The Diamondbacks are keeping Joe Mather in the fold.
Arizona is bringing back its hitting coach, who has held the job for the past five seasons after taking over following the 2021 campaign. During his run, the Diamondbacks’ offense has generally been one of the more disciplined groups in the sport, drawing walks at a high rate and striking out less than many clubs around them.
The production has been substantial, too. From 2024 through 2026, only the Los Angeles Dodgers scored more runs than Arizona’s 2,416. The Diamondbacks led the league in runs in 2024 and finished sixth in 2025.
This past season was less smooth across the board. Arizona still tied for ninth in MLB in scoring, but the offense found another gear over the final eight games, piling up 59 runs.
The trouble spots were clear: the club struggled against right-handed pitching and didn’t deliver enough with runners in scoring position. The blame, as the reporting notes, has been shared between the roster construction and the coaching.
That larger conversation about how Arizona gets back to the postseason is already in full swing, and one theme keeps coming up: payroll. Ken Kendrick wants to trim it, but one view around the club is that Arizona can’t afford to dump too much quality talent just to save money. The farm system, according to that assessment, simply isn’t strong enough for that kind of move.
There is young talent moving up, though, with Ryan Waldschmidt and Tommy Troy among the recent names reaching the majors. Even so, the system still isn’t being put in the same conversation as the Brewers’ or the Rays’.
On the prospect side, Demetrio Crisantes continues chasing his MLB dream in the Arizona Fall League. His path started with a childhood split between soccer and baseball until he was 11, when his father and assistant coach, Miguel, made him choose one.
Once baseball won out, Miguel went “all-in” for his son. The family’s produce warehouse in Nogales, packed with tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers, was cut in half with a blue tarp, and the other side became a baseball training gym for the community.
That setup turned into a pipeline, and Crisantes is one of the results.
Elsewhere in the organization, there’s already a sense that some rookies are ready for more. Arizona used prospects throughout the 2026 season in its unsuccessful push for a playoff spot, and a few stood out enough to become rookies rather than just call-up fill-ins. Three of those players are expected to get meaningful playing time in 2027, and maybe beyond.
Around the league, Milwaukee kept doing Milwaukee things in Game 1, beating the Dodgers with the same style that made them the season’s win leader. Even with Tarik Skubal dealing early, the Brewers found the go-ahead run in the fifth through a textbook bit of small ball: Garrett Mitchell walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on Cooper Pratt’s sacrifice bunt and scored on rookie Luis Lara’s single up the middle.
And in the ALCS, the Rays-Guardians matchup is being framed as an out-making, pitch-throwing, defense-first series. The payroll gap is obvious, with the Yankees opening the season at $302.8 million and Tampa Bay at $90.5 million in the prior round, while Cleveland sat even lower at $75.5 million.
Still, both clubs lean on the same formula: contact, speed, fundamentals and pitching. As Kevin Cash put it, “I do think there’s more similarities than not,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said Sunday.
“I feel Cleveland does mirror us or we mirror them. And I say that with the utmost respect to them, the way they develop pitching, the way they think about the game.”
And then there’s the eternal question from the stands: what do you do with a baseball you catch? NPR’s answer came with a little parenthood and a little honesty - keep it, give it away, or, if it’s the right ball, treat it like something worth far more than a souvenir.