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Arizona Diamondbacks All-Time Top 50: Starting pitcher candidates

For your consideration: the best starting pitchers to be part of the Diamondbacks.

By Jim McLennan
World Series GM1 X

We move on, in our project to crowd-source the top 50 all-time players for the Arizona Diamondbacks, as they completed the franchise’s first two decades. Having got the position players sorted, we now move on the pitching staff. They are divided into two categories: starters and relievers, with two-thirds of the spots going to the former (in rough line with the proportion of innings they have pitched). Below, you will find some selected statistics for the starting pitcher to have posted at least one bWAR as a Diamondback.

Top D-backs starting pitchers, 1998-2017

Rk Player WAR W-L IP H R ER BB SO ERA FIP ERA+
Rk Player WAR W-L IP H R ER BB SO ERA FIP ERA+
1 Randy Johnson 53.0 118-62 1630.1 1325 594 513 416 2077 2.83 2.73 164
2 Brandon Webb 33.3 87-62 1319.2 1200 557 479 435 1065 3.27 3.50 142
3 Curt Schilling 26.0 58-28 781.2 693 280 273 117 875 3.14 2.81 148
4 Dan Haren 13.2 37-26 586.1 557 248 232 107 570 3.56 3.31 125
5 Miguel Batista 11.7 40-34 723.2 713 357 321 274 454 3.99 4.06 117
6 Ian Kennedy 8.5 48-34 748.1 693 340 318 228 661 3.82 3.96 106
7 Zack Greinke 8.3 30-14 361.0 333 160 149 86 349 3.71 3.66 125
8 Brian Anderson 7.8 41-42 840.2 921 458 422 153 410 4.52 4.91 101
9 Josh Collmenter 7.7 36-33 659.1 621 274 259 157 460 3.54 4.01 112
10 Robbie Ray 7.4 28-32 464.0 422 218 197 191 555 3.82 3.68 117
11 Doug Davis 7.3 28-34 542.0 574 277 254 262 402 4.22 4.61 109
12 Omar Daal 6.9 26-31 473.1 461 240 216 172 325 4.11 4.33 109
13 Patrick Corbin 6.7 45-47 745.2 782 377 341 223 651 4.12 3.96 104
14 Wade Miley 5.6 38-35 638.2 649 290 269 196 499 3.79 3.80 103
15 Zack Godley 4.4 18-14 266.1 239 128 124 95 259 4.19 3.97 110
16 Archie Bradley 4.3 13-15 250.1 245 121 116 110 245 4.17 3.79 108
17 Andy Benes 3.9 27-25 429.2 437 228 208 156 305 4.36 4.66 100
18 Livan Hernandez 3.1 15-16 273.2 317 147 141 105 129 4.64 5.46 102
19 Taijuan Walker 2.7 9-9 157.1 148 76 61 61 146 3.49 4.04 137
20 Armando Reynoso 2.7 22-24 386.0 418 226 214 133 185 4.99 5.17 94
21 Max Scherzer 2.6 9-15 226.1 214 118 97 84 240 3.86 3.73 117
22 Joe Saunders 2.1 21-30 424.2 453 212 187 117 247 3.96 4.53 102
23 Claudio Vargas 2.1 21-16 287.1 309 167 154 92 213 4.82 4.90 95
24 Javier Vazquez 2.1 11-15 215.2 223 112 106 46 192 4.42 4.06 100
25 Rick Helling 2.0 10-12 175.2 180 94 88 48 120 4.51 4.81 101
26 Trevor Cahill 1.7 24-34 457.1 450 239 218 194 363 4.29 3.99 92
27 Chase Anderson 1.6 15-13 267.0 275 131 124 80 216 4.18 4.17 95
28 Micah Owings 1.6 22-17 320.1 306 181 167 114 237 4.69 4.72 97
29 Vidal Nuno 1.5 0-8 98.0 81 40 38 25 88 3.49 3.68 110
30 Albie Lopez 1.5 4-7 81.0 74 36 36 24 69 4.00 3.84 117
31 Jon Garland 1.3 8-11 167.2 188 90 80 52 83 4.29 4.62 104
32 Elmer Dessens 1.3 9-14 261.0 319 161 144 80 168 4.97 4.37 94
33 Todd Stottlemyre 1.3 15-11 217.0 230 123 115 83 162 4.77 4.92 98

Players are regarded as starting pitchers if they started in one-third or more of their appearances for Arizona. However, the value and stats above are for ALL appearances, whether starting or relieving. Note that players will either be a starter or reliever. They will not appear in both categories. So, do not hold off voting for, say, Josh Collmenter here, in the belief you’ll be able to vote for him as a reliever, because he won’t be part of that poll next week. Otherwise, it’s much the same as last week, but I’ll copy-paste the instructions from the position players poll, so we’re clear.

Below, you’ll find a link to a Google form, listing the players, and for this stage, a straight yes/no question: should they be included in the all-time top 50? The 16 who receive the highest percentage of votes will proceed on to the second, ranking stage. [#17 may be included as a wild-card, if he gets a higher percentage than the top non-qualifying reliever] You shouldn’t worry too much about voting yes for exactly 16. It would make sense to approve about half of them, but if you have 15 or 17, I’m not going to disqualify you. To prevent ballot-box stuffing - for example by douchebag Dodger fans (not that such a thing could possibly exist) - a username is requested, but as long as your ballot makes sense, I’m not going to agonize if you don’t provide one.

It’s entirely up to you on what criteria you use to judge whether or not a player should advance, and what process you adopt. Personally, I’d do three sweeps and triage the candidates. The first would involve voting yes on the “obvious” qualifiers. The second, voting no on the obvious non-qualifiers. The final sweep will involve a more detailed look at the remaining candidates. The form lists the candidates in random order, so there should be no bias resulting from a player’s position on the list. I’ve also added a wild-card box, so you can write-in any other starting pitchers, not listed. Responses will close at 5pm on Thursday, with the results being published later that day.

Feel free to explain selections - especially for or against the candidates you consider to be borderline choices - in the comments below.

Link to Google form

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