Diamondbacks 2023 Player Reviews: Seby Zavala

The backup catcher only spent a month with the team, but was a key piece of an important trade with Seattle

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 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.

Seby Zavala stats with the 2023 D-backs and overall in his career / Jake Oliver

Seby Zavala started his career and 2023 season off with the Chicago White Sox. He struggled mightily with the White Sox in 2023 appearing in 66 games before being placed on waivers. Over those 66 games, Zavala hit just .155/.207/.304/.511 with just a 37 OPS+. He did have seven home runs and 16 RBI.

Soon after MLB rosters expanded, the Diamondbacks claimed Zavala off of waivers to serve as the new backup catcher to Gabriel Moreno. It was clear that the D-backs were not satisfied with Jose Herrera as the backup. However, since Zavala joined the team after September 1st, he was unable to serve as the backup catcher for Arizona's magical postseason run.

Zavala got into seven games with Arizona over his month-stay with the club. He started hot with two hits apiece in each of his first two games. Overall, he had five hits in seven games including a double. Zavala looked like the leading option to be the team's backup catcher heading into the 2024 season.

2024 Status and Outlook:

Seby Zavala is under club control through the 2028 season despite already being 30 years old. His upside is limited to that of a backup catcher. This is why the D-backs and GM Mike Hazen were easily able to trade him and prospect Carlos Vargas for third baseman Eugenio Suarez. The Diamondbacks needed a starting third baseman badly. Eugenio Suarez was extremely cheap to acquire due to his contract and the Mariners wanting to shed payroll. Thanks to that, Zavala is now set up to be the Seattle Mariners' backup catcher for the 2024 season. Meanwhile, Suarez is the D-backs' starting third baseman. 

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