The Arizona Diamondbacks are bringing back one of their more well-known outfield prospects after a rough, injury-riddled 2026 season.

Arizona recently saw the departure of several farmhands, as well as a chunk of their major league roster.

But according to a new post from the Triple-A Reno Aces on X/Twitter, Arizona has opted to craft a couple of new deals. One move involved veteran catcher Aramis Garcia, a re-signing which has already been reported here.

The other was an outfielder many Diamondbacks fans or prospect-watchers likely know.

Diamondbacks bring back outfielder A.J. Vukovich on new deal

Arizona is re-signing outfielder A.J. Vukovich, the Aces officially announced on Sunday.

Vukovich had spent the last six seasons in the Diamondbacks' system, after he was drafted 119th overall in the fourth round of the 2020 MLB draft.

He began to tap into his power swing in the 2023 season, slugging .485 for the Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles. He hit 24 home runs that season, albeit in an extremely offense-focused Texas League environment. That helped him end up at No. 14 on Arizona's top 30 prospect rankings at the time.

That trend continued as Vukovich worked his way up to Reno in 2024 and 2025. He hit .284/.355/.498 with 22 more homers for the Aces in the 2025 season over 111 games, which was good for a .853 OPS, though that translated to roughly a league-average stat line due to the Reno environment.

Still, it was a strong foundation for a potential breakout in the 2026 season. Unfortunately for Vukovich, after a strong start to last season, he went down with a left shoulder injury from an adverse slide and missed two months' worth of action.

Three weeks later, he spent another two weeks on the IL. So his .267/.324/.449 slash from last season, which was only worth an 82 park- and league-adjusted wRC+ (18% below average), was not his strongest showing.

But now, Vukovich will get another chance to advance his career. It won't be easy for him to work his way up to the major league level, given the relative outfield lojam on Arizona's MLB roster.

Corbin Carroll, Jordan Lawlar, Lars Nootbaar, Ryan Waldschmidt and Tommy Troy all likely have a role in 2027. That's not countint utility contributions from players like Tim Tawa. But if Vukovich can display some power, he may be an option to add some thump mid-season. After all, it's tugh to get

At the very least, he's a quality depth player to have in the system.