Like fine wine...
The great C.S. Lewis once said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” These 3 Diamondbacks players look to live by this quote as they go into the 2023 season the oldest players on this Arizona ball club…
Diamondbacks oldest current player: RP Mark Melancon (37 years and 10 months old)
Melancon has been around for a long time. This season in fact will mark his 15th season in the MLB. An achievement not a lot of professional athletes can claim. Melancon has pitched for 9 different ball clubs in the span of those 15 seasons. Overall, he has a record of 37-40, an ERA of 2.94, and he has recorded 262 saves. Quite an illustrious career out of the bullpen if I do say so myself…
From an ERA and BAA standpoint, last season was a rough one for Melancon. Melancon however, was clutch when he needed to be for the Diamondbacks. In 10 save opportunities at home last season, Melancon recorded 9 saves. In 11 save opportunities on the road, Melancon recorded 9 saves; Overall, Melancon recorded 18 saves out of 21 opportunities. 18 out of 21, Arizona, you have yourself an elite veteran closer for the 2023 season…
Diamondbacks 2nd oldest current player: 3B Evan Longoria (37 years and 4 months old)
Like Melancon, Longoria is 37 years old, and also like Melancon, Longoria has been around for a while. 2023 will mark Evan’s 16th season in the MLB. Longoria spent his first 10 seasons in the bigs with the Tampa Bay Rays. In 2018, the San Fransico Giants signed him as a free agent. He would then go on to play 3 seasons with the Giants before signing with the Diamondbacks this offseason. Saying that Longoria has had an amazing career might be a little bit of an understatement. Over the course of 1,912 games, he has hit 331 HRs, 1,131 RBIs, and has scored 992 times. He also has a career slash line of .265/.334/.472; bringing his OPS to .806. Oh yeah, on top of that, he has won 3 gold glove awards, appeared in 3 all-star games, and has a silver slugger title. Quite the career for Longo…
This will be Longoria’s first season with the D-Backs. He is coming off a season where he played 89 games, hitting 14 home runs and knocking in 42 runs. He slashed .244/.315/.451; bringing his OPS to .766. Yes, he is not the player he once was, but a .766 OPS over 89 games is nothing to scoff at. Any big league team would love to have an infielder that can field his position well and put up those kinds of numbers at the plate. Let’s see how the veteran third basemen performs in his 16th season overall, simultaneously his first season in Arizona…
Diamondbacks 3rd oldest current player: SP Madison Bumgarner (33 years old)
Madison broke into the league when he was just 20 years old. Debuting in 2009, 2023 will be Bumgarner’s 15th season in the league. For the first 11 seasons of Bumgarner’s career, he pitched for the San Fransisco Giants. As a part of the Giants, Madison won 3 world series titles, 2 silver slugger awards, appeared in 4 all-star games, and won an NLCS and WS MVP award…
With the Giants, he had a total record of 119-92 and a 3.13 ERA over 1,844 innings pitched. With the Diamondbacks, he has a total record of 15-29 and a 4.99 ERA over 346 innings pitched. Obviously, two sides to the coin with Bumgarner. Hopefully, for Madison and the Diamondbacks, 2023 can be a bounce-back year, and Madison can dominate on the mound as he once did…