Diamondbacks catcher suffers fractured forearm

Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly has a right fractured forearm, manager Torey Lovullo tells Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. The backstop had left Monday’s game after being hit by a pitch. Lovullo did not provide an estimated timeline for Kelly’s recovery, but he will face a significant absence.

Kelly, 28, came over from the Cardinals as part of the December 2018 Paul Goldschmidt trade and has been the club’s primary backstop for the past four seasons. While his defense and framing have generally been solid in that time, his offense has run hot and cold from year to year. In both 2019 and 2021, he posted double-digit home run totals and walked in more than 12% of his trips to the plate. His wRC+ was 107 in 2019 and 103 in 2021, indicating he was a bit above average in each season. Since catchers tend to hit a bit less than other players, that’s decent production.

But he struggled both in the shortened 2020 season and in 2022. Last year, he hit just seven home runs in 354 plate appearances and walked 8.2% of the time, leading to a batting line of .211/.282/.334. His 73 wRC+ indicates that he was 27% below league average at the plate for the year.

Kelly still has a couple of years of arbitration control remaining, but general manager Mike Hazen indicated in October that the club could look to upgrade behind the plate. That eventually came to pass a couple of months later when the D-backs acquired prospect Gabriel Moreno and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. from the Blue Jays, sending Daulton Varsho the other way. Moreno is considered one of the top prospects in the league but has just 25 games of major league experience under his belt. Kelly was still likely to see significant action, splitting the catching duties with Moreno as the youngster got acclimated to his new club, but that won’t be the case for the next little while.

It seems then that Moreno, 23, could be ticketed for a larger role in the majors. As mentioned, he got a brief taste of the big leagues with the Jays last year, hitting .319/.356/.377 in his first 73 plate appearances. Despite the limited track record, there are reasons to feel good about Moreno going forward. He’s never hit for much power or drawn many walks in the minors, but he’s very difficult to strike out and always runs high batting averages. His defense is also well regarded, leading to him currently being considered the No. 12 prospect in the league at Baseball America.

The only other catcher on the club’s 40-man roster is José Herrera. The 26-year-old has shown some promise in the minors but has far less prospect pedigree than Moreno. He’s hit .277/.377/.426 in 120 games between Double-A and Triple-A over the past two years. However, his 47-game MLB debut last year resulted in a showing of just .189/.250/.207.

Kelly wasn’t likely to be the most integral member of the Diamondbacks roster, but his injury does put them in a bit of a precarious position. Moreno is an exciting young player, but he’s inexperienced and new to the organization, presumably still getting familiar with the pitching staff. Herrera, meanwhile, is more of a depth option who could be pushed up to the big league squad. The club has struggled in recent seasons but has been pegged as a potential dark-horse contender this year given the slate of current prospects and recent graduates, including Moreno, Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas, Ryne Nelson, Drey Jameson and Brandon Pfaadt. The catching depth behind the plate has now taken a hit, though there’s also a clear path forward now for Moreno to have a breakout.

The D-backs have some depth options on hand via minor league deals, including P.J. Higgins, Ali Sánchez and Juan Centeno. Those players will all presumably move up one rung on the depth chart for now. If the club feels it needs to add to that group, it’s possible that some players will get cut from other teams as final roster decisions are made in the coming days.