After the first ten games of the Cactus League spring training season, the Arizona Diamondbacks hold a less-than-spectacular 4-6 record, but it comes with several positive takeaways for the team.

It seems like Arizona’s pitchers have fallen into a groove with one another right from the jump.

Madison Bumgarner entered the 2020 season a favorite for the Diamondbacks bullpen and looked to continue the success that he found with the San Francisco Giants.  But, to the surprise and dismay of Diamondbacks fans, performed poorly throughout the entire season.

However, his first start in spring training was a quick 180 degree turn — back to where the organization, and fans, hoped he was upon arriving in Phoenix.

One of the most impressive and rare occurrences in baseball are consecutive strikeouts. Not only did Bumgarner record six strikeouts, it only took him two innings.

Bumgarner faced a total of seven batters, allowing only one hit to left field and striking out the remaining six.

After finishing dead last in their division in 2020, finding anything positive is a step in the right direction for the Diamondbacks.

Staring the spring season off with excellent pitching is an incredibly effective way to build momentum going into the regular season.

A lack of offense also seemed to figure strongly into the demise of the 2020 Diamondbacks and a fairly decent start at the plate appears to be in order.

The Diamondbacks have been putting good numbers on the board and have held their own in losses, usually by just a run or two. However, the fans know that hot bats need to stay hot to finish high in the competitive National League West.

What is difficult to assess this early in spring training is how effective the team is actually playing.

Most starting lineup players are pulled after only a few innings to try to cut down on surprise injuries and allow the younger players to get a crack at the big leagues. But it is too early to make a decision about whether or not the positive pitching and the decent bats will stick with the organization once the regular season begins.

Diamondbacks Manager Torey Lovullo has even made note about the excellent outings by his bullpen, more specifically Zac Gallen’s dominant outing against the Texas Rangers.

“I thought his stuff looked very crisp, very sharp. He gives us three scoreless and he was executing pitches all the way up until the final one that he threw.”

The Diamondbacks continue their spring training journey on Friday, Mar 12 against the Anaheim Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium.