ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Team Audit | Player Cards | Depth Chart

Dave Stewart continues to employ an aggressive approach to roster-building. While you can appreciate that trait in a general manager, the rush to promote Tomas is confusing on a few levels.

When the Diamondbacks demoted Tomas following a rough spring, the assumption was that he would spend his time away from the spotlight adjusting to life in the United States. Five Triple-A games later, Yasmany Tomas is back under examination. It's hard to say what was gained from the temporary assignment. Tomas might have tweaked some things, but his numbers didn't hasten a promotion. Likewise, Chip Hale has more outfielders than spots, and no incentive to bench Paul Goldschmidt or Jake Lamb in order to get Tomas into the lineup more often.

As such, you wonder about the motives here. Did Stewart feel pressure from above to put his expensive offseason signing in the majors? Did he worry that the demotion was affecting Tomas in a negative manner? If so. isn't he concerned that struggles in the majors would have a greater negative impact? But maybe none of those questions are on point. Maybe Stewart just wanted to add some power to his bench while breaking Tomas into the majors. Stewart might figure that, if Tomas succeeds, a lineup slot will become available by some means or another. And if not? Well, Tomas has already been demoted once; what's another optional assignment?

Whether Tomas aids the D'backs' winning efforts is anyone's guess. Here's what's certain: he makes them more interesting, and perplexing. —R.J. Anderson

As you might guess from his build, Tomas' carrying tool is his impressive power. The bat-speed is below average, but he gets through the zone quickly with a direct swing, and a natural loft along with strong hip rotation gives him plus—maybe even plus-plus—raw power from the right side.

That power tool plays down however, partially due to the lack of bat speed but mainly due to his lack of patience at the plate. He's not allergic to walks, but it does appear at times that he's coming to the plate looking to hit the long ball, and more than one scout mentioned that he doesn't appear to recognize off-speed stuff quickly—especially when he's facing right-handers.

Defensively, Tomas played center field for Industriales De Habana, but that was never a realistic landing spot for the 24-year-old. Now that the third base experiment appears to be over, a corner outfield position seems to be the landing spot, and he should be fine there even though the speed is only fringe-average. His arm won't remind anyone of Yasiel Puig, but it's strong enough to handle right field in the future.

Even with the below-average hit tool, Tomas has a chance to be a regular because of his power, and 25- to 30-homer seasons aren't out of the question if he can hit enough to justify being in the lineup 120 games a season. —Chris Crawford

Fantasy Impact

Given that this call-up seems more to do with adding a bench bat without having to lose someone from the 40-man (Dave Stewart said as much), this is not very exciting from a fantasy perspective. He was not in the lineup Wednesday against a righty, and with Ender Inciarte’s success against lefties to go along with the Jake Lamb-Aaron Hill platoon at third base, playing time even against lefties does not seem likely (or at least consistent). If he is going to cut into anyone’s playing time it appears to be that of Aaron Hill or Jordan Pacheco as the first bat off the bench. As has been mentioned elsewhere, Tomas is only 24 years old and largely an unfinished product. Consequently, I would not currently recommend adding him outside of dynasty or keeper leagues (where he is probably already owned) or deep mixed leagues with deep benches. However, were he to find himself in a situation with near full-time at bats, his power alone would make him mixed-league worthy, despite the other flaws in his game. —Jeff Quinton