ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Diamondbacks make 9 moves, designate Stone Garrett for assignment
Nov 15, 2022, 6:42 PM | Updated: 7:54 pm
Stone Garrett #46 of the Arizona Diamondbacks hits an RBI double in the top of the fourth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on August 17, 2022 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
The Arizona Diamondbacks announced nine transactions on Tuesday, with the two most notable being outfielders Stone Garrett and Jordan Luplow being designated for assignment.
In addition to Garrett and Luplow, infielder Sergio Alcantara and pitcher Caleb Smith were also designated for assignment. They make way for four new players on the 40-man roster: infielder Blaze Alexander, outfielder Jorge Barrosa, outfielder Dominic Fletcher and right-handed pitcher Justin Martinez.
All of those moves factor into the Rule 5 Draft coming in December, with Tuesday serving as the deadline to have certain players on the 40-man roster in order for them to be protected.
Alexander (14th) and Fletcher (13th) are both ranked as top-15 prospects in Arizona’s system by MLB Pipeline. Barrosa (18th) and Martinez (30th) are also highly-rated prospects. General manager Mike Hazen said on Tuesday they felt the need to protect all four prospects in fear of other teams selecting them in the Rule 5 Draft.
The last transaction for the D-backs was a minor league trade, sending pitcher Ross Carver to the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for Carlos Vargas. Vargas has pitched at the Triple-A level.
Garrett, 26, was one of the best stories of the 2022 D-backs season. The career minor leaguer made his MLB debut for Arizona in August after an eight-year journey that included a connection on LinkedIn getting him back into the minors. He did well in his 27 games, slashing .276/.309/.540 in 84 plate appearances with four homers and 10 RBIs.
“Those are tough decisions on where our roster sits right now,” Hazen said in regards to Garrett. “He came up and he was pretty good for us initially. We’re looking to continue to improve our roster any way we can.”
The 28-year-old Luplow was the one veteran still getting at-bats in the outfield after the departure of David Peralta saw the foursome of Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas, Jake McCarthy and Daulton Varsho command most of the reps in the grass by the end of the year. Luplow’s 83 games played were the 10th most on the team and he hit .176 in 234 plate appearances.
Alcantara had two separate stints with the D-backs and played in 71 games as an infielder that manager Torey Lovullo could slot at shortstop, third base and second base.
Smith joined the D-backs in August 2020 at the trade deadline in the deal that sent Starling Marte to the Miami Marlins. The left-hander moved into a bullpen role with the D-backs in 2021 after spending his MLB career as a starter and had a 4.44 ERA across 93 appearances and 194.2 innings.
