Unlike the Los Angeles Dodgers who opted to carry an extra reliever in the National League Division Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks went heavy on position players (14) compared to pitchers (11) on their 25-man playoff roster.
A change from the NL Wild Card Game is the Diamondbacks added Christian Walker and Taijuan Walker. The latter starts in Game 1 on Friday night, because Arizona was forced to follow Zack Greinke’s short outing with Robbie Ray in order to put themselves in position to advance.
Ray is the probable for Game 2, while Greinke will likely start in Game 3 when the NLDS shifts to Chase Field.
In order to added Christian and Taijuan, the Diamondbacks removed catcher Chris Herrmann and outfielder Ray Fuentes. There was some thought Chris Owings would return from a fractured right middle finger that’s sidelined him since July, but he remains inactive.
Complete breakdown of the Diamondbacks’ NLDS roster included below, with players listed in alphabetical order in each position group.
Starting pitchers (4): Patrick Corbin, Zack Greinke, Robbie Ray, Taijuan Walker
Relief pitchers (7): Archie Bradley, Andrew Chafin, Jorge De La Rosa, Zack Godley, David Hernandez, Fernando Rodney, Jimmie Sherfy
Catchers (2): Chris Iannetta, Jeff Mathis
Infielders (8): Daniel Descalso, Brandon Drury, Paul Goldschmidt, Jake Lamb, Ketel Marte, Adam Rosales, Christian Walker
Outfielders (4): Gregor Blanco, J.D. Martinez, David Peralta, A.J. Pollock
Christian Walker batted .309/.382/.597 with 34 doubles, 32 home runs and 114 RBI over 133 games for Triple-A Reno this season. Walker was named the Pacific Coast League MVP.
He went 3-for-15 with one double, two home runs, two RBI, one walk and five strikeouts while appearing in 11 games with the Diamondbacks. None of those came against the Dodgers. Walker played in a combined 13 games for the Baltimore Orioles over parts of the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
