Tommy Troy promotion further adds to D-backs roster logjam

PHOENIX — The cycling of an in-season roster baseball teams go through can prove to be exhausting, and the Arizona Diamondbacks have their most intensive part of that process approaching in a short amount of time.

With the placement of left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamstring strain and promotion of outfielder/infielder Tommy Troy, Arizona has four position players targeting a return somewhere in the first half of June.

First basemen Pavin Smith and Carlos Santana are on fairly similar recovery timelines, with Smith the one out in front. Outfielder Jordan Lawlar is eligible to come off the 60-day IL on June 2 from a broken wrist.

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said on Saturday that Gurriel could have played through his injury if necessary, and the tweak didn’t even measure on the “grade scale” for strains, meaning a Grade 1, 2 or 3 strain. It sounds like he will be back once those 10 days are up.

All of this means Arizona will have to make room for four position players around the same time, and the emergence of a few others in that period of time is going to make these decisions even more challenging than usual.

In other words, it’s audition time even more than before.

“It’s gonna pile up on us in a hurry,” Lovullo said. “This is a game of production, this is a game of aptitude, and going out there and learning and growing and helping the team win. I’m not looking for guys to get four hits to make a statement and say, ‘That’s how I can help this team win.’ There’s other ways to do it. I’m gonna look for high baseball IQ. I’m looking for good baseball players to go out there and do the right thing at the right time.”

Three guys that weren’t even given too much thought in spring for key roles in late May have instead carved those out rather nicely.

With first base in general, that is now Ildemaro Vargas’ spot for at least a good portion of the season. Vargas’ 27-game hit streak fueled a tremendous start to the season that saw him win National League Player of the Month. While his OPS in May sits at a poor .592 with a below average .279 on-base percentage, he’s going to be given a lot of time to struggle before chopping away at his playing time is discussed.

Rookie outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt seems to have center field locked down, naturally taking the place of the traded Alek Thomas. He’s providing plus defense and has an on-base percentage fluttering toward .400. The D-backs are aware that the adjustments from opposing pitchers are coming, so the ol’ adjustment to the adjustment has to be next for him. But the first impression has been excellent.

First-year infielder Jose Fernandez has shown an ability for timely hits late in games, and his game-changing speed is getting implemented, with his six steals tied for second on the team. Little things like being called upon in Thursday’s win to come off the bench and lay down a bunt in a clutch situation are the stuff Lovullo is talking about, and Fernandez was successful in moving up the eventual game-winning run. His hitting splits are right around league average, 40-plus games into his first stint in the majors.

Those three are putting further pressure on outfielder Jorge Barrosa, designated hitter Adrian Del Castillo, and utility man Tim Tawa to get going.

Both Barrosa and Tawa have equally contributed defensively while struggling offensively. It is telling that Arizona did not want to wait for Lawlar to get back while promoting not only Waldschmidt but Troy as well. That’s not a ball club that wants to rely on that platoon for any more additional time than it did prior to the arrival of Waldschmidt and brief return for Gurriel.

Del Castillo is hitting .181 in 105 at-bats with a .237 OBP and .542 OPS. His expected stats are even worse due to nothing in his contact profile popping.

FanGraphs has Del Castillo holding two minor league options, so him making way for Smith or the switch-hitting Santana as the left-handed designated hitter seems to be the looming roster move.

How the crunch beyond that unfolds isn’t clear. There is, of course, the possibility one of those four remains off the roster, but for now, we will assume they all will be back.

The simple answer is both Barrosa and Tawa get sent down, but FanGraphs does not have any options left for Barrosa, unlike Tawa. Those two making way, plus Troy, adds up to the four spots, if the D-backs are OK rolling with just four outfielders once it is Corbin Carroll, Gurriel, Lawlar and Waldschmidt.

Arizona really values Tawa’s versatility, though, so he could make way for Fernandez, who also has options available.

There is also one more scenario to consider: What if Troy pops?

Troy is Arizona’s first-round pick from 2023, No. 12 overall, and was ranked as Arizona’s second-best prospect in 2024 by MLB Pipeline before getting moved down the list to ninth at the end of 2025. He’s fourth on the 2026 edition, and opinions vary on him elsewhere, with FanGraphs ranking him No. 2 in the system and The Athletic’s Keith Law placing him 11th.

There are situations where prospects are promoted, like Waldschmidt or Carroll, where the thought is that the D-backs do not want that young player seeing Triple-A again. Once they’re called up, they are here for good, with a clear opening on the roster for them to slot into.

Troy, however, will not have such an opening. Instead, this is a chance for him to dip his toes in the pool and he will likely require a cannonball splash to stick around.

Troy plays both in the infield and outfield but Lovullo said Troy for now will stick in left field. In examples such as Sunday’s planned lineup featuring Ketel Marte at designated hitter instead of second base, that’ll be Vargas shifting over and Fernandez going to first base.

Like Lawlar, Troy has been moved around a bit in his young career, and you have to assume part of the motivation for the initial shortstop prospect’s movement was not only the rise of Geraldo Perdomo but the demise of highly-touted outfield prospects like Thomas and Druw Jones.

The good news is while Troy has predominantly been an infielder, he has jumped back and forth between the infield and outfield since his collegiate days at Stanford.

In his first two seasons for the Cardinal, he played 14 games out in the grass. Time at second base and shortstop across those seasons was followed by his final year being spent solely at third base. At the beginning of his professional baseball journey in the minors, Troy was exclusively a shortstop in 2023, and then spent 49 of his 61 games there the following year before the call was made for second base to be his primary home.

In 2025, it was 102 games on that other side of the bag, while some curiosity was raised with a return to the outfield in 20 appearances, in center no less. That intensified further this year, with 25 of his 44 starts coming in either left or center field.

Troy said his largest improvements in the outfield have come in the last month-plus, where he has already flashed his speed in Reno.

He certainly fits in.

Let me know if this sounds familiar but Troy is a short and agile high-level athlete with good plate discipline and contact skills at the plate. Yep, seen those around here!

Meaning, if Troy plays well over these next 2-3 weeks, remember he’s exactly the type of guy the D-backs want in their lineup.

It’s up to him to further complicate this puzzle or not.

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