The 2021 Diamondbacks: Ranked and rated

There were a total of 37 responses received which, to be honest, is about 36 more than I was expecting, and almost the same as last year (40). I feared hardly anyone would want to re-hash the trauma of the most dismal campaign since 2004, and rate 64 players plus the manager and general manager. But to everyone’s credit, due diligence was apparent. Well, almost everyone. I did eliminate one ballot, which awarded everybody a “1”, except inexplicably for Carson Kelly, who received a “2”. I might still even have accepted that - it’s perilously close to fair comment - except that the username they gave was “DBAKCSUCK”. I’m afraid such poor spelling simply cannot be tolerated, and so their ballot got binned.

Here are the rankings duly established by the remaining, legitimate candidates. I’ll be sending out the spreadsheet to those who expressed an interest in doing player reviews shortly, and we will get these under way at some point next week.

1. CF - Ketel Marte: 7.64
2. UT - Daulton Varsho: 7.36
3. UT - Josh Rojas: 7.11
4. P - Merrill Kelly: 6.72
5. 3B - Eduardo Escobar: 6.58
6. C - Carson Kelly: 6.56
7. RF - Pavin Smith: 6.50
8. P - Zac Gallen: 5.78
9. P - Tyler Gilbert: 5.78
10. LF - David Peralta: 5.17
11. P - Madison Bumgarner: 5.14
12. Mgr - Torey Lovullo: 5.11
13. DH - Seth Beer: 5.06
14. P - Taylor Widener: 4.89
15. SS - Geraldo Perdomo: 4.86
16. 3B - Asdrubal Cabrera: 4.83
17. P - Noe Ramirez: 4.75
18. OF - Jake McCarthy: 4.67
19. P - Luke Weaver: 4.67
20. RF - Kole Calhoun: 4.44
21. GM - Mike Hazen: 4.44
22. P - Caleb Smith: 4.39
23. P - Joe Mantiply: 4.36
24. P - Humberto Castellanos: 4.25
25. 2B - Josh VanMeter: 4.14
26. SS - Nick Ahmed: 4.14
27. CF - Tim Locastro: 4.11
28. P - Tyler Clippard: 4.06
29. P - Taylor Clarke: 4.00
30. 2B - Andrew Young: 3.78
31. P - J.B. Wendelken: 3.78
32. P - Matt Peacock: 3.75
33. C - Stephen Vogt: 3.67
34. P - Humberto Mejia: 3.31
35. P - Joakim Soria: 3.25
36. OF - Henry Ramos: 3.22
37. 1B - Christian Walker: 3.06
38. P - Riley Smith: 3.00
39. P - Luis Frias: 3.00
40. 3B - Drew Ellis: 2.83
41. P - Sean Poppen: 2.81
42. P - Brett de Geus: 2.81
43. OF - Stuart Fairchild: 2.75
44. RF - Josh Reddick: 2.72
45. P - Miguel Aguilar: 2.67
46. P - Jake Faria: 2.64
47. P - Alex Young: 2.50
48. P - Stefan Crichton: 2.47
49. P - J.B. Bukauskas: 2.44
50. IF - Ildemaro Vargas: 2.28
51. P - Ryan Buchter: 2.28
52. CF - Nick Heath: 2.22
53. P - Corbin Martin: 2.17
54. C - Bryan Holaday: 2.14
55. P - Kevin Ginkel: 2.14
56. P - Jon Duplantier: 2.00
57. UT - Wyatt Mathisen: 1.97
58. 2B - Domingo Leyba: 1.97
59. 2B - Jake Hager: 1.97
60. P - Seth Frankoff: 1.94
61. P - Keury Mella: 1.94
62. P - Yoan López: 1.92
63. P - Jordan Weems: 1.78
64. P - Brandyn Sittinger: 1.78
65. P - Chris Devenski: 1.78
66. P - Anthony Swarzak: 1.67

For what it’s worth the average of the averages - not weighted for playing time, or anything like that - came in at 3.73. That’s almost a full point below the 2020 average, which was 4.69. I can’t in all honesty say I am surprised by this.