The Diamondbacks have pulled off impressive series wins against the teams with the best records in both leagues, sweeping the Cleveland Guardians and taking three of four against the Philadelphia Phillies. Following their 12-5 rout of the Phillies on Sunday, second baseman Kevin Newman talked to Dbacks TV reporter Jody Jackson and analyst Mark Grace in the postgame coverage.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“To play teams of that caliber, to come away with as many wins as we have, it’s a great feeling for all the guys in the clubhouse. We’ve got really good energy, we obviously got great talent. We’re playing for each other right now, it’s infectious. You can feel it being around us, just looking to keep it going.”
The way Arizona has gone about it, they’ve gotten contributions throughout their lineup. One through nine, their lineup has been humming no matter who the starting nine are. Since July, they have been by far the strongest offense throughout Major League Baseball. The team is slashing a collective .285/.354/.517 with a league-leading 65 home runs, 6.4 runs per game, and a 139 wRC+. For context, that means the entire team collectively is putting up José Ramírez levels of production at the plate.
Part of the reason they’ve been able to weather the injury storm early in the year is a “next man up” mentality. No player betters exhibits that than Newman, who admirably filled in at shortstop while Geraldo Perdomo was recovering from knee surgery. He’s been the primary backup infielder at all four spots, something very hard to do, and has not missed a beat defensively while consistently contributing to the offense. In his last two games, he’s had to fill in for a banged-up Ketel Marte, who is one of the leading candidates for the 2024 National League’s Most Valuable Player Award.
“I just go out and play my game honestly. I think if I tried to play like Ketel Marte, I’d probably be worse off. He’s incredible and he does things that very few people in the world can do. So I just prepare every single day like this is going to happen, like I got to go out there, big game, late game, whatever it’s going to be. But my preparation is always the same so I can always be ready.”
Every night it seems like manager Torey Lovullo can plug in any set of nine players and feel confident the team will score enough runs to win a baseball game. Now of course they don’t always win a game, but since July 1 the Diamondbacks are 24-10. That’s a winning percentage above 70%, the type of run that Lovullo prophesized earlier in the season while the team battled the injury bug. That’s the type of run that Newman has not been a part of yet in his major league career.
In the middle of August, the Diamondbacks are playing with a lot of confidence and getting compliments from the opposing team’s star player. With just 44 games left in the regular season, they are cruising toward a playoff spot and still have a good shot at the National League West division.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks, Arizona Cardinals, and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
