What Are The D’Backs Doing With Yasmany Tomas?

More than 24 hours have passed since the Arizona Diamondbacks have called up Yasmany Tomas from the minor leagues and I’m still left scratching my head by the move.

In case you didn’t hear, before their game against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night, the D’Backs called up their young Cuban slugger and sent reliever A.J. Schugel. The former Angel allowed a pair of runs over three innings in his lone appearance.

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Now, I’m confused by the Diamondbacks calling up Tomas for a number of reasons.

One of the main reasons why I’m deeply puzzled by this move is that the 24-year-old wasn’t exactly tearing it up at Triple-A. Over 21 at-bats, Tomas had only four hits and five strikeouts.

Those aren’t exactly Babe Ruth type numbers.

It also doesn’t make a whole lot of sense considering how the Arizona roster is currently formed. It’s hard to see where he’s going to get any playing time regardless of the position he plays.

Before Tomas was even called up, manager Chip Hale was already struggling to get at-bats for his four outfielders (Mark Trumbo, A.J. Pollock, David Peralta and Ender Inciarte). Why would you add a fifth outfielder into that mix?

It’s hard to see him getting a lot of at-bats at third too. Jake Lamb has hit the cover off the ball so far this year and even though Aaron Hill is struggling, this team is going to continue wanting to play him in order to showcase him to a perspective buyer.

Adding Tomas on the roster also doesn’t make a lot of sense considering how poor the starting pitching has been early this season. The D’Backs starters have a 5.33 ERA on the year, good for 26th in all of baseball.

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Call me crazy with that being the case, I’d much rather have an extra arm in the bullpen than another bat off my bench. What do I know though?

Probably the biggest issue that I have with this Tomas call-up is that it hinders his development. That’s both in terms of his bat and glove, where he’s a liability as of right now.

In order to develop, a young player, especially a guy like Tomas who is raw, needs to be run out there very night. How can a young player continue improving their game if they are only starting 1-2 times a week? That’s the biggest question that remains unanswered by the front office.

Some might say that I’m making too big of a deal out of this and I could very well be. Tomas might only be up for a week or two in order to provide some pop off the bench and then be sent right back down to Reno in order to play every day.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that ends up being the case. If not, Tomas is an awfully expensive bat off the bench.