As usual, this is based primarily on June, but with weighting based on any trend from a previous month: breakout months will tend to be rewarded better than slumps, if both result in the same statistic. There were 15 position players and 18 pitchers used by the Diamondbacks in June, for a total of 33, three more than we used in May. From last month, we lost Vidal Nuno (#5), Tuffy Gosewisch (#13), and Evan Marshall (#26), but added half a dozen more. In alphabetic order, they were: Welington Castillo, David Hernandez, Jake Lamb, Dominic Leone, Matt Stites and Allen Webster.
- Paul Goldschmidt (last: #1), .354/.479/.563. Goldie has now had an OPS over 1.000 for three consecutive months. Know how many D-backs have ever had more than three such months (min 40 AB)? Danny Bautista (4), Steve Finley (7), Luis Gonzalez (15) and Justin Upton (7). Paul is now at six, and I have to believe, many of Gonzo's franchise marks will fall, eventually.
- Yasmany Tomas (#14), .311/.361/.489. The move to right-field seems to have agreed with Yasmany, who has made some nice defensive plays there while continuing to hit. Quite unlike certain outfielders we could mention. Yeah, that .391 BABIP is not going to last for ever, but we've been saying so for a while. Ride it for as long as it lasts, Yasmany!
- Brad Ziegler (#12), 0.82 ERA, 0.818 WHIP. Can't ask for much better from your closer. A perfect 9-for-9 in saves, with one run allowed in his 11 innings of work, holding the opposition to seven hits and two walks. Equally impressive was Brad's efficiency: no frame took more than 20 pitches, with five being completed in fewer than a dozen, and the average a crisp 12.7 pitches per inning.
- Robbie Ray (#15), 2.08 ERA, 1.055 WHIP. Certainly deserved better than the 1-3 record he posted in the month, though Ray's ERA is gradually inching closer to his season FIP, which sits a run above his June ERA. I'd still be happy to settle for that. Would like to see him pitching deeper into games: he has yet to get an out past the seventh inning, in six attempts.
- Nick Ahmed (#3). .250/.333/.400. Having got his batting average up to a reasonable level, Ahmed has now developed a power stroke, only Goldschmidt and Pollock has more home-runs than Nick in June. That OPS+ is now up to 80 for the season, a long, long way from where it was in April, and allows his defense to become a true positive. 1.7 bWAR to date, and a K:BB ratio of 10:10 in June.
- Welington Castillo (New), .273/.333/.564. A strong first half-month: I'd quite forgotten that catchers could actually provide offensive output. Most of his 15 hits have been for extra-bases, including four homers, and he seems to be gelling quite well with the pitching staff. Now, about that base-running, Welington...
- Andrew Chafin (#10), 1.84 ERA, 0.955 WHIP. Chafin is quietly putting together a very nice season, with an ERA+ that sits at 128 for the year. His ERA has got better each month, and this month's K:BB of 10:3 was Chafin's best of 2015 too. With a FIP of 2.84 on the season, the peripherals look solid enough to expect good things going forward.
- Oliver Perez (#27), 2.00 ERA, 0.889 WHIP. After a couple of awful months, Perez finally got back into his stride in June. He faced 38 batters, and gave up four hits, four walks and hit a batter. While it may still be some time before I feel particularly secure with him coming into a game, June was a big step in the right direction.
- Daniel Hudson (#7), 2.92 ERA, 1,054 WHIP. A dozen strikeouts in 12.1 innings for Hudson - and did you notice one of them was Yasiel Puig with a 99 mph (technically, 98.7!) fastball? Got to love that. Dinged somewhat for allowing seven walks in those frames; however, he and Ziegler are the two arms in the bullpen who have my confidence at the current point.
- David Peralta (#11), .274/.347/.381. A drop-off of about 50 points from May for David, but still just about hanging on to respectability. I note that both Peralta and Pollock have seemed to decline since the loss of Inciarte. I'm not sure playing every day is for the best; I think the four-man outfield rotation, perhaps allowed everyone to stay a bit fresher.
- Randall Delgado (#21), 3.38 ERA, 1.500 WHIP. Struck out more than a batter per inning in June, though I can't say I'm full of the warm fuzzies when I see him coming in. That WHIP is definitely higher than I would like, and last night's two outs were both pretty hard-hit. However, it was a decent enough ERA for a reliever at Chase.
- Rubby De La Rosa (#16), 4.78 ERA, 1.407 WHIP. This is a case where trending comes into account, because De La Rosa's first two starts were just awful:16 earned runs in 10 innings. But since? Four games and a 1.30 ERA, as good a run as we've seen from Rubby. Has the light finally come on? If he keeps pitching like that in July, he's gonna keep moving on up.
- A.J. Pollock (#2), 259/.297/.426. Only Goldie played more than A.J.'s 26 starts in 28 games, but after a stellar May pushed Pollock into discussion for the All-Star Game, June proved problematic in comparison. Could do with putting more balls in play (K:BB of 21:7 for the month), since that would give his speed a chance to convert them into hits.
- Chase Anderson (#4), 4.45 ERA. 1.187 WHIP. Anderson's problems this month were all about the long-ball, as he led the team with seven home-runs allowed. Those were responsible for two-thirds of the 15 earned runs Anderson allowed in June. Striking out 14 in 30.1 innings of work was another area where Anderson needs to improve.
- Jake Lamb (RE), .224/.278/.313. Another case where I like where the player is going, better than where they've been. It feels almost like Jake came back too early; over his first 12 games he went 6-for-38 with 12 K's and a .449 OPS. But things have turned around a bit of late, with four multi-hit games in the past week, as well as Lamb's first home-run since the second day of the season.
- Ender Inciarte (#18), .275/.309/.333. Ender has been out since June 15, after straining a hamstring running out a ground-ball [who said hustle never hurt anyone?], but is expected to be back before too much longer. However, he wasn't actually playing all that well when injured, and his season OPS+ of 87 is now slightly below the one he posted last year.
- Jeremy Hellickson (#17), 6.00 ERA, 1.444 WHIP. And, leading your D-backs in K-rate for June is.. Hellickson? It's true: 31 strikeouts in 27 innings, and our only pitcher with a K:BB ratio above four (over his last three games, it was 21:2!). But it didn't translate into unmitigated success, thanks to a crunchy .355 BABIP that was the worst of any starter. Reason for hope AND grounds for concern...
- Jarrod Saltalamacchia (#28), .195/.277/.341. Has improved somewhat over his May numbers, when his OPS was below .500, and the walk-rate is decent. However, I'm struggling to find much else positive to say about him, and I strongly suspect he's just keeping the backup catcher spot warm for the return of Oscar Hernandez, whenever that may be.
- Josh Collmenter (#29), 5.19 ERA, 1.385 WHIP. Two more bad starts, and he was dumped back into the bullpen; not for the first time in his career. Since then, results have been better, with Josh allowing two earned runs in 5.2 relief innings. His last outing was the first time he'd been unscored upon since his complete game on April 17.
- Cliff Pennington (#25), .265/.324/.265. The Swiss Army knife added a new tool this month, making his first career start in the outfield, and not embarrassing himself. However, versatility only partly counteracts zero extra-base hits (and only one in his last hundred plate-appearances), even if Cliff started just six games this month.
- Enrique Burgos (#22), 2.70 ERA, 1.800 WHIP. Limited playing time for Burgos, who has made just the four appearances since returning from Reno. Small sample size therefore, yet it doesn't look like much has changed, with Burgos still possessing swing-and-miss stuff, and not able to harness it with any degree of consistency. 3.1 IP, two walks and two strikeouts.
- Matt Stites (NEW), 0.00 ERA, 0.000 WHIP. Faced one batter. Retired him.
- Chris Owings (#19), .217/.244/.301. Leading the club in strikeouts this month, with 26 in 90 PA's, even though the four (!) walks were also a season high for Owings. We discussed the issue with Owings at length recently; the tl;dr version is that the lack of credible, immediate alternates at second probably gives him a longer leash than he might deserve based on performance.
- Jordan Pacheco (#23), .500/.571/.500. Just a handful of PAs for Pacheco, before he was sent back to Reno. He did well enough, though with Hernandez coming over the horizon, it could take a perfect storm of injuries and ineffectiveness to get Pacheco back up again.
- Allen Webster (NEW), 7.71 ERA, 1.684 WHIP. The other half of the Wade Miley deal has not done as well as Rubby De La Rosa, and was sent back to Reno earlier this week. When his sinker was working, it did prove capable of generating ground-balls; however, 14 walks is far too many in only 19 innings, as are the six home-runs allowed. Command your fastball, Allen, then we'll talk.
- J.C. Ramirez (#9), 7.20 ERA, 1.600 WHIP. Ramirez looked much more like the man who had a 7.50 ERA in his first major-league stint, than the one who had a 2.64 ERA in May. He didn't get many chances, being DFA'd to make room for Allen Webster, but is back in Reno if needed, pitching there with the Aces.
- David Hernandez (NEW), 7.50 ERA, 2.333 WHIP. It's good to see Hernandez back, but as we saw with Hudson, it will likely take some time for DHern to return to form. His first five appearances led to no earned runs, but the last three, he has allowed five runs in 2.2 innings, on seven hits and a walk. There will continue to be spells like this, I imagine: right now, proving his health is the main thing.
- Aaron Hill (#8), (.170/.273/.191). May did indeed prove a mirage, Hill's production imploding back to the point where you wonder at what point the team is going to pull a Cody Ross and simply eat what's left on his contract. Since i's about $19m at the current time, it may still be too big a lump to swallow, but his performance is making it increasingly hard to believe anyone else will be interested.
- Danny Dorn (#24), (.111/.111/.111). Actually got to make some starts this time, with the loss of Inciarte. However, has done nothing with them to justify additional playing time, going 2-for-18.
- Archie Bradley (#30), 9.00 ERA, 2.200 WHIP. At time of writing, still waiting to hear how Archie's appointment with Dr. Doom a.k.a. James Andrews went. I don't know whether to hope for a clean bill of health, or if it would be better for the D-backs to discover there is an actual medical condition underlying Bradley's struggles this season.
- Mark Trumbo (#6), (.000/.000/.000). Now permanently filed under "Someone else's problem." And with a .390 OPS in 20 games for Seattle, we're all the better for it.
- Addison Reed (#20). 10.13 ERA, 2.438 WHIP. What could be worse than a hitter not getting on base at all? A pitcher with a double-digit ERA seems about right. Six appearances, and the team pulled the plug on Reed's major-league status, sending him down to Reno, to try and fix what ails him. I will adopt a parental tone, and say nothing more predictive here than, "We'll see..."
- Dominic Leone (NEW). 27.00 ERA, Perhaps surprisingly, if Leone is never seen again as a D-back - and owning a 9.00 ERA for Double-A Mobile, that seems not impossible - his ERA will only be the fourth worst for the team. There's Jeff Bajenaru (36.00), Ricky Pickett (81.00) and J.D. Durbin, who allowed seven earned runs over two-thirds of an inning in his only appearance, for a 94.50 ERA.