ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Diamondbacks get Pollock and Goldschmidt back, announce starting rotation

Mar 24, 2017, 5:43 PM | Updated: 5:45 pm

(AP Photos)...

(AP Photos)

(AP Photos)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — There are plenty of storylines that develop throughout the spring, but some ultimately don’t impact the regular season all that much.

That wasn’t the case for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.

The day began with manager Torey Lovullo announcing his starting rotation, then gave way to a game against the rival Dodgers in Glendale. The 13-6 loss won’t mean anything in the standings, but the fact that both A.J. Pollock and Paul Goldschmidt returned is a big deal for an Arizona team that’s looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2016 campaign.

Pollock went 0-for-2 with a walk in his first spring game since the March 12 outing against San Francisco at Scottsdale Stadium. After homering in the first inning of that contest, he was forced to leave shortly thereafter with what was called mild groin tightness.

Normally, a Cactus League ailment like that wouldn’t be the biggest cause for concern, but injuries limited Pollock to just 12 games last season, and his consistent presence in the lineup is vital if Arizona plans on rebounding from their 69-win campaign of a year ago.

Goldschmidt’s return was a little different, as he was simply coming back from the World Baseball Classic. He didn’t have to work through any injuries, but he didn’t exactly get a lot of playing time at the WBC either. In all, he notched just 13 total at-bats while Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer received the bulk of the work at first base.

Team USA won the championship, but the lack of game action is a little different for Goldschmidt. He didn’t seem concerned, however, about it affecting his preparation for Opening Day.

“Just knowing that when it [the games] starts to matter is so close, you’re just more going out there and trying to put yourself in as many game-like situations,” he explained, when asked what he’s looking to get out of the final few days of spring training. “So that, when the regular season comes, you’re just ready to go play and it’s not anything you haven’t seen before.”

ROTATION SET

As far as the starting rotation, Lovullo had played his hand pretty close to the vest for most of the month. Even now, he’s not publicly committing to any specific order behind No. 1 starter Zack Greinke. He did announce, however, that Taijuan Walker, Patrick Corbin, Shelby Miller and Robbie Ray would be the other starters, with Archie Bradley moving to the bullpen for now.

There will be plenty of focus on the Arizona pitchers this year, after what was a tumultuous 2016. Greinke won’t necessarily need to be the truly dominant ace that he was with the Dodgers back in 2015, but they’ll need him to be the clear anchor of a fairly young group.

The fact that he’s making $206.5 million over six years obviously adds a little weight to each of his starts as well.

Behind Greinke, Walker has emerged with an impressive month of March. Once a highly touted prospect in the Mariners organization, he posted an unspectacular 4.22 ERA in 134.1 innings last season.

Walker has worked on adding a slider to his repertoire, and the early returns are good. His 25 strikeouts are the third-most in all of baseball this spring, and he’s walked only two batters.

Much like Walker, Corbin will be looking to bounce back after a subpar year that saw him move to the bullpen. Unlike Walker, however, we’ve already seen Corbin have sustained success at the Major League level. He posted a 3.41 ERA while winning 14 games back in 2013 and made the All-Star game, but then missed the entire 2014 campaign because of Tommy John Surgery.

He’s looked good this spring, fanning 17 while walking just three.

Ray has shown flashes in his first two full big league seasons but still ended last year with a 4.90 ERA. He’s posted a 2.70 ERA over 16.2 innings this spring, though.

Meanwhile, Miller’s struggles have been well-documented. It’s going to be difficult for him to pitch out of the shadow of the trade that sent 2015 No. 1 overall pick Dansby Swanson to Atlanta, but the bar to improve dramatically on last year’s stat line is low. If he can come anywhere close to resembling the guy who routinely posted an ERA in the mid-3.00 range with the Cardinals and Braves, Arizona’s rotation would instantly take a step forward.

BASE HITS

– Andrew Chafin started Friday’s game but exited after just 1.1 innings. He faced the minimum in the first inning, but then loaded the bases to begin the second. After fanning Trayce Thompson, he was replaced by Zack Godley.

– Reymond Fuentes hit his second homerun of the spring when he took a 3-1 pitch over the right field wall in the fourth.

– Chris Herrmann started the game at catcher and was the only Diamondback other than Fuentes to pick up multiple hits.

– Arizona now has 39 players left in camp after outrighting RHP Tyler Jones and returning him to the Yankees.

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