Inspiration.
The name (Loaisiga) has three consecutive vowels. Guess what, Hawaii does too! With that serendipity, let’s look at Jonathan Loaisiga.
Many articles talk about his past injuries. Because he was signed to a minor league contract, my take is that in spring training either he wins a position or he doesn’t. But please don’t misunderstand – I very much hope he takes care of himself and avoids re-injury.
“I’m hoping I’m done with injuries. I want to sign with someone and pitch like I can. The way I’m feeling,
I’m confident it can happen next season. I’m working hard. I’m feeling good.” – Jonathan Loaisiga
What did Make Hazen say about him?
He has an opportunity to win a position in the bullpen.
“I think he’s got great stuff. We’ve always liked him from afar.” — Mike Hazen
“He’s going to go into the mix and there’s going to be opportunity in our pen. …Coming into spring training, we should be a very attractive place for players to come in and compete. We have a number of good young arms, but there are still a couple spots in our pen that are not established.” — Mike Hazen
He chose the Diamondbacks.
At least three teams (Cubs, Giants, and D-backs) made contingent offers to Loaisiga. The offers were contingent on him pitching in the Nicaragua Winter League.
In December/January, in the Nicaragua Winter League, he pitched in 5 games for Indios del Boer. After that, he seriously considered two solid offers.
“Loaisiga passed on [a] one-year, $1-million major-league contract with the Minnesota Twins to accept a minor-league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks in which he’ll make around $3.8 million if he makes the club out of spring training, Nicaraguan baseball reporter Levi Luna told NJ Advance Media.” — Levi Luna
It’s impressive that Jonathan Loaisiga bet on himself; he bet that he will win a position in spring training instead of accepting a guaranteed million dollars.
Another positive was that the Diamondbacks have warmer weather and Chase Field has a roof – perhaps helping him avoid injury. Another positive was that he would allow less home runs at Chase Field (home run park factor of 88 compared to 102 for the Twins).
How would I choose bullpen pitchers?
With the addition of Nolan Arenado at third base, I would look for pitchers with high ground ball rates, and especially high ground ball rates to third base.
Let’s compare four right-handed relief pitchers who are competing for a bullpen position. My view is that these four pitchers will have roughly equivalent ERAs in 2026 (based on their xERAs last season). A caveat is that Cristian Mena’s 3.07 xERA was better than the other three xERAs (3.56 to 3.77). Also, they all have fastball velocities higher than 94 MPH, which a foundational requirement for success as a reliever per this AZ Snake Pit article.
The following table compares the four pitchers. My first focus was on ground ball percentage of balls-in-play (BIPs) and ground balls to third base percentage of BIPs. Next, I considered hard-hit percentages and bases-on-balls percentages. Data from Baseball Savant.
Although all four pitchers would have a lot of ground balls, including a lot of ground balls to third base to take advantage of Nolan Arenado’s excellent defense, when adding consideration of hard-hit percentage and walk rates, Jonathan Loaisiga has a significant chance to win a spot in the bullpen.
Summary.
Jonathan Loaisiga has a chance to win a spot in the bullpen.
It’s impressive that Jonathan Loaisiga bet on himself; he bet that he will win a position in spring training with the Diamondbacks instead of accepting a guaranteed million dollars.
He was compared to three other ground ball pitchers, each with roughly equivalent xERA and each with a fastball velocity greater than 94 MPH. Based on ground ball percentage (especially to third base where excellent defender Nolan Arenado will play), based on hard-hit percentage, and based on walk-rate percentage, Jonathan Loaisiga has a significant chance to win a spot in the bullpen.
