Before spring training began, there were about a million questions the Arizona Diamondbacks needed to address. And in April, many of those questions were answered.
Most prevalent was that of the bullpen, with the eye-poppingly astonishing ERA of 5.74 last year, something had to be done. So, the only bullpen mainstays to return from last year were Juan Gutierrez and Aaron Heilman.
Gutierrez started out pretty rough. But then he put up 6.2 scoreless innings over six games, which dropped his season ERA to a reasonable 3.50 on May 16. However, the Minnesota Twins and Colorado Rockies touched him up for 4 ER in just a total of a third of an inning, culminating when he threw just 13 pitches in the 6th inning of the first game of a double dip in Denver on May 24, and didn't get anyone out. He has been on the Disabled List with a shoulder issue ever since, and as a result of those two outings, he sports a sub par 5.40 ERA.
Heilman, on the other hand, has struggled all year thus far, and it seems as though he can't stay consistent enough to be trusted on a daily basis. He will look great for three or four outings, then give up 5 ER in a close game and remove all hope for a D-backs comeback. Aaron has pitched well of late, lowering his ERA by over a run and a half --to 7.01-- over his last seven games. That just means we'll be seeing a blunder like he had on May 24 before too long. He followed Joe Paterson --who took over for Gutierrez in the 6th-- and gave up 5 runs in the seventh, taking the game from a very manageable 7-3 defecit (in Colorado, no four run lead is safe) to 12-3, coming to a head when he gave up a frozen rope home run to then struggling outfielder Carlos Gonzalez (433 feet).
The group, as a whole, has been vastly improved over last season, posting a 3.90 cumulative ERA so far. Much of that can be related to the additions of 8th inning specialist David Hernandez and closer J.J. Putz.
Hernandez has been great, holding a 2.73 ERA over the season. If it weren't for a very forgettable night in Pittsburgh against the Pirates, in which he gave up 5 runs --half his season total-- without getting anyone out, that number would be a minuscule 1.63 ERA. But, every game counts, so no hypotheticals here. Since that evening, however, he has posted 5.2 scoreless innings with 5 strikeouts and 2 base on balls.
J.J. started off the year amazingly, converting his first 16 save opportunities with little resistance from opposing hitters. He was even awarded with the Relief Pitcher of the Month Award for May, when he went 11 for 11 in save opportunities, and didn't give up a single earned run (only one run overall). The day he was told of the award, though, he blew his first save as a Diamondback, a game Arizona won on RF Justin Upton's bloop single to right, scoring 3B Willie Bloomquist from third. We'll get to Justin in a minute.
Putz has successfully saved just two of his last five games, and his back is a genuine concern, in my opinion. It's given him problems in the past, and he has been forced to be unavailable for a few games over the past couple of weeks. Going forward, if he cannot continue to be the closer, or lands on the DL, look for Hernandez to step in and close games for Kirk Gibson's club.
Another question was about the offense, and whether or not they could produce enough runs without the departed Mark Reynolds and Adam LaRoche. They needed some young bats to step up, and over the last month, no one has stepped up his game more than Justin Upton.
In a four game stretch between May 19 and May 22, Justin went 0-17 at the plate with two strikeouts and a walk, dropping his season batting average to a dismal .240, with a .318 on base percentage, and really looking lost offensively. Since the very next day --that was the May 24 double header at Colorado--, he has hit .417 with an OBP of .531 (9 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers, and 15 RBI). He has raised his batting average by .62 points to .302, with a season total of 12 home runs and 38 RBI. He was just named last week's NL Player of the Week.
More than just putting up All-Star worthy numbers, Upton is fast becoming the leader in the clubhouse and on the field. He has numerous go ahead RBIs this season, including four walk off hits. None, though, bigger than his first career game winning HR to salvage the series against the NL West leading San Francisco Giants on June 16.
The offense has been key in turning things around over the past month for the D-backs, and Upton hasn't been the only every day fielder producing big time numbers.
CF Chris Young has hit .309 in the same time frame as Upton, including .318 in June. He leads the team with 14 HR, and is argueably the best fielder at his position.
SS Stephen Drew is hitting .289 since then as well, though he has cooled off considerably since he began the game on June 13 hitting .295 on the year. He's at .274 now, and leads the team in RBI with 39.
Since May 13, when they were 15-22, Arizona has gone 24-12 to move out from the bottom of the division into second place --just a half game back of the Giants. With the recent injury bug to make its way through San Francisco, there's no reason to think that the Diamondbacks can't win the division. They will need to add a player or two to help, however. With the most recent home stand now behind them, the area most needed appears to be the area that has been the most improved early in the campaign: the bullpen. With Sam Demel and Gutierrez still on the DL, and Aaron Heilman just itching to implode on the mound once more, there is little doubt that GM Kevin Towers and Co. will be open to adding an arm to the 'pen sometime in the next 4-5 weeks.
The top of the pitching rotation has been better than expected, with Ian Kennedy (7-2 2.98 ERA 85Ks) and Daniel Hudson (8-5 3.56 ERA 86Ks) providing much needed depth at the Starting Pitcher spot. Both average nearly seven innings per start, and have been dominating everyone of late. With the emergence of Josh Collmenter (4-3 2.09 ERA 39 Ks), who seems to have some staying power, the rotation issues have been somewhat solved, for now.
Some of you may read my football blog (The Red Zone Express), and if you do, I want to thank you from the depths of my heart. This being my first foray into the world of baseball blogging, I hope you've enjoyed reading this, and I implore you to come back from time to time to check out what else I have in store for your eyes. Thank you again, and have a blessed day.
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