- Important 2
- Updates 41
- Articles 13
- All Updates 54
Do you want major updates to this story in your Facebook News Feed?
Like us to subscribe
- about 1 year ago
- Update
- 0 comments
Postgame Quotes From Kirk Gibson, Josh Collmenter After Diamondbacks 5-3 Win Over Brewers
Kirk Gibson and starting pitcher Josh Collmenter talked after the game on Tuesday, when the Arizona Diamondback rallied in the eighth inning to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3.
Collmenter discussed his spot in the rotation and turning things around now that the spring is done. Gibson discussed Stephen Drew and roster moves.
Josh Collmenter:
On why his performance on Tuesday contrasted his while spring:
"I felt really good. I just got back to basics and felt more like myself. The rhythm and tempo were there and I think that was the big thing I was missing. I was trying too much to try and figure out why things weren't happening and just got back to just getting the baseball and throwing it."
On why he seems to have particular success against the Brewers:
"I think they're just an aggressive club. They swing at a lot of stuff, so especially if you can get ahead of them, then you kind of get them on their toes, and they can swing at pitches they might not want to. They like swinging early, so if you can keep the ball out of the zone early, a lot of times you can have success."
On pitching at Chase Field again:
"Your surrounding puts everything more into perspective that you're gearing up for a season. It takes some of the working on the back fields and stuff out of it. You know it's 'go time' now."
Kirk Gibson:
On Collmenter's outing:
"Yeah, I thought he threw good. He hit a guy 0-2 and then we made an error, but he was throwing a lot of strikes and moving the ball around well. And after his last start we went in and looked at some tape. He went in and looked at it ans saw a little something, kind of how how he was throwing it a little bit. Just searching for that consistency and arm slot."
On Saito's tweaked calf:
"He did it while he was out there stretching. The doctors looked at him and it's really nothing serious. but I kust want to make sure to see what they see in there tomorrow and if there's nothing we'll go from there."
On Stephen Drew and what he has done this spring, and what he still needs to do to get back to playing:
"What we have focused on is pretty much he's taken a ton of ground balls. He's done a lot of resistance running with the rubber cord, and it's extremely intense. There's probably not a lot of guys in the clubhouse that could do it. They'd be gassed. So he's really in good shape that way. We were talking today about the primary lead, the secondary lead then a return back to the base. He did run the bases the other day.
"Just at shortstop, every time that Matty (Matt Williams) throws the ball, he hits it, so in a game, the reality of it is you're doing your pre-pitch, you're getting in to the pitch, and then you're reacting, so we're going to start doing some of that stuff now. Then the gameplan will to get him in some extended stuff with an at-bat, some really light running at the at-bat. No sliding yet. Maybe play a couple of innings or an inning of defense, because that will be quite different. You know sometimes you react to a ball and the guy swings and misses. So it's all a new movement to him.
"Overall, it's the ankle joint -- the ligament, the tendon -- it's great. The bone is healed. Everything is solid there. It's just that the joint sometimes gets inflammation as he goes on. He gets sore. We know how we can take him and have it be a good day. We know how to put him in a bad day. We do some high intensity running and curves and stuff like that. We know he's going to be sore the next day, so the goal is that we can get him doing baseball activities where he's recovering quicker, which he already is. But we don't have a timetable. We;re going to kind of segue into some different activities for Stephen."
- about 1 year ago
- Update
- 0 comments
Ian Kennedy Struggles In Final Spring Start
Ian Kennedy is set to be the ace for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012, but had a rough outing in his final Spring Training start on Saturday. The D-backs took on the Los Angeles Dodgers and came up on the losing end in a 9-3 affair.
Kennedy pitched five innings and gave up three runs on five hits. The three runs allowed matches the amount of runs he had given up in his 18.1 Spring Training innings coming into Saturday.
According to FOX Sports, Kennedy is remaining upbeat despite the black mark to round out Spring Training.
"I have been feeling better and better with command and my off-speed stuff, today too,'' Kennedy said. ''Today's results aside, I am pretty happy with how things are going."
The silver lining is that Kennedy fared much better than Dodgers ace and reigning Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, who also gave up three runs, but in just 3.2 innings, on six hits and a walk.
Get more Diamondbacks coverage over at AZ Snakepit.
For the latest AZ sports, follow us on Twitter @SBNArizona and "Like" us on Facebook.
- about 1 year ago
- Update
- 0 comments
Diamondbacks Trade RHP Robby Rowland To Pirates
The Arizona Diamondbacks are entering the home stretch of Sprint Training and making the final additions and subtractions to their roster in preparation for Opening Day.
On Saturday, the team announced that they have traded right-handed pitcher Robby Rowland to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rowland was selected by the D-backs in the third round of the 2010 First-Year Player Draft. He hasn't had the best record in two seasons in Arizona's minor-league system, going 6-13 with a 7.01 ERA while walking 38 and striking out 92.
The Diamondbacks also retained the rights to Rule 5 Draft selection Brett Lorin, who is also a right-handed pitcher. Lorin was outrighted to Double-A Mobile by the team. With the moves, the Diamondbacks now have 33 players in camp, which includes 5 non-roster invitees.
Get more Diamondbacks coverage over at AZ Snakepit.
For the latest AZ sports, follow us on Twitter @SBNArizona and "Like" us on Facebook.
- about 1 year ago
- Update
- 0 comments
Diamondbacks SS Stephen Drew Will Not Be Ready For Opening Day; Willie Bloomquist To Take Over
According to ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian, Arizona Diamondbacks short stop Stephen Drew will not be ready for opening day and Willie Bloomquist will take over for him.
@Kurkjian_ESPN
Tim KurkjianSS Stephen Drew won't be ready Opening Day. Willie Bloomquist takes over. DBacks were 37-21 when he started at SS last year
26 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone · Reply · Retweet · Favorite · powered by @socialditto
Drew hasn't fully recovered from a broken ankle suffered last July and Bloomquist, who took over for Drew last season, will be the team's starter at short stop until Drew is able to come back to the team. Before Drew broke his ankle last season, he played in 86 games, earning a batting average of .252 and scoring 44 runs. In the 97 games that Bloomquist played once he took over the position, he also scored 44 runs and had a .266 batting average.
Bloomquist only played 59 games at short stop and in those 59 games, he had five errors on the field. Drew had seven in his 84 games.
For more on the Diamondbacks, head to AZ Snake Pit, and for more updates on the team's spring training, follow SB Nation Arizona's StoryStream.
- over 1 year ago
- Update
- 0 comments
Spring Training: Diamondbacks Get One Win And One Tie On Opening Day; Bauer Shines
The Arizona Diamondbacks opened the 2012 Spring Training season with a win and a tie in their split-squad games. The D-backs downed the Giants 9-6 in a "road" game in Scottsdale while at "home" at Salt River Fields they finished 10 innings tied 1-1 with the Rockies.
Manager Kirk Gibson ran the club at home while Alan Trammell took the offensive show on the road. Justin Upton went 3-3, Chris Young 2-3 with a home run and Ryan Roberts hit another out of the yard. OF Marc Krauss added two hits and three RBI in the win.
Josh Collmenter got touched up for three runs in his start that went two innings and included three hits and two walks allowed.
The defensive duel in the other game was kicked off by Trevor Bauer's impressive start. He went two innings facing the minimum six batters and record two strike outs and four ground balls.
(Here's more on his start including some video of him pitching.)
Patrick Corbin allowed the only run of the game in the fourth inning. He had three walks and was a little wild according to Gibby. Gerardo Parra had the lone RBI.
The big story, of course, was Bauer's first start for the big league club.
Trevor Bauer postgame
"It was fun," the 21-year-old said after the game. "It was baseball again. It's been awhile since I've gotten on the field so it was enjoyable."
He didn't report any nerves and certainly pitched like a guy in complete command of the situation.
"At the core level, you throw strikes and they're hitters and they still got to hit it so it was more of a competition against myself as it always is to try and see if I can execute pitches."
Bauer is known for, among other unique things, his nine-pitch repertoire which needs the help of this handy guide to fully appreciate.
He said he threw his curve ball well which he considers his best breaking pitch. He also threw a fastball, change, slider, and splitter. In fact, he threw two variations of the slider but didn't "get to" throw the reverse slider.
According to Gibby, his secondary pitches looked fantastic, "Some of his secondary pitches were actually better than I've seen anytime that he's thrown so far."
Bauer was pleased with the way he attacked the zone and got ahead of the hitters, "I think today was a pretty efficient outing, especially for the first one of spring. I was pleased with my control and command. I'm pretty happy with all of it."
This game was our first opportunity to see live his famous pregame long toss routine where he stands far in right field and fires the ball all the way to the left field line. It was a sight to see in person. He said that before this game he "only" threw about 360 feet. Normally, he'll throw 400 feet before games but "it's early in Spring."
Here's the explanation he gave for the routine:
"It takes awhile for my body to get moving. The longer I go out, the more efficiently I have to move and get everything kind of connected and moving efficiently to throw the ball that far. I kind of take my time with it and get my body moving together and linked up."
As for the reaction of his teammates, "Their reaction is about 400 feet away so I don't really notice. Sometimes they scatter when I over throw one."
The D-backs have been good about letting Trevor do things his unique way but they did request that he not wear his headphones on the field during pregame warm ups. He's listened to music as part of his preparation since he started learning these mechanics to help get everything "linked up with his body".
Bauer strikes out first hitter faced
With no music available, Bauer relied on singing to himself. He listed the bands "Disturbed" and "Haste the Day" and then went along with whatever was on the stadium public speakers.
Regardless of the mental music of choice, it didn't seem to bother him in the least as he blew threw a formidible list of big league hitters including Dexter Fowler, Carlos Gonzales and Troy Tulowitzki.
Kirk Gibson down played the outing which was probably smart in terms of managing hype and expectations.
"It's one outing. A spring outing. It could have went the other way but it didn't."
The only other play singled out by Gibby for praise was third basemen Matt Davidson, "Davidson I thought played pretty well over there (at third), showed soft hands, I like the way he looks at the plate."
- over 1 year ago
- Update
- 0 comments
Trevor Bauer Rolls Through First Start For Diamondbacks (Video)
Trevor Bauer is the future. He might be a future rotation pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He might be a future Hall of Famer who's unique approach changes the entire game. It's way too soon to say...of course.
Where ever it ends up, Bauer's first appearance starting in a D-backs uniform was at Salt River Fields on March 3, 2012 and it was impressive.
In his first inning of work for the Diamondbacks, Bauer breezed through the top of the Rockies order. He struck out Dexter Fowler with four pitches. He then induced an easy ground out to third from Marco Scutaro and finished things off with a slow roller back to the mound from Carlos Gonzalez.
Seven pitches and it was over.
In the second inning, Bauer was just as good.
He got Troy Tulowitzki to ground to third, followed by Michael Cuddyer who did the same. Bauer finished the inning with a strike out from Tyler Colvin.
All told, he threw 22 pitches with 14 strikes and recorded two strike outs and four ground ball outs. No walks. No runners. No balls out of the infield.
Below is video of his warm up and first batter faced and here's video of his entire second inning:
- over 1 year ago
- Update
- 0 comments
Spring Training 2012: Kirk Gibson Outlines Goals For Trevor Bauer's First Start
The Arizona Diamondbacks are set to open the 2012 Spring Training schedule with two games. Half the team will be in Scottsdale facing the Giants and the other half will be at home at Salt River Fields taking on the Rockies. The eyes of the majority of the D-backs media are on the home game where rookie Trevor Bauer will get his first start in a Diamondbacks uniform.
Tyler Skaggs was scheduled to pitch first in this game with Bauer following, but Skaggs was a scratch due to shoulder soreness. No worries there though, as he was throwing to bases on game day and will pitch a bullpen session on Sunday.
"He's fine, he's fine," Kirk Gibson said.
As for Bauer, the priority is getting through the start healthy (of course) and getting him exposed to his first big league game.
"Can you just imagine what he's going through?" Gibby said. And he's not the only one excited. "Walking around today...there's some game faces today."
Bauer will likely go two innings depending on pitch count. With a split-squad schedule on opening day, some guys will play more than normal and that includes a lot of minor league players who haven't faced much live pitching.
