Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Arizona Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country.
Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.It’s early days, but we had seen each starting pitcher for the Diamondbacks once this year. That’s surely plenty to be able to make a pronouncement about who’s going to be our Cy Young candidate for 2026, isn’t it? Things do get a little more complex because of the injury
situation. Merrill Kelly is going to get his season under way when everyone else has already had a couple of starts ahead of him, and theoretical “ace” Corbin Burnes will not be taking the mound until even later in the schedule. These factors, and the lack of any obvious answer, is exactly why we had this week’s poll. And the envelope, please:
Despite a wobbly first start – and a second one which was not much better (including the unearned runs, anyway) – the SnakePit is still keeping its faith in Ryne Nelson. That’s understandable: his body of work last year after coming into the rotation was impressive, and a couple of shaky outings don’t negate all that. However, I’m very concerned about the peripherals. Nelson has walked (6) almost as many as he has struck out (7), and the long-ball problem from last year seems to have got worse so far, with four homers allowed in only 9.1 innings. Indeed, so far Ryne has allowed one hit which didn’t leave the yard, for a BABIP of .043. That’s going up, I suspect.
The impressive first outing by Eduardo Rodriguez certainly opened eyes, and helped boost him into third place. Last night’s game made him the first Arizona starter since Curt Schilling in 2002 to open the season by throwing consecutive games without allowing an earned run [some pitchers have done it in their first two starts, such as Nelson in 2022, just not right at the beginning of the year]. Probably the biggest surprise might be the low level of support, down in single figures, for Merrill Kelly. I get him not out-performing Nelson based on 2025 numbers, but I definitely expected him to come ahead of E-Rod and Gallen. Zac hasn’t been truly good since the first half of 2024, with an ERA from July 1, 2024 of 4.62 across 51 starts.
It’ll be interesting to revisit this around the All-Star break, and see whether opinions have changed, with a bit more significant of a sample size to look at.
