Diamondbacks 2023 Player Review: Austin Adams

The reliever started hot before suffering a fractured ankle in August that ended his season and time with the D-backs.

This article is part of a series of player reviews for the 2023 Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a surprising and marvelous year for the team as they won 84 games to make the postseason. They advanced all the way to Game Five of the World Series before bowing out to the Texas Rangers. There are 54 players in all that had at least one at-bat or pitched at least one inning for the team this past season. They are being presented in reverse order of their aWAR (average WAR-Wins Above Replacement) produced, which is the average of Baseball Reference and Fangraphs WAR. These are their season stories.

Austin Adams has had a productive career as a reliever, but his 2023 numbers left some to be desired / Jake Oliver

Austin Adams was a buy-low free agent signing last off-season for General Manager Mike Hazen and the Diamondbacks. They were hoping he would be able to return from his shoulder injury and recapture his strong run of performance from 2019 to 2021. He rehabbed the injury until May 20th when he was activated and made his season debut and Diamondbacks' debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Over 0.2 innings, he didn't allow a base-runner.

This kicked off a strong run of results for Adams. From May 20th to June 18th, Adams' first 11 appearances, he had just a 1.08 ERA and 2.06 FIP. He had given up just five hits, one run, three walks, and struck out 11 batters in 8.1 innings. Most of this production came in the later innings as all but three of these appearances were in the 7th inning or later.

However, on June 20th, at Milwaukee, Adams gave up three runs in an inning and that started to turn the tide on his season. From June 20th to July 8th, a span of six games and four innings, Adams was struggling to prevent runs despite strong underlying stats. He gave up four runs and three walks in that span, but had struck out seven batters. During this time, he had a 9.00 ERA and 2.76 FIP.

On July 14th, the wheels came fully off for Adams. He gave up four runs, three earned, against the Blue Jays. His next time out consisted of a blown save with two more runs given up. He did finish somewhat strong to end his season as four of his five final outings were scoreless.

On August 1st, against the Giants in the 8th inning, Adams was hit by a line drive hit off the bat of Joc Pederson. He had to leave the game with help walking to the dugout. Soon after, Adams was placed on the 60-day injured list due to a fractured ankle.

2024 Status and Outlook:

Austin Adams continued to be a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks until this off-season. The team needed room on their 40-man roster and decided to outright Adams in order to make space. Due to Adams' having enough service time, he had the ability to refuse the assignment and become a free agent. He decided to go that route and is now a free agent pitcher. For any team that signs him, they will get him for at least two seasons. This is due to him being at just 4+ years of service time. Were he to remain in  MLB all of next year, he wouldn't be a free agent until after 2025. Only time will tell as to where the 32-year-old right-handed reliever will be pitching in 2024 and beyond.

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