy, you name it, but whether you want to blame Lovullo or Hazen, Jace Peterson is a real problem.
This post is sparked from the Jack Sommers take that Jace Peterson playing isn’t a big deal. So let me address a few things right away:
Jack Sommers is a great follow on twitter, amazing writer, Diamondbacks fans are lucky to have him. Just because I strongly disagree with some takes doesn’t mean you should be mean on twitter. But for the record Jack, I’m not really a Cheetos guy! (Sour Cream & Cheddar Ruffles though….)
2. The WORST take in baseball twitter is that you can’t second guess your manager because you can’t do a better job…. THE ENTIRE FUN OF WATCHING A BASEBALL GAME IS MANAGING ALONG FROM HOME AND SAYING WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN LIVE TIME. Torey is a successful manager for his Pete Carroll ability to be loved by his team, have their backs no matter what and ultimately be a kind friendly players coach. You cannot say he’s outsmarting or dominating the strategy side ON A NIGHTLY BASIS. He’s not Bruce Bouchy, he’s Pete Carroll and that works!
Jace Peterson is truly as bad as fans make it out to be. Jace Peterson has 129 PA’s BEFORE his 0-3 last night, so using a 120 PA cut off, Jace Peterson has the worst batting average in Diamondbacks history by 13 points! 6th worst wRC+ too.
My argument all along has been that you can have Jace Peterson on the roster as I’m sure he’s a really nice guy & Torey loves him, but his usage is mind blowing. From April 3rd:
Getting Jace Peterson into 14 of 20 games this season has resulted in him being the literal worst hitter in the history of the Diamondbacks… so why exactly is it bad for him to just never play? If Jace had only appeared in 6-7 games, was 1-8 and never played any SS, no one is complaining about Jace and he probably has a chance to stay on the team all season in a role that fits him (emergency bench player, pinch runner).
There’s no reason that Blaze Alexander isn’t playing everyday. The bat is LEGIT, like never seen at SS since Jay Bell LEGIT. Also, Jace Peterson is NOT a food fielder either. According to Baseball Reference, Jace had a combined -8 Rdrs between 2B/3B last year, so saying him at SS is any type of improvement on Blaze, who by the way is posting elite numbers at the plate is insane. Blaze has played in just 3 of the last 6 games.
I just struggle to understand how anyone can say Jace should ever see the field. Even if you aren’t willing to let Blaze work through his SS issues, Kevin Newman is better than Jace in any stat or asset you want to roll out.
So lastly and the genesis of this post, today’s tweets.
So by tweeting constantly that Jace is not THE problem, apparently that’s not defending him? Whatever, go through the tweets, there’s always going to be someone who needs to play contrarian for engagement or to dunk on someone.
But let’s do it, the Diamondbacks top 15 issues:
Geraldo Perdomo Injury/Shortstop Defense: Hazen/Torey like the steady defensive SS and the bat doesn’t matter. Well now they have Blaze who’s struggled at SS BUT has been one of the best offensive SS in baseball. This internal debate of glove vs bat has opened up starts for Jace Peterson, who doesn’t field or hit well, especially at SS.
Alek Thomas Injury: Losing a Gold Glove CF sucks, there’s been a few balls Thomas would have gotten to that Carroll didn’t + now Grichuk has to play some OF. Additionally Jake McCarthy has almost laid out Carroll twice in the gap.
Eduardo Rodriguez Injury: The Madison Bumgarner flashbacks are real… older lefty with average stuff, big contract, who needs to rely on control now has shoulder issues?
Jace Peterson is statistically THE worst Diamondbacks hitter of all time, he’s played in 14 of 20 games (1 less than Blaze), when he doesn’t start, he then just gets late game AB’s instead as a pinch hitter.
Bullpen: Wrote this last Thursday… we finally got Martinez up though! Too many blown games by the bullpen late still. (Jace Peterson actually has 6 IP in his MLB career with 8 ER, 2.83 WHIP, I’m telling you I can find a bad Jace stat for anything)
Diving deeper into the bullpen, the Sewald injury has shortened the bullpen to just a solid 8/9 Thompson (been elite) and Ginkel (been better than people give credit for, but still not as lights out as 2023). Outside really Thompson, the bullpen doesn’t have any go to guys you’re 100% confident in.
LHP in the pen… Kyle Nelson & Joe Mantiply have overall been fine, but we’re missing that shut down LHP Saalfrank was last year (he’s been struggling in AAA too). Nelson & Mantiply aren’t striking any fear in late game situations coming out of the bullpen.
The bottom half of the bullpen: Scott McGough is not a MLB caliber RP (see article in #1) + Luis Frias isn’t as good as he was in 2023 and is now on IL.
Overall Defense: This has been the heart and soul of the Hazen Diamondbacks, but the entire defense has been bad. 2023 Diamondbacks were 4th in DRS, this year they have the 4th most errors. (Jace Peterson is not a good fielder).
The Diamondbacks offense only being able to score in the 1st inning + being really bad late in games. (Jace Peterson has gotten AB’s in the 7th inning or later in 3 straight games)
Gabriel Moreno’s slow start & scratches. The 2023 Diamondbacks midseason slump was directly correlated to Moreno going on the IL, he’s been scratched twice this week with a thumb bruise, but he hasn’t swung the bat that great this season either. This team is elite when Moreno is firing fully, I’m worried he’s banged up already.
Where’s Eugenio Suarez power? He had a strong 1st week, but .622 OPS on the season and 1-17 slump the last 5 games. Maybe 3B is just cursed for the Diamondbacks?
Eduardo Rodriguez injury: While it hasn’t been a major issue as Nelson’s been fine post Yankees start, Henry was survivable at SP5 and Montgomery returns tonight, E-Rod was suppose to be a steady piece of this team and now we may not see him until June.
Jordan Montgomery did not have a Spring training, got lit up in AAA, are we sure he’s not going to struggle for awhile?
Corbin Carroll getting his swing right: 14 game on base streak but the swing hasn’t been consistent, feels like it coming around but the Diamondbacks would be unstoppable with 2024 Ketel & 2023 Carroll raking at the same time.
This is something that’ll get worked out in time, but I wrote about the insane amount of LHP the Diamondbacks have faced this year. Could be why Carroll has struggled to find his swing. Joc’s been good but can’t get into the lineup with so many LHP’s.
Brandon Pfaadt needs to find a way to limit homers. 26 HR allowed in 22 career starts, BUT Pfaadt only gave up 3 HR the entire postseason.
The last week or so, the Diamondbacks have stopped hitting well in RISP spots.
-Goldy Happens