- Slug: Sports-Diamondbacks Josh Naylor. 700 words.
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By Cooper Burns
Cronkite News
SCOTTSDALE – First baseman Josh Naylor is no stranger to trades.
Only 27, Naylor has already been traded three times. The Miami Marlins, who selected him with the 12th overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft, traded him to San Diego in 2016 for three players and cash.
Just four years later, Naylor found himself on the move again, this time to Cleveland.
And just when it seemed like Naylor was settling into the Guardians organization, Cleveland shipped him to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
On Dec. 21, Arizona acquired Naylor from the Guardians in exchange for pitcher Slade Cecconi and a Competitive Balance Round B Draft Pick.
As hard as the Guardians say it was to trade Naylor, the team needs draft capital for the future. Naylor said he has no hard feelings toward the Guardians; it is strictly business.
“Baseball is a business, you kinda get used to that,” he said. “This is the fourth organization I’ve been with since I started playing pro ball. (The) first few trades are hard, but you get used to it.”
The trade comes after the Diamondbacks lost first baseman Christian Walker, who signed as a free agent with the Houston Astros. Asked if it is difficult to replace a player like Walker, Naylor said he hopes he can fill Walker’s role on the field and in the clubhouse.
“He is a phenomenal player and a phenomenal leader, too,” Naylor said. “I would love to fill in that role and step in his shoes to become the leader that he was in the locker room.”
Naylor is hopeful his new teammates will lean on him if needed.
“I want to be a player that people can come to if they are going rough or a friend that people can come talk to,” he said.
The Diamondbacks are getting Naylor at the right time. The 2024 season happened to be one of Naylor’s best in seven MLB seasons. He hit .243 with 31 home runs, 108 RBIs and 27 doubles.
The 31 home runs tied Naylor for 18th in the AL. He joins a Diamondbacks squad that already hit the fifth most home runs (211) in the league during 2024. Walker was responsible for 26 of those, along with 84 RBIs.
Even after having a career year last season, Naylor is still not satisfied with the way he has been playing.
“I am never really satisfied with the things I do. I just want to keep improving, keep having fun playing the game, continue to be the best leader and teammate I can, and grow as a person every single day,” he said.
One item Naylor wants to improve during spring training and the upcoming regular season is elevating more baseballs.
“Searching for more pitches, searching for more pitches I can elevate … just trying to get the ball in the air a little more … if it lands it lands and if it doesn’t just land, it will eventually,” he said.
Naylor finished the 2024 season in the bottom fourth among eligible batters in chase rate – 32.2% of the pitches that Naylor saw during the season, he chased at. From 2023 to 2024, Naylor was thrown 71.4% more offspeed pitches than the year before, according to Baseball Savant.
To correct some of those numbers, Naylor said that he will observe his new teammates’ approaches, batting stances and hitting tendencies to improve his own game.
“I am a very big observer,” Naylor said. “I try to take little things from people’s swing, the way they play defense, and kinda add it to my game if it fits or if it doesn’t I go from there.”
Luckily for Naylor, not everyone on the team is foreign to him.
Left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and pitcher Kyle Nelson have spent time around Naylor during their careers. Both Naylor and Gurriel Jr. played fall league together in 2017. As for Nelson, he and Naylor both played several years together in a Cleveland uniform.
Joining a new team with new faces is difficult, but Naylor is ready for the challenge.
“It’s awesome, new opportunities, meeting new teammates, new coaching staff so I look forward to working hard,” he said.
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