Later on this winter, we’ll be kicking off a project to come up with an all-time Arizona Diamondbacks Top 50. We’ll get into the specifics later, but basically, there’ll be two stages: firstly, figuring out who makes the fifty, and then, putting those players in order. So, you should probably start thinking about who should be in and out. To that end, this week’s Sporcle is about the top 50 D-backs’ position players by bWAR - pay attention, because that’s what will be used as the base list of candidates, when we start to filter them down after Thanksgiving.
These actually cover #1-52, because I’ve excluded the two pitchers who made it into their top 50 for their hitting prowess. That might be a shock, but it is worth remembering that the “replacement level” for pitchers hitting is relatively low. No prizes for guessing that one of those two is Micah Owings, who was 45th at 2.1 bWAR. But coming in three spots higher - and above Mark Grace! - was Dan Haren, who was worth 2.2 bWAR. Half of that was put up in just half a season, his 2010 before he was dealt to the Angels at the deadline. Over 22 games, he batted .364, with a .902 OPS, which is pretty good by any position’s standards, not just pitchers.
Anyway, here are your 50 actual hitters. Last names are fine, and if you get more than 40, you’ll be doing pretty well, I think. I was pretty much reduced to randomly typing in player names by the end! Here’s a link, if it’s griefing for mobile users.