The grades we used in this article are relative to the league average statistics and the average age of the players in the league that the player was in. In addition, each player's draft position and personal strengths and weaknesses are taken into account (i.e. how they were supposed to do). It's best to remember that the draft is generally a crap-shoot - you can never know which guys will make it and which won't. Some players' careers may be lost to injuries, others just may never be able to make the adjustments to the more advanced levels of hitting or pitching. If two or three players out of a draft become solid major leaguers, the draft is generally thought a success. It's not that uncommon for a team to have a draft where none of the players drafted have any significant impact on the major league club (just ask Pittsburgh). It happens. It's why the draft is 50 rounds long and teams have 25 players on their big-league rosters. If one major league player out of this draft became an all-star and a handful of them became regular big-league players, the organization got a good haul. So when you see these grades, imagine that they're in a perfect world, where there's no injuries, and players don't regress. These are absolute best-case scenarios, because as much as we'd like to, we can't predict the future.


For this, the first week of this five-part extravaganza, we review the corner infielders. Third base has traditionally been a position of strength for the Diamondbacks, featuring names like Matt Williams and a healthy Chad Tracy from years past, and even today with the presence of probably the team's most-loved player, Mark Reynolds. However, with Reynolds' remarkable production comes the possibility that, despite his status of fan-favorite, he will be a free-agent in 2014. If we don't give him that extension and he signs elsewhere for what would be an assuredly absurd amount of money, we would have a gaping hole in our lineup at third base. So the front office decided to use the very first pick of our draft, and two subsequent picks, to take high-upside high-school bats who play third base, including Bobby Borchering, who was considered the best high-school bat in the draft. If just one of these kids pans out, we could be in a position to be able to fill in that gap that Reynolds could leave, just as he becomes a free agent. Or, if in a couple years it doesn't appear as if any of the kids will be able to fill in for Reynolds, we can try to negotiate an extension until someone steps up to fill the gap.


First-base, however, has historically been a different story for the D-Backs. We got a World Series, a couple of great high-moxie years, and an color analyst/future manager out of Mark Grace, but otherwise have been forced to suffer through the (epic) frustrations of the epically-disappointing Travis Lee, the epically-roided-up [allegedly: SB Nation lawyers] Erubiel Durazo (look at his career stats and decline following the trade to Oakland; it's a safe assumption), the epically-moody Shea Hillenbrand, the epically-expensive Richie Sexson, the epically-old Shawn Green, the epically-older Tony Clark, the epically-injured Chad Tracy, and the epically-horrible Josh Whitesell. And with Conor Jackson now appearing to be a better fit for the outfield (it's still odd to think about this considering he had to go to Bob Melvin and ask to be put there since the team needed an outfielder), we're left with a raw and unproven Brandon Allen to man first-base for the foreseeable future. However, if Allen flops, we're left scrambling for expensive free-agent stop-gap solutions. Our upper-level minor-league first-baseman options are the aforementioned Whitesell, who spent most of last year, and likely will spend this year, banished in AAA (or off the roster altogether), Sean Coughlin, who put together a good season in Mobile last year, but is as old as Allen, and Bryan Byrne, who is both worse and older than Coughlin. So, to counteract this, the organization took some polished college bats who, although limited to first base, have the offensive power to stick at the position and climb quickly through the minors.