FanPost

Is the Golden Hour upon the Diamondbacks?

It would seem like Paul Goldschmidt's call up is getting pretty close. After gushing about Goldschmidt for several quotes in an Interview with Nick Piecoro, Kevin Towers answered the question of when it's going to happen like this:

He said the organization already has talked internally about bringing Goldschmidt up.

"We’re kind of approaching that time to where we’ll make some decisions on people in our system," Towers said. "I wouldn’t say we’re at that point right now, but probably leading up to the All-Star Game, that’s when we’d probably have to decide to make moves. I think we’re always looking for ways to improve the club and the first place we’re going to look is internal."


Well. he left that open enough. "leading up to the all star break" could be anytime between now and the all start break. My experience with these things tells me it's close and they are looking for ways to make room and as soon as they do, it will happen. If that involves a trade, it will take a little longer.

Meanwhile, In additon to Goldschmidt, he was also discussing Colin Cowgill. He went on to say:

"We want to make sure that with any of our young players, especially guys like Goldschmidt or Cowgill, when they come up, we want them to play," Towers said. "When Goldschmidt comes up, he’s got to play. We’ve got to be committed to that. We need to make sure that as a staff and an organization, whenever we decide to make that decision, we’re committed from staff to front office to minor leagues that they’re going to play."

Emphasis mine. Boy, that sure sounds a lot like organizational advocacy........but I digress.

Anyway, while I've been fantasizing about Carlos Beltran, KT has been doing the responsible thing and checking out his internal options and is preparing to make room for a couple of them to upgrade the offense. There are many permutations of what kind of roster moves may be needed to make room for Goldschmidt and possibly Cowgill. I'll leave that for the comments area to kick around.

However, it wouldn't be a Shoewizard Fan Post if there weren't some stats involved....so here we go. Nothing fancy. Just OPS. Specifically, since 2005 (as far back as I checked) no hitter has lead the Southern League with over a 1.000 OPS. The highest to lead the league since 2005 is Jake Fox's .976 in 2008. While there are a couple of names on the list below that will pop out to you immediately, obviously leading the Southern League in OPS is not necessarily a ticket to stardom.

But what stands out here is just how far above everyone else on the list Goldy is. Context is everything when it comes to examining stats. League environment...ballpark....competition level. We all know this is a tough pitchers league in mostly humid climates. What he is doing here is really amazing. No one has lead the league with an OPS within 176 points of where Goldy is now, and Luke Montz is currently in 2nd place this year 162 points behind. This is domination rarely seen in this league. Add to that Paul's BB/K ratio, and I'm sold. Changing my tune. No more patience. Go for it KT ! Bring him up. The sooner the better. (Just don't ask me what to do with Juan Miranda).

Year Player AGE OPS Remarks
2005 Jeremy Hermida 21 .975 CY 3rd .922
2006 Joey Votto 23 .956
2007 Evan Longoria 22 .930
2008 Jake Fox 25 .976
2009 Stefan Gartrell 25 .892 Josh Bell 2nd .883
2010 Brandon Guyer 24 .966
2011 Paul Goldschmidt 23 1.152 Luke Montz 2nd .990