Diamondbacks near the top of ESPN’s latest power rankings
May 29, 2017, 9:13 AM | Updated: 5:48 pm
Arizona Diamondbacks' Fernando Rodney celebrates after the final out in the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox Wednesday, May 24, 2017, in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks defeated the White Sox 8-6. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The D-backs have put on a strong performance through the first two months of the 2017 season, and ESPN’s most recent power rankings reflect that success.
Arizona (31-21) finished sixth in the website’s rankings of the hottest teams in MLB on Monday, a day after finishing a four-game series split with the Milwaukee Brewers. At 10 games over .500 (but only in third place in the NL West as of Monday morning), the D-backs are getting some national attention:
The focus on the D-backs is usually on what they’re getting from stars Zack Greinke or Paul Goldschmidt, but what’s giving the Snakes staying power in the standings is the development of their supporting cast. Jake Lamb has turned into a top-tier cleanup hitter with 13 homers batting fourth, and Robbie Ray hasn’t given up a run in his past two starts. — Christina Kahrl, ESPN.com
As ESPN’s Kahrl noted, Lamb has indeed been a major key to the D-backs offense, which has the seventh-best team batting average (.264) and third-most runs (258) in the major leagues. Lamb’s 13 dingers are tied for 10th in the majors and third in the NL, and his 43 RBI are tied for second in baseball.
The D-backs have also had serious help from the pitching staff.
Part of that staff is the aforementioned Ray, who, after putting up a 4.90 ERA in 2016, has a 3.45 ERA this year as his 74 strikeouts are sixth-most in the NL. Greinke has also pitched much better this year than last: Through 11 starts last year, the right-hander had a 4.71 ERA and a 1.302 WHIP, but this year, those numbers through 11 starts are 3.24 and 0.995, respectively.
The Diamondbacks’ team ERA of 3.67 is the fifth-best in baseball. Perhaps even more impressively, they’ve put up that number with Shelby Miller on the shelf and Taijuan Walker having missed one start so far.
With playoff-caliber numbers thus far from both the offense and pitching, Arizona could garner more national attention if they continue to play the way they have.
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