Torey Lovullo is validating Diamondbacks' decision to bring him back for 2022 season

The Diamondbacks were 56 games under .500 last Sept. 23, the day they announced Torey Lovullo would return as manager in 2022. Amid such seasons, most managers would be extended exit instructions, not a new contract, and outside the clubhouse the news was joyous to only a few people not in Lovullo’s immediate family.

Inside the clubhouse, however, was a different story.

“I guess we’re going to keep hanging out together,” outfielder David Peralta told Lovullo last fall after hearing his manager was returning.

Lovullo’s popularity with players was only one reason to bring him back. Among others, as General Manager Mike Hazen detailed at the time, were that the entire organization, not one man, was responsible for a team that ended up finishing 52-110, and that one of Lovullo’s strengths, working with young players, was just what the Diamondbacks needed in 2022, when they figured their lineup would skew young.

It was a wise decision back in September, and it looks even better now.

No, the Diamondbacks aren’t a good baseball team yet. They’re average, 23-23 entering the weekend, and have a long way to go to compete with the Dodgers, who beat them 14-1 at Chase Field Thursday night.

But average is several floors up from where the Diamondbacks were a year ago, when they were unwatchable after April. They went 5-24 in May and 3-24 in June. Combined, that was a winning percentage of .143, and the only thing that saved them from more intense public scorn was many of us were distracted by the Suns’ playoff run at the end of a delayed basketball season.

“Misery,” is how Lovullo described it.

Every proclamation made about a baseball team before June, at the earliest, should begin with “so far,” as in so far, Lovullo is not only justifying the Diamondbacks decision to extend his contract through 2022, but he’s also making a case for the Diamondbacks to exercise their option to keep him in 2023.

The starting pitching has improved. They don’t kick the ball around or make errant throws as the rate they did last year. They aren’t making players learn multiple positions in an effort to create “position flexibility,” as they did last year, and in May, the Diamondbacks started to hit.

They’ve done that with youngsters seeing significant playing time at third base (Josh Rojas), shortstop (Geraldo Perdomo), centerfield (Daulton Varsho and Alek Thomas), right field (Pavin Smith) and catcher (Varsho).

Lovullo deserves some credit for their success, Rojas said.

“When you’re a young guy coming up, you’re going to go through those ups and downs, those struggles,” Rojas said. “You really want to have somebody who believes in everything you can do, and I think Torey does a really good job of that."

When Rojas went through a bad stretch at the plate last year, Lovullo met with him to remind him of who he was — and wasn’t — as a player.

“Basically,” Rojas said, the conversation was, "We didn’t bring you here to be a power hitter. You’re not Aaron Judge. You’re not a home run hitter. You’re here because you have zone discipline. You’re going to swing at the right pitches. You are going to draw a walk when you need to.

“It was a reminder to, 'Hey, play the way you play.’”

Lovullo inherited a veteran lineup when he became the Diamondbacks manager in 2017. He was successful that season, but in subsequent years he displayed a tendency to stay with struggling veterans too long.

A younger team, like this year’s, is a recalibration of sorts for Lovullo, or at the very least, a return to his roots. Lovullo began his coaching career as a roving instructor in the Cleveland organization and then spent nine years as a minor league manager.

That decade of experience is one reason the Diamondbacks could envision Lovullo leading them back to respectability. And the extra motivation that comes with managing a 110-loss team couldn’t hurt.

This year, the Diamondbacks are at least watchable, although judging by attendance, there is considerable convincing left to do. The Diamondbacks rank 20th out of 30 teams in attendance, according to baseball-reference.com, and drew only 17,057 against the Dodgers Thursday night.

“It’s too early to say we deserve the fans’ love,” Rojas said. “There’s a lot more work to do before we can go out and say, ‘we deserve to have more people here.’”

For now, Lovullo said he is “happy” with how his team has played, given the “misery” of last season. “But this team is a far carrying from where it needs to be to play those meaningful games in September," he said.

But so far, nearly through May, the decision to allow Lovullo and the Diamondbacks to continue hanging out together looks like a wise one.

Reach Kent Somers at Kent.Somers@gannett.com. Follow him on twitter @kentsomers.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks' decision to keep Torey Lovullo looks like a wise one.