The Arizona Diamondbacks are reuniting with outfielder Randal Grichuk on a one year deal with a mutual option for 2026, the club announced Tuesday. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports that Grichuk will earn a base salary of $2 million in 2025 while the option is valued at $5 million with a $3 million buyout. In total the deal is worth $5 million guaranteed plus an additional $500K in incentives.

Grichuk, 33, enjoyed a solid year with the Diamondbacks where he played in 106 games and slashed .291/.348/.528 with 12 home runs and a career-best 139 wRC+. His 2.2 rWAR was the highest since 2018 when he posted a 2.5 rWAR as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. It was a surprising resurgence for a player who signed a bargain deal and from 2021-2023 had slashed .255/.299/.434 and produced the exact same bWAR as he did in ’24, but in 301 more games.

His performance led him to decline a $6 million mutual option and test the free agent market for the first time in his career. Not only did Grichuk produce one of the best seasons since his rookie campaign in 2015, but he drastically improved his plate discipline in 2024, putting up the lowest strikeout rate and highest walk rate of his career while his 47.6% hard-hit rate was also a career-high. There was speculation that he could easily score a multi-year deal on the market but it appears things stagnated for Grichuk and the D-backs were able to retain him for another bargain deal should he replicate his ’24 season.

“[We’ve] been staying in touch the whole offseason, [and] this was a natural fit for our team,” D-backs GM Mike Hazen said to reporters. “We are happy to have him back. He was a major piece to what we did last year offensively. I know we’ve lost a little bit of firepower in the home run department. He certainly adds that back for us, especially against lefties. But he played really well for us down the stretch in all phases. I think it continues to build out the depth of the roster for us.”

The expectation is that Grichuk will once again fill the same role he played for Arizona last season. Primarily used as a platoon bat against lefties, Grichuk batted .319/.386/.528 with six home runs and a 151 wRC+ against southpaws. His numbers against righties were also strong but he did a bit more damage against the opposite hand. Hazen said as much that Grichuk will get plenty of DHing opportunities against lefties while also working in the outfield mix to spell players like Lourdes Gurriel Jr. when they need some rest as the DH.

Defensively Grichuk is still capable of playing all three outfield positions, but is more valuable in the corner spots. Last season he recorded 3 Defensive Runs Saved in the outfield and was valued for -2 Outs Above Average

In his final 21 games last season, Grichuk batted over .400 while clubbing seven home runs and driving in 19 runs. Overall in the second half of the season, he had a 1.012 OPS and was one of the more consistent pieces of a Diamondbacks roster that narrowly missed the playoffs. Having lost some power with the departure of Chrisitan Walker and Joc Pederson, Grichuk is hoping to bring his modest power back into the fold to help boost the team and replicate that final month of the season. He works great as an extra bench piece as a pinch-hitter as well as the platoon bat for the club.

With the addition of Josh Naylor this offseason, who is expected to play every day at first base, Grichuk’s path to the most playing time is at DH, where left-handed hitting Pavin Smith is currently slotted in. This becomes another natural platoon situation, and it brings some insurance into the lineup to aid the other power bats. If Grichuk can once again return on the investment, the D-backs are looking at yet another savvy signing in back-to-back seasons.