Arizona Diamondbacks opening day line-up

Diamondbacks line-up

1. A.J. Pollock, CF
2. Ender Inciarte, LF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Mark Trumbo, RF
5. Aaron Hill, 3B
6. Chris Owings, 2B
7. Tuffy Gosewisch, C
8. Nick Ahmed, SS
9. Josh Collmenter, P

Hill starts at third base, which probably makes sense over Jake Lamb, given the presence of a tough left-handed pitcher on the mound for San Francisco. It will be Aaron's 40th start in the majors at the position: he had seven there for the Diamondbacks last season, but before that, his only experience at all was back in his rookie season of 2005 with the Toronto Blue Jays. The hot corner of third is generally regarded as being a little bit easier to handle, in that you aren't having to be the pivot man on double-plays, but it's certain that your reactions down there are going to be tested. We'll see how it works out.

Interesting to see Inciarte over Peralta in LF, even though both are left-handed, given the pronouncement before the season that Peralta would be the everyday player there. However, last season (and given a small sample size), Inciarte performed better against lefties, with a .646 OPS against Peralta's .510. Neither are great, which makes me wonder why Inciarte is hitting second - Hill would have been my choice for that spot in the order, with Inciarte probably sixth. Got to say, looking at the bottom third of our order... Yeah, let's just hope the top six get it done, because I can't say I'm expecting too much from Gosewisch, Ahmed and the pitcher's spot, until proven otherwise!