Top 50 Arizona Diamondbacks
The city of Phoenix was awarded an expansion team in 1995 and the thriving desert city would see the Arizona Diamondbacks take the field in 1998. The Diamondbacks would immediately become competitive and in 1999 they would make the playoffs by winning their division. In 2001 they again made the playoffs and on the strength of Starting Pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, they would win the 2001 World Series, which made them the youngest franchise to win the title.
The Diamondbacks would return to the playoffs the following season but would regress in the following years until they returned to the postseason in 2007 and again in 2011. They would later return to the World Series as a suprise entrant in 2023, but would not come away with the victory, falling to the Texas Rangers.
As this is a new team (relatively speaking) this list will be very fluid in the years to come and with Phoenix being a vibrant sports town we can see Arizona doing well in the years to come.
Note: Baseball lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.
This list is updated up until the end of the 2025 Season.
Spending only the first two years of his career in Arizona (2014 & 2015), Ender Inciarte undeniably saw his offensive numbers climb after joining the Braves. However, his time in the desert was anything but a footnote. He anchored the Diamondbacks' outfield defense with exemplary efficiency, finishing in the top five for Defensive bWAR in both seasons. While high-end defense often flies under the radar, it was more than enough to earn him a spot in the franchise record books.
Damian Miller had a solid career in the Majors, where his best run occurred as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Miller was a workmanlike Catcher who was defensively sound and he would twice lead all National League Catchers in Range Factor per Game. He was also named an All-Star in 2002.
Josh Collmenter bounced back and forth from being a starting pitcher to a relief pitcher. Collmenter would win 36 Games for the D-Backs, and while he was never considered one of the top pitchers for Arizona during his stint there, he was certainly one of the more recognizable ones with his signature over-the-top delivery. Notably, he was fifth in voting for the National League Rookie of the Year in 2011. Collmeneter had a record of 36-33 with 460 Strikeouts with Arizona.
Eduardo Escobar was traded late in the 2018 season, after debuting with the Chicago White Sox in 2011 and playing for the Minnesota Twins since 2012. Escobar had good years with Minnesota, but the versatile infielder’s best season was 2019, his first full year with the Diamondbacks. He would post career-highs in Hits (171), Home Runs (35), and RBIs (118), and he led the NL in Triples (10). After the 2020 COVID-19 season, Escobar did well in 2021 and was chosen for the All-Star Game, but was traded midway through the year to the Brewers, as he was slated to…
A very good control Pitcher who would lead the National League in BB/9 in 1998, Brian Anderson was the second pick in the 1997 Expansion Draft and an original Arizona Diamondback. Anderson would go 41-42 for Arizona predominantly as a Starting Pitcher and later was a member of the 2001 World Series Championship Team.
Omar Daal was an expansion pick by the Arizona Diamondbacks, and based on the seasons that he already had in the Majors, there were limited expectations for the Venezuelan southpaw. For the first time, Daal became a regular starter, and while he won only eight games in the Diamondbacks’ inaugural season, he posted a sweet ERA of 2.88, which ranked fifth in the NL. He won 16 Games the following season, while eating 214.2 innings with a 3.65 ERA. Daal faltered the following year and was traded during the season to the Philadelphia Phillies, leaving a record of 26-31 with…
Wade Miley’s professional career began in the desert as a late First Round Pick in 2008. Miley made his D-Back debut three years later, and in his first full season, the Louisiana native had one of his best seasons in Major League Baseball. Winning 16 Games, Miley was an All-Star and boasted a respectable 3.33 ERA. He also finished second in Rookie of the Year voting to Bryce Harper. Miley was unable to duplicate that successover the next two seasons, and he was traded to the Boston Red Sox. Overall, Miley won 38 Games and fanned 499 batters in Arizona.
As we are writing this (and you reading this) we want to remind you of two things. The first is that relatively the Arizona Diamondbacks have not been around for very long.
Mark Reynolds was certainly adept at hitting Home Runs, and as a Diamondback, he hit 121 of them, including a 44 Home Run campaign in 2009. His power puts him on this list, but his game was not multifaceted and was marred by many deficiencies. Reynolds struck out in more than one-third of his plate appearances, and he exceeded 200 three times with Arizona, all of which were National League leading. His 223 whiffs in 2009 remain a single-season record. Reynolds also made a lot of errors, as he was a league leader in that twice as a D-Back. Despite…
Doug Davis played for the Arizona Diamondbacks for three seasons (2007-09) where he would have a career high 13 Wins in his first season for Arizona. Davis was not known for his control as he walked a lot of batters (he was the league leader in 2009) but was a constant in the Diamondbacks rotation and would eat a lot of innings. He won 28 Games with 402 Strikeouts for Arizona.
Chad Tracy played six seasons for the Arizona Diamondbacks and arguably he lands on this list based on the strength of his second and third season (2005 & 2006) where he was a 20 Home Run hitter. Tracy’s best season was in 2005 where he had 27 Home Runs with a .308 Batting Average, which was good enough for seventh in the National League that year. Unfortunately for Tracy he never came close to replicating his two good seasons with Arizona and would be relatively mediocre for the three years after.Tracy had 654 Hits while batting .280 as a Diamondback.
Archie Bradley spent the first five-and-a-half seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks where he has been both a starter and a reliever. Bradley is known mostly in baseball for his ample beard, which he had since he became relegated to the bullpen but overall (the beard and his role) has been a better fit for the Pitcher. Bradley stayed with Arizona until he was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds during the 2020 Season. Bradley had 28 Saves as a Diamondback.