Arizona Diamondbacks Collector/Talk Thread

Patrick Corbin leads the majors in strikeouts (20) & wins!

2018 Season: 2-0, 1.38 ERA (2.38 FIP/1.23 xFIP), 13 IP, 20 K:2 BB, 0.77 WHIP

It feels good to have swept a series against the Dodgers this early in the season.

What happened to the velocity on Ray guns 4-seam fastball? It's been sitting around 91-92 most of the night. Last season he was consistently hitting 95-96 & reaching as high as 98-99.

My other concern is the fact that he hasn't been able to locate his pitches for strikes.

But the massive dip in velocity worries me the most. Doesn't even look like the same pitcher. It's still early in the season I suppose.

While he may not of had his best stuff tonight, Robbie Rays puts up a quality start with a decent amount of strikeouts & little contact (just way too many walks)

Robbie Ray - 6 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 5 BB, 9 K

D-Backs now have the best record in the NL!

Robbie gets his 2nd win of the young season

This just in......Braves take an early lead against the Red Birds!

1-0 DBacks

Runners on 1st & 3rd with only 1 out and Descalso at the plate

Wacha walks his 3rd batter of the inning and bases are loaded with only 1 out.

Chris Owings at the plate

LLLLLLLAAAAAAAAMMMMMMEEEEEEEE

Greinke gives up a run so it's a tie ball game again.

Oh no...Greinke has allowed runners on 1st & 3rd with nobody out.

The Cards are about to take the lead this inning. Most we can hope for is a tied game.

D-Backs take the Cardinals series and are now 7-2 on the season! Tied for best record in the NL

What an unassuming bunch but in the early going the D-Backs have the best starting five in baseball, IMO.

WCTYSON said:

What an unassuming bunch but in the early going the D-Backs have the best starting five in baseball, IMO.

Click to expand...

Maybe for now but I don't see it continuing that course throughout the entire season. I still think they'll finish the season as possibly one of the top 3 (or 5) rotations in the majors. A lot of it comes down to Greinke. Are we going to see more of the 2017 season Greinke or will he revert back to 2016 Greinke?

I expect Robbie Ray to improve throughout the season as he did last year. Right now the velocity of his fastball has been down from last year, I mean majorly down. In his last start his 4 seam fastball was consistently in the 91-93 range. Last year it was consistently hitting 94-96 and even touching 97-99 at times. It could be one of two things...his command has been pretty awful in the early goings so maybe he's been tossing a slower fastball in order to more accurately hit his spots. Or it could just be early in the season and his arm isn't at full strength yet.

Patrick Corbin has been outstanding now that he's been using his best pitch (slider) much more often. There is an article in fangraphs regarding this. His fastball velocity has also gained back a couple MPH to it, as it was pre-TJ injury. He's a wild card. I don't know if I should expect more of this or if he'll regress back to his career numbers.

Taijuan Walker can be really good or really average, depending on the start.

The biggest surprise has been Zack Godley. Nobody expected him to pitch like he did last year, heck nobody really expected him to become a full time starter, just a bullpen arm with some spot starts here and there.

All in all, I do love our current rotation and wouldn't make any changes to it.

What the??? Patrick Corbin is pitching like an emerging ace early in the season. Yet another strikeout fest...5 k's in the first 2 IP.

Puts his season total to 25 thru 15 IP! 1.83 FIP/0.76 xFIP

This MFer is fun to watch right now! I don't know if he can keep it up but this is crazy good. If the pitching holds up and the hitting gets consistent the dodgers could have real trouble on their hands. I hope Godley puts together a full season, I've likes him since he came up. I picked him off waivers his first year for my fantasy team and he really helped out. I always keep a soft spot for guys like that.

bstanwood said:

This MFer is fun to watch right now! I don't know if he can keep it up but this is crazy good. If the pitching holds up and the hitting gets consistent the dodgers could have real trouble on their hands. I hope Godley puts together a full season, I've likes him since he came up. I picked him off waivers his first year for my fantasy team and he really helped out. I always keep a soft spot for guys like that.

Click to expand...

It's too bad Corbin fell apart in the 6th inning. He lost his command and walked too many batters that ended up scoring. It was odd because he's had great control from the start of the season up until that inning. He finished with a no decision & his overall season numbers still look great: 2.45 ERA/1.91 FIP/1.11 xFIP with a 29 K:4 BB rate & 14.2 K/9. His 29 strikeouts lead the majors (think about that, more than Kluber & Scherzer!). In all honesty, I do not expect him to be able to keep up with this pace...I expect some regression but if he can finish the season closer to how he did in 2013 I'll be very happy. His strikeout numbers have increased so significantly because he's using his slider much more often, in fact even more than his fastball (kinda like what McCullers does) & his slider has been deadly, by far his best pitch. Speaking of his fastball, he's added a little more velocity to that pitch as well.

And speaking of Godley, he leads the majors in K:BB rate and ranks 3rd in the NL with WHIP

Corbin leads the majors in both strikeouts & K/9

Goldy's power has started to show...back-to-back games with a HR. His batting average is also starting to peak above the Mendoza line but remains at .190 after the game. His OPS was actually over .800 for a sec. These are certainly good signs.

The D-Backs take the series and are now 9-3. Their best start to the season in 10 years.

Zack Godley leads the league in ERA (0.64), ERA+ (674), HR/9 (0.0), K/BB (12.00) & tied in wins (2). He currently has an 0.7 rWAR/0.6 fWAR.

Patrick Corbin leads the league in strikeouts (29), K/9 (14.2) & tied for wins (2). He currently has an 0.5 rWAR/0.6 fWAR.

If you would have told me these would be our best pitchers thru the first couple weeks I'd only half believe you. Godley sure, but not Corbin. I would have assumed something like Greinke & Ray.

Last year it was Shelby Miller and now.....Taijuan Walker with an injury to the UCL ligament. Will likely require TJ surgery. Ugh....

It's not like this is a HUGE blow to the team (he's been injured so often since joining the team) but it certainly hurts.