It’s rare to see any MLB player spend a decade-plus with a single team. It’s even more rare to see that tenure end through a designated for assignment roster move rather than a trade or a free agency departure. But that’s what happened with Arizona Diamondbacks’ veteran shortstop Nick Ahmed Wednesday. Ahmed had been with the team at the major league level since 2013, even before current manager Torey Lovullo took that role in 2017, but he was DFAed Wednesday night to make room for top organizational prospect Jordan Lawlar. And he had quite the reaction:
An emotional Nick Ahmed on today's tough news:
"Disappointed obviously. Spent a long time here … 10 years and ripping a Band-Aid off in 10 minutes." pic.twitter.com/3CRCgtzOcg
— Jesse Friedman (@JesseNFriedman) September 7, 2023
Here are Ahmed’s full quotes, via Alex Weiner of ArizonaSports.com:
“Just disappointed, obviously. I’ve spent a lot of time here. Gave it my all. … Ten years and ripping the band aid off in 10 minutes. … [GM] Mike Hazen told me with Torey and just explained they’re gonna call up Lawlar and try to put out a better lineup against left-handed pitching. I didn’t do a very good job this year, obviously, hitting specifically against lefties. So I get it, I didn’t do my job well enough.”
The 33-year-old Ahmed had been a defensive force for the Diamondbacks from 2015-19 in particular, recording a MLB-high 75 outs above average and winning Gold Gloves in 2018 and 2019. But he hurt his shoulder diving for a ball in 2020 and has had some struggles since, with his already-rough batting numbers dropping off further and his fielding also having issues at times.
Ahmed said he was healthy this year, but he wound up platooning with Geraldo Perdomo at shortstop. He had only started 56 of Arizona’s 140 games so far. And he was only hitting .212/.257/.303, albeit with hits off some ridiculously bad pitches. So it’s understandable why he got demoted, especially with that move clearing the way for Lawlar. But it’s also understandable why this hurt for him, especially after so long with one team. We’ll see what’s next for him.
[Jesse Friedman on Twitter, ArizonaSports.com]
