Diamondbacks trade Blaze Alexander for bullpen help

The Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to trade utility player Blaze Alexander to the Baltimore Orioles for relief pitcher Kade Strowd and two minor leaguers, Arizona Sports‘ John Gambadoro reported on Thursday.

The minor leaguers are right-handed pitcher Wellington Aracena and infielder Jose Mejia, according to multiple reports.

Strowd is a 28-year-old right-hander coming off an effective rookie season for Baltimore, and he checks a box for a Diamondbacks club looking for additional bullpen depth.

Gambadoro reported that Strowd will compete for a spot on the Opening Day roster, although not likely as a back-end reliever.

Strowd made 25 appearances with a 1.71 ERA in 2025, as he allowed a run in only five appearances. He did not allow multiple earned runs in any major league outing and only one home run.

The 2019 12th-round pick threw mostly cutters, four-seamers and sinkers last season and balanced the fastballs with a sweeper and a curveball. He throws a mid-90s mph heater.

His strikeout rate was right around league average, but he drew many ground balls and avoided hard contact.

“He also changed his pitch mix a little bit as he went through into September and he was getting a lot more swing-and-miss,” general manager Mike Hazen said. “So I do think there were some evolutions that took place last year.”

For D-backs fans: Last year, Kade Strowd had the Orioles best four-seamer (116), slider/sweeper (137), and curveball (133) by Stuff+. https://t.co/80pFdk0QNP

— Alex Fast (@AlexFast8) February 5, 2026

Diamondbacks move on from Blaze Alexander

Alexander went back-and-forth between the majors and minors over the past two seasons, but his best baseball came in the second half of 2025. After the D-backs traded All-Star third baseman Eugenio Suarez, Alexander stepped in with an outstanding August both offensively and defensively at the hot corner.

Alexander hit seven home runs with an .881 OPS in 29 starts before cooling off at the end of the season.

Overall, Alexander played 135 games for the D-backs with a .688 OPS and 10 career home runs.

Arizona traded for veteran third baseman Nolan Arenado this offseason, and Alexander entered the spring as an option to earn outfield starts as a utility player. He got his feet wet in the outfield last season and performed well in a small sample size, including a home run robbery, an assist and a diving catch. He had the speed and athleticism to fill in out there without much previous experience.

“I think I have a lot better idea of what I need to work on,” Alexander said at the end of the season. “I’m still going to come into spring trying to win a job. Hopefully I kinda showed that I can be an everyday big leaguer.”

Trading Alexander to Baltimore eliminates one of the primary contenders to fill into an outfield role alongside Corbin Carroll and Alek Thomas with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. recovering from a torn ACL. That leaves Jordan Lawlar, Tim Tawa and Jorge Barrosa as options from the 40-man roster.

Gambadoro reported that the Diamondbacks would look for an Alexander replacement via trade or free agency.

“I think Blaze obviously was gonna play a role on our team in a number of different ways,” Hazen said. “Spelling Nolan, protecting shortstop some … Ketel (Marte) taking some DH days, Blaze was gonna fit in and around there with others. We feel like we’re gonna need to replace some of that externally, and there are some internal guys that will step into some of those roles, as well. We felt like we needed to continue to build into the bullpen. At this stage of the game, the players that we had to move for somebody like Strowd was kind of limited.”

Blaze Alexander has more defensive highlights in the outfield in a week than many have over a full season.

Unbelievable home run robbery of Alex Bregman. pic.twitter.com/NYCwKVzpVn

— Alex Weiner (@alexjweiner) September 7, 2025

As for the prospects, Aracena is 21 years old and reached High-A last season. Mejia is 20 years old and made his High-A debut in 2025. Both players are from the Dominican Republic.

“Aracena is a young arm, he’s up to 100 (mph) already,” Hazen said. “We really like the projection and the ability long term. … He’ll go into the system as one of our better pitching prospects. Then Mejia has been at the lowest levels. We think potential middle infielder, more likely second base than shortstop. Gets on base already at 20 years old. We like the projection moving forward.”

Aracena moved into No. 25 on the Diamondbacks’ prospects list on MLB Pipeline.

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