Could Zack Greinke throw to a leftyrighty catcher platoon this season?
After throwing to Alex Avila on Sunday afternoon, Diamondbacks righthander Zack Greinke now has matched up with each of the four catchers in the running for a roster spot.
While he is expected to wield significant influence on which catcher he primarily throws to this season, Greinke not only said he doesn’t have a preference, he once again told reporters he’s open to throwing to multiple catchers.
“One guy is always ideal, but I like offense,” Greinke said. “If it makes a lot of sense to do a lefty/righty platoon, then, I mean, I like scoring runs. That’s fine, too.”
By and large, Greinke has had a personal catcher in each of his three seasons with the Diamondbacks. He matched up with Welington Castillo in 2016 and mostly with Jeff Mathis each of the past two years. This spring, Greinke has thrown to Carson Kelly, John Ryan Murphy and Caleb Joseph in addition to Avila.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo has said at multiple points this spring that he appreciates Greinke’s offer of playing matchups but likely will continue to pair him with one catcher.
“I feel like he’s brilliant and has an incredible gift of game-planning and it’s a very, very strategic, planned-out process with him,” Lovullo said. “Once that catcher gets in tune with him and gets that connection, Zack builds a lot of trust. Zack needs to worry about less and pitch more sometimes. I want to put him in a good situation every time I can.”
Greinke said he plans to “for the most part” let the coaches and front office “pick what they think is best.”
“I would guess they probably would ask me and if I told them really strongly there was someone I liked, I would think there’s at least a 50/50 chance they would listen to me,” he said. “But I don’t have much of a preference. So we’ll see.”
Lovullo said it’s possible that in Greinke’s final spring start later this week he will be matched up with the catcher he’ll be paired with all season.
Lamb exits
Diamondbacks first baseman Jake Lamb departed Sunday’s game against the White Sox after three innings due to back tightness.
Lovullo said Lamb mentioned feeling discomfort after flying out to right field in the second inning.
“He’s going to come in tomorrow (Monday), get reevaluated,” Lovullo said. “I can’t predict how much time (he’ll miss) or if there’s time, but we’re going to see what’s going on over the next couple of games.”
Lovullo said there were no immediate plans for Lamb to undergo an MRI.
Short hops
Outfielder Adam Jones played the field for the first time in an intrasquad game on Sunday morning. It was his third consecutive day of getting at-bats. Lovullo said Jones will do some work in the trainers’ room on the club’s off day on Monday and is expected to make his Cactus League debut on Tuesday night against the San Diego Padres.
*Outfielder Jarrod Dyson played in a Cactus League game for the first time this spring on Sunday, walking in both of his plate appearances. He played both right field and center field. Dyson was delayed by a strained left oblique.
Diamondbacks (ss) 7, White Sox 3
C Alex Avila and 3B Eduardo Escobar each connected for their first home run of the spring. Avila hit his on a line to the opposite field in the third inning. Escobar’s came in the fourth on a high fly ball. RF Marcus Wilson, one of the club’s top outfield prospects, drilled a two-run home run in the eighth off White Sox RHP Nate Jones. “It looks like the game is coming together for him,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “I know when he first got into the system the talent was there and he was very raw. He worked extremely hard, I know, in the offseason to get that offensive approach solidified. He climbs on a fastball at the top of the zone from a major league closer, that’s a very good sign.”
RHP Zack Greinke gave up three runs in 5 2/3 innings in his penultimate spring training outing. Greinke built his pitch count to 85, getting him where he needs to be for the start of the regular season. “It was pretty good command, especially fastball command was really good,” Greinke said. “Located a lot of really good pitches. Located them in and down and away.” Greinke said he was working on throwing a harder slider, a pitch he thought had promise during his most recent bullpen session, but he didn’t like the results on Sunday. “I’ll probably go back to the normal one,” he said. RHP Yoan Lopez worked a scoreless eighth inning, retiring the side on 12 pitches with one strikeout.
Escobar made a nice barehanded pickup and throw on a bunt by SS Ryan Goins in the fifth inning. 1B Yasmany Tomas snared a line drive in the sixth inning and doubled a runner off first base.
Rangers 7, Diamondbacks (ss) 2
The Diamondbacks, fielding a lineup mostly of backups, did not manage much offensively, though 1B Christian Walker and CF Socrates Brito both had a pair of singles. Ray was asked