Arizona Diamondbacks Summer Check Up

Arizona Diamondacks

32-29 (First in NL West)



Eye Popping Number

9

The Arizona Diamondbacks made history this year and became the first team since the 1907 Chicago Cubs to begin the season with 9 straight series wins (the Cubs won the World Series that year).  At the time, it put the Dbacks in a tie for the best record in baseball at 19-7, which looking back was desperately needed to keep their division lead after struggling once the streak eneded.

Biggest Surprise

Paul Goldschmidt has been an NL MVP candidate year in and year out since he came into the league in 2011. He consistently hits .300 and gets on base over 40% of the time with power, which means he’s usually about 30 to 70% better than the average hitter in a given year, according to OPS+. However this season, he’s having by far the worst season of his career. You’d think that with the fast start the team had, that Goldschmidt would be the key cog in all of it, but he’s been far from it. With an OPS+ of 95 this season, he’s hitting 5% below average this year. His pace of .220 batting average and .407 slugging percentage would be career lows, and his .335 on base percentage would barely be better than his rookie season

Player to Watch

While Goldschmidt and the offense struggled to begin the year, and continued to do so as the season’s progressed, the pitching staff carried the team. Patrick Corbin has led the staff with a 2.87 ERA. Zach Greinke, Zack Godley and Robbie Ray were supposed to be the top starters on the team coming into the year, but Ray got hurt, Godley has struggled, while Greinke has been a strong #2 to Corbin’s #1. He already has three double-digit strikeout performances on the season, as well as a complete game shutout against the Giants. Right now there aren’t many other pitchers that I would want to pitch in a one game Wild Card playoff game.

What to Watch for at the Deadline


Injuries have hit the Diamondbacks in many key categories. Three starting pitchers are out with Ray, and Shelby Miller and Taijuan Walker who both are recovering from Tommy John Surgery. Outfielders AJ Pollack and Steve Souza are both injured as well and there’s not real timetable on when they’ll return. They’ll probably target a middle infielder or corner outfielder in the next month or so to fill the holes in their lineup so they won’t have to depend on their starting rotation to keep them in games. Starlin Castro (Miami) would be a good fit to play second base as well as Jed Lowrie (Oakland).

*All stats as of 6/6 via fangraphs.com and baseball-reference.com

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