Arizona Diamondbacks’ Manager Torey Lovullo Keeps it Loose with Fantasy Football Draft
The Arizona Diamondbacks are one of the hottest teams in baseball, compiling a 15-5 record in August and a 24-8 mark since the All-Star break. Their success can be attributed to a combination of superior talent, analysis, strategy, and the experience of last year’s World Series run. Another factor may be how loose manager Torey Lovullo keeps it with his players.
Lovullo, in his eighth year as the Diamondbacks’ skipper, recently demonstrated his fun-loving side by taking batting practice to set the team’s fantasy football draft order. Each ball he hit was numbered, and the distance he hit each determined a player’s draft position.
According to NESN’s Tom Caron, Lovullo hit the wall at Fenway Park with pitcher Merrill Kelly’s ball, earning Kelly the first pick in the draft. Lovullo also popped up Joc Pederson’s ball, meaning Pederson will select last. Pederson can console himself with his impressive stats, including 20 home runs, 58 RBI, a.292 batting average, and a.959 OPS.
A major league manager taking batting practice would be a fun enough spectacle on most days, but the stakes of determining his players’ fantasy football draft order gave it some extra spice. Lovullo hit.224 during his eight MLB seasons, so putting those draft picks in his hands – or on his bat – might have been risky. Or it just demonstrated that the whole exercise was in good fun for a team that’s having a lot of fun on the field right now.
