The Diamondbacks selected the contract of infielder LuJames Groover on June 5, 2026, making the 24-year-old part of the active roster and opening another look at a bat that has moved quickly through the system. To clear room, Arizona optioned José Fernández to Triple-A Reno and designated right-hander Taylor Rashi for assignment.
The move gives Groover a path to the majors after a season in which he hit.322/.421/.452 in Triple-A and reached base at a strong clip, with a 14.5% walk rate and a 16.8% strikeout rate this year. Baseball America has him as Arizona’s No. 5 prospect, while FanGraphs ranked him No. 9 in the offseason, and the club is clearly betting that profile matters now.
Groover’s rise has not been built on loud tools alone. The second-round pick in the 2023 draft missed time in 2024 with a broken wrist and played only 61 games that season, then came back to log 123 Double-A games last year and post a.309/.399/.434 line with a 120 wRC+, 12 homers and an 11.5% walk rate against a 14.4% strikeout rate. He has primarily played the corner infield, with only limited experience at second base, which leaves third base blocked by Nolan Arenado and pushes the question toward where Arizona will actually use him.
That is where the fit gets less tidy. Pavin Smith just came off the injured list and should be getting regular playing time, and his left-handed bat comes with clear platoon splits; Groover is right-handed and could cover Smith, but Arizona also used José Fernández and Ildemaro Vargas at first base while Smith was out, and Adrian Del Castillo got heavy designated hitter time even as he hit.192/.252/.325 on the year. Groover’s Triple-A numbers are strong, though they come with a.381 BABIP, which is part of why his production looks so convincing and so easy to question at the same time.
Fernández at least left behind a strange profile for Arizona to sort through. He hit.342/.359/.500 through his first 78 plate appearances this year, then.180/.232/.225 over his next 99, and that kind of swing makes Groover’s arrival feel less like a simple promotion than an attempt to steady a corner of the roster that has been changing by the week. Rashi’s exit is just as revealing: he signed a minor league deal in the offseason, was added in early April, then was optioned after allowing four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, and now he is off the 40-man spot he needed to stay close to the majors.
Rashi leaves behind a résumé that explains why Arizona was interested in the first place. He has 20 big league innings, a 5.40 ERA, a 29.9% strikeout rate and a 44.2% ground-ball rate in the majors, while dating back to the start of 2025 he has thrown 67 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.48 ERA. But the fastball that barely reaches 90 miles per hour and the 10.3% walk rate in both the majors and Triple-A make him a harder sell when roster space gets tight. Groover’s promotion answers one question and opens another: Arizona has added the bat, but it has not yet said whether he will get the first-base, designated-hitter, or other corner-infield time needed to keep it in the lineup.
