With a wide variety of pitches, Dan Haren used equal parts skill and craftiness to carve out an effective thirteen-year career in Major League Baseball, the best of which was spent with the Diamondbacks.

While Haren’s rank may seem high for someone who only played two full seasons and a large chunk of a third, it was what he accomplished in those two full seasons that helped to warrant him such a high rank.  In both of those years, Haren would lead the National League in SO/BB and would finish fourth in bWAR for Pitchers.  He was also the league leader in WHIP in 2009 and was sixth in Strikeouts both years.  His rank is also aided by his high Batting Average (.265) for a Pitcher as a D-Back.  On the mound, Haren went 37-26 with 570 Strikeouts with Arizona.

Luis Gonzalez was a good baseball player before he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks, but it was in the desert where he became an All-Star and the team’s premier offensive threat.

Gonzalez’s 1999 debut season with the D-Backs saw him post career highs in Hits (206), and Batting Average (.336), and it would be his first of three .300/.400/.500 Slash Lines.  It also marked the first of five consecutive RBI seasons. 

2001 was, without a doubt, the best season of his career.  “Gonzo” would blast 57 Home Runs with a Slash Line of .325/.429/.688 and finished third in MVP voting.  More importantly, he would help the Diamondbacks win the World Series in 2001 and would have the Series-winning hit with the most famous bloop single of all time.  That secured Gonzalez as a forever legend in the state of Arizona.

Luis Gonzalez would represent Arizona five times in the All-Star Game and accrued 224 Home Runs over his career with the team.  Arizona would also make Gonzalez the first former Diamondback to have his number retired, which occurred when his number 20 was put out of circulation in 2010.

Gonzo may not be #1 on this list, but for many, he will always be the most beloved Diamondback that ever existed. 

Curt Schilling did not spend a long time in Arizona (three and a half years) but nobody can dispute the impact that he had as a Diamondback.

Playing his entire career with the Diamondbacks, sinkerball specialist Brandon Webb had a rough start.  In his second season in the Majors, Webb led the National League in Losses and Walks allowed.  That was 2004.  Two years later, Webb transformed himself into the best hurlerin the National League.

Webb would win the National League Cy Young Award while leading the NL in Wins, FIP, and bWAR for Pitchers.  This would be the first All-Star Game appearance but not the last.  Webb remained in All-Star form in 2007 and 2008, and in both years he was the Cy Young Award runner-up. 

Sadly, Webb’s shoulder gave out, and he went from an elite pitcher to out of baseball quickly.  Still, those three excellent seasons on a franchise this young earned Webb this high rank, and his sinker will love forever.

Webb left the game with a record of 87-62 and 1,065 Strikeouts in a career spent entirely in Arizona.