Current Diamondbacks Relievers Who Might Contribute in 2023

These relievers have performed well in some situations and could be a part of next year's bullpen.

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As Jack Sommers wrote last week, the Diamondbacks bullpen has not performed well in the past three seasons. Moving forward, the question is what can they do in order to fix what's been an Achilles heel for the team in 2022. This will be the first in a five part series taking a deep dive into the various avenues the team may explore to fix the bullpen for 2023 

• Current relievers on MLB roster who can compete for a 2023 role
• Current relievers in minor league system who may contribute
• Starting pitcher conversion to reliever candidates in the system
• External trade targets
• Free agents

Part 1: Current relievers on MLB roster who can compete for a 2023 role

Of the current relievers on the roster, there are a few that have performed well enough to get a chance to be in next year's bullpen. Few of these pitchers are likely to be considered great options for high-leverage outs, but if given a clean slate or favorable matchup situation they can contribute important bullpen innings going forward.

Kevin Ginkel 

Ginkel is one of the few cases where the stuff plays, but the command and results have been inconsistent. He has swing-and-miss stuff with upper 90s velocity that has tailing action. He also has a sharp-breaking slider. The issue in the past has been that he leaves his fastball in hittable locations early in the count. It has gotten better this year, but he still needs to improve on quality of contact against the heater or utilize his slider more to keep hitters off balance. I believe he's one or two adjustments away from being a reliable setup reliever and perhaps the secondary option as the closer.

Joe Mantiply

Mantiply is a solid lefty to have in any bullpen although he's more of a left-handed setup option than a fireman reliever. He throws plenty of strikes and has the stuff to play against right and left-handed hitters, but may be better suited to start with a clean inning or a potential left-on-left matchup to close an inning.  His 46% inherited runners scored rate is the highest on the team and 12 percentage points higher than league average. There may be situations where he might be a useful option to close on nights the normal closer is unavailable and there's a potential inning where he matches up against left-handed hitters.

Reyes Moronta 

Moronta was a late-season waiver wire pickup who has decent stuff but perhaps is another reliever who is more useful in a setup or matchup role instead of closing. He can be overpowering at times with a fastball that is around 95-97. He also has a slider and changeup from a funky arm angle. The biggest factor working against him may be his physique, as Moronta is listed at 5'10" 265, which could present issues with consistent command of his fastball and slider. 

Kyle Nelson 

Nelson pitched well as a matchup left-hander in the D-backs bullpen before his season was derailed by injuries. His slider is particularly difficult to pick up left-on-left, although Nelson could also serve to incorporate more fastballs to the edge of the strike zone to keep hitters guessing. The best situations to deploy him would be against a left-handed heavy lineup again.

Caleb Smith

Smith is a bit of an enigma, continually showing inconsistent results although with improved run prevention as a reliever. On days he can find the strike zone, Smith can eat up two to three innings at a time to save the bullpen when other players might be unavailable. Historically he's fared better against left-handed hitters than right-handed hitters, with that split being more extreme in 2022. Like Nelson, the best situation to utilize Smith is piggybacking off a right-handed starter against a lineup that will is stacked with multiple  left-handed hitters.  

These five pitchers have proven to be capable when put into medium leverage, matchup, or setup situations but have struggled in high leverage situations. Mantiply and Moronta have had the most success in getting some high leverage outs this season, but aren't consistent at that. That's an area the team will need to address in the off-season so the rest of the relievers can settle into roles they're more comfortable in.