Spring Training - Week 1 - Diamondbacks

A little early last week, a little late this one: hey, sue me… Nice to get a week of Spring Training under our belts, and had a great time down at Tucson last Friday. You can find a full report of that trip here, but let's just say that the sunburn has just about healed now… The Diamondbacks season has started brightly enough, winning six of the ten games played since the season started [a couple of days saw split-squad games]. Obviously, that isn't significant yet, but the highlight was probably the 9-0 defeat of the Giants - whom it's always a pleasure to beat, even in meaningless contests like these!

Edgar Gonzalez has won both his starts, allowing two runs in five innings of work, and thus far, seems to have solidified his hold on the full-time #5 spot, which has to be decided. Brandon Webb has the same results, but Livan Hernandez was torched in his last outing, and has given up eight earned runs in 6.1 innings. However, he did say before the season that he always had bad springs; let's just hope it doesn't carry forward. Doug Davis has also been a little wobbly.

We still wait for Randy Johnson to make his first appearance - or even pitch batting practice, so he may not be seen in Cactus League action before next week's report. He is still, however, on course for a late April return to our rotation; this should mean four or five outings for one of our replacement pitchers. Dustin Nippert may be the man, and has pitched four scoreless frames thus far, but Enrique Gonzalez, Evan MacLane and Micah Owings, among the other contenders, are not far behind.

The bullpen has generally been strong: Casey Daigle has four shutout frames, while both Brandon Lyon and Mike Schultz have pitched three no-hit innings, and Jose Cruz has also looked strong. Expected closer, Jose Valverde, was late getting started, being given a few days off as his wife has just had their first child, but made his first appearance earlier this week. Less successful thus far: Doug Slaten (3 IP, 7 hits, 2 BB); Chad Harville (3 IP, 5 hits, 4 BB) and Tony Peña (4 IP, 5 H, 2 BB).

Generally, however, the staff has been reluctant to let their opponents trot down at their own pace to first; the 33 walks issued is bettered only by four teams in the National League, and it's good to see they've struck out almost twice as many hitters (62). The 4.76 ERA would be .68 lower, save one inning of seven-run ball from Adam Bass, but is still the lowest of any NL team playing in the Cactus League this year. Arizona has proved to be quite a high-scoring environment: the Brewers' and Giants' ERA are both over six thus far.

The value of the walk must also have been stressed to the hitting staff, where our 47 free passes thus far currently leads the National League. Stephen Drew and Tony Clark have been especially patient, working five walks each. That's helped us score seventy runs, trailing only the Brewers - and they did score twenty-one in a single game against the Giants. Bob Melvin has decreed the team will be more aggressive on the basepaths; while this means more than just straight steals (going first to third on a single, for instance), we have stolen seven bases already, which is a lot more than the rate during the 2006 regular season.

We're batting .310 overall, a more than acceptable clip. Again, I should stress that we're dealing with effectively irrelevant numbers of at-bats thus far, for individual players. The most plate-appearances any Diamondback has thus far is barely twenty, but impressive numbers have been put up by Carlos Gonzalez [8-for-18], as well as Alberto Callaspo, Conor Jackson and Miguel Montero [all 7-for-14]. Callaspo's OPS is a healthy 1.319, and word is, he'll be getting time in the outfield later on, so he can be used as a late-inning replacement there during the regular season.

But, actually, most of the prospects have been hitting well, which is a good sign, and driving in the runs too. If you look at the list of players with 4 or more RBI, they're almost all young: Gonzalez, Quentin, Hairston, Jackson, Drew, Hammock and Krynzel. Even some names I admit we hadn't heard of, have been stepping up: part-time players Ojeda, Brown and Thompson are a combined 11-for-30, a .367 clip. With only minor injuries reported so far - Hairston getting clobbered by a line drive, minor back issue for Davis, and shoulder soreness for Medders - it's a case of so far, so good.

[Jim McLennan writes with near-fanatical zeal about the Diamondbacks at the AZ SnakePit, part of the SportsBlogs Nation network, azsportshub.com, and also set up DiamondbacksBullpen.org, a forum for fans. He lives on the wrong side of the Scottsdale tracks, with his wife Chris, two children, and last Friday proved that Scotsmen, as well as Mad Dogs and Englishmen, go out in the mid-day sun…]