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. In recent years on the strength of superstar Paul Goldschmidt, they have returned to prominence and were last in the playoffs in 2017.
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 2023 Season.
As of this writing, Robbie Ray has completed five seasons as a starter for the Arizona Diamondbacks. In his first two seasons with the D-Backs Ray would strike out a lot of batters but gave up quite a few runs and had losing records but 2017 was a significantly different story.
While Gerardo Parra was never known for his power numbers (his season-high is 14) he made history where he became the 100th player in Major League Baseball history to hit a Home Run in his first ever at-bat. Parra may not have had many more of those for Arizona, but he did have three 130 Hit seasons and an impressive defensive resume. Parra would win a Gold Glove playing both Leftfield (2011) and Rightfield (2013), the latter of which would see him win the Wilson Overall Defensive Player Award.Parra batted .274 with 728 Hits with Arizona.
Christian Walker is currently coming off his best year where the First Baseman had a career-high 36 Home Runs, won a Gold Glove, and is Arizona’s best position player going into 2023. The fact that Walker is on any Top 50 list at all is incredible, as he bounced around from the Orioles to Reds organizations, only playing 12 Games in the Majors before Cincinnati waived him in 2017. Arizona claimed Walker, and after two years, he emerged as the Diamondbacks lead First Baseman. Walker had a breakout with 29 Home Runs and 137 Hits, and he played well during…
Merrill Kelly was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2010, but after four years in the minors, he never made the big leagues and was released after the 2014 Season. Kelly persevered, and went to Korea where he played for SK Wyverns for four seasons, winning a league title in 2018. After that, he gave the Majors another try, and he signed with the Diamondbacks, making the team out of Spring Training. Kelly became a competent starter, throwing 183.1 Innings with a 4.42 ERA. He only had five Starts in 2020, though had an ERA of 2.59. Although his stats went back to…
While the best years were well behind him by the time Matt Williams arrived in Arizona, Matt Williams proved to be very popular among the Diamondbacks fans as one of the original members of the team.
Orlando Hudson would be traded to Arizona from the Toronto Blue Jays and the D-Backs were not disappointed with the defensive presence that he would bring to their infield.
In terms of baseball history, Jay Bell is probably better known for his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates where he was an All Star in 1993, but it was in Arizona (where he was an All-Star in 1999) where he would win the World Series.
CLASSIC TOUR AT YANKEE STADIUM
Jan 01, 1970
Buy your Tickets to see Classic Tour at Yankee Stadium HERE!
TOURS: TRUIST PARK
Jan 01, 1970
Buy your Tickets to see Tours: Truist Park HERE!
PETCO PARK TOURS
Jan 01, 1970
Buy your Tickets to see Petco Park Tours HERE!
BALTIMORE ORIOLES VS. OAKLAND ATHLETICS
Apr 26, 2024
Buy your Tickets to see Baltimore Orioles vs. Oakland Athletics HERE!
Miguel Batista played for ten teams over his eighteen seasons in the Majors but it was clear that he was at his most productive as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was also the place where he had his most opportunities as a Starting Pitcher.
Ian Kennedy had an interesting up and down career in the world of Major League Baseball but by far and wide the best season he ever had by far was in 2011. That year Kennedy went 21 and 4 with a 2.88 Earned Run Average while finishing fourth in Cy Young voting. He would secure 15 Wins the next year, but was traded during the following season to San Diego.Kennedy returned in 2022, though had an awful year with a negative bWAR, and an ERA over five. He left again, this time for Texas.His record with Arizona was 48-34 with…
In the first four seasons of Jose Valverde’s Major League career, he seemingly was fighting for the closers role with the Diamondbacks. When he would win it, injuries would take it away or a slump might have cost him the role. In that time frame the Dominican reliever who would become known as “Papa Grande” would accumulate 56 Saves. That wasn’t bad, but it was in 2007 where he was the undisputed closer of the team where he did more than enough to land him on this list.
In 2001, Byung hyun Kim made history as the first Korean born player to win a World Series and though his performance in the Fall Classic was poor (0-1 with a 13.50 ERA), he was not a bystander in getting the team there. Kim took over as the Diamondbacks closer that year and in 2002 he had his best regular season with 36 Saves (eight overall in the NL), a 2.04 ERA and his first and only trip to the All Star Game. Kim would record 70 Saves for Arizona and will always be remembered in the desert for that…
Jake Lamb played his first six-and-a-half seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he played mostly at Third Base. Lamb became a starter in 2016, and in 2017, he was an All-Star, hammering 30 Home Runs with 105 Runs Batted In, both of which were career-highs. Lamb slumped afterward, and he was released during the 2020 Season. With the D-Backs had 84 Home Runs and 471 Hits.
Brad Ziegler never started a game for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Actually he never started a game anywhere in the Majors.
Aaron Hill had an up and down career in baseball and that was certainly reflected in his half-decade with the Diamondbacks. Hill would suffer from multiple injuries during his time in Arizona but he would have one really food year in 2012 where he had 184 Hits, 26 Home Runs and batted .302. The strength of that season and the accumulation of stats from the others land him on this list.With the Diamondbacks, Hill had 512 Hits while batting .273.
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.
A member of the Arizona Diamondbacks for only two years (the first two years of his Major League career) Ender Inciarte without a shadow of a doubt would show off increased statistical numbers after being traded to the Atlanta Braves. While that is accurate, Inciarte was exemplary in his Diamondbacks tenure with his glove as he finished 5th and 4th overall in Defensive bWAR in those seasons. While defense isn’t sexy, it was good enough to land him here on a franchise as young as the Arizona Diamondbacks.
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 would become a member of the 2001 World Series Championship Team.
Josh Collmenter bounced back and forth from being a staring pitcher to a relief one. Collmeneter would win 36 Games for the D-Backs and while he was never consider 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.
Too soon? Not at all. The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Corbin Carroll in the First Round of the 2019 Amateur Draft, and it only took the Outfielder until August of 2022 to reach the Majors. Carroll finished the year strong and staked a claim as an everyday player going into 2023. Carroll immediately established himself as the man to beat for the National League Rookie of the Year, and nobody came close despite some solid competition (Kotai Senga and James Outman). An All-Star in his first full year, Carroll finished the year batting .285, with 25 Home Runs and 54 Stolen…