Arizona Diamondbacks All-Time Top 50: The Candidates

Here, in alphabetical order for each category, are the 25 position players and 25 pitchers who qualified for the ranking stage. The vote for that will be opened on Thursday, and runs through to the end of the year, at midnight (Arizona time) on December 31.

Position players

• Jay Bell
• Eric Byrnes
• Tony Clark
• Craig Counsell
• Stephen Drew
• Erubiel Durazo
• Steve Finley
• Paul Goldschmidt
• Luis Gonzalez
• Mark Grace
• Aaron Hill
• Orlando Hudson
• Ender Inciarte
• Jake Lamb
• Damian Miller
• Miguel Montero
• Gerardo Parra
• David Peralta
• A.J. Pollock
• Mark Reynolds
• Chris Snyder
• Chad Tracy
• Justin Upton
• Matt Williams
• Chris Young

Pitchers

• Brian Anderson
• Miguel Batista
• Archie Bradley
• Josh Collmenter
• Patrick Corbin
• Omar Daal
• Doug Davis
• Zack Godley
• Zack Greinke
• Dan Haren
• David Hernandez
• Daniel Hudson
• Randy Johnson
• Ian Kennedy
• Byung-Hyun Kim
• Matt Mantei
• Wade Miley
• Micah Owings
• J.J. Putz
• Robbie Ray
• Curt Schilling
• Greg Swindell
• Jose Valverde
• Brandon Webb
• Brad Ziegler

Now, it has to be said, for a franchise list, that is obviously going to be weaker than most other franchises. There’s only one Hall of Fame player there to this point, for example. Teams with more history are, inevitably, going to have a larger pool from which to draw, and that will be reflected in their all-time lists. But I think you could put this against any other franchise’s top fifty from the past two decades, and it would stand up pretty well. That’s especially the case on the pitching side, and makes sense. Because from 1998-2017, only the Dodgers and Braves have had more fWAR from their pitchers then the Diamondbacks among National League sides.

Over that same period, Arizona’s overall record (1596-1644) ranks eighth among the current fifteen NL clubs. The reason for the losing record is more to do with the position players. Their fWAR is down in twelfth place: the Diamondbacks rank behind the Padres there. That was a surprise to me, considering that the last time San Diego won a post-season series, was at the end of Arizona’s rookie campaign of 1998. Park factors likely play a significant role here: the hitter-friendly nature of BOB/Chase Field likely help paper over things. The D-backs’ fWAR ranking would probably be lower still, if it were not for their above-average defense.

Anyway, these are our fifty, and you can mull over them for the next couple of days, until the polls open on Thursday morning. Announcement of the results will begin, with the #50, on January 1.