Josh Rojas eager to play with, learn from new D-Backs teammate Evan Longoria

When he first heard the Diamondbacks had signed veteran third baseman Evan Longoria, Josh Rojas was worried. In his mind, the team had brought in a good player, a more experienced player, one who plays his same position, and he immediately wondered what this meant for him.

A month removed from the signing, Rojas has different viewpoint.

“I think it’s going to be a really good opportunity for us to win,” Rojas said.

Rojas is confident there are plenty of at-bats for him to earn; he is excited to play with and learn from Longoria; and he realized that the veteran’s presence on the roster will reintroduce an element of competition that has tended to elicit the best from him throughout his professional career.

“I’m going to have to win a job,” Rojas said, “which I like.”

On paper, at least, Longoria could be an ideal complement to Rojas at third base. A right-handed hitter, Longoria has been productive against left-handed pitching throughout his career; Rojas, a left-handed hitter, saw his numbers dip last year against lefties.

Longoria, a three-time Gold Glove winner, also comes with a reputation for being a sure-handed defender at third. The Diamondbacks saw his smooth actions on display on multiple occasions in recent years for the San Francisco Giants.

But it is not so much that Longoria can do things defensively that Rojas cannot, it is the prospect that he can help Rojas take the next step as a defender that is intriguing to the Diamondbacks — and to Rojas, who already sounds like an eager pupil.

“I’m really excited to start taking ground balls with him because he’s a great defender and that was one of my biggest weaknesses last year was playing defense,” Rojas said. “I’m excited to take some ground balls with him and pick his brain a little bit about what he thinks about, what he does, his pre-set, his glovework, his footwork, things like that.”

Rojas has been both a tantalizing and frustrating defender throughout his time with the Diamondbacks. He has played a variety of positions and at times played them exceedingly well. At shortstop during the 2020 season, he turned in one of the more athletic double plays by a Diamondbacks player in recent memory; as a right fielder the following season, he robbed Fernando Tatis Jr. of a home run.

However, he also has been prone to defensive mistakes, never more so than during a nightmarish eighth inning at Dodger Stadium last September when he failed to convert three chances into outs, a sequence that led to him being benched the following four games.

“Over those four days I actually completely changed my approach to fielding ground balls and it helped me a lot,” Rojas said. “I’m excited to take that into this spring and work on those things. I just think I was not in a good spot with my feet. It didn’t allow me to make all the plays — the majority of the plays, but not all the plays. And most importantly it didn’t allow me to make all the throws. I think I just have to focus a lot more on my footwork and how I’m setting up.”

Offensively, Rojas seems to have settled into being a dependable performer. He puts together tough at-bats, generates good batting averages and on-base numbers, and creates havoc on the bases. He ranked as the eighth-best baserunner in the majors last year, per FanGraphs’ baserunning metrics.

Eligible for arbitration this winter for the first time, Rojas appears headed for a hearing with the Diamondbacks in mid-February despite the sides being only $325,000 apart. (Rojas is seeking $2.9 million while the team filed at $2.575 million.) Rojas said he has no hard feelings.

“I feel like their valuation is a good valuation, but in discussing with my agent we feel like we can win more,” Rojas said. “I told my agent, if we think we can win a case and get a few hundred thousand dollars out of it, I’m all for it. This is life-changing money for me. I’ve never made this amount of money my whole life and I never planned on it.”

He said he isn’t concerned about what might take place during the hearing, in which he likely will have to listen to his own team pick him apart in a process some players find unnerving.

“I’ve always been a guy that likes to hear, ‘He can’t do this, he can’t do this,’” Rojas said. “I’ll take those things and I’ll work on them and I’ll try do better and then hopefully we’ll have a case again next year, if there’s not an agreement.”

Even with Longoria in the fold, Rojas figures he still has plenty of avenues for at-bats, perhaps seeing time at both third base and second base, where he could give Ketel Marte the occasional start at designated hitter.

At 37, Longoria is not expected to be asked to handle everyday at-bats. Moreover, he seems comfortable with the idea of transitioning into the sort of role in which he can still make an impact even when he’s not playing.

“Although I hope to be on the field as much as possible and contributing physically to wins and losses on the field,” Longoria said in early January, “my role has definitely pivoted a little bit as I’ve gotten older these last couple of years, realizing not only can I help on the field but the impact is sometimes equally as great trying to help these other guys become the best player that they can be.”

With Longoria working out at Salt River Fields in recent weeks, Rojas has already spent time around his new teammate and gotten a feel for how the veteran could help the Diamondbacks’ youthful roster.

“We have a lot of young guys with low service time,” Rojas said. “I think having a guy like that who has been around and knows the game and knows how to be a professional, it’s going to be really good to have a guy like that.”

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Josh Rojas eager to learn from new Dbacks teammate Evan Longoria