Lovullo Thrilled to Be Back, Play With Clean Slate in 2024

The Diamondbacks manager talks about being back and playing with the slate wiped clean in 2024.

With pitchers and catchers reporting to Salt River Fields, today marks the unofficial start of the Diamondbacks' 2024 season. For manager Torey Lovullo, he compared it the first day of a new school year and he was excited to be out there again.

"I couldn't be more thrilled to get out there, just watch what was going on. Get the sights down, get the smell down, and be around the guys. I love being around them, getting to know them. The ones I don't know, I love watching them work."

The D-backs are coming off a 2023 season that vastly exceeded all expectations, going from a six seed to winning a National League Pennant. Lovullo says the team isn't going to stop what they're doing and they have a lot of work to do in order to defend their title. He described last season's score as incomplete, as they came up short in the World Series. However with the start of a new season, hope springs eternal.

"It's a clean slate," said Lovullo. "We have nothing to show for 2024 and we've got to go out and earn everything once again. We won the National League last year, and I am so proud of that. That'll never get taken away. I'm excited to see what '24 brings us, and we're all hungry. We got to prove it again, nobody is going to hand us anything."

Even though they fell one series short of their ultimate goal, the postseason run has reignited fan support in the valley. Fans showed up to workouts wearing World Series gear, which Lovullo called awesome. 

"I have to stop and think about that accomplishment, it's pretty special. We have to appreciate what we did, but learn how to finish the deal."

In the NFL postseason, the concept of analytics vs. intuition came up in both the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LVIII. As a result, there's been a large debate of trusting analytics or gut feeling to make important decisions during key moments of the game. Lovullo talks about his relationships with the coaching staff and analytics department.

"The analysts will match with my gut a lot. My biggest fear as a manager is getting caught in 1995, 2005, or 2015, I have to evolve as a manager. There's something out there that is not taking over the game, nothing is forced down my throat from this front office. I have great conversations that are centered around the analytics."

Lovullo likened using analytics to win a baseball game as making the perfect glass of iced tea. 

"I've said it, and I've been on the record saying it, if I'm going to have a glass of iced tea and I want it to be the perfect glass of iced tea I'm going to put a little bit of sugar and a little bit of honey. If I want to make it even better, I'm going to put a little bit of lemon it. The lemon is the analytics, I want to make the perfect glass of iced tea every single time. If I use it 5% of the time and it helps me win a moment, I'm going to lean on it. We have a lot of good baseball people in the dugout, and I'm combining all those things to make that perfect glass of iced tea."

Key Updates

Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly have been pushed back on their workouts, as the team rode them hard at the end of the regular season and postseason. Gallen threw over 240 combined innings last year, with the team needing all those innings to get to the World Series. Both pitchers aren't expected to be in Spring Training games until early March.

"We're going to be mindful of that big number as we're pushing things forward in Spring Training. I explained to both, he and Merrill, if I clip you early in a 10-1 game and you've thrown six innings and you have 20 pitches left, let's understand the reason why. I'm not saying it's going to be given to us that we're going to playing in October, but that's our expectation and I got to be mindful of that as we're moving this ball forward."

Lovullo believes Gallen's second half struggles were less about health and fatigue and more about a lack of pitch execution.

All pitchers and catchers have reported to camp. There are seven players currently not in camp, with one position player having a visa issue.