PHOENIX -- D-backs hitting coach Darnell Coles can’t explain it.

And neither can Tim Locastro's teammates.

How does the Arizona outfielder get hit with so darn many pitches?

“Not even close,” D-backs shortstop Nick Ahmed said when asked if he’s ever seen anything like it before.

“It’s out of this world,” first baseman Kevin Cron said.

Locastro is tied with two others for second in the Majors in hit-by-pitches this year. Locastro, the Cubs' Anthony Rizzo and the Nats' Victor Robles have all been hit 12 times (Cincinnati's Derek Dietrich has been MLB's biggest pincushion with 15 plunkings). The difference? Rizzo’s have come in 314 plate appearances, and Robles' in 282. Locastro? 97 plate appearances.

“I think if you ask anybody that I’ve played with in the past or my coaches, they know that this has been part of my game for so long,” Locastro said. “But because I’ve been up here for only four weeks or so that you guys are seeing it for the first time. Look, you’re going to get used to seeing it, because it’s going to continue to happen. I don’t think it’s going to happen at the rate that it’s happening. I mean, even I’m surprised by that.”

Locastro's 12 hit-by-pitches tie the record for the most in the first 100 plate appearances of a season with Brandon Guyer, who had it happen with the Rays 2016. Locastro still has a chance to surpass him.

While Locastro doesn’t try to get hit by pitches -- you don’t usually see him lean into a pitch and he doesn’t stand particularly close to the plate like Rizzo -- neither does he do a lot to get out of the way of them.

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo says Locastro doesn’t display any “hustle” when it comes to dodging pitches.

Instead he has perfected tucking his head into his right (back) shoulder and turning away from the pitch.

“I turn to protect myself rather than going towards it,” Locastro said. “I just don’t jump out of the way which some people do. Someone told me the other day that some guy got hit one time in thousands of at-bats. Like that’s just insane. I mean anything in, I’m just going to let it hit me.”

Said Ahmed, “He knows how to turn himself where he gets hit in a way where it doesn’t do a lot of damage.”

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt, and Locastro has made one accommodation, switching from a small elbow pad to a bigger guard.

Locastro’s body is a walking bruise at the moment, but he said that any pain that he feels disappears when he reaches first base thanks to the magic elixir of adrenaline flowing through his body. He’s focused on using his tremendous speed to steal second base.

By the time the game is over, he gets treatment on any pain, and while he might be sore when wakes up the next morning, pretty soon he’s on the way to the ballpark and the adrenaline is flowing again.

This is not a one-year fluke for Locastro either. He’s been hit 161 times in 2,559 Minor League plate appearances, including seven in 114 for Triple-A Reno this year.

“He doesn’t lean into them, but he doesn’t move,” said Cron, who played with him in Reno. “It’s a scary thought as a hitter. You’re like, 'I could get hit that much if I just didn’t move.' I must get out of the way of pitches more than I think, because I think that percentage of times that he goes up there and gets hit is incredible.”

A natural question is why teams continue to pitch Locastro inside.

“My whole career, I’d say even to Little League, people know my cold spot is inside,” Locastro said. “There’s no secret to that, so they try to pitch me in and if they miss a little bit in, then ... I’m trying to fight fire with fire. If my weakness is in, I have to use it to my advantage.”

Even if it does hurt.

Here are some fun facts about Locastro’s historic run of hit-by-pitches:

• Locastro has been hit once every eight plate appearances. The highest rate of HBPs in the modern era (since 1900), minimum 150 plate appearances in a season, is one every 11.1 plate appearances by Guyer in 2016. He had 31 HBP that year, which is tied for the fourth most in a single season in the modern era.

• The only other players with fewer than 15 PA per HBP in a season (min. 150 PA) are: Mike Kinkade (11.9 in 2003), Fernando Vina (12.5 in 1994), Frank Chance (12.6 in 1900) and Ron Hunt (12.8 in 1971).

• Justin Upton has the most HBPs in a season in D-backs history with 19 in 2011.

• Locastro has 12 HBP this season. The Blue Jays have 18 as a team.