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The first half for the D-backs was definitely a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. Focusing purely on the first of these, the positive side of performances came from players both expected and surprising. But who was the team’s MVP? That’s what this week’s poll is designed to determine. I’ll leave the exact definition of “MVP” entirely up to you to decide. Factors you may – or may not – decide to include in your assessment include things such as playing time, production, salary, intangible contributions and expectations. Here’s a quick run down of the five candidates…
Corbin Carroll
Despite a late slump at the plate. Carroll still finished the first half with the highest OPS of any Diamondback (min 50 plate-appearances). His 42 extra-base hits also led the team, and he was responsible for almost half of all Arizona’s triples before the break: Carroll = 10, everyone else combined = 11. He set the all-time franchise mark for three-baggers, passing Stephen Drew’s career total of 52, in almost eight hundred fewer PAs. Carroll started 93 games in the first half, most on the team.
Gabriel Moreno
What’s impressive about Moreno’s season is no just that he ranks close to the top of the club by both bWAR and fWAR. It’s that he is doing so, despite missing three weeks and sixteen games with a strained left oblique. He has been incandescent at the plate. Over the two months (and almost 200 PA) leading up to the All-Star break, Moreno had a slash of .341/.434/.479 for an OPS of .913. He also had more walks (27) than strikeouts (25) in that time. All that, plus managing the pitching staff and making ABS challenges too.
Geraldo Perdomo
Expecting Perdomo to live up to his MVP-caliber season of 2025, was probably optimistic. But after a slow start – through his first 20 games he was hitting below the Uecker Line, with an OPS in the five hundreds – Perdomo has got things back on track. His plate-discipline remains as stellar as ever, with his 59 walks leading the team, and compared to only 49 strikeouts. He continues to be well-rated by the defensive metrics: Fangraphs Def currently has Geraldo at +11.3, sixth-best in the majors.
Eduardo Rodriguez
Expectations for Rodriguez were low, despite his high salary. After all, in both 2024 and 2025, his ERA was above five. But this year has been a revelation. His 2.29 ERA for the first half was the lowest by a qualifying Arizona pitcher since 2009, when Dan Haren had a 2.01 ERA. That and Randy Johnson’s 1.80 in 2000 are the only better first halves in franchise history. It led to an unexpected, yet entirely merited, first appearance in the All-Star Game for Rodriguez, now in his eleventh season.
Paul Sewald
A closer is measured, above everything else, by his ability to close games. And there, Sewald had a first half which was basically unprecedented in team history. Over the 96 games up to the break, he had 22 saves and just one blown save. No other D-backs pitcher has had even fifteen saves through 96 games, without blowing multiple save opportunities. The last with 22 saves? That was Fernando Rodney in 2017 – and he had five blown saves. Regardless of struggles elsewhere, Sewald has got it done.
Poll below, feel free to explain your choice in the comments, or provide a write-in vote for a candidate not listed here!
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