Waldschmidt crushes homer in first game back at Triple-A
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A home run eluded Ryan Waldschmidt in his first taste of the big leagues over the past month or so. But in his first game back at Triple-A, the D-backs’ No. 1 prospect hammered a roundtripper off rehabbing big leaguer Germán Márquez.
Since early May, Waldschmidt had spent most of his tenure in the D-backs’ lineup hitting in the lower half of the order. But on Wednesday, he returned to the leadoff spot in Reno's 9-6 loss to El Paso at Southwest University Park.
Nearly two months elapsed since the last time that Waldschmidt went deep, also while on the road against El Paso on April 26. Across 35 games for Reno this year, the right-handed-hitting outfielder has posted a .288 average and an .892 OPS, while his .400 on-base percentage would rank 13th in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.
The fact that Waldschmidt was roaming center field for the Aces and not the D-backs during their 8-1 victory at Chase Field on Wednesday largely boils down to both a numbers game and the fact that MLB's No. 30 prospect had hit his first rough patch.
“We felt like he was starting to maybe need a reset,” D-backs GM Mike Hazen said earlier this week. “He did a good job while he was up here. He helped us win baseball games. And he’ll be back to help us win again. I think he started chasing a little bit. I think part of his game, being ahead in the count, getting pitches to hit, there was a little bit of [swinging] and missing there. I think as he starts to tighten all that down, you’ll start to see a little bit more power.”
Hazen was on the money about the power aspect. Waldschmidt’s hard-hit rate actually jumped in his brief cameo against big league pitching (35.6 percent, up from 33.3 at Reno), but the problem was that his strikeout rate jumped to 32.8 percent and his walk rate (6.6) plummeted.
Waldschmidt isn’t a hitter who misses fastballs, an aspect of his game that he prides himself on. But it was breaking stuff that upended his first Major League foray. He hit just .200 vs. breaking balls (with a .168 xBA) and whiffed at 56.2 percent of those he swung at. Even when he did make contact, it wasn’t impactful, garnering a .258 xSLG and .205 xwOBA.
That makes his latest Reno homer even more encouraging. After a Márquez slider went past Waldschmidt for a called strike in the third, he recalibrated and crushed a knuckle-curve over the wall in right-center. His three previous Triple-A homers this season had all come off fastballs.
Márquez is an 11-year Major League veteran with 206 starts in The Show under his belt. He’s working his way back from forearm nerve irritation, and finding success against an advanced arm is an important step for Waldschmidt, who slashed .180/.231/.262 in his final 17 big league games prior to being sent down Monday.
Time is on the side of both Waldschmidt and the D-backs. He’ll be 23 years old for the remainder of the season, and by virtue of logging just 38 days of service time and 112 at-bats, he remains prospect-eligible for the time being. The club has a glut of healthy options in left and center field with Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Tommy Troy (AZ No. 4), Jorge Barrosa and Jordan Lawlar, the latter of whom was in a spot similar to Waldschmidt the past few years -- having done enough at Reno to earn a big league job, but needing the opportunity to contribute.
For the time being, Waldschmidt can continue to refine his approach -- and keep on slugging -- at Reno.