While the long ball seemingly abandoned the Arizona Diamondbacks throughout 2021, home runs are back in style for the Snakes this season. The D-backs’ dingers have powered them to an above .500 record in the month of May for the first time since 2017. But they weren’t just good when compared to past seasons for this franchise. For one month, they were one of the best teams in all of baseball.
The D-backs’ 39 home runs in May were the second-most in the National League for the month behind the Milwaukee Brewers, who led all of MLB with 46. Arizona tied the Houston Astros for the fourth-most home runs in both the AL and the NL.
It’s not only a huge improvement from the 18 home runs they hit in May of 2021, it was a vast upgrade from the 20 home runs they hit just one month earlier in April. It took a little less than a month to see new hitting coach Joe Mather’s influence on the starting lineup.
The D-backs as a team went from hitting .181 collectively in April to hitting .247 in May. The .066 increase in batting average was the highest increase month to month in MLB, ahead of the Boston Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals. The overall increase in offense led to a 15-14 record for the month.
Christian Walker was a big part of their success with dingers. Despite his unimpressive batting average early this year, Walker’s nine home runs in May were a career high for a month. He is currently tied for second-most homers in the National League with 13 total.
More importantly, Walker has seven home runs when the Never-Say-Die-mondbacks are behind, which leads the NL.
Daulton Varsho has also been a huge part of their success. Varsho’s seven home runs are second to only Mookie Betts for most in the NL for a leadoff hitter. Much like Walker, his homers have been timely for this team. Five of his eight total home runs have given the D-backs the lead.
Contributions from rookies Alek Thomas and Cooper Hummel have only helped to add to the total. David Peralta’s eight home runs this season already ties his season total from 2021.
While it has been a team effort, the success can already be partially accredited to Mather. His philosophies are starting to resonate with these players that he hasn’t spent much time with yet. That, in turn, is starting to carry over to patient approaches in the box and an increase in power numbers.
This is Mather’s second stint with the D-backs. He spent five years here in the player development system before leaving to the Cincinnati Reds.
Mather became Cincinnati’s assistant hitting coach and director of hitting in 2020. He was an integral part of a Reds team that scored the ninth-most runs in MLB and was seventh in hits.
As offense continues to cool off across MLB, things are still heating up in the desert. Will Arizona go through a drought in the summer or stay frosty as things heat up? Either way, it seems like it will be a very fun team to watch all season.
