The Arizona Diamondbacks are one of baseball’s strongest teams. They are 15-5 in August, 24-8 since the All-Star break, and are coming off their fourth straight win with Friday’s 12-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
Superior talent, analysis, strategy and experience from last year’s World Series are obvious reasons for the D-backs’ success. Another factor could be how relaxed coach Torey Lovullo is with his players.
The eighth-year captain provided the most recent example of this before Friday’s game, when Lovullo took batting practice to determine the team’s fantasy football selection order. Each ball during Lovullo’s turn in the cage was numbered, and the distance he hit each ball determined a player’s selection position, as NESN’s Tom Caron reported.
D’backs manager Torey Lovullo took BP to Fenway to determine his team’s order in the fantasy football draft. Each ball was numbered and the distance he traveled on each ball determined the position. He hit the wall on Merrill Kelley’s baseball (he goes first) and popped up on Joc Pederson’s (he’s last) pic.twitter.com/aohDpCSmAE
— Tom Caron (@TomCaron) 24 August 2024
Lovullo hit pitcher Merrill Kelly’s ball into the wall at Fenway Park, giving Kelly the first pick in the D-backs’ fantasy football draft. He can now boast more than his 3.63 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings.
The manager hit Joc Pederson’s ball up, so unfortunately he will be the last pick. The veteran hitter will have to console himself with his 20 home runs, 58 RBI, .292 batting average and .959 OPS.
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A major league manager taking batting practice would be an entertaining spectacle most days, but deciding the order of his players’ fantasy football selections added even more spice to the whole thing.
Lovullo hit .224 in his eight MLB seasons, so putting those draft picks in his hand – or on his bat – would have been risky. Or it might just show that the whole exercise was fun for a team that’s having a lot of fun on the field right now.
