3 key D-backs storylines this spring

This story was excerpted from Steve Gilbert’s D-backs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

For baseball fans, the end of Sunday’s Super Bowl marked the beginning of the baseball season. Or at least it means it must be pretty dang close to getting underway.

The D-backs’ pitchers and catchers held their first workout Wednesday at Salt River Fields, and we’ve come up with three storylines to keep an eye on over the next month and into the beginning of the regular season:

How will the D-backs deal with the heightened expectations?

It’s been a long time since the D-backs entered Spring Training with the kind of expectations they will have on them this year.

Last year at this time, they were looked at as a team that would improve over its 77-win total from 2022, but not many thought they would make the postseason, much less get all the way to the World Series.

This year, though, given that success and the offseason additions, anything short of playing in October will be a disappointment. It’s one thing to defy expectations and surprise teams, but it’s different -- and some would say harder -- when there are big expectations.

Arizona GM Mike Hazen has talked all offseason about how the team needs to put 2023 behind it and move forward, but that is easier said than done. After all there will be an NL pennant raising during the season-opening series and a ring ceremony.

During Spring Training, D-backs players will be asked a lot about last year’s magical run through the postseason and how they can do it again.

How the D-backs handle that will be worth watching.

What happens with the back end of the rotation?

The D-backs have one of the better starting pitching trios in the National League, with Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and newly signed free agent Eduardo Rodriguez.

After that, things are not as set, although based on his pedigree and the way he pitched in the postseason, it’s hard to imagine that Brandon Pfaadt doesn’t end up claiming the No. 4 spot.

If Pfaadt can pitch the way he did in October, that would set up the rotation nicely because it would give the D-backs more depth than they had last season when they needed to throw bullpen games in both the NL Championship Series and the World Series.

Pfaadt in the fourth spot would mean that fellow young pitchers like Tommy Henry, Ryne Nelson, Slade Cecconi, Bryce Jarvis and Blake Walston give the D-backs plenty of options for the fifth spot, plus it would offer depth should there be injuries during the season or some of the starters struggle.

How will the lineup additions pan out?

The D-backs finished seventh in the NL in runs scored last year (746) and tied for 10th in home runs (166). While they are talked about as a young, athletic team that runs and steals bases, the game is still about hitting home runs.

Hazen, who saw his team actually outscored overall last year, knows that and it’s why he made adding pop to the lineup a priority this winter.

As part of that effort, the team re-signed outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., traded for third baseman Eugenio Suárez, signed free agent DH Joc Pederson and reports have them still looking at some of the bats that are left on the free agent market.

On paper at least, the offense seems to have improved, but we won’t know how it all comes together on the field until they, well, get on the field. Can Gurriel repeat the year he had in 2023? Can Suárez, who led the AL in strikeouts a year ago, be more like the 2022 and 2019 versions than the 2021 and 2023 ones? Can Pederson have an All-Star-caliber year like he did in 2022 for the Giants?

How the pieces all mesh together will be something to keep an eye on.