Reddit AMA: Moreno, prospects, pitching development among hot spring topics

On Friday, MLB.com D-backs beat reporter Steve Gilbert held an Ask Me Anything on Reddit with fans at r/azdiamondbacks. This mailbag features questions and answers from there, lightly edited for clarity. The full AMA can be read here.

Has there ever been any discussion of perhaps moving Ketel [Marte] or [Gabriel Moreno] to 1B? The obvious lack of a true RH option at that position would be reason one, but also keeping them healthy and on the field would seem to be a priority going forward. Part of me also wonders if Gabi’s bat would finally take off if he could stay in the lineup for a full season.

I understand the logic behind keeping Moreno healthy, and certainly playing first base is less of an injury risk than catching is (although you would have a hard time convincing Tyler Locklear of that after last year), but that is not something that the Diamondbacks are looking at right now. A big reason for that is how good Moreno has been behind the plate. Remember, he already has one Rawlings Gold Glove Award to his name, and his ability to shut down the running game is a huge plus for the pitching staff.

Hey Steve, thanks for doing this! With Ryan Waldschmidt being invited to Spring Training this year, are there any other young prospects you’re looking at covering this year for the Snakes? Any you think could make any impact in the Majors in the next few years?

I'm glad you brought up Waldschmidt's name [ranked by MLB Pipeline as the club's No. 1 prospect]. He is in camp and definitely someone you will want to keep an eye on. I'm not saying he will make the Opening Day roster, but with the Diamondbacks looking to fill outfield spots, an impressive spring for him could force their hand. More likely is that we see him at some point during the regular season.

With so many Diamondbacks players participating in the World Baseball Classic, it is going to give a number of prospects a chance to get more playing time than usual this spring. I'm excited to get a look at pitchers like Daniel Eagen [No. 13] as well as two of the guys they got in the Merrill Kelly trade in Mitch Bratt [No. 9] and Kohl Drake [No. 6]. Second baseman Tommy Troy [No. 5] should see a bunch of time as well. It will be a good spring for prospect watching.

It seems like AZ has had some trouble developing pitchers, especially relievers, for the past decade or so. How have you observed the organization's pitching philosophy evolve over your time covering the team?

The Diamondbacks realize that they haven't done a great job in that area under the current baseball operations department, and that was one of the reasons they brought in Jeremy Bleich as an assistant GM to oversee pitching strategy and development. He was most recently the director of pitching development for the Pirates, who have had a lot of success developing young pitchers of late. I'll be interested to see what changes he makes and the results that follow.

Hey Steve! Really appreciate your work, and welcome to the subreddit. With both [Lourdes] Gurriel [Jr.] and now likely [Corbin] Carroll out to start the season, what do you predict the everyday outfield will look like for the first few weeks of the regular season? I know it will likely depend on how spring goes, but would love to see both [Jordan] Lawlar and Waldschmidt get some time out there. On paper, the team won't have a lot of opportunities like this to get these young guys some MLB reps.

Thanks for the kind words and the welcome. It sounds like, listening to manager Torey Lovullo, that they want to keep Lawlar in center for the most part. The thinking is that center is the "easiest" of the outfield positions to play because the ball is true off the bat more often, while on either corner you're dealing with hooking or tailing balls. So they could move Alek Thomas to one of the corners and give Jorge Barrosa or Tim Tawa some time out there as well. Waldschmidt is going to get a long look this spring, especially with the injuries.