Tommy Troy Discusses First Year in Diamondbacks System

Tommy Troy was the Diamondbacks first round pick in this year's draft. After signing for  $4.4 million, he spent a few games at the complex before finishing the year with High-A Hillsboro. In his debut summer, he hit .274 with four home runs, nine stolen bases, and a .843 OPS.

An excited Troy spoke with the Arizona media before last night's game.

"It was everything I thought it was going to be, it's super fun. This is your job, this is what I get to do for a living, it's everything I wanted."

Troy, who grew up a Diamondbacks fan in large part to playing a lot of tournaments in Arizona, got to experience Chase Field as a player for the first time and meet some of the players on the team. 

"It's super exciting, I've been a fan of the D-backs for a really long time. To see them finally really get going right now, it's super cool to see. I'm really confident they're going to keep going and get really hot for the postseason." 

Part of that experience included meeting Corbin Carroll, a fellow first rounder who flew up the D-backs system. Troy says he'll try to pick his brain a bit more in the coming months.

Transitioning from college to professional baseball can be difficult, especially for the first couple years in the system. The bats change from metal to wood and opposing pitchers have a more thorough game plan to attack your weaknesses to get hitters out. Troy spoke about dealing with the adjustments.

"There definitely was an adjustment level, obviously from metal bats to wood bats there's an adjustment there. A lot of polishing, just a bunch of small polishing things and everything's going to add up and make me a much better ball player. Pitching is a lot different, they know how to pitch to you, they know your weaknesses a lot better, so you have to know your own weaknesses as well."

That level of self-awareness and ability to self-scout will be big in Troy's development as a baseball player, knowing what he needs to improve upon. It's an ability that the team has raved about with Corbin Carroll and Zac Gallen throughout the season. 

Since going pro the D-backs have played Troy exclusively at shortstop, with all 22 of his starts on the field coming at the position. Getting consistent reps there has lead to an improvement in his defense.