While looking into the history of Brett Anderson, I came across a copy of the 2008 Baseball America Prospect Handbook, edited by Jim Callis, Will Lingo and John Manuel. In the Diamondbacks section, it lists our projected 2011 line-up. This is an interesting look into the future, from the viewpoint of December 2007, when it seemed the team was on the upswing, having just won the NL West and "signed sparkplug Eric Byrnes." Yeah, about that...
- Catcher Chris Snyder
- First Base Conor Jackson
- Second Base Orlando Hudson
- Third Base Mark Reynolds
- Shortstop Stephen Drew
- Left Field Carlos Gonzalez
- Center Field Chris Young
-
Right Field Justin Upton
- No. 1 Starter Brandon Webb
- No. 2 Starter Jarrod Parker
- No. 3 Starter Micah Owings
- No. 4 Starter Brett Anderson
- No. 5 Starter Barry Enright
- Closer Max Scherzer
Stephen Drew is the only survivor of the infield, and it's interesting to note that, even then, we didn't seem to have anyone to play second - which is odd, since they list Emilio Bonifacio as our #6 prospect (and this was before the Dan Haren trade gutted the list), and he made his debut earlier that year. Mind you, given he has accumulated -1.2 bWAR in 260 major-league games, they may have had a point. They did get two-third of the outfield right, though that was hardly difficult to predict. Whatever happened to Carlos Gonzalez anyway? </denial>
The rotation is interesting. Obviously, Parker's Tommy John surgery probably prevented him from becoming part of the team, though given the way the past couple of seasons went (and the way this one is shaping up), it might be for the best from a service time point of view. Anderson - as shoewizard pointed out - has blossomed into one of the best "unknown" talents over the past season and a half. And look at #5: the man who seems likely to be there on Opening Day for Arizona. But even then, it seemed there were questions about Scherzer's stamina. Here's the top 10 Arizona prospects from that time:
1. Carlos Gonzalez, of
2. Jarrod Parker, rhp
3. Brett Anderson, lhp
4. Max Scherzer, rhp
5. Gerardo Parra, of
6. Emilio Bonifacio, 2b/ss
7. Aaron Cunningham, of
8. Chris Carter, 1b
9. Reynaldo Navarro, ss
10. Barry Enright, rhp