D-backs Turn to Nabil Crismatt Amid Rotation Woes vs. Rockies

The Diamondbacks will be tapping Nabil Crismatt to start the series finale against the Colorado Rockies. Manager Torey Lovullo announced as such before their 10-7 loss to the Rockies on Saturday, as reported by The Arizona Republic's José Romero.

The move was necessitated when the team placed right-hander Anthony DeSclafani on the 15-day injured list on August 13th for a right thumb sprain. It came after his short start against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, in which he only completed three innings.

The D-backs have an open spot on their 40-man roster after releasing Jeff Brigham and Kendall Graveman earlier in the week. On the active roster, they've optioned Casey Kelly down to Triple-A Reno.

Who is Nabil Crismatt?

Crismatt entered professional baseball as an international free agent, signing out of Colombia in 2011 for the New York Mets. It wouldn't be until nine seasons later that he debuted in the major leagues for the St. Louis Cardinals. He bounced around with the Mariners, Padres, D-backs, Dodgers, and Phillies over the past five seasons.

In 114 career appearances, he has a 3.71 ERA/3.97 FIP over 177 innings. His lone start came on April 10, 2022, in which he pitched three-plus innings in a 13-2 blowout of the D-backs.

He made one appearance with Arizona back in the 2023 season, pitching two innings and balking in the winning run in an 11-inning loss to the Cincinnati Reds. He was quickly designated for assignment and finished the year with Triple-A Reno. Following stints with the Dodgers, Padres, and Phillies, he re-signed with Arizona on August 9th.

Crismatt is a soft-tosser, averaging 88 MPH with both a four-seamer and sinker. He'll mix in a curveball, slider, and a changeup as well. The key pitch is his changeup, averaging just under 80 MPH. It's yielding a .201 batting average and a .315 slugging percentage while inducing a 33.5% whiff rate. The changeup is Crismatt's most commonly used pitch, at 36.8%, more than his two fastballs.

Here's what his pitch data looks like in Triple-A, between his time with the Phillies and D-backs organizations.

Why is Nabil Crismatt Getting Called Up?

To say it quite bluntly, the D-backs have very little faith in their internal rotation options in the minors. It was an issue I pointed out in July, before the team dealt away Merrill Kelly for three pitching prospects at the trade deadline. The quartet of Bryce Jarvis, Dylan Ray, Spencer Giesting, and Yu-Min Lin has mightily struggled with Triple-A Reno this year. And to add injury to insult, Lin is currently on the 7-day IL.

While they've added Kohl Drake to the Reno rotation, he has just seven outings at the Triple-A level and is not ready for a major league cup of coffee yet. He seems ticketed for a possible September call-up, when the team can carry an extra pitcher and not worry about a minor league option getting burned for starting his 40-man clock earlier than November.

The team had Jarvis on their 40-man roster, something I mentioned in my Rangers series newsletter. Instead of shuffling the rotation around, they kicked the can down the road, and he no longer became an option after starting for Reno on Friday. The other option was Dylan Ray on normal rest, but it would have been foolish to start his 40-man clock prematurely and lose an option as a result.

The good news for Arizona is that the bullpen is well-rested. Eduardo Rodríguez, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson combined for 19.1 of the 25 innings pitched in the Rockies series so far. Jake Woodford is available for maximum coverage in long relief in the event of a short start, which gives manager Torey Lovullo some flexibility in the middle innings.

Status of the Starting Rotation

DeSclafani is not eligible to return until August 28th at the earliest, so that rotation spot will come up at least one more time. After this game, the next time this rotation spot will come up on August 23rd against the Reds. It's not too unreasonable to expect Crismatt to get another start if it goes well in Colorado.

In the event he doesn't pitch well, which seems like the more predictable outcome given how the team has played of late, they still have internal options. Jarvis is a potential candidate to fill in the rotation spot for one turn as 40-man depth. If they brought up Ray, Drake, or Giesting, it would have to be a situation where he gets the rest of the season as a runway and DeSclafani returns as a long reliever.