Anthony Banda

Position: LHP
Born: 08/10/93
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 190
B/T: L/L
Acquired: Via trade from the Brewers on July 31, 2014, along with OF Mitch Haniger for OF Gerardo Parra (ARI). Originally drafted in the 10th round of the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft (MIL).

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
7-5 with a 5.08 ERA in 18 starts at Reno (Triple-A), striking out 93 while walking 43 in 101 innings and allowing 101 hits for a .261 BAA.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Recalled from Reno on July 22, when RHP Matt Koch was sent down.
MLB Debut Date: 07/22/17

Debut Details
July 22, in a 4-3 loss to the Nationals. The starting pitcher, he took the loss, allowed four runs, all earned, on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings, striking out five without walking a batter. Of 82 pitches thrown, 55 were for strikes. In the first inning, he struck out Brian Goodwin on a foul tip before Chris Heisey grounded out to first . Bryce Harper hit his 25th homer of the year before Ryan Zimmerman struck out swinging. In the second, Daniel Murphy flew out to center and Anthony Rendon popped out foul behind first base. After Matt Wieters doubled to left, Wilmer Difo flew out to right to end the inning. In the third, opposing pitcher Tanner Roark struck out swinging. Goodwin doubled to right but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple and then Heisey popped out to shortstop. In the fourth, Harper flew out to left before Zimmerman singled to left but was stranded when Murphy and Rendon both flew out, to center and right respectively. In the fifth, Banda recorded his lone 1-2-3 inning of the night, as Wieters struck out swinging, Difo was out on a bunt single attempt groundout to third, and Roark struck out swinging. In the sixth, Goodwin grounded out to second before Heisey tripled to left. Harper's ground rule double to left scored Heisey and Zimmerman's double to center drove in Harper. After Murphy's unassisted groundout to first advanced Zimmerman to third, right-handed reliever J.J. Hoover came on for Banda and gave up an infield single to third to Rendon on which Zimmerman scored before Wieters struck out swinging to end the inning and close the book on Banda.

Player Notes
The Diamondbacks had actually tried to get Banda out of high school in Texas when they drafted him in the 33rd round of 2011 but he didn't sign and instead spent a year at San Jacinto J.C. (TX) before the Brewers scooped him up 23 rounds earlier in the next draft, but they finally got their man in a deadline trade in 2014. He enjoyed by far his best season in 2016 when, between Mobile (Double-A) and Reno, he combined to go 10-6 with a 2.88 ERA in 26 starts, striking out 152 and walking 55 in 150 innings while allowing 143 hits. Armed with a plus curveball and a fastball in the low- to mid-90s, he zoomed up the prospect charts, jumping on Baseball America's annual Top 30 from No. 15 heading into the 2016 season to the No. 1 Diamondback prospect heading into 2017. Despite so-so numbers this year at Reno (including an outing where he allowed a career-high 15 hits in five innings right before his big league debut), he remains deservedly highly regarded, and he became just the second player and first pitcher to debut for Arizona this season (infielder Ildemaro Vargas put the Diamondbacks onĀ  "the board" a few weeks ago, the last team to have a debutante in 2017). He was sent back to Reno right after his spot start to continue his development but should be back when rosters expand September 1 - if not before.

2080 Notes