Every Diamondbacks Top 100 Prospect Ever
2004-2007 Baby Backs!!!
Part 1 going through 1997-2003 can be view here. 2004 marks the first season of MLB Pipeline’s Top 50 Prospect Rankings (100 started in 2012).
2004 Baseball America: Scott Hairston (34th), Sergio Santos (37th), Dustin Nippert (83rd)
2004 MLB Pipeline: None
I broke down Scott Hairston in Part 1, also it appears BA was higher than MLB Pipeline on the Diamondbacks farm in 2004.
BA- ‘04 37th, ‘05 61st
MP- N/A
Sergio Santos was never ranked by MLB Pipeline, but was ranked twice by Baseball America. The Diamondbacks cashed in his ranking in a trade with Troy Glaus to the Toronto Blue Jays for Miguel Batista and Orlando Hudson. While Glaus raked in Toronto too and the Miguel Batista reunion just provided some depth innings, O-Dog was a fan favorite and Gold Glove 2B including some great years with the bat. As for Santos, he bounced around a couple organizations before debuting with the Chicago White Sox in 2010 and posted 2 strong seasons to start his career before fizzling out.
BA- ‘04 83rd, ‘06 67th
MP- N/A
Dustin Nippert was a 15th round pick in 2002 and pitched great in the minors, but in his Diamondbacks MLB career he had a 6.43 ERA in 70 IP. After this run from 2005-07, the Diamondbacks traded Nippert to the Texas Rangers for Jose Marte, who never made it to the Majors. Dustin Nippert pitched 3 seasons for the Rangers, including pretty solid seasons in 2009 & 2010 as a swingman before calling it a career.
2005 Baseball America: Carlos Quentin (22nd), Conor Jackson (40th), Sergio Santos (61st)
2005 MLB Pipeline: Carlos Quentin (32nd), Conor Jackson (42nd)
BA- ‘05 22nd, ‘06 20th
MP- ‘05 32nd, ‘06 22nd
The Diamondbacks took the power hitting Carlos Quentin out of Stanford 29th overall in 2003 and he quickly made it to the Majors in 2006. Quentin got the call up and raked in ‘06 with a .872 OPS and 9 HR in just 166 AB’s, but the 2007 playoff team did not get the same production as Quentin battled some injuries and struggled to a .647 OPS. The trend of trading former top prospects continued with a disastrous trade of Carlos Quentin to the Chicago White Sox for Chris Carter. Carlos Quentin instantly became an All Star and finished 5th in MVP voting in Chicago, while Chris Carter was flipped 11 days later with Brett Anderson, Aaron Cunningham, Dana Eveland, Carlos González and Greg Smith to the Oakland Athletics for Dan Haren. Dan Haren was a great Diamondback and he still is with the organization today as a pitching strategist, but Quentin, Cargo & even Brett Anderson were All Stars and great MLB players.
BA- ‘05 40th, ‘06 20th
MP- ‘05 42nd, ‘06 17th
Co-Jack! The Diamondbacks must have scouted the Bay Area heavily for the 2003 Draft as 19th overall pick Conor Jackson went to Cal and Carlos Quentin went to Stanford. Jackson put together 3 really good seasons from 2006-08 as a key member of the Baby Backs. Unfortunately Connor Jackson got Valley Fever in 2009 and never fully bounced back. After a brutal 30 game 2009 and a sluggish 2010, Conor Jackson was traded to the Oakland Athletics for RP Sam Demel. While Conor Jackson wasn’t an All Star, he was a really good MLB hitter who caught a terrible break by getting sick.
The 2006 Diamondbacks prospect pool was far and away the best in franchise history to date….
2006 Baseball America: Justin Upton (2nd), Stephen Drew (5th), Conor Jackson (17th), Carlos Quentin (20th), Chris Young (23rd), Carlos Gonzalez (32nd), Dustin Nippert (67th)
2006 MLB Pipeline: Justin Upton (7th), Stephen Drew (9th), Conor Jackson (20th), Carlos Quentin (22nd), Chris Young (27th), Carlos Gonzalez (41st)
BA- ‘06 2nd, ‘06 9th
MP- ‘06 7th, ‘07 7th
Justin Upton had a complicated Diamondbacks career to breakdown. The 2005 1st overall pick had sky high expectations. Drafted as a SS, it was quickly determined that J-Up couldn’t play it better than fellow 1st rounder and big time prospect Stephen Drew. The extremely athletic Upton had to then learn RF, as his bat was MLB ready at the age of 19, the glove was far from it. With lofty Ken Griffey Jr comps and the title of savior of the franchise (mixed in with the Diamondbacks claiming RF as “Uptown”, to counter LA’s “Mannywood” LF), it was going to be hard for Justin Upton to meet his insane expectations. Justin Upton had an extremely productive 6 year run in AZ which included 2 ASG (still mad he didn’t get to participate in the 2011 HR Derby at Chase), #4 MVP voting season that a Ryan Braun steroid season stole away and 2 playoff berths. OPS .785 or higher in his 5 full seasons, Upton had a blend of power & speed, but injuries and streakiness mixed with some lapses of effort in the field created a real mixed opinion within the fan base.
He was never a superstar, but he was a really good player & multi-time All Star. I still wish the Diamondbacks were able to work out a long term deal and got Upton through his 20’s, but back in 2011 it did feel like he needed a fresh start at the time. Kevin Towers made a lot of deals which created a long list of good and bad deals, but I still put Upton with Chris Johnson to the Atlanta Braves for Nick Ahmed, Randall Delgado, Brandon Drury, Martín Prado and Zeke Spruill down as a bad deal. (Worth noting Justin Upton had a no trade clause and nixed a trade to Seattle that would have net one of the then “Big 3” Mariners SP prospects Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen and James Paxton + Nick Franklin & RP’s Charlie Furbush and Stephen Pryor).
With Justin Upton now essentially retired, I hope we’re all able to appreciate the good from Justin Upton’s career and he’ll be back at Chase Field and cheered for.
BA- ‘06 5th
MP- ‘06 9th
I was a massive Stephen Drew fan growing up. Stephen Drew was maybe one of the most steady Diamondbacks of all time. As a college bat out of Florida State, he quickly zoomed through the minors with just 592 AB’s and played 59 games for the 2006 Diamondbacks. Like Justin Upton, Stephen had an older brother in JD who raised his prospect profile, but Stephen was nothing but solid for 6 years in Arizona. Played good defense, consistent offensive production and a knack for hitting triples (11, 12, 12 ‘08-’10). Stephen Drew NLDS triple off Ted Lilly after Chris Young’s 3 run homer is still one of my favorite Diamondbacks moments as that the first season my family bought a weekend ticket package and we went to 20+ games that year. A broken leg sliding into home plate during the 2011 season marked the beginning of the end for Drew as he came back in 2012, was okay but never regained his 2006-2010 form. In late August Kevin Towers trade soon to be free agent Stephen Drew to the Oakland Athletics for Sean Jamieson, who never made it to the majors.
BA- ‘06 23rd, ‘07 12th
MP- ‘06 37th, ‘07 18th
I just want to take a second to remember how fun the CY, J-Up, Eric Byrnes 2007-2008 outfield was. The Diamondbacks took awhile to replace Steve Finley in CF, but CY quickly showed everyone he’s the one to it. In his age 23 rookie season Chris Young posted a 32 HR, 27 SB season for the 2007 playoff team placing 4th in ROY voting. CY never hit for average, but he played awesome defense, had lots of pop & speed, and even made an All-Star team in 2010 (don’t look up how he did in the HR Derby though). Of the Baby Backs and this group of talented young players 2006-2012, Chris Young probably had the best career of all the hitters.
Chris Young was actually acquired by the Diamondbacks before the 2006 season in a wild trade with Orlando Hernández and Luis Vizcaíno from the White Sox for Javier Vázquez. Yeah El Duque was a Diamondback! He made just 9 starts before being trade to the New York Mets for Jorge Julio, Vizcaino had a nice 70 appearance 3.58 ERA 2006, but getting CY for Javier Vazquez (who asked for a trade that offseason) was a massive win. Unfortanely like every player on this list, the Diamondbacks traded away Chris Young with 1 year left on his deal. Even worse, they did for Cliff Pennington and a washed up and overpaid Heath Bell.
Side note- I just realized it’s surprising Brandon Webb was never a top 100 prospect? Webb ranked 26th in ‘01, 25th in ‘02, 5th in ‘03 by Baseball America for the Diamondbacks team prospect rankings, but never got inside the MLB top 100.
BA- ‘06 32nd, ‘07 18th, ‘08 22nd
MP- ‘06 41st, ‘07 22nd, ‘08 23rd
First off, it’s crazy that Baseball America has been higher on every single Diamondback prospect every year so far than MLB Pipeline. Second, yes the Diamondbacks had THAT Cargo. As we’ve gone over, the Diamondbacks had CY, J-Up, Co-Jack & Quentin + Eric Byrnes home run FA signing, so the OF was loaded but crowded. In a deal that I think was a big win/win for the both teams, Cargowas traded with Brett Anderson, Chris Carter, Aaron Cunningham, Dana Eveland and Greg Smith to the Oakland Athletics for Dan Haren and Connor Robertson. Cargo was incredible but the A’s sold him too early to Colorado and didn’t even reap the rewards of this deal…. Dan Haren made the ASG both years in AZ then was traded to Anaheim for Patrick Corbin, Rafael Rodríguez, Joe Saunders and Tyler Skaggs. Considering the Diamondbacks trade history, this was a win!
2007 Baseball America: Justin Upton (9th), Chris Young (12th), Carlos Gonzalez (18th), Miguel Montero (63rd), Alberto Callaspo (82nd), Micah Owings (98th)
2007 MLB Pipeline: Justin Upton (7th), Chris Young (18th), Carlos Gonzalez (22nd)
Part 3 will be…. Miggy Style.
-Goldy Happens