The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 38.
- Selected OF Ryan Waldschmidt (No. 15) from Triple-A Reno.
- Reinstated from the 10-day injured list and optioned to Reno: INF Tyler Locklear
- Designated for assignment: OF Alek Thomas
The buzz about Waldschmidt has become increasingly loud of late. MLB Pipeline has listed him as the team’s best prospect, and in the top fifty overall in baseball. He’ll be making his debut less than two years after being picked by the Diamondbacks in the 2024 draft. Waldschmidt was the 31st overall selection, out of the University of Kentucky. We have Corbin Carroll to thank for him, since the D-backs earned
the additional slot courtesy of Carroll winning Rookie of the Year the previous season.
2025 proved to be a breakout year for Waldschmidt, as he destroyed the ball, in particular after a mid-season promotion to Double-A Amarillo. If that is undeniably a hitter-friendly venue (the team OPS was .777), his line of .309/.423/.498 for an OPS of .921, while still only aged 22, was still very impressive. He then batted .302 with an .836 OPS in spring training, but did not make the Opening Day roster, and was sent to Triple-A Reno. In 34 games for the Aces, Waldschmidt has a triple-slash of .289/.400/.477 for an .877 OPS. Though as can never be said often enough, expect those numbers to take a sizable hit in the majors. But the peripherals look pretty damn good:
I think it is no coincidence that the team waited until now to promote Ryan. By doing so, the team avoided him being potentially eligible for “Super Two” status. This allows certain players to reach arbitration after 2+ years service time, rather than the usual 3+. Last year, the cutoff was quite high: players needed 2 years, 140 days to qualify, which basically means they needed to be called up in the first 32 days of the season. We’re now on day #44 of this season, so even if the cut-off point is lower, Waldschmidt should be on normal progression through the arbitration process.
To make room for Waldschmidt, the move may signal the end of Alek Thomas’s time in Arizona. A second-round pick in 2018, he made his debut for the Diamondbacks in 2022, so is in his fifth major-league season with the team. He initially looked promising through his first two seasons, and was a key component of the D-backs’ run to the World Series in 2023. Nobody can forget him coming off the bench (below) to hit a key, game-tying home run facing Craig Kimbrel in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Phillies, likely saving the D-backs from a 3-1 deficit in the series.
But, sadly, it has more or less been downhill since then for Thomas in Arizona, through a brutal combination of injury – a strained hamstring cost him much of the first half the next season – and ineffectiveness. While his defense has typically been reliable and often brilliant, the struggles at the plate basically canceled out anything Alek could produce with his glove. Since the start of 2024, Thomas has appeared in 210 games, but been worth just 0.1 bWAR, due largely to an OPS+ of just 75. This season has been worse still: 28 appearances and only a 54 OPS+. With Thomas now apparently out of minor-league options (though there’s some debate over that), being designated for assignment was the only alternative.
We’ll see how the move works out for Arizona. It’s possible Thomas might get through waivers and go down to Reno. But if Waldschmidt lives up to expectations, the prospects of Alek finding his way back onto the 40-man roster, and then to the big leagues, are not something on which I would want to bet.
