OAKLAND – Despite clamoring from fans and media, Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen didn’t sound like he was looking to make any changes on his coaching staff in the midst of his team’s offensive funk.
“That really hasn’t been our operating philosophy,” Hazen said. “What’s changed since we had the best record in the National League two weeks ago? From a process standpoint, from an approach standpoint, nothing. The results have changed. We’re not playing good baseball right now. We need to get back to playing good baseball. That’s certainly something we’re focused on.”
The Diamondbacks entered Friday’s series opener against the Oakland Athletics with a .174 average over their past 14 games, a stretch in which they’ve gone 1-13. That’s prompted some fans to call for the team to replace hitting coach Dave Magadan.
“I don’t think many people have experienced this sort of run in professional baseball, but we believe in the people that are here and what we’re trying to do,” Hazen said. “The preparation, the work, the teaching has all been the same (since starting 24-11). We just need to trust in that and continue to go out and play better baseball.”
Hazen was at a loss for answers as to why the offense has bottomed out the past two weeks, and while he mentioned the injuries to center fielder A.J. Pollock and right fielder Steven Souza Jr., he said it was no excuse.
“I think as much we’ve talked about next man up – and a lot of guys are getting a lot of opportunity to do that – we obviously know that losing Steven and losing A.J. left big holes for us,” Hazen said. “That’s on us to figure out a way to continue to make the roster as strong as possible on a natural basis.”
Returning soon?
It was no surprise that Hazen said right-hander Shelby Miller, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, could be back sometime in the middle of June. More telling, perhaps, is that he said lefty Robbie Ray, who has a strained right oblique, could be “on a similar timeframe.”
Ray has been playing catch from more than 100 feet in recent days, and Hazen said the hope is that Ray will be cleared to throw off a mound sometime in the next week.
“He’s been throwing almost the whole time, so hopefully we’re not building up from zero,” Hazen said. “We’re building up off the mound from zero, kind of, but because he’s been throwing and he hasn’t been down that long” – Ray was hurt on April 29 – “hopefully we’re not starting at one inning, then two innings. Hopefully we can jump into a little more of an accelerated pitch count, but we’ll still have to build him back up.”
New look
The Diamondbacks had an unusual hitter in the No. 3 spot in the lineup on Friday night: John Ryan Murphy.
Murphy, the club’s third catcher, was serving as the designated hitter. It was both his first start at DH and his first time hitting third at the major-league level.
“I felt like with John Ryan, he’s been swinging the bat extremely well and he’s been attacking left-handed pitching,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It was a good way for me to get a bat in there that I feel like can be productive.”
Lovullo intimated that he could make more significant changes to his lineup in the coming days if the team’s struggles continue.
Hazen said that when Souza was placed on the disabled list earlier this week in Milwaukee, the club considered replacing him with a bat-first type player who could serve as the designated hitter here in Oakland.
Ultimately, he said the team felt there was more value in adding Socrates Brito, who is more suited to playing the outfield. He said the workload on the club’s outfield had been too heavy.
“We didn’t want to compound on the physical issues we have now by forcing guys to have to play that many days in a row,” Hazen said. “That was sort of the debate we had and why we sort of sided in this direction.”
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Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.
