A 17th-round draft pick in 2015, he received his first taste of the majors with four games pitched for Atlanta in the month before the swap, then five more after with Baltimore.

Source: https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/07/19/reliever-evan-phillips-wasnt-quite-ready-for-the-orioles-land-of-opportunity-hes-seized-it-with-the-dodgers/

As a ballyhooed prospect, the power potential was always present, but it wasn't until Sunday that Diaz cleared the fences in the majors.

Source: https://deadspin.com/astros-return-home-to-face-struggling-cubs-1850436710

Atlanta's Matt Olson leads the majors with 43 homers and 107 RBIs and teammates Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley both have 28 homers, with Ronald Acuna Jr. at 26 and a major-league-leading 55 stolen bases.

Source: https://deadspin.com/fresh-off-dismal-defeat-yankees-look-to-bounce-back-at-1850734108

Barnes, who was a first-round pick of the Red Sox in 2011 and spent from 2014-22 in the majors, finished his career second in Red Sox history in both relief appearances and strikeouts in relief.

Source: https://nesn.com/2023/01/chaim-bloom-explains-difficult-decision-for-red-sox-to-dfa-matt-barnes/

Barnhart, whom the Reds drafted in 2009, already had been in the majors for parts of four seasons when Casali landed with the Reds.

Source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2023/4/3/23669041/cubs-reds-tucker-barnhart-unmatched-kindness

But as is often the case with a prospect’s path to the majors, he ran headlong into numerous speed bumps along the way — the most obtrusive coming just as he was primed to reach the big leagues.

Source: https://www.denverpost.com/2023/03/24/rockies-ryan-rolison-journey-to-mlb/

But playing for the Glendale Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League has enabled him to play against tougher competition that will prepare him for an inevitable promotion to the majors — maybe next season.

Source: https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2023/10/21/23925020/white-sox-prospect-colson-montgomery-tim-anderson-chris-getz-arizona-fall-league-shortstop

But the Iowa Cubs are also filled with players who came up to the majors and were sent back down, guys like Matt Mervis, Keegan Thompson, Caleb Kilian, Nelson Velazquez, David Bote, Rowan Wick, etc.

Source: https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20230628/demoted-cubs-prospects-starting-to-pile-up-in-iowa

But they still have middle infield depth with Taylor Walls, Jonathan Aranda, Osleivis Basabe, Vidal Brujan, Isaac Paredes and Curtis Mead, plus touted prospect Carson Williams getting closer to the majors.

Source: https://nypost.com/2023/11/07/sports/craig-counsell-was-right-to-push-for-higher-manager-salaries/

But what are the traits that got him to the majors, and have the baseball world entranced?

Source: https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2023/6/8/23753762/elly-de-la-cruz-cincinnati-reds

Comments from a pitcher Volpe recently homered off of might indicate why he’s ready to make the move up to the majors.

Source: https://fansided.com/2023/03/25/opposing-pitchers-comments-anthony-volpe-perfectly-explain-make-yankees-roster/

Even with the six-year break between 115-pitch outings, Darvish’s 26 starts with at least that many pitches is tied for eighth most in the majors since 2012.

Source: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/newsletter/2023-06-04/padres-daily-austin-nola-gary-sanchez-yu-darvish-xander-bogaerts-injury-fernando-tatis-home-runs-trent-grisham-padres-daily

Fedde is confident his time in the KBO will translate well to his return to the majors.

Source: https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/12/15/how-erick-fedde-expanded-his-pitch-arsenal-in-korea-to-get-back-to-the-big-leagues-with-the-chicago-white-sox/

For every 43 games they played in the majors, they get $718 a year.

Source: https://www.dailynews.com/2023/04/15/tilting-at-windmills-crusader-seeks-justice-for-retired-baseball-players/

He also is the first player in the majors to hit grand slams in consecutive trips to the plate since Josh Willingham with Washington in 2009.

Source: https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2023/08/19/red-sox-yankees-luis-urias-grand-slam-saturday-final-score-game-recap-highlights/

He doesn’t know everything he needs to know about his new pitchers after one weekend in the majors, and he still needs some refining.

Source: https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/09/05/after-a-small-sample-austin-wells-defense-receives-rave-reviews/

He had bounced up and down in the majors in 2019-20, but he finally demonstrated extended success in 2021, and he repeated it in the second half of 2022.

Source: https://www.dailybreeze.com/2023/04/06/angels-confident-they-can-succeed-with-lefty-heavy-rotation/

He has not pitched on a typical fifth day but, and all of his opponents so far rank within the backside half of the majors in runs scored, together with the Reds, who tallied all of their runs off the righty Thursday in a 5-0 conquer the Mets.

Source: https://basquiatstrings.co.uk/the-mets-face-some-season-altering-decisions-on-how-far-to-go-with-their-rookies-bt-news

He is yet to translate that into the majors with just two top-10 finishes across 15 starts in four years.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/golf/ryder-cup-team-usa-2023-justin-thomas-glover-b2396532.html

He last pitched in the majors with Texas in 2018.

Source: https://deadspin.com/report-bartolo-colon-to-officially-retire-at-50-1850500912