2014 AZ SnakePit Awards: MVP

I made it a six-man ballot for this final category, as the cases for both Ender Inciarte and A.J. Pollock were both too strong to ignore, in addition to the three winners of our minor awards, and the obvious nomination of Paul Goldschmidt, who is neither a rookie, pitcher nor unsung these days. If some of the paragraphs below appear somewhat familiar, I will admit to having largely recycled them, from when I was making the cases for these players for earlier awards!

Josh Collmenter

179.1 IP, 11-9 record, 3.46 ERA, 115:39 K:BB, 2.8 bWAR, 2.0 fWAR

Since his debut in 2011, there hasn't been a more valuable pitcher for us, Collmenter's 6.5 bWAR leading the team. And since no-one else currently with Arizona has even four bWAR over that time, it's unlikely his top spot will be challenged soon. This season, Josh started off in the bullpen, but moved to the rotation as those around him fell down or out, and was convincingly the leader by bWAR, his 2.8 figure being more than double that posted by anyone else. Winning our Pitcher of the Year award, his season peaked with his start named Performance of the Year, facing the minimum over a complete-game against the Reds, but the team were 17-11 in his starts.

Paul Goldschmidt

479 PA, .300/.396/.542 = .938 OPS, 19 HR, 69 RBI, 4,4 bWAR, 4.4 fWAR

No statistic shows Goldie's importance more than this: our winning percentage when he started was 110 points higher than when he didn't (.431 vs. .321). Unfortunately, there was far too much of the latter, as he missed the last two months of the season due to a fractured hand. Up until then, he had been excellent as ever, becoming the first Diamondback to be voted into an All-Star starting spot since 2001. We were possibly robbed of another 30-homer, 100-RBI, .300 average campaign like 2013 - something no other NL player has managed in the past two seasons. Here's his night with 12 total bases and six RBI against the Dodgers.

Ender Inciarte

447 PA, .278/.318/.359 = .677 OPS, 4 HR, 27 RBI, 3.7 bWAR, 2.9 fWAR

Ranked #26 last winter, Inciarte was called up in late April, as Roger Kieschnick proved an unsuitable replacement for Mark Trumbo. He took some time to find his feet: after 19 games, he was hitting .111 with one walk and no extra-base hits. But the team persevered and Ender's game [hohoho] improved. His defense was stellar, and both bWAR and fWAR have his fielding value more than twice as much as the next-best Diamondback. His bat came around too; he had his first multi-hit game on June 4, and thereafter, his line was a thoroughly respectable .293/.335/.384, culminating in two four-hit games during the final week and a 15-game hit streak.

Evan Marshall

49.1 IP, 4-4 record, 2.74 ERA, 54:17 K:BB, 0.9 bWAR, 0.7 fWAR

Coming in at #37, Marshall was called up Reno after J.J. Putz had to go on the DL with forearm tightness, and got the win in his major-league debut against the Brewers in Milwaukee. But perhaps his most memorable outing of the season also came versus Milwaukee, on June 17, when he first threw behind and then hit Brewers' slugger Ryan 'Fedex' Brain, getting him ejected and earning himself a high-five from Kirk Gibson. He struck out more than a batter per inning, and his ERA was the lowest (min 40 IP) among Diamondbacks' rookies who did that, since Jose Valverde in 2003. Has already been honored with our Unsung Hero of the Year 'Pittie.

David Peralta

348 PA, .286/.320/.450 = .770 OPS, 8 HR, 36 RBI, 1.7 bWAR, 1.2 fWAR

If you want an "out of nowhere" story, Peralta's your man. A failed pitcher, signed by the team out of indie ball, not even listed in our top 100 prospects a year ago, but ending the season tied at fifth in the National League for triples, winning our Rookie of the Year and Play of the Year awards. And David wasn't even called up until June 1, coming from AA Mobile to replace A.J. Pollock. He had 16 knocks in his first 11 major-league games, including six multi-hit contests and scarcely let up thereafter; his OPS+ of 112 tied Alex Cintron in 2003, as the best in team history by a rookie (min. 250 PA). He has already received the Play of the Year 'Pittie for his theft of home against the Rockies.

A.J. Pollock

287 PA, .302/.353/.498 = .851 OPS, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 3.8 bWAR, 3.3 fWAR

Second on the team by bWAR or fWAR, despite appearing in only 70 games (in 10 of which he had 3+ hits), we can only wonder what might have happened had his season not been rudely interrupted during the last game in May, when he was hit on the hand by a pitch from Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto. A.J. was hitting .316/.366 /.554 at that pont, but missed 79 before coming back for the final month of the season. He ended the season with a 134 OPS+, trailing only Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen among all major-league center-fielders (min 250 PA). Here's a nice bit of smarts, scoring from third on a dropped third strike after the Giants throw to first.