Around this time last year, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo looked like a man who was out of answers.
“We’re going to find our way out of this one way or another,” he said on July 28.
“I don’t know what else to do,” he said on Aug. 3. “I think we’re just overanalyzing everything.”
The Diamondbacks went 8-16 last July. Entering play on July 1, they were 49-34 and had a two-game lead in the NL West. By the end of the month, they had fallen out of the playoff picture entirely.
Suffice it to say that July 2024 was a different story.
On Wednesday, the Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals, capping off a 17-8 month.
The Diamondbacks’ .680 win percentage this July was their sixth highest in any month in franchise history. Their plus-58 run differential was their second highest in a month ever, trailing only the plus-60 mark they had in August of 1999, a month in which they played three more games.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Lovullo said of the team’s July performance. “I’m proud of the fight. I’m proud of the resiliency.
“We checked a lot of boxes for the first couple months of the season, and they weren’t all good. We had things that were very unpredictable happen to us. We didn’t forecast them. The guys made some adjustments, and just rolled with the punches.
“I said, ‘Get within striking distance at the All-Star break.’ We did, and now we’re starting to play our best baseball.”
So far, the story arc of the 2024 Diamondbacks has been the opposite of 2023.
This year, the Diamondbacks struggled out of the gate and were seven games below .500 on May 31; they have been among the best teams in the league ever since. Last year, they started strong and reached a season-high 16 games over .500 on June 12, only to fall two games below .500 by mid-August.
One of the underlying differences between last year and this year, of course, is health. In 2023, the Diamondbacks’ core remained largely intact for the entire season. In 2024, they lost closer Paul Sewald, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, center fielder Alek Thomas and starter Merrill Kelly for significant chunks of the first half. Starter Eduardo Rodriguez did not pitch at all.
The Diamondbacks still wanted to win as many games as possible, but they also understood what they were up against.
“We just kind of knew we had to keep our head above water,” Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen said. “We weren’t trying to do too much, but we definitely were like, alright, we need to get it in gear. The more we let this slip away, those guys coming back, we might dig ourselves too deep of a hole.
“We just kind of set our expectations where they needed to be. It was like, just go out and just try and win series. We don’t have to sweep, just get us back in the picture. We’ve been achieving that really well lately.”
The Diamondbacks’ sweep of the Nationals was just their second of the season. Their previous sweep came more than two months ago against the Cincinnati Reds. But while the Diamondbacks have generally left their brooms in the closet, they also have not lost a series since June 25-27 against the Minnesota Twins.
Here is a look at several storylines that helped produce the best July in franchise history.
Eugenio Suárez’s season-altering month
At the start of July, it looked like third baseman Eugenio Suárez‘s tenure with the Diamondbacks could be coming to an end. Entering the month, he had a .591 OPS in 315 plate appearances.
But with no clear options to replace him, the Diamondbacks stuck by Suárez. That patience paid off in July. Suárez did not simply bounce back; he was perhaps the best player in the National League.
In 103 plate appearances, Suárez slashed .333/.398/.733 with 10 homers, 27 RBI and six doubles in the month. He became just the second player in Diamondbacks history to hit 10 homers in July. The other? Jason Kubel, who hit 11 of them in July of 2012.
Lovullo said that he never saw Eugenio Suárez’s jovial personality shift as a result of his struggles.
“He was so steady emotionally,” Lovullo said, “that I was looking at him thinking, ‘Do you have a heartbeat?'”
Suárez said that he had a conversation with Diamondbacks hitting coaches a while back about changing his pregame routine. He has been putting more of an emphasis on game-speed activities, such as facing a digitally recreated version of each day’s opposing starter using Trajekt technology in the batting cage.
Both Lovullo and Suárez credit that change in preparation for Suárez’s turnaround.
“It gives me that rhythm for the game,” Suárez said. “I go to the game ready to compete.”
Gabriel Moreno: a different hitter post-injury
On July 23 of last year, Diamondbacks catcher Gabriel Moreno hit the injured list with a shoulder injury. At the time, he had a .676 OPS. After returning from the IL about three weeks later, Moreno hit .311/.382/.496 for the rest of the season and was a key middle-of-the-order contributor throughout the Diamondbacks’ playoff run.
Last year, Moreno said that his IL stint helped him clear his mind and simplify his approach at the plate. Perhaps a similar narrative is playing out in 2024.
After posting a middling .659 OPS in his first 61 games, Moreno sprained his left thumb and was placed on the IL on June 22. He returned 10 days later, and he has slashed a blistering .329/.412/.452 in 85 plate appearances since then.
Based on the Statcast data, this is not merely a matter of the ball falling Moreno’s way. Moreno’s expected slash line in July was .311/.391/.468. His hard-hit rate spiked from 38.8 percent in the prior months to 49.2 percent in July.
Much like the final couple months of the 2023 season, Moreno once again looked like one of the best young players in the game.
Corbin Carroll shows flashes of greatness
Compared to his 2023 numbers, Corbin Carroll‘s July stats look rather pedestrian; he hit .221/.310/.512 with six homers, 16 RBI, three doubles and two triples.
Nonetheless, it is no secret that Carroll has had a rough sophomore season. July was not only his most productive month this year, but a sign that, perhaps, he is on the verge of getting back to the player that he was a year ago. Entering play on Wednesday, Carroll was slashing a more-than-respectable .247/.346/.475 since June 6.
Of Carroll’s six July homers, none stood out more than his two-run, walk-off homer against the Nationals on Monday. With the Diamondbacks trailing 8-7 with two outs in the ninth, Carroll was called upon to pinch hit. Carroll delivered one of the more memorable dingers in D-backs history, completing a six-run comeback win.
It was Carroll’s first career walk-off home run. After the game, he was asked how that moment felt in light of his up-and-down season.
“Good,” he said matter-of-factly. “It’s one of the ups for sure.”
Said second baseman Ketel Marte: “That’s the ballplayer that Corbin is. I’ve said it all the time. He’s the best player we have here, and he’s one of the best players in the league.”
Ryne Nelson has best month ever
With multiple starters on the IL throughout the season, the Diamondbacks have been looking for a young starter to step up.
After struggling for a couple of months, Diamondbacks right-hander Ryne Nelson assembled his best month ever this July, tallying a 2.41 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and .211 opponent average in six games. He averaged more than six innings per outing. The Diamondbacks went 5-1 in games that he started.
On Tuesday, Nelson turned in one of the best starts of his career, tossing seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and just two hits allowed against the Nationals.
Since Nelson’s debut in late 2022, Diamondbacks coaches have been hoping to see him develop his secondary pitches and become less reliant on his four-seam fastball. Ironically, Nelson threw 63.1 percent four-seamers in July, the second-highest mark of any month of his career — and it worked.
Pitch usage aside, pounding the strike zone is always a good idea, and Nelson did that in July. His first-pitch strike rate of 71.5 percent was his highest mark in any month of his career.
With Rodriguez and Kelly expected back from injury in the relatively near future — Rodriguez could return as soon as next week in Cleveland — the Diamondbacks will soon have to decide whose spots they will take.
One rotation spot is already open after the team optioned right-hander Yilber Diaz back to Triple-A Reno on Sunday. Gallen and Brandon Pfaadt are locks to stay put, so the other spot will come down to Nelson and veteran left-hander Jordan Montgomery.
After his excellent July, Nelson’s season numbers are much better than Montgomery’s. He has a 4.52 ERA to Montgomery’s 6.52. Montgomery is only one year removed from helping carry the Texas Rangers to the World Series, however. Moving on from him would be costly, given that his 2025 player option has already vested at $20 million and it seems likely that he will exercise it. Moving Montgomery to the bullpen could be an option, but he has made just one relief appearance in his eight-year career.
Top photo: Matt Kartozian/USA TODAY Sports
