3 Diamondbacks pitchers who need to step up in the World Series
Who's struggled the most this postseason?
In one of the most surprising upsets of the 2023 season, the sixth seeded Arizona Diamondbacks snatched a Game 7 win and a trip to the World Series from the jaws of the Refuse to Lose Philadelphia Phillies. It wasn't a perfect set by any means, though — the Dbacks went down 2-0 early and then barely eked out two victories at home to stay alive.
The usually self-assured Diamondbacks looked spotty even when they came out on top, and some of their biggest names had bats that fell silent or threw pitches that were left hanging. Game 2 was the biggest blight, when Aaron Nola and the Philadelphia bullpen put together a shutout, and then the Phillies bats put up 10 runs for good measure. It was a preview for some shaky Diamondbacks pitching throughout the series, even and sometimes especially from their brightest stars.
There were a couple of notable exceptions; though he struggled in Game 2, Merrill Kelly's five innings and eight Ks in Game 6 kept the Phillies from roaring back to take the series, and rookie Brandon Pfaadt's 5 2/3 innings in Game 3 kept the Phillies down in an incredibly close, low scoring game across the board. In the closer role, Paul Sewald also saw only one hit and zero runs in four appearances.
Whose pitching performances need to improve for the Diamondbacks?
With Game 1 of the World Series just days away, Arizona's starting pitching and its bullpen all need to step it up if they're going to stand a chance against Adolis Garcia and the Texas Rangers. Like the Phillies, the Rangers win games by crushing the ball. If the Diamondbacks keep leaving curveballs hanging and giving up four pitch walks, there won't be much of a fight. Here are four Dbacks pitchers who need to get it together by Friday.
Zac Gallen
Zac Gallen is one of the most talented young pitchers in baseball, and one of my favorites to watch. His pitch arsenal is diverse and he's methodical about his sequences, which made the shock of watching the Phillies get eight hits and three home runs off of him in Game 1, then six and two in Game 5, all the more palpable.
Through the 2023 regular season, Gallen's dominance couldn't be understated. With 210 innings pitched and 220 strikeouts, he ranked sixth among league-wide strikeout leaders. In 2022, he developed a reputation for being literally unhittable when he put up the seventh longest scoreless inning streak in MLB history with 44 1/3 innings pitched through August and September. In his two starts in the NLCS this year, he only managed to K five batters and gave up nine earned runs.
As Arizona's ace, not to mention the National League's All-Star starter this year, he needs to be a tone setter and get back to throwing the confounding pitches he's known for. More than any of Arizona's other pitchers, much of the Dback's success in the World Series will depend on Gallen.
Joe Mantiply
Former All-Star Joe Mantiply's appearance in Game 2 only lasted a third of an inning, but featured two Phillies doubles, which allowed them to extend their lead over the Diamondbacks by three runs. He took over from Merrill Kelly, who already struggled in his 5 2/3 innings pitched against Philly, and did nothing to stop the hemorrhaging. Mantiply's three subsequent appearances in the NLCS showed signs of improvement; he pitched a mostly clean full inning in Game 4 and 2/3 of one in Game 7.
Consistency is going to need to be the key for Mantiply going into the World Series; as an almost everyday bullpen guy who the Rangers haven't seen much of throughout the season, he'll have to stop giving up some scary doubles the next guy has to clean up.
Andrew Saalfrank
Andrew Saalfrank's performances throughout the postseason have actually been pretty respectable; with 3 1/3 pitched cumulatively, he's only allowed three hits. But he does have a weakness: he's been walking batters. To be fair, Saalfrank is a rookie who was only called up at the beginning of September, and his 10 1/3 innings pitched during the regular season were almost spotless (only two earned runs given up on seven hits).
However, with eight walks over his postseason innings, he's walked more hitters he's faced than any other Dbacks bullpen pitcher this postseason. His three back-to-back-to-back walks to Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, and then Bryce Harper in Game 4 loaded the bases and led to a two run single by Alec Bohm to put the Phillies up 4-2. It's unsavory situations like this that the Dbacks won't be able to afford in the World Series.
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