Diamondbacks and Brewers Lineups for Game 161

Are Jordon Luplow and Stone Garrett competing for 2023 right handed at bats?

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The Diamondbacks and Brewers will play in the penultimate game of the 2022 season tonight at American Family Field in Milwaukee, game time is 4:40 P.M. MST.

Zac Gallen (12-3, 2.46 ERA) will face left hander Eric Lauer (10-7, 3.83 ERA). A great start for Gallen could cement his status as the runner up in the Cy Young voting behind prohibitive favorite Sandy Alcantara. On the other hand a bad start could push him out of the top five. It's that tight between the next tier of five to six starters.

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Jack Sommers

Stone Garrett and Jordan Luplow are likely receiving their last starts of the 2022 season. The team has been evaluating both of them to determine who should be part of the 2023 season. With a plethora of young left handed outfielders on the roster and in Reno, it's critical that the Diamondbacks have at least one viable right handed outfield bat to balance out the lineup against left handed pitching. 

Luplow was supposed to be that guy. He had a track record of providing good power and decent on base percentage against left handed pitching. But it didn't work out, as Luplow has struggled with very low batting average and OBP all season. Early in the year his power numbers against lefties held up, but even that went away. By the time he was demoted to Reno he was batting .163/.261/.376, .637 OPS, with 11 home runs and 27 RBI. His stay there was short, just two weeks. He went just 1-16 in his first six games back in the majors before a flurry of hits fell in over his last three games, going 6-8. Notably, none of his seven hits since returning have been for extra bases. If the team was looking to see if he could find past form, the month of September has not helped his cause.

Jordan Luplow had above league average OPS in 2019 & 21, but below in 2020 & 2022 / Fangraphs

Stone Garrett almost gave up baseball after the 2020 Covid season. Working as a real estate agent, he decided to give baseball one more chance, and even famously appealed on Linkedin of all places to find a spot within a major league organization. He got a chance with the Diamondbacks and broke out in 2021, belting 25 homers while batting .280 for the Amarillo Sod Poodles in AA. He kept right on going when promoted to AAA Reno for 2022, smashing 28 more homers and batting .275. That earned the 26 year old a promotion to the big leagues in mid August and he came out like gangbusters.

In his first 12 games he went 16 for 39, .410 B.A. with four doubles, three homers, scoring nine runs and driving in seven. He did strike out 10 times, but few seemed to notice while he was on such a tear. Well, except opposing teams. They found a hole or two in his swing, down and away with hard breaking balls, and hard sliders down and in against left handers. Since September 13th he's 5-34, .147 B.A. with 14 strikeouts and nary a walk. 

In 81 plate appearances his batting line is still a tremendous .288/.321/.562, .882 OPS, but the trend has not gone in the right direction lately. Regardless what happens in today's game, it remains to be see if he can make the necessary adjustments. We won't find out until next season.