Why are the Diamondbacks Hitters Slumping?

Facing the Dodgers and Padres the last 10 games has sent the D-backs hitters into a tailspin. What's gone wrong?

© Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The Diamondbacks offense has been slumping of late. Over their last 10 games, facing the Dodgers six times and the Padres four times, they are 3-7 and have averaged just 2.5 runs per game. That's after scoring 10 runs in yesterday's double header split with the Dodgers, helped along by six errors from the opposing defense. 

As a team they've batted .180 over this stretch and have drawn just 13 walks while striking out a whopping 91 times. While not everyone is slumping all at once, most of the D-backs young hitters have been struggling mightily to adjust to the good pitching they've been facing the last 10 games. 

Fangraphs

As can bee seen in the chart above, other than Corbin Carroll, who has been slashing the ball all over the field in limited opportunities, every other rookie on the team is mired in a deep slump. Geraldo Perdomo, Alek Thomas, Stone Garrett, Cooper Hummel, Emmanuel Rivera, and Jake McCarthy are a combined 16 for 129, .124 B.A. 

Third year player Daulton Varsho and veteran Ketel Marte have been doing well. Christian Walker has three homers but other than that, has not been collecting hits or getting on base. Josh Rojas and Jordan Luplow are also in deep slumps. 

It appears the entire team has suddenly gotten away from an all fields approach. There are just too many home run swings and too much chasing out of the zone. They all seem to be in swing mode all the time, trying to pull the ball.  Opposing pitchers are all too willing to throw them curveballs and changeups in the dirt or sliders away, and let them get themselves out. 

A major casualty of this failure to take what is given to them and get on base is they are unable to use their speed to disrupt opposing pitchers and defenses. 

While "small ball" doesn't generally correlate well with high scoring offenses, it's still important for an athletic team like the Diamondbacks to maximize those strategies. For the most part they've done that successfully this season. In fact Arizona is 7th in MLB with 499 walks. They lead all of MLB in successful productive outs percentage, 32.4% vs league average 26.9%. That includes not only sacrifice bunts, but also moving runners up in other ways. They lead MLB in Base running runs above average, with +13. They even have a low double play percentage per opportunity, hitting into a double play 9.1% of DP chances, compared to league average 10.1%.  In summary, they have been a team that does a lot of the little things right to squeeze out as much advantage as they can from their youth and speed.

But when nobody is getting on base, like lately, the opportunity to apply that pressure goes away. Over the last 10 games the D-backs have stolen just three bases while getting caught twice. They've not executed a single sacrifice bunt and have just two sacrifice flies. 

To be fair, they've faced some great pitching in these 10 games, indeed some of the best the NL West has to offer.  They've gone against Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Anderson two times each, and had to face Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, and Joe Musgrove as well. But instead of sticking to their approaches and applying what they do best, it seems like the hitters succumbed to the pressure of facing such tough opponents and fell into the trap of trying to out slug L.A. and San Diego. 

It's a hard game, and hitting a baseball may be the most difficult thing to do in sports. If the D-backs are going to take the next step forward, they have to figure it out. This is not the brand of baseball this young athletic team should be playing. But until they get back to using all fields, taking pitches out of the zone and taking their base on balls, their speed will be locked in the batters box and in the well worn path back to the dugout.