DbackSkins was wondering when the last time an AZ player scored more than 40% on the Fangraph scale. The answer is, not that long ago: Wednesday, in fact, when Mark Reynolds rated a +40.2% for his three-run homer versus the Brewers. Granted, before that, you've got to go back quite a long way: June 27th, the last time we posted a shutout, when Brandon Webb was +47.4%. Here's the full list of those over 40% this year:
- Yusmeiro Petit (7/22, +40.0%)
- Mark Reynolds (7/18, +40.2%)
- Brandon Webb (6/27, +47.2%)
- Tony Clark (6/19, +47.2%)
- Orlando Hudson (6/15, +58.3%)
- Webb (6/6, +45.3%)
- Webb (6/1, +45.6%)
- Randy Johnson (5/30, +40.0%)
- Doug Davis (5/28, +41.3%)
- Livan Hernandez (5/22, +43.0%)
- Carlos Quentin (5/21, +61.1%)
- Webb (5/11, +52.8%)
- Scott Hairston (4/28, +43.1%)
- Stephen Drew (4/25, +80.3%)
- Eric Byrnes (4/2, +40.8%)
That 80.3% swing for Drew was largely the result of his two-run ninth-inning, walk-off homer off Trevor Hoffman, which turned a 1-in-10 chance of victory into a sure thing. Just in case you're wondering, the two worst negative performances are both Jose Valverde's. The pits was his -79.0% for his meltdown against the Rockies on April 3rd, when we led with two outs in the bottom of the 11th. He came close a month later, against the Mets on May 3rd, but that was "only" -76.5%.
All told, the best D-back hitter this season so far is Eric Byrnes at a combined +112% for his appearances, with the top-ranked starter Webb at +79%. However, the Four Relievers of the Apocalypse all show up well, three of them phenomenally so: Pena (+260%), Lyon (+166%), Valverde (+135%) and Cruz (+41%). I think that is, to a certain extent, the result of them pitching in high-leverage situations.
Worst, by quite some way, is Callaspo at -126%. Quite an impressive feat, given his short stay with the team. Then comes Young, who has posted a cumulative -89%, and Snyder (-61%) - that's excluding all the negative scores for pitchers on the hitting side, which is only fair. The worst starter is Owings at -48%, and no prizes for guessing that Medders comes out as the worst reliever, -78%. A good chunk of that comes from his grand-slam fiasco, needless to say.