D-backs' Kevin Newman Shows Off Daughter's Cleat Artwork

The D-backs' utility infielder talks about his young daughter's contributions to his Players' Weekend gear, as well as his team's momentum and work ethic.

Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Kevin Newman shows off his Daughter, Addison's handiwork on his MLB Players' Weekend cleats. | Jack Sommers, Diamondbacks ON SI / Jack Sommers, Diamondbacks ON SI

Arizona Diamondbacks utility infielder Kevin Newman has been a steady, reliable presence on both sides of the plate this year.

But during MLB's Players' Weekend, he had a little more behind him.

August 16-18 this season was officially recognized as Players' Weekend, where players were encouraged to show their style and overall personality to the MLB world. Players frequently don quirky, and possibly even outlandish gear, all in the spirit of the love of baseball.

The Diamondbacks were on the road that weekend. In fact, it was a forgettable one for the D-backs as a whole, as they were swept out of Tropicana Field by the Tampa Bay Rays.

But it wasn't forgettable for a certain three-year-old girl.

Newman's young daughter, Addison, watched happily as her dad took the field, but she had more to look at than just her dad's plate discipline and defense.

Before hitting the road, Newman had obtained a pair of white cleats, and gave his daughter a chance to express her artistic creativity.

“[I] let her do whatever she wanted. I didn’t even stick to any color, anything specific,” Newman said.

The cleats are decorated with a myriad of colors, with "2024 Players' Weekend" inscribed on the side. Newman said it was a chance for Addison to watch not only her dad, but also see her very own creation on TV.

Kevin Newman's custom cleats / Jack Sommers, Diamondbacks ON SI

“I thought it’d be cool for her… she watches all of our games and stuff, and to be able to look up on the TV and just see, you know like ‘I painted those,’ or ‘I colored those.’”

“She was super excited. I was actually a little under the weather in Tampa so she was happy to just see me on the TV," said Newman "they even talked about the cleats a little bit.”

Newman said he hasn't quite decided exactly where to keep the cleats, as the coloring is prone to wearing off on its surroundings, but he intends to preserve his daughter's masterpiece, perhaps in a display case at home.

"She's got to sign them, she's the artist," Newman said with a bit of a laugh, "if other players request Addison’s work, then they can holler at me and we’ll figure something out.”

Though that particular weekend was less than ideal for the D-backs' record, it's now a valuable memory for both Newman and his daughter.

Thankfully for the club, Arizona responded to the sweep with not one, but two sweeps of their own, against the Marlins and Red Sox.

Newman noted that the culture of this D-backs club is focused on taking it one game at a time, rather than having too many expectations, or thinking too far ahead.

“I think being a professional is kind of how you reel back in, and you realize that we still have a month left. It can seem like a really long time, it can seem like a really short time. Just taking care of day-by-day I think that’s kind of the atmosphere that we have in here,” he said.

“We didn’t talk about being 19 games up when we were .500. We were talking about winning one game at a time really, winning one series at a time.”

And the culture is such that Arizona's approach to games, even when the club is red-hot, is more about putting forward a quality effort, and being difficult outs for other teams.

“We show up to the yard ready to compete. We don’t show up to the yard thinking ‘oh, we’re just going to take care of these guys because we’re hot,’ we show up ready to compete, and ready to be tough, and ready to be hard outs, ready to play good defense," Newman said.

"I think that that is definitely felt and seen… we’re showing up ready to take care of business.”

And the veteran infielder has had a productive season for the D-backs, especially in a platoon role. He's hitting .270/.307/.371 at the plate. Even though he doesn't rack up extra-base hits or RBIs, Newman is just that - a tough out.

But it's his defense that's been the biggest improvement for the 31-year-old. Although he was charged with a costly error in last night's loss to the Mets, Newman has been a stalwart at a variety of infield positions.

He's worth +9 Defensive Runs Saved in 2024. Not only is that a career-best, it's also the first time he's recored a positive DRS number since his 2021 season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Newman - as many D-backs defenders often do - cited the positive impact of Arizona's coaching staff on his defense, particularly third base and infield coach Tony Perezchica.

"I do feel that like [Perezchica] here, and the way that we work in the infield here is really really great. We go out there and take ground balls every day.

"I’ve never been on a team that’s taking ground balls every day on day games. And they don’t make us, it’s not mandatory. We’re out there because we’re feeding off each other, and we’re doing so well as a whole, there’s no reason to change anything," Newman said.

Newman said Perezchica is always there for players to work on their defense, and that his availability as a whole contributes to Arizona's work ethic and ability to get work in at any time.

“I just think that the culture is we want to work, and we want to put ourselves in the best spot possible to succeed on the field," said Newman. it’s just been really great, the work that we’ve put in, the accessibility that [Perezchica] provides us.”

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