While it would be a historic and entirely unexpected run if the Arizona Diamondbacks make a push for the playoffs in the last two months of the season, there is still plenty to watch over the remainder of the 2025 season.
Namely, these two months will help shape what Arizona has to get done in the offseason to meet its goal of indeed contending in 2026.
How realistic that goal is will come down to a few positions and how much of a true “need” they become, depending on what is shown in August and September. The aftermath of the trades of Merrill Kelly, Eugenio Suarez and Josh Naylor leaves those positions open. Those spots and others were taken by young players who could fill needs beyond this year.
Yesterday, we took a look at those three obvious positions of need. Now let’s focus on two more position groups that have a lot of questions to answer.
What will we learn in 2025 about the Diamondbacks’ bullpen
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Brandyn Garcia (Getty Images)
Besides Locklear at first base, this is the portion of the D-backs’ depth chart that could get the most clarity for next year — even though we didn’t have any a few short weeks ago. Because Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk will miss at least a chunk of the 2026 season, while previous mainstays like Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson have had a mix of injuries and struggles this year. Jalen Beeks has been the only successful reliever over the whole season, and he’s an upcoming free agent.
It’s auditioning time.
Arizona acquired four relievers who possibly could all pitch for them this year. Left-hander Brandyn Garcia from the Naylor trade already has, while righty Andrew Hoffmann via the Randal Grichuk departure has made his D-back debut as well. Soon to follow should be at least one of Hunter Cranton and Juan Burgos, the sprinkles from the Suarez return that could prove to be quite important.
Garcia is pretty fascinating, the highest-rated reliever of the four. He spent most of college as a starter before transferring to Texas A&M as a senior and moving to a relief role. He got drafted in the fifth round in 2023 more on his talent than production, and then in 2024, he went back to starting and was a monster. In High-A and Double-A across 25 starts and 115 innings, he rocked a 2.25 ERA and 1.22 WHIP.
The conclusion, however, was that Garcia’s lack of consistency with location and a third pitch meant the bullpen was the place for him. That’s where Seattle sent him back to this year and he debuted in the majors in late July. After two outings for the D-backs, he was sent back to Reno, so Arizona must want more tweaking after getting a quick peek.
While Cranton was just drafted in 2024, the 24-year-old went in the third round as a lil’ trick to save money elsewhere but also to be ready to go. He was at High-A this season for Seattle and has been recovering from taking a comebacker to the head on March 7, with concussion symptoms still forcing him to miss action up to early July. He’s currently in Double-A and his overall numbers as a minor leaguer are great, with four earned runs allowed over 18.1 innings.
Burgos is the more seasoned of the two, a polar opposite of development who was signed all the way back in 2019. He just got to Double-A this year, and like Cranton, is someone experts project to be a mid-relief option. Interestingly, Burgos is tabbed as a prospect who could get stretched out eventually because of his athleticism, so keep an eye on that.
Hoffmann is the least regarded of the four, not ranked in Arizona’s top 30 prospects, but that hasn’t stopped young relievers from ironing out a bullpen spot before. The right-hander was a starter all through the minors until the middle of last season, so perhaps Arizona can untap some potential in him there.
Outfield
Diamondbacks outfielder Alex Thomas (Felisa Cardenas/Arizona Sports)
If there is a direct weakness for the D-backs to look to upgrade this upcoming offseason, it is not actually on the mound. Arizona’s production in the outfield from players not named Corbin Carroll has been rough. But in a way, it would be rather simple to give the team a sizable jump.
The OPS for Diamondbacks center fielders this year is .629, which ranks 24th in baseball and is 73 points below league average, one of two outfield spots weighing down one of the game’s premier offenses. Out of the 440 total plate appearances, 356 are from Alek Thomas (317, .709) and Jake McCarthy (39, .240).
Thomas, ranked as a top 20 prospect in baseball at the end of the 2021 season and ahead of Carroll at the time, typically makes up for this with Gold Glove-caliber defense but has had his most inconsistent year out there thus far. While he has still been good overall and might even be a finalist, the regression has been clear. His career OPS now sits at .648. Stretches like the one he’s currently having over the last week that have bumped his season number up 50 points are the type of spark from his bat that Arizona has to see more of.
McCarthy has a career OPS+ of +96, meaning he is just below league average as a hitter, numbers that are ballooned by an excellent second half in 2022 and all-around solid 2024. He is also good for 25 steals a season and grades out decently as a defender. The hope was that 2024 was McCarthy officially separating himself, but poor play from him toward the end of that season and this year has not fulfilled it.
Ultimately, Arizona has seen that duo for four seasons and should decide if it’s time to add a permanent center fielder to relegate both to a depth position. Both begin arbitration next year and have three seasons of control remaining.
In left, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. has a $13 million player option he presumably will pick up and then Arizona has a $14 million club option for 2027. Ideally, the D-backs would like for someone in the minors to be ready to supplant him by the time that last option comes up, and even more so hope to find a willing trade partner to take on his salary next season.
Gurriel is putting forth his first non-positive WAR (wins above replacement) season of his career, a number that had jumped to 0.0 after a two-homer night on Tuesday but now sits at -0.1. He is pacing for career lows in other key statistical categories as well, such as an OPS+ sitting below 100 for the first time (92). From an advanced numbers standpoint, the soon-to-be 32-year-old doesn’t have anything taking a drastic dip besides his defensive analytics.
As far as others who could get some September reps, no one’s really ready. Jorge Barrosa has been getting those looks in the meantime and will continue to, a solid prospect who never brought much expectations as a small, speedy contact hitter (sound familiar?) and a solid outcome for him would be as a reliable fourth outfielder.
When the D-backs planned out what their team for 2025 would look like three years ago, they definitely thought this would be around the time 2022 No. 2 overall pick Druw Jones would be in the picture. Instead, he isn’t even rated as a top 10 prospect in the system and through injuries has struggled to look capable enough offensively to get his elite defense on the field. He’s hitting .252 in High-A at the moment.
2024 first-round picks Slade Caldwell and Ryan Waldschmidt had fast enough starts as amateurs to hold a place as top-three prospects behind Lawlar. That is who Arizona presumably hopes is the long-term solution to this current predicament, but both are at least a whole year away.
