In what feels like one of the final Diamond Duos releases, we get another Signature Series card in David Robertson and a Retro All-Star Game card from Paul DeJong.

MLB The Show 23 Diamond Duos 39

RP Signature Series David Robertson (New York Yankees)
Meta Overall rating: 95.78 – #52 RP

Starting us off is Signature Series David Robertson. Robertson features an extremely hard primary Cutter, hitting 95 MPH with 99 Control and 99 Break. His pitch-mix gets rounded out by a Knuckle-Curve, 4-Seamer, Circle-Change and Slider. On the surface, the pitch-mix isn’t terrible but the lack of an Outlier Fastball often limits the impact of relievers. The attributes are fairly solid as well with 121 H/9, 125 K/9, 93 BB/9 and 125 Clutch. So why the low Meta Overall rating?

For one, Robertson has absolutely no Quirks. He also has a relatively low speed differential across his pitches. For the most part, he has two speeds that hitters can sit on. You’re either getting the Cutter or 4-Seamer at 95 MPH or the Knuckle-Curve or Slider at around 83 MPH. The Circle-Change is actually coming in with more velocity than the breaking balls, but with 81 Break there might not be enough depth to truly fool hitters.

All-in-all, David Robertson is a good addition to a Yankees theme team but probably not anything more than that.

SS Retro All-Star Game Paul DeJong (St. Louis Cardinals)
Meta Overall rating: 103.31 – #35 SS

Next up is Paul DeJong. Once seen as one of the more tantalizing young Shortstops in baseball, DeJong has fallen off considerably since his appearance in the 2019 All-Star Game. Fitting then is a 99 overall DeJong from that 2019 season. For the most part, this is a pretty balanced offensive Shortstop with 100 CON L, 108 CON R, 101 POW L and 125 POW R rounded off with 102 Clutch. Again, no Quirks are featured here which doesn’t give DeJong any extra boost but the attributes are solid.

Known for his stellar defensive play, DeJong gets 97 Fielding with 99 Arm Accuracy and 93 Reaction. The Arm Strength is a bit weak at 83 and the 69 Speed is borderline, but there’s no denying the Diamond shield. This means DeJong should make strong plays on anything he can get to, with his range somewhat limited compared to other options.

The Closer

I’ve said this before but Diamond Duos releases just feel like ho-hum 99 overalls anymore. We’ve had some exciting cards throughout the year, but this just feels like a vehicle to get more cards into the pipelines versus supplying legitimately exciting cards. Most of the great pack cards have been Premium packs or Chase packs, so cards like these will never stack up. Diamond Duos are filling out rosters for the all-Hell-breaks-loose event when all cards are unlocked soon and Captained theme teams are at full strength.