Best duos in Arizona Diamondbacks history
In Major League Baseball, it takes more than one skilled player to field a championship contender. It takes talent all over the field at a variety of positions, both in terms of pitchers and hitters. While having a star pitcher and a star hitter at the same time is no guarantee of success, it does put your team in a position to have the type of season that fans will talk about for generations.
While it's not quite the same as the NBA, where one standout duo can take a team from the cellar to playoff contention, it's not uncommon for an outstanding season from a pitcher and position player duo to add 20 wins or more, according to Baseball Reference's wins above replacement player metric. The number is designed to illustrate the difference between a star player and the type of player that would be considered "replacement level"—that is, one who could be easily signed as a midseason free agent or called up from the minor leagues.
The following is a list of the top pitcher/position player duos in Arizona Diamondbacks history. Using wins above replacement, Stacker compiled a list of the seasons in franchise history that had a pitcher and hitter with the most combined value. Note that, for the purpose of capturing and examining the game's "modern era", only seasons after 1969 were used for this list.
#10. 2005 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Craig Counsell: 5.5 WAR (#14 position player in 2005)
- Brandon Webb: 4.9 WAR (#12 pitcher in 2005)
- Total: 10.4 WAR
#9. 2015 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Paul Goldschmidt: 8.3 WAR (#3 position player in 2015)
- Brad Ziegler: 2.1 WAR (#66 pitcher in 2015)
- Total: 10.4 WAR
#8. 2009 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Justin Upton: 4 WAR (#46 position player in 2009)
- Dan Haren: 6.5 WAR (#5 pitcher in 2009)
- Total: 10.5 WAR
#7. 2007 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Orlando Hudson: 4.3 WAR (#38 position player in 2007)
- Brandon Webb: 6.4 WAR (#3 pitcher in 2007)
- Total: 10.7 WAR
#6. 2006 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Orlando Hudson: 4.1 WAR (#49 position player in 2006)
- Brandon Webb: 7 WAR (#2 pitcher in 2006)
- Total: 11.1 WAR
#5. 2017 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Paul Goldschmidt: 6.3 WAR (#12 position player in 2017)
- Zack Greinke: 5.7 WAR (#6 pitcher in 2017)
- Total: 12 WAR
#4. 2000 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Luis Gonzalez: 4.2 WAR (#47 position player in 2000)
- Randy Johnson: 8.1 WAR (#2 pitcher in 2000)
- Total: 12.3 WAR
#3. 2002 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Junior Spivey: 3.9 WAR (#54 position player in 2002)
- Randy Johnson: 10.7 WAR (#1 pitcher in 2002)
- Total: 14.6 WAR
#2. 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Luis Gonzalez: 6.4 WAR (#10 position player in 1999)
- Randy Johnson: 9.1 WAR (#2 pitcher in 1999)
- Total: 15.5 WAR
#1. 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks
- Luis Gonzalez: 7.9 WAR (#6 position player in 2001)
- Randy Johnson: 10.1 WAR (#1 pitcher in 2001)
- Total: 18 WAR
