Notes: Extra-inning strategy, Ginkel, Calhoun
One of the new rules for the 2020 season is that if a game reaches extra innings, each team will begin their half of each frame with a runner on second base.
What is the best strategy both offensively and defensively to deal with this? That’s something that D-backs manager Torey Lovullo is still trying to decide.
“Everybody that I know has been telling me you’ve got to bunt if you’re the home team,” Lovullo said.
But in some of the run-scoring probability charts that Lovullo has seen, the increase in the chances of scoring a run with a runner on third and one out as opposed to a runner on second with no outs is just 5 percent.
Lovullo has a valuable weapon on the bench in speedster Tim Locastro, who led the Majors with a 30.8 ft./sec. sprint speed in 2019, per Statcast. Lovullo could use Locastro as a pinch-runner in those situations.
“Everybody knows he can fly,” Lovullo said. “It is a good feeling to have. [But] we’re going to have to figure out how to drive that run in.”
On the flip side, the D-backs are looking at improving their ability to hold a runner at second base so when they are on defense in those situations they can limit the other team’s chances of scoring.
With that in mind, the D-backs have had their relievers -- since they will likely be on the mound in extra innings -- work on their moves to second and Sunday they spent time working on pickoffs at second.
“I’m trying to see what some of the defensive positioning looks like,” Lovullo said. “I believe in attacking the offense from a defensive position. I’m trying to see what that looks like, playing around with different depths, different angles.”
Ginkel in there
Reliever Kevin Ginkel got his first intrasquad game action Sunday, allowing a hit and a walk in one inning.
Ginkel, who was one of the D-backs' best relievers in the second half last year after being called up from Triple-A Reno, missed the first few days of camp after he came down with cold-like symptoms four days before Summer Camp opened.
Ginkel tested negative for COVID-19 when he first became ill, but out of an abundance of caution the team had him take a second test, which caused him to miss a couple of days.
“The cold went away, everything felt good,” Ginkel said. “Normal illness, set me back a few days, nothing too extreme though.”
Calhoun absent
Outfielder Kole Calhoun, who tested positive for COVID-19 and missed the first week of Summer Camp before returning Friday, was absent from Sunday’s workout.
Lovullo said he could not comment on why Calhoun was not in attendance.
Shifting time
The D-backs will start their intrasquad game at 6 p.m. MST on Monday as they begin to get ready for night games during the upcoming season. The D-backs had been starting their intrasquad games at 4 p.m. MST.
In a new wrinkle, the team will have Major League umpires work Monday’s game.
Don’t argue
During their instrasquad games, the D-backs have had Statcast turned on and a graphic on the large scoreboard in center field displays the location of the pitch.
“It’s been a little tough on [bench coach Luis Urueta] who has been the umpire because he gets second guessed a lot,” Lovullo said with a smile. “It gives that instant feedback, the hitting coaches thought about this, you can look up there and say is this a ball or a strike, what should I have done with that pitch. You can give yourself some instant feedback and there’s a lot of credibility because it’s not going to lie.”
Staying in California
This will be the team’s final week in Arizona before the regular season gets underway. The D-backs are scheduled to play the Dodgers on July 19-20 in Los Angeles.
Lovullo said the team would then stay on the road and get in two more days of intrasquad games July 21-22, but he was not ready to say exactly where they would hold those workouts.
Arizona will have a very light workout July 23 before beginning a season-opening, four-game series with the Padres on July 24 at PETCO Park.