Kevin Cron

Cron broke summer camp with the Diamondbacks but was shuttled between Arizona's 30-man roster and alternate camp throughout most of August before being optioned for good late in the month. While active, he played sporadically and not very well, getting on base just once, with a walk, in 17 plate appearances. Cron dominated Triple-A as a 25- and 26-year-old, but was overmatched in 88 MLB PA, fanning 35 times. Cron will try to jumpstart his career overseas after signing to play in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.

Cron made his major-league debut in late May and went on to receive sporadic opportunities throughout the rest of the year. He showed good power in limited action but never truly got to establish himself. Meanwhile, Christian Walker finally established himself as the everyday starter at the position, hitting .259/.348/.476 in 152 games. Cron did manage an excellent .331/.449/.777 slash line at Triple-A Reno, but he'll be 27 years old in February, and we all know about the run environment at Triple-A in 2019, so that line isn't as exciting as it may seem at a glance. Cron looks to have enough in his bat that he could become an above-average hitter if an opportunity opens up, but not enough that the Diamondbacks will be compelled to move Walker to create that opportunity. There's 2018 Jesus Aguilar upside here, but that would require several lucky breaks.

Cron reached Triple-A for the first time in 2018 and looked up to the task, hitting .309/.368/.554, good for a 137 wRC+. Those numbers are less impressive when considering that Cron was 25 years old and is primarily a first baseman, but the performance was strong enough to suggest that he has a big-league future, and enough for the Diamondbacks to protect him from the Rule 5 draft by adding him to the 40-man roster in November. With Paul Goldschmidt now in St. Louis, there's an opening at first base in Arizona, but the plan appears to be to move Jake Lamb there while having Eduardo Escobar play third base. Neither of those players are stars, though, so it's not inconceivable that Cron could get a look at some point.