The DiamondbacKs

Why should anyone care about the Arizona Diamondbacks?

That’s not just east coast bias talking. It is a valid question. The Diamondbacks of 2008 started the season in first place despite an offense that couldn’t score runs with any sort of consistency. They weren’t particularly stalwart defensively and their bullpen was a patchwork collection of mediocre hurlers. Their highly touted young talent, Chris Young and Justin Upton combined for 286 strikeouts and only 37 homeruns. The pair hit a combined .249 last season. The sizzling start to the season was buried under a long season of exceptional mediocrity. Without anyone paying too much attention and without doing anything overly sexy, the Diamondbacks finished with an 82-80 record. Ask any Orioles fan. That’s a record I would kill for at this point.

Subtract the aging but ageless Randy Johnson and late-season acquisition Adam Dunn, and you have this year’s Diamondback roster. The question must be asked, is there anything about this year’s Arizona team that would make them worth watching?

Pitching:

The answer to the above query is, surprisingly, yes. The most basic reason to pay attention to the Diamondbacks are the two names at the top of their starting rotation. Brandon Webb and Dan Haren are as formidable of a pitching duo as exists in the game today. Webb, who has finished 1st or 2nd in NL Cy Young Voting in each of the last three seasons, is a durable staff ace in an era in which durable staff aces are an endangered species. Dan Haren is far more than the Robin to Webb’s Batman. Haren also goes over 200 innings every year at nearly a strikeout per inning. He hasn’t missed a start in the last four seasons.

The rest of the starting rotation consists of established inning eaters Doug Davis and recently signed Jon Garland. The 5th member of the rotation provides yet another reason to watch the Diamondbacks. Max Scherzer brings and upper 90s fastball and a promising young arm to the back end of the starting staff. Stay tuned, he provided many teasing glimpses of his immense potential in his half season in the big leagues last year.

Once the starters are taken out of the game, the Diamondbacks become much less noteworthy. With no established back of the bullpen presence, the Diamondbacks will again look to Chad Qualls and Jon Rauch as their two-headed end of game monster. Qualls posted admirable stats last season (2.81 ERA 1.07 WHIP) Rauch had similar numbers (2.98 ERA 1.01WHIP) in his 2/3 of the season as the Nationals’ closer but ran up an unimpressive 6.57 ERA over the season’s final 2 months as a member of the Diamondbacks’ pen.

Offense

For the purposes of this section, we will refer to the team in question as the DiamondbacKs. Baseball Prospectus included an interesting blurb on the DiamondbacKs’ propensity to whiff. At home, 19.6 of their plate appearances resulted in a strikeout. On the road that disturbing figure jumped to 22.2 percent. They don’t make a great deal of contact. MarK Reynolds set a record by coming up empty 204 times last season. Upton, Young, and Stephen Drew each topped 100 strikeouts. Catcher Chris Snyder whiffed 101 times in 404 plate appearances. That’s exactly ¼ of his trips to the plate.

Stephen Drew, JD’s sturdier younger brother, became the first of the Upton/Young/Drew triumvirate to put together a respectable offensive season at the big league level. In his second full season, the Arizona shortstop slugged .502, stroked 44 doubles, and scored 91 runs. The arrival of a new double play partner, Felipe Lopez, provides the DiamondbacKs with a potent middle infield.

The ability of Young and Upton to live up to the lofty expectations created by their very obvious talent is potentially, another reason to follow Arizona this season. There is a possibility that balls could fly out of Chase Field all summer if the two outfielders progress.

Tony Clark is back for yet another season in Phoenix. He will share 1st Base duties with the oft-injured Chad Tracy. Conor Jackson, exiled to left field last season, could see time at first base as well but, according to plans, will join Upton and Young in the outfield.

Overall

The starting rotation is as close to a sure thing as exists in baseball. The bullpen has potential leaks. The offense has a core group of talented young hitters who have yet to learn to put the ball in play with any kind of regularity. If the strikeouts and abysmal batting averages persist, the Diamondbacks will be hard pressed to repeat last season’s 2nd place finish. However, if the glowing upsides of their free swinging outfield somehow manage to shine brighter this season, the Diamondbacks can be a force in the National League West.

Prediction: The young bats continue to miss the ball more than Bob Melvin would like. 79-83. 2nd in NL West.