D-backs’ Torey Lovullo: Seth Beer will make his way back to the majors

Arizona Diamondbacks Opening Day hero Seth Beer went through a fruitless lull at the plate leading to Sunday’s announcement that he was optioned to Triple-A Reno.

He heads back down after a 2-for-42 stretch in which he belted no extra base hits. The rookie snapped an 0-for-36 mark Wednesday with a single.

Beer was Arizona’s strongest hitter over the first 13 games of the 2022 season with a .385/.442/.539 slash line. He hit the walk-off home run on Opening Day to get the season started against the San Diego Padres.

Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said Beer is going to find his way back to the majors and help the club.

“He had been going through a very grinding streak, we all know what it was,” Lovullo said Sunday. “He was carrying us for the first several games of the year offensively and did a really nice job of attacking pitches. He started to expand the zone a little bit. And when you expand the zone, as a young player, you start to chase pitches, and it starts to add up on you.”

An issue for Beer over his last 14 games was making solid contact. Thirteen of Beer’s 40 outs during the lull were strikeouts while 16 were grounders.

His barrel rate dropped to the 14th percentile in MLB.

Lovullo wants to see simplification, saying Beer doesn’t need to try so hard to hit for power. He can use all fields, control counts and swing at strikes.

The manager said Beer was starting to take correcting strides and expects to see him get hot in Triple-A.

“To be totally honest with you, I felt like the swing sequencing, things that we look at inside of the data and analytics, starting to show very well,” Lovullo said.

Beer tore up Triple-A pitching last year with a .287/.398/.511 slash line and 16 home runs in 100 games. The 25-year-old was a top-12 prospect in the D-backs’ system last year.

YOU CAN’T WRITE IT BETTER THAN THIS!

SETH BEER ON NATIONAL BEER DAY!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/gczHELZ8MM

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) April 8, 2022

First baseman Christian Walker called Beer a great hitter and teammate, saying it is a matter of time before the rookie is where he wants to be.

“You know who you are, you don’t need numbers to validate that,” Walker said Sunday. “Baseball’s a test it seems every day. It’s how far can it push you, you still trust yourself and trust the process.”

The D-backs reinstated reliever Sean Poppen as the coinciding move with sending down Beer.

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