The Arizona Republic

D-Backs take chance on Gallen

Rival NL scout: ‘Hazen crushed it’ with the trade

- Nick Piecoro

During last weekend’s series at Marlins Park, right-hander Zac Gallen and catcher Carson Kelly, former teammates during their time in the St. Louis Cardinals organizati­on, caught up on each other’s lives after both had changed teams.

One thing that came up during their conversati­on: Kelly’s adjustment to life in Arizona with the Diamondbac­ks. Neither had any idea how on-point that topic would turn out to be.

“It was kind of ironic that we talked about that only a few days before what happened,” Gallen said.

Two days later, Gallen was traded from the Miami Marlins to the Diamondbac­ks in exchange for shortstop prospect Jazz Chisholm, a deal that was overshadow­ed by that afternoon’s Zack Greinke blockbuste­r but is fascinatin­g in its own right.

The trade is something of a first for the Mike Hazen regime. Never before has the Diamondbac­ks general manager parted with a prospect believing there is at least some chance he is giving up a star. Chisholm has question marks, but he also has immense talent.

That the Diamondbac­ks would give him up speaks to how highly they view Gallen, who will debut for his new team on Wednesday night against the Philadelph­ia Phillies.

In the Diamondbac­ks’ eyes, Gallen checked off all the proverbial boxes. Their scouts liked the quality of his fourpitch mix, his command and control, his ability to dial up his fastball when he needed to. They liked his mound presence, the way he competed.

The team’s analytics staff also liked what it saw. There was his ability to get swings and misses in multiple locations, his strike-throwing with multiple pitches and the way his pitches “tunneled” – that is, looked the same out of his hand before revealing themselves closer to the plate.

By virtue of a dominant start to the year in Triple-A New Orleans, followed by seven solid starts in the majors to begin his big league career, Gallen’s perception in the industry seems to have gone from a pitcher many saw a backend starter to someone who might be more than that.

“He’s great; Hazen crushed it,” a rival scout with a National League club said. “He’s got plus command of all four of his pitches, very good feel, knows how to pitch. And all four pitches are at least average, maybe plus.”

Gallen sat in the home dugout at Chase Field on Saturday and talked to reporters about being dealt for the second time before the age of 24 – barely. He turned 24 on Saturday. Gallen, who was part of the Cardinals’ Marcell Ozuna trade with the Marlins in December 2017, hopes he has found a home with the Diamondbac­ks.

He pointed to a handful of adjustment­s he believes have helped him find success this season, including lowering his arm slot and refining both his cutter and change-up. The latter pitch has been perhaps his most effective, inducing swinging strikes 25 percent of the time.

“I got a good piece of advice last year when I was kind of tinkering with it that you can never throw it too hard,” Gallen said. “That’s kind of where I started from to gain that feel back for it. And I just try to recreate as much as I can from my fastball look.”

Chisholm is viewed as a sort of high risk/high reward asset. He can be an explosive player. His swing generates easy power. He has the tools to stick at shortstop. But he also was hitting just .204 with 123 strikeouts in 314 at-bats in Double-A at the time of the deal.

To this point, the best player Hazen has parted with in a trade is outfielder Mitch Haniger. His success with the Seattle Mariners came as a surprise to many, including the Diamondbac­ks. Chisholm’s situation feels different.

But the Diamondbac­ks felt they needed to address their rotation depth, both for this year and the near future. They also felt they were dealing from a position of strength at shortstop, where they have multiple options at the big league level (Nick Ahmed, Ketel Marte) and other intriguing prospects (namely, Geraldo Perdomo) beyond Chisholm.

“Seems like an even trade to me,” said another National League scout familiar with both players. “Chisholm might have more upside. I like him. But Gallen is a more certain commodity. Two teams that wanted to address a clear need.”

 ?? ROSS D. FRANKLIN/AP ?? Diamondbac­ks shortstop Nick Ahmed arrives back at the dugout to celebrate with teammate David Peralta after hitting a home run against the Washington Nationals during the second inning of Saturday night’s game at Chase Field. The Diamondbac­ks won 18-7.
ROSS D. FRANKLIN/AP Diamondbac­ks shortstop Nick Ahmed arrives back at the dugout to celebrate with teammate David Peralta after hitting a home run against the Washington Nationals during the second inning of Saturday night’s game at Chase Field. The Diamondbac­ks won 18-7.

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