Arizona Diamondbacks

One overlooked prospect pitcher is Mobile's Bradin Hagens who is quietly having a nice season for Mobile. Hagens has been steadily making his way up the organizational ladder after being drafted in the 6th round of the 2009 draft. The 24-year-old has been doing so without doing anything spectacular but also without doing anything to keep him back. His peripherals don't generate a lot of excitement either that make you think he's sitting on some kind of breakout season. But he's steadily getting the job done for Mobile with a 2.91 ERA in 9 starts, a solid .245 BAA and an enviable GO/AO of 1.70. The K/BB of 1.38 isn't going to generate a lot of notice and being in a rotation with Archie Bradley, David Holmberg and Andrew Chafin doesn't help either. Hagens may always have a hard time getting out of the shadow of that group but for now he's more than holding his own. In league action the Reno offense remained in hibernation as they got shut out again, this time collecting just 5 hits. Bradin Hagens tossed 5 shutout innings in Mobile's 4-2 win that gets them a game over .500. Visalia lost to Modesto 7-2 as Kyle Winkler had another difficult start. And South Bend had a travel day. Snake Stars3 Stars: Bradin Hagens, Mobile 5 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 4 K, 0 ER, W (5-3)2 Stars: Bryan Woodall, Mobile 2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 0 ER1 Star: Ender Inciarte, Mobile 2 for 5, 1 R, 1 DBL0 Stars: Kyle Winkler, Visalia 5.2 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 6 K, 6 ER, L (1-4) Triple A: Reno 0 Round Rock 6. Charles Brewer ended his streak of solid starts with a not=so-solid one as he allowed 6 runs on 10 hits and a walk in 6 innings with 3 strikeouts. The offense is in a major funk as they outdid Monday's 3-hit effort with a 5-hit effort last night. Double A: Mobile 4 @ Pensacola 2. Our featured player today Bradin Hagens threw 5 shutout innings and the bullpen added 3 more zeros until Kevin Munson surrendered 2 runs in the 9th to make it close. The Bay Bears offense had 12 hits and the game never should have been close. Ender Inciarte went 2 for 5 with a double. Nick Evans and Raywilly Gomez each added a pair of singles. High A: Visalia 2 @ Modesto 7. Kyle Winkler is having a tough season and can't seem to string together consecutive good starts. Last night he allowed 6 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks and the offense couldn't overcome it. David Nick had a pair of hits to tweak his average above the Mendoza line for the first time this year. And hot-hitting Ryan Court went 2 for 4.

DENVER During a game last week, after the Diamondbacks' Cliff Pennington was called out on strikes in the 10th inning on a pitch clearly outside of the strike zone, Diamondbacks broadcaster Bob Brenly sounded as if he'd had enough. "I'm telling you," Brenly said on the air, "you get into extra innings, you get into the late innings of a close ballgame, you don't want the umpire to determine who wins a ballgame."

Rockies 5, Diamondbacks 4 (10) Recap: Wilin Rosario's walkoff single to right field drove home Carlos Gonzalez in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Rockies a 5-4 win on Tuesday night at Coors Field. Gonzalez got things started with one out in the 10th by lining a double into right field off Diamondbacks reliever Matt Reynolds. The Diamondbacks then walked Troy Tulowitzki to bring up Rosario, who shot the first pitch he saw down the right-field line to end it.

Ian Kennedy looked to be having a good night early on as he sat down 6 in a row to start the game. He started to fall apart a little in the bottom of the 2nd when Kennedy gave up 2 runs to the Rockies. Troy Tulowitzki homered in the third inning, and DJ LeMahieu doubled in Nolan Arenado to make the score 4-0 in favor of the Rockies. On the flip side Rockies pitcher Jhoulys Chacin was having a good night, until the 7th inning when he imploded having only given up 2 hits in 6 innings. He imploded by giving up 4 runs on a 2RBI single from Jason Kubel and a 2RBI single to Martin Prado. After the 7th inning, the game kind of quieted down for a little bit as both teams' bullpens kept it together until "Stone Cold" Matt Reynolds thawed and gave up a double to Carlos Gonzalez and then Wilin Rosario hit a walk off single to right to end the game making the final score 5-4 in favor of the Rockies.

table.oldschool { border-width: 1px; border-spacing: 2px; border-style: outset; border-color: gray; border-collapse: separate; background-color: white; } table.oldschool th { border-width: 1px; padding: 3px; border-style: inset; border-color: gray; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: ; } table.oldschool td { border-width: 1px; padding: 3px; border-style: inset; border-color: gray; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: ; } table.newschool { border-width: 0px; border-spacing: 2px; border-style: outset; border-color: gray; border-collapse: separate; background-color: white; } table.newschool th { border-width: 0px; padding: 3px; border-style: inset; border-color: gray; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: ; } table.newschool td { border-width: 0px; padding: 3px; border-style: inset; border-color: gray; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: ; } Ian KennedyRHP, 2-3, 4.88 Jhoulys ChacinRHP, 3-3, 4.07 Diamondbacks Line-up Gerardo Parra, CF Didi Gregorius, SS Paul Goldschmidt, 1B Eric Chavez, 3B Cody Ross, RF Jason Kubel, LF Martin Prado, 2B Miguel Montero, C Ian Kennedy, P How the mighty are fallen. Our Opening Day starter now has the highest ERA of anyone who has started a game for the Diamondbacks this year. Part of that is due to some over-performance of expectations, most obviously from Patrick Corbin, but I figured it'd be interesting to take a look at all 30 Opening Day starters, and see how their seasons have gone. Here's the list, in decreasing order of ERA+. Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), 272 Felix Hernandez (Mariners), 185 Chris Sale (White Sox), 176 James Shields (Royals), 173 Adam Wainwright (Cardinals), 148 Jon Lester (Red Sox), 140 Justin Masterson (Indians), 139 A.J. Burnett (Pirates), 138 Justin Verlander (Tigers), 138 Stephen Strasburg (Nationals), 133 Johnny Cueto (Reds), 127 CC Sabathia (Yankees), 122 Jeff Samardzija (Cubs), 113 Jhoulys Chacin (Rockies), 112 Bud Norris (Astros), 98 R.A. Dickey (Blue Jays), 96 Ricky Nolasco (Marlins), 96 Yovani Gallardo (Brewers), 89 Cole Hamels (Phillies), 88 Jered Weaver (Angels), 82* Ian Kennedy (Diamondbacks), 81 Jason Hammel (Orioles), 76 Tim Hudson (Braves), 76 David Price (Rays), 75* Jon Niese (Mets), 68 Vance Worley (Twins), 68 Brett Anderson (Athletics), 65* Edinson Volquez (Padres), 64 Matt Cain (Giants), 62 Matt Harrison (Rangers), 56* Kennedy, though below average, isn't as far down the list as I'd perhaps have expected. And, surprisingly, there's not much evidence from this list, for Opening Day pitchers being particularly "acey" - the majority have an ERA+ below 100, which would be league average for all pitchers (albeit an average that includes relievers, who tend to have lower ERAs). Not clear how much of that is injury-related: four of the bottom 11 are currently on the DL (they're marked with an asterisk), which seems quite a high percentage of Opening Day starters. Is there some correlation between the pressure of that position and injury? No idea, just a thought. Kennedy's ERA has been trending downwards of late, though it has been progress of the "two steps forward, one step back" kind, with a 4.42 ERA over the last six starts, since it peaked at 5.79, three games into the season. Still not what we'd want from our "ace," but if that's going to be the worst ERA we get from our rotation the rest of the way, I think we'll cope with it. He pitched at Coors the first time we were here: Kennedy did give us a quality start (albeit just: 6 IP, 3 ER), but took the loss, as the offense could only muster one run against Chacin. Hopefully, the rematch tonight will go a bit better, and we won't re

table.oldschool { border-width: 1px; border-spacing: 2px; border-style: outset; border-color: gray; border-collapse: separate; background-color: white; } table.oldschool th { border-width: 1px; padding: 3px; border-style: inset; border-color: gray; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: ; } table.oldschool td { border-width: 1px; padding: 3px; border-style: inset; border-color: gray; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: ; } table.newschool { border-width: 0px; border-spacing: 2px; border-style: outset; border-color: gray; border-collapse: separate; background-color: white; } table.newschool th { border-width: 0px; padding: 3px; border-style: inset; border-color: gray; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: ; } table.newschool td { border-width: 0px; padding: 3px; border-style: inset; border-color: gray; background-color: white; -moz-border-radius: ; } Ian KennedyRHP, 2-3, 4.88 Jhoulys ChacinRHP, 3-3, 4.07 Diamondbacks Line-up Gerardo Parra, CF Didi Gregorius, SS Paul Goldschmidt, 1B Eric Chavez, 3B Cody Ross, RF Jason Kubel, LF Martin Prado, 2B Miguel Montero, C Ian Kennedy, P How the mighty are fallen. Our Opening Day starter now has the highest ERA of anyone who has started a game for the Diamondbacks this year. Part of that is due to some over-performance of expectations, most obviously from Patrick Corbin, but I figured it'd be interesting to take a look at all 30 Opening Day starters, and see how their seasons have gone. Here's the list, in decreasing order of ERA+. Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), 272 Felix Hernandez (Mariners), 185 Chris Sale (White Sox), 176 James Shields (Royals), 173 Adam Wainwright (Cardinals), 148 Jon Lester (Red Sox), 140 Justin Masterson (Indians), 139 A.J. Burnett (Pirates), 138 Justin Verlander (Tigers), 138 Stephen Strasburg (Nationals), 133 Johnny Cueto (Reds), 127 CC Sabathia (Yankees), 122 Jeff Samardzija (Cubs), 113 Jhoulys Chacin (Rockies), 112 Bud Norris (Astros), 98 R.A. Dickey (Blue Jays), 96 Ricky Nolasco (Marlins), 96 Yovani Gallardo (Brewers), 89 Cole Hamels (Phillies), 88 Jered Weaver (Angels), 82* Ian Kennedy (Diamondbacks), 81 Jason Hammel (Orioles), 76 Tim Hudson (Braves), 76 David Price (Rays), 75* Jon Niese (Mets), 68 Vance Worley (Twins), 68 Brett Anderson (Athletics), 65* Edinson Volquez (Padres), 64 Matt Cain (Giants), 62 Matt Harrison (Rangers), 56* Kennedy, though below average, isn't as far down the list as I'd perhaps have expected. And, surprisingly, there's not much evidence from this list, for Opening Day pitchers being particularly "acey" - the majority have an ERA+ below 100, which would be league average for all pitchers (albeit an average that includes relievers, who tend to have lower ERAs). Not clear how much of that is injury-related: four of the bottom 11 are currently on the DL (they're marked with an asterisk), which seems quite a high percentage of Opening Day starters. Is there some correlation between the pressure of that position and injury? No idea, just a thought. Kennedy's ERA has been trending downwards of late, though it has been progress of the "two steps forward, one step back" kind, with a 4.42 ERA over the last six starts, since it peaked at 5.79, three games into the season. Still not what we'd want from our "ace," but if that's going to be the worst ERA we get from our rotation the rest of the way, I think we'll cope with it. He pitched at Coors the first time we were here: Kennedy did give us a quality start (albeit just: 6 IP, 3 ER), but took the loss, as the offense could only muster one run against Chacin. Hopefully, the rematch tonight will go a bit better, and we won't re

Arizona Diamondbacks second year LHP Pat Corbin in on a meteoric rise. With Monday night's 5-1 win over the Colorado Rockies, the Diamondbacks improved to 9-0 in his nine starts. He has a 7-0 record and has worked at least six innings and given up two runs or less every time. We take a look at each of this starts this season and where he stands in the National League in several statistical categories. MLB Power Rankings: D-Backs No. 1 in NL West? | MLB team payrolls | A trip to all 30 MLB stadiums

As I write this, the Arizona Diamondbacks find themselves sitting alone atop the National League West.  It is no secret that the reason the D’backs have found themselves with a 26-19 mark is the performance of the entire pitching staff.   The staff has posted an ERA of 3.30, good enough for second in all of Major League Baseball.   The starters have logged 414 1/3 innings also second, 2/3 of an inning behind the Oakland A’s.  I know the blown saves have dragged the team down a bit but if the offense wouldn’t disappear for games at a time, the one game lead right now could easily be four or five. If you think about it, the success of the pitching has almost defied logic.    The team as a whole is only 12-11 at home, however the ERA is a Chase Field-respectable 3.58.  The staff’s ERA on the road is a sterling 2.99 and has turned out tremendous efforts in notirously-hitter friendly parks in New York,  Colorado and Milwaukee.  Their worst outings have come in pitcher havens San Francisco and San Diego, where they have a 4.68 ERA in three games at Petco Park.  Those damm Padres, once again making life miserable for the D’backs.   Anyway, beginning on May 6th, the team has gone 10-4 largely based on the staff surrendering more than four runs only once, posting two shutouts and allowing only a single run in two other contests.   While the starters deserve much of the credit, don’t forget about the much-maligned (including some by me) bullpen which has given up only one run over its last four appeances and seems to have adapted well in the absence of J.J. Putz. While we know Patrick Corbin won’t pitch like Sandy Koufax all season, we expect the pitching to carry the team until the offense gets some consistency.  My favorite part about the club right now is the starters going deep into games.  Teams that have four or five guys that can average 7 innings per outing usually win big.  Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @venomstrikes Follow me on Twitter @ltj41 and at www.clearthebases.net

There are some that cross over into the mainstream, such as Justin Upton, Paul Goldschmidt, or Brandon Webb. Others still are bought that were already in the mainstream, like just about anyone on the 2001 World Series team. Yet even if most baseball fans have heard of Aaron Hill, they probably don't realize how great he was last year. They probably don't realize how good Parra was in 2011 or is this year. 'Underrate' is one of those words people like to use fast and loose because it's largely a matter of perspective. It requires the position to believe a player isn't as good as they are simply by lack of reputation. Fans of the team obviously will be less likely to underrate their own. Of course, the flip side to this coin is overrating, because we want to believe our players are always really, really good, even when they're slipping helplessly into Miggy Time. Non-fans are also guilty of overrating players, because they're relying on reputation as a substitution for knowledge (see, most national fans opinions about Trevor Bauer). Yet there are players that we as fans underrate. I'll admit I'm guilty of underrating Gerardo Parra. I've always felt his bat was a little light, and although he can rake, I didn't think he'd keep it up. Yet here were are, almost to June, and he's put up a slash of .316/.381/.492, and has a bWAR of 3. He's already earned as much Wins Above Replacement as he did for his entire 2011 season. Another player I find myself underrating, if we're looking at all-time Diamondbacks, is Jay Bell. Sure, I remember him scoring the winning run in the 2001 World Series, but I forget that in 1999 he was money in the bank and had one of the best all-time Diamondback seasons. Of course, it was virtually out of line with the rest of his good career, but I'll admit I don't think Jay Bell when I think of players with nearly 5 bWAR in a season. Sometimes we consider a bad player to be underrated simply because we like him for extraneous reasons. Sure, Willie Bloomquist is Doomquist and No Offense Willie Bloomquist, the current inspiration for Diamondbacks TOOTBLAN, and probably a hundred other negative things we could say, but I can't help that I root for him a little more because he went to ASU. He's not really underrated, though, he's just awful and I have weird criteria for who I root for. So what about you? What are some of your underrated Diamondbacks on the 2013 squad and all-time? Poll How confident are you with how the Diamondbacks are performing? A (90 to 100) B (80 to 89) C (70 to 79) D (60 to 69) E (tuna casserole) 8 votes | Results

South Bend's Alex Glenn hit two home runs last night flashing some of the power potential projected for this 22-year-old outfielder. That gives him 5 for the year to go with 20 RBI, a .256 BA and a .778 OPS. Those aren't electric numbers but they keep him on the radar as a breakout candidate who has a nice combination of power, speed and athleticism. Glenn was drafted in the 12th round of the 2012 draft and had a nice rookie season between the AZL Rookie League and Missoula combining for 10 home runs, 40 RBI and an .889 OPS in 187 at bats. He's playing well enough to deserve a watchful eye going forward and he's someone I really like to keep moving up the system. I wouldn't quite put him in Keon Broxton's class as far as athleticism and defense go and he's basically the same age and playing two levels lower. But he still has potential. Around the leagues, Reno fell 4-0 as Chase Anderson was decent but the offense was pretty bad. Mobile got 2 home runs from Keon Broxton and a good start by Mike Bolsinger in their 4-2 win. Keith Hessler pitched Visalia to a 5-2 win. And Alex Glenn's two home runs led South Bend to a 9-1 rout of Dayton. Snake Stars3 Stars: Alex Glenn, South Bend 3 for 5, 3 R, 2 HR (5), 3 RBI2 Stars: Keon Broxton, Mobile 2 for 4, 2 R, 2 HR (3), 4 RBI1 Star: Keith Hessler, Visalia 7 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K, 2 ER, W (3-1)0 Stars: Michael Perez, Visalia 0 for 4, 3 K Triple A: Reno 0 @ Round Rock 4. Chase Anderson started and was good enough to keep his team in the hnt with 4 runs allowed on 6 hits and 2 walks with 7 strikeouts over 7 innings. But the offense did not show up picking up just 4 singles on the night. Adam Eaton had one of the singles and played CF. Double A: Mobile 4 @ Pensacola 2. Keon Broxton broke out of his prolonged slump with 2 home runs accounting for all four of the team's runs, and Mike Bolsinger had a fine start allowing 2 runs in 5+ innings. Bolsinger allowed 8 hits and no walks but had no strikeouts. The bullpen added 3+ innings of scoreless relief with Eric Smith getting his 3rd save. High A: Visalia 5 @ Modesto 2. Keith Hessler had a terrific start going 7 innings allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7. Tom Belza went 2 for 4 with a triple and 2 RBI, and Jake Lamb hit his 5th homer of the year and walked twice. Low A: South Bend 9 Dayton 1. The Silver Hawks pounded Dayton as Alex Glenn clubbed 2 home runs. Brandon Sinnery had another fine outing going 6 innings allowing 1 run on 6 hits and a walk with 3 strikeouts. Breland Amadova went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI.