With AJ Puk deal, Arizona Diamondbacks are looking to follow familiar script

When the Diamondbacks handed a lead to their top relievers late last season, it usually meant they were going to win the game. It was a formula that helped them march through the National League playoffs and into the World Series. And it is one they seem intent on trying to replicate, based on Thursday night’s acquisition of reliever A.J. Puk.

Puk will be plugged in alongside a group of Diamondbacks late-inning relievers that includes Paul Sewald, Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel and Justin Martinez. Altogether, it is a collection of relief talent that likely ranks among the best in club history.

The group has a little bit of everything: wipeout stuff, different arm angles, late-game experience, big-game experience. For an organization that has rarely had more than a handful of reliable relievers at a time, this group has a chance to give manager Torey Lovullo an overabundance of good options.

Which, certainly, it part of the thinking: The Diamondbacks have leaned heavily on their best relievers this season, and giving Lovullo another good one should allow him to keep them better rested.

Adding Puk also gives the Diamondbacks some insurance in the event one of them goes down with an injury.

Assuming Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez return from the injured list in the coming weeks, as expected, the Diamondbacks’ run-prevention side of things looks very, very good.

They will have proven frontline starters Zac Gallen and Kelly. Brandon Pfaadt is pitching like one, too. Jordan Montgomery has been one in the past, and Rodriguez has been a dependable starter, when healthy, for most of his career.

Add that to a defense that ranks second in the majors in Outs Above Average – and hasn’t had its center fielder (Alek Thomas) for much of the year and was with its shortstop (Geraldo Perdomo) for two months – and the Diamondbacks will have a chance to suffocate teams once again.

Did they pay a high price in the two prospects they gave up for Puk? Depends on whom you ask.

The scouting community has never been overly high on slugger Deyvison De Los Santos, skeptical of his lack of an approach and propensity to swing and miss. He has a chase rate north of 40 percent this year in the minors; not many hitters can be productive at the big-league level with such an aggressive style. His defense is also concerning.

The other prospect, Andrew Pintar, has his believers but elicits mixed reviews. Most evaluators see him as an extra outfielder rather than one with a chance to be an everyday guy. But he is athletic, has good makeup and is relatively inexperienced, so perhaps he has upside.

Time will tell on both. As for the Diamondbacks, they have to feel good about the way things are trending. They are playing their best baseball of the year. They are set to get two strong starters back from injury.

They still don’t have the star power of the Dodgers or Phillies, but they showed last year their style can prevail against both.

And this year’s roster, at least on paper, looks better than last year’s, with the lone exception being that Corbin Carroll is not his 2023 version. The rotation is deeper. The bullpen is deeper. The defense is just as good. The offense has been more productive and can match up better.

The Diamondbacks still have two months to go and a brutal schedule remaining, but if they can get into the postseason, they are set up for another run. And if Carroll gets going, they could be legitimately dangerous.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: With AJ Puk deal, Arizona Diamondbacks are looking to follow familiar script