Diaz loves testing arm skills
BALTIMORE — Another test for Yainer Diaz arrived in Thursday's seventh inning. On a fullcount pitch to Austin Hays, the Orioles put Adam Frazier in motion from first base. Phil Maton's fastball clipped the outside corner for a called third strike. Diaz rose from his crouch and unleashed a throw to second that beat Frazier easily.
Frazier's gaze as he slid into Jose Altuve's tag oozed irritation. He became the third Orioles baserunner thrown out by Diaz on the day. Diaz punched the pocket of his glove a few times and nodded his head before lowering his mask. Asked later if he relishes teams running against him, Diaz gave a slight smile before answering.
“Yeah,” Diaz said through an interpreter. “I enjoy when they reach first base and I'm there just waiting for them to see if they're going to try to run. I definitely enjoy that.”
Diaz, the Astros' rookie receiver, is not a finished product behind the plate but has flashed a formidable throwing arm in his chances this season. Diaz has thrown out 12 of 30 would-be base-stealers, a 40 percent rate. The league average entering Thursday was 21 percent. He completed two strikeout-throw-out double plays Thursday and nabbed Adley Rutschman trying to take second on a pitch in the dirt.
Entering Thursday, only four major league catchers had a faster average pop time than Diaz this season on throws to second base, per Baseball Savant. Diaz was tied with Christian Bethancourt of the Rays for top average arm strength (85.4 mph) on throws to second. Diaz had compiled his numbers against runners averaging the shortest distance to second (53 feet) when the pitch crossed the plate among qualified catchers.
Catching comprises far more than arm strength. While Astros general manager Dana Brown has deemed Diaz the “frontline guy” to catch next season, Martín Maldonado commands the primary role right now, with no indication of that changing. Maldonado has caught all of Framber Valdez's starts this season and all but two of Cristian Javier's and earns praise in the clubhouse for his leadership and preparation.
Diaz caught rookie Hunter Brown's start Thursday, as he has done for much of the season, and offered a reminder of the impact he can also make on offense. Diaz was 2-for-5 with a solo homer against Orioles starter Dean Kremer and a ninth-inning RBI single off All-star closer Félix Bautista. He also grounded out, lined out and flied out, with three of five balls in play carrying an exit velocity of 97 mph or above.
While Diaz remains the clear backup at catcher, it reinforced the question of whether the Astros should prioritize keeping his bat in the lineup somewhere. Diaz owns an .815 OPS this season. Four Astros have a higher one: Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker and Chas Mccormick. Diaz has 15 home runs over 240 plate appearances, tied for fourth-most on the team.
Diaz drew the majority of starts at designated hitter while Alvarez missed 39 games to an oblique injury. With Alvarez back, Diaz has seen more sporadic playing time. Diaz has started seven of Houston's last 13 games, five at catcher and two at DH. He has also entered four games in that stretch as a late substitute. He is 12for-34 in that span, a .353 average, with four home runs.
“Whether I'm playing or not, just trying to maintain that same routine,” Diaz said. “There might be a couple days I go without playing but I go up there, step up to the plate, feel pretty good, see the ball well. And I feel on time.”
When Diaz is not catching, he could slot in at DH in games Alvarez starts in left field. Need could also arise elsewhere. First baseman José Abreu did not play Thursday due to his lower back “acting up,” said manager Dusty Baker. Abreu will be evaluated after the Astros return to Houston. If Abreu needed to miss time, Diaz has played 27 innings at first base for the Astros this season.
Baker does have another first-base option with more experience at the position now in Jon Singleton. Baker has also expressed some reservation before about
Diaz's defense at first base. Countering that, even if all three options are healthy and present, is Diaz's offense. Singleton has 38 plate appearances since 2015 in the majors. Abreu owns a .634 OPS this season and is 3-for-35 over his last nine games.
One wrinkle to Diaz's rookie season is his production at DH versus when he starts in the field. Diaz has a .208/.230/.359 slash line in 113 plate appearances as a DH, according to Baseball Reference. He's hitting .339 with nine homers in 122 plate appearances as a catcher and is 4-for-11 in his tiny first-base sample. Consistency could help Diaz's case to be a lineup regular.
His aggressiveness at the plate appears, at this point, accepted. Diaz has swung at more than 60 percent of pitches thrown him. He saw 10 pitches in five plate appearances Thursday. His last carried late drama. With the Astros down 5-3 in the ninth, Diaz faced Bautista with two out and the bases loaded. He fouled off a 101 mph fastball, then lined a 90 mph splitter off the glove of diving third baseman Ramón Urías.
Urías deflection, with Alex Bregman running from second base, might have prevented Bregman from at least trying to score the tying run. Bautista induced a pop-up from Singleton to end the game.
“Obviously, not an easy at-bat,” Diaz said. “But trying to get the barrel out front. He's a guy that throws extremely hard. Just went out and battled.”