Overview
- Rating: 5.33
- 2025 Stats: 272 AB, .228 AVG, 9 HR, 27 RBI, .674 OPS, 85 OPS+, -0.8 bWAR
- Date of Birth: August 13, 1991
- 2025 Earnings: $5,000,000
- 2026 Status: Free agent
2025 Review
In baseball, so much of roster construction can center around player potential. That potential can be based on professional evaluations, subjective opinions, and obviously past performance. Teams will also sometimes see potential in “glue” guy – usually a veteran player who brings some kind of “clubhouse presence” that can theoretically help guide younger players through the trials and tribulations of a big league season. These types of players can be brought onto contenders as a final piece of the puzzle
or on rebuilding clubs who hope that they can either mentor their young stars or even be flipped at the Trade Deadline for more prospects. Clearly, the former situation applied to the D-Backs when they signed Randal Grichuk back in the 2023-24 offseason coming off a miraculous World Series appearance.
However, that type of player is a far cry from what the Angels expected when they drafted Grichuk 24th overall way back in 2009 (incidentally, one pick before they selected one Michael Trout). His early career was marred by several freak injuries including a fractured knee cap on a foul tip, but he finally showed some of that promise in 2014 after he was traded to St. Louis. It was with the Cardinals that he had his best success in 2015 when he slashed .276/.329/.548 and accumulated 3.1 bWAR in 103 games, but he has yet to recapture that form since then. After stops with Toronto and Colorado, the D-Backs finally took their aforementioned chances with the righty and he delivered in a big way with an impressive .291/.348/.528 slash line and 2.2 bWAR mostly operating as a fourth outfielder/lefty platoon specialist
Sadly, Grichuk could not repeat his performance in his second go-around with Arizona as he hovered around average performance throughout the first half of the 2025 season before getting shipped off to Kansas City for a lottery pick prospect in Andrew Hoffman. It’s pretty clear why his numbers dipped so precipitously between seasons too: after posting a .331 BA on fastballs in 2024, that number plummeted to .254 this past season. That kind of slip allowed pitchers to attack him differently and hurt him against offspeed offerings too as he dropped from a .283 BA on offspeed pitches all the way down to a miserly .167 the next season. There’s still some life left in his bat as his bat speed (a key indicator of aging) still would have ranked in the upper quartile if he had qualified. But unless he can identify what happened between 2024 and 2025 on fastballs, he’ll struggle to convince any team to take much more than a flier on him for 2026.
2026 Outlook
As of writing, Grichuk remains a free agent after he somewhat surprisingly declined his end of a mutual contract option. Given his age (34) and a down season in 2025, it’s hard to imagine much of a market for the longtime veteran, but he’s also shown plenty of track record for pummelling left-handed pitching and average outfield defense. Even though it’s clear that Grichuk doesn’t plan on retiring after his opt out, it’s difficult to envision a situation that would reunite the veteran with the D-Backs for a third season. Despite Lourdes Gurriel Jr’s injury, the team already has five outfielders and a possible sixth with Tim Tawa along with several exciting outfield options bubbling up in Reno – including Kristian Robinson and A.J. Vukovich. Regardless, I have little but positive associations with Grichuk and wish him the best wherever he may end up – unless it’s with the Dodgers for some reason.
