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Fun facts* from the 2015 Arizona Diamondbacks: General

Courtesy (mostly) of the Diamondbacks end of season summary, here are some nuggets of information regarding the team and its overall performance this year. We'll get to hitting and pitching specific stats in a bit!

[* = fun not contractually guaranteed...]

By Jim McLennan
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Chip Hale’s 79 wins were the second most by an Arizona manager in their first 162 games, trailing only Bob Brenly’s 92 in 2001.

Manager Wins Years
Bob Brenly 92 2001
Chip Hale 79 2015
Bob Melvin 77 2005
Kirk Gibson 77 2010-11
A.J. Hinch 72 2009-10
Buck Showalter 65 1998
Al Pedrique 22 2004 (83 games)

The D-backs’ 79 wins were 15 more than their total of 64 in 2014. The 15-win difference from last season was the third largest in the NL, behind the Cubs (+24) and Mets (+21) and fourth-best increase in a single-season in franchise history. he largest improvement in club history was 35 games from 1998-99, followed by 29 from 2010-11 and 26 from 2004-05. The D-backs ranked second in the NL with a +134 run differential improvement from 2014, trailing only the Cubs (+174). Arizona was a -127 in 2014 and was a +18 this season.

Arizona featured 50 different players (27 pitchers and 23 position players), the third most in franchise history. The club record was 52 in 2004, followed by 51 in 2011. The D-backs used 17 rookies, down from 19 in 2014. 12 of the 17 made their Major League debut, as follows (for the record, the other five were Nick Ahmed, Andrew Chafin, Jake Lamb, Robbie Ray and Jamie Romak):

  1. Archie Bradley, April 11
  2. A.J. Schugel, April 12
  3. Yasmany Tomas, April 15
  4. Danny Dorn, April 21
  5. Enrique Burgos, April 29
  6. Oscar Hernandez, July 12
  7. Zack Godley, July 23
  8. Keith Hessler, August 8
  9. Silvino Bracho, August 30
  10. Brandon Drury, September 1
  11. Socrates Brito, September 8
  12. Peter O'Brien, September 11

The D-backs finished the season with the youngest team in baseball, 26 years, 341 days [source: STATS, LLC]: Here's the rankings for all 30 teams. Interesting side-note: none of the ten youngest teams won more than 81 games this year; maybe there is something to be said for "veteran presence"...?

RK CLUB YR DAYS
1 ARI 26 341
2 MIL 27 61
3 MIA 27 279
4 ATL 27 282
5 TB 27 319
6 CLE 28 10
7 COL 28 24
8 DET 28 41
9 CWS 28 61
10 BOS 28 62
11 HOU 28 92
12 PHI 28 113
13 BAL 28 133
14 SEA 28 139
15 SD 28 172
16 NYY 28 172
17 OAK 28 199
18 CIN 28 199
19 TEX 28 235
20 NYM 28 274
21 LAA 28 288
22 CHC 28 329
23 MIN 28 330
24 LAD 28 354
25 WSH 29 9
26 STL 29 159
27 KC 29 211
28 PIT 29 314
29 TOR 30 64
30 SF 30 124

The Diamondbacks won nine more games on the road, fueled in particular by the offense scoring over a run per game more (3.35 to 4.37), thanks to a road OPS that was improved by 82 points, from .639 to .721. That's the highest figure posted by Arizona since 2005, and was also helped by a club-record 74 steals outside of the state. The team also did a better job of defending its turf against the rest of the NL West, going 39-37, an eight-game improvement and the most wins since the division champion team of 2011. We and the Padres were the only teams in the National League to win more games on the road than in their home park.

Paul Goldschmidt became the first D-back to be elected to start multiple All-Star Games. He is now one of four Arizona players with three or more All-Star appearances, joining Luis Gonzalez, Randy Johnson (five apiece) and Brandon Webb (three). A.J. Pollock was the first D-backs outfielder to be selected since Justin Upton in 2011, and became the first position player from the University of Notre Dame to make an All-Star Team. The pair were All-Star teammates for the second time in their careers, having participated in the 2011 Southern League All-Star Game, where Goldie went 1-for-4 with a homer, two RBI and a run scored, and AJ was 2-for-3 with a walk, stolen base and two runs.

Arizona led the Majors with an average time of game of 3:09:43, slightly ahead of Detroit (3:09:23) and the New York Yankees (3:08:20) [source: STATS LLC]. Probably factoring into that, the team were second in the majors for plate appearances by their hitters, behind only the Pirates, while the Diamondbacks' hurlers threw a total of 24,252 pitches, the most in the major leagues this year. and fourteen more than the Yankees.

The Diamondbacks had 16 players spent time on the disabled list, totaling 1,055 days, which is almost two entire seasons (362 days) fewer than last year's figure of 1,417 player days lost [source STATS LLC]. Here's the full list, with details, and our W-L record while they were out of action.

PLAYER DAY INJURY ON OFF W-L
Arroyo 60 Tommy John surgery (R) Apr 4 N/A 33-35
Corbin 15 Tommy John surgery (L) Apr 4 July 4 39-41
D.Hernandez 15 Tommy John surgery (R) Apr 4 June 7
 27-28
Ó.Hernández 15 Broken left hamate bone Apr 4 July 4
 39-41
Stites 15 Right elbow inflammation Apr 4 June 1
 23-26
Laird 60 Back-lumbar micro disectomy Apr 12 Aug. 20
 55-59
Bradley 15 Right sinus fracture Apr 29 May 16
 6-8
Burgos 15 Right shoulder tendinitis May 26 June 22
 13-12
Gosewisch 60 Torn left ACL May 28 N/A 58-58
Bradley 15 Right shoulder tendinitis Jun 4 Aug. 24
 37-34
Inciarte 15 Strained right hamstring Jun 16 July 17
 11-13
Saltalamacchia 15 Strained left neck July 17* July 27
 5-7
Anderson 15 Right triceps inflammation Jul 19 Aug. 7
 10-8
Delgado 15 Sprained right ankle July 29^ Aug 17
 10-8
Marshall 60 Fractured skull Sep 8 N/A 13-11

* Retro-active to July 12
^ Retro-active to July 28

Diamondbacks' broadcasts on FOX Sports Arizona were the No. 1 rated television program during primetime programming hours in Phoenix during the baseball season. Additionally, FSAZ saw large increases for the viewing audience over last season in the following demographics:

  • Adults 18-49: +48%
  • Men 25-54: +55%
  • Adults 25-54: +62%
  • Women 25-54: +77%

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