A day after Thursday’s MLB trade deadline, the Arizona Diamondbacks begin a three-game series against the Athletics at a minor league ballpark.
The team’s look, in terms of player personnel, may be different depending on if they choose to be buyers or sellers at the deadline.
Their surroundings at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, home to the River Cats of the Pacific Coast League, will assuredly be an adjustment.
“I mean, it’s like a Triple-A-and-a-half ballpark type of thing,” said Diamondbacks reliever Andrew Saalfrank, who on July 3 pitched 1 ⅔ innings in Sacramento for the Triple-A Reno Aces.
By Aug. 1, the Athletics will have played 54 games at their temporary home while awaiting the completion of a Las Vegas stadium, which broke ground on June 23.
The Diamondbacks won’t have this same familiarity when navigating uncharted waters in their air travel, hotel accommodations and the overall facilities.
Manager Torey Lovullo is turning to players like Saalfrank and catcher Adrian Del Castillo for intel. Del Castillo, before being called up to the majors on July 18, recorded two hits, two walks and a run at the Sacramento park in two games in July.
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“Just trying to get out in front of it,” said Lovullo before Wednesday’s series finale against the Houston Astros. “I don’t want there to be a letdown because we’re in a ballpark that doesn’t necessarily represent a big stadium like (Chase Field), but it’s a major league game (against) a major league team.”
Lovullo said he has a good idea how the ball will travel during a day game compared to a night contest after conversations with Del Castillo on Tuesday.
Alek Thomas and Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks outfielders who each made their MLB debuts during the 2022 season, have fond and even career milestone moments tethered to Sacramento.
Thomas hit his first home run at the Triple-A level on Aug. 27, 2021, against the River Cats in Reno. It was just his eighth game with the Aces and his first crack at Sacramento.
“Just seeing the games on TV, it looks a lot more livelier and a little bit cooler than when I played there,” Thomas said. “There’s probably 100 fans whenever I played, so they seem to pack it out a little bit (now).”
Carroll, the 2023 National League Rookie of the Year, was at Sutter Health Park with Triple-A Reno when he received his first MLB call-up on Aug. 29, 2022. He had played five games in five days there.
Though he went 0 for 3 at the plate in his final minor league tuneup, Carroll’s MLB debut was anything but disappointing. Eight days after his 22nd birthday, the 2019 first-round draft pick recorded a two-RBI double and scored two runs in a 13-7 Arizona home win over Philadelphia.
Besides his call-up, Carroll said he doesn’t have too many memories that stand out from his brief time in Sacramento, but he has heard rumblings about what to expect this time around.
“The only things that I’ve heard are a couple things about the plane service and then that they did a good job with the (stadium) renovation,” Carroll said.
The ballpark’s seating capacity of 14,014 was not among the upgrades, but its audio system, digital display and playing surface were addressed.
From a pitching perspective, Saalfrank said the mound in Sacramento is nothing new but rather the amount of on-field noise is what jumps out to him.
“I’m interested to see kind of what it would look like as a minor league guy versus being here (with the Diamondbacks),” Saalfrank said. “As a player, you have a certain idea of kind of what the big leagues means. … I’m just happy to be here and to play, and what stadium we’re in, it doesn’t really bother me.”
Aug. 1-3 may or may not be the first and only time the Diamondbacks visit Sutter Health Park for a series, with the Las Vegas stadium slated to open in early 2028. Regardless, it will be a memorable blip on the franchise’s timeline.
While Lovullo isn’t letting his club take the experience for granted, he isn’t making it larger than life either.
“It’s a baseball field, it’s got the same dimensions,” Lovullo said. “I go back to the movie, Hoosiers, right? (Gene Hackman) drops the tape measure, it’s the same basketball. I’ll have that conversation with this group. … I don’t care where we play. We love playing baseball games.”
Torey gave up months ago. He needs to go.
Well so far it looks like they’re desperate sellers trading our best players for prospects. Shows management has given up and looking towards next season.