Just Random D-Backs Stats Vol. 1

Who knew!

I love a good Baseball Reference wormhole. My massive Rule 5 history post sent me down several Baseball Reference pages via trades with plenty of minor league only players. Along the way I constantly ran across Diamondbacks stats I never knew, which gave me the idea for this series. Here is my data dump of random interesting Diamondbacks stats I’ve stumbled across. Volume 1 will feature the 1998-2006 purple jersey era.

1998 Diamondbacks

Devon White posted a 20/20 season (22 HR & 22 SB) in the Diamondbacks inaugural 1998 season.

Surprisingly, no Diamondback accomplished another 20/20 season until 2006 Eric Byrnes. From 2006-2017 Byrnes, Chris Young, AJ Pollock, Justin Upton, Paul Goldschmidt, Jean Segura, Mark Reynolds combined for 12 20/20 seasons. Corbin Carroll ended a 2017-2022 20/20 drought with his 2023 Rookie of the Year 25 HR, 54 SB season.

1999 Diamondbacks

Matt Williams had 142 RBI in 1999.

The point of this type of post to point out insane seasons I feel like people forget about. Gonzo tied this Diamondbacks record with 142 RBI in 2001, but just Goldy has even crossed 120 RBI (2013 & 2017). It’s been a full 15 seasons since someone had more than 142 RBI in a season (2008 Ryan Howard, 146), but 3 players had more than Matt Williams 142 in 1999.

2000 Diamondbacks

Randy Johnson had 347 strikeouts in 35 starts, the rest of the Opening Day rotation (Brian Anderson, Armando Reynoso, Omar Daal, Todd Stottlemyre) had 314 strikeouts in 96 starts.

Old baseball stats from this era are funny because you had your high strikeout stars like Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, and Randy Johnson, but the vast majority of pitchers had really low K/9’s. The 4 non-RJ SP’s had a combined 4.64 K/9 in 2000! The Diamondbacks traded for Curt Schilling midseason of 2000, but the original Opening Day rotation had comically bad stats in comparison to future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

2001 Diamondbacks

Randy Johnson (37) & Curt Schilling (34) had a combine 506.1 IP, 665 K’s, 2.73 ERA in the regular season + an additional 89.2 IP, 103 K’s on just 13 earned runs in the playoffs.

The 2001 co-MVP World Series decision with Randy & Curt is one of the best and rarest wins sportswriters have ever had. Their insane postseason (Curt 48.1 IP 56 K 6 ER + Randy 41.1 IP 47 K 7 ER) combined with their regular season are feats a modern duo will never accomplish again. Sometimes you have to take a second to just say wow.

2002 Diamondbacks

Junior Spivey in his lone full MLB season slashed .301/.389/.476 with a .865 OPS, 16 HR, 11 SB and an All Star appearance.

Bob Brenly brought as many Diamondbacks as he could with him to Milwaukee for the 2002 All Star Game. The 7-7 tie saw 6 Diamondbacks make the trip, as Curt Schilling started, Byung-Hyun Kim pitched in relief, Randy Johnson was there but DNP, and 3 Diamondbacks (Gonzo, Spivey, Damien Miller) came off the bench. Junior Spivey’s career path though still to this day is fascinating.

Junior Spivey started at Cowley Community College in Arkansas City, KS, then went to Northwestern Oklahoma State University (Alva, OK) before getting selected in the 36th round of the 1996 MLB Draft. This was the first draft ever for the Arizona Diamondbacks too. Spivey first cracked into the majors in 2001 hitting a solid .258 with .778 OPS in 163 AB’s, but did not appear in the playoffs during the World Series run. Spivey’s breakout All-Star season was followed up with a step back in an injury shortened 2003 where he slashed .255/.326/.433 in 106 games. That offseason the surprising offseason trade to Milwaukee (along with a lot of other players) for Richie Sexton ended Spivey’s tenure in Arizona.

Junior Spivey fell out of the MLB quickly after the trade, but still to this day you see Junior Spivey jerseys at games. His 2002 All Star season net MVP votes, and he was a rare good young home grown player from the World Series era that just didn’t pan out as fans hoped.

2003 Diamondbacks

Matt Mantei had one of the best closer seasons ever by a Diamondback closer. 29-32 saves, 11.2 K/9, 2.62 ERA.

Matt Mantei is the forgotten great closer in Diamondbacks history. Mantei had one of the most poorly timed injuries of all time by needing Tommy John after 8 appearances in 2001. If Matt Mantei could have stayed healthy in 2001 and kept the closer gig over Byung-Hyun Kim, how does that change history and that World Series run? Do the Diamondbacks win in a less exciting 5 or 6 games against the Yankees then?

Mantei battled a lot of injuries in his career, but made it back fully healthy in 2003 and balled out. Mantei owns 2 of the 13 20+ save seasons in Diamondbacks history, including being 1 of 4 pitchers to convert 90% of their saves opportunities in 20+ save seasons.

2011 JJ Putz 45-49 (9.4 K/9)

1998 Gregg Olsen 30-30! (7.2 K/9)

2015 Brad Ziegler 30-32 (4.8 K/9)

2003 Matt Mantei 29-32 (11.2 K/9)

2004 Diamondbacks

Brandon Webb walked 119 batters (with and additional 11 HBP) in 2004.

I love Brandon Webb but the 2004 Diamondbacks who went 51-111 deserve a bad stat. While Casey Fossum made 27 starts and had a 6.65 ERA with 105 earned runs, that was only the 5th most in D-Backs history. Webb’s 119 walks is by far the most in D-Backs history, with Doug Davis posting 95 (2007) and 103 (2009) walk years coming in 2nd and 3rd. Brandon Webb’s 17 wild pitches this season also led the league.

Here’s some context for how many walks 119 is, 2019 Robbie Ray made 33 starts in 2019 and had 84 walks, a full walk per game less than Webb did. No pitcher in the MLB has walked over 100 batters in a season since Edinson Volquez and Ricky Romero both walked 105 batters in 2012! No pitcher has had more than 17 wild pitches in a season since 2019 Lance Lynn with 18. What’s pretty impressive about Brandon Webb’s 119 walk 2004 was that he still had a 3.59 ERA and threw 208 innings.

2005 Diamondbacks

Troy Glaus hit 37 home runs in 2005.

I feel like Troy Glaus isnt remembered as fondly as he should be in Diamondbacks history. 2004-06 was a really dark time in D-Backs history, but Troy Glaus was a massive win move in 2005. In his lone season in Arizona he smashed 37 dingers, 4th most in Diamondbacks history, while posting a strong .885 OPS that year too.

With the Diamondbacks being bad, entering year 2 of a backloaded 4 year, $45M deal the Diamondbacks moved Glaus and his remaining $36M to Toronto for former fan favorite Miguel Batista and new fan favorite Orlando Hudson. O-Dog made just $12.5M over the next 3 years vs Glaus making $36M. Hudson was also the leader of the 2007 team, and still works in the organization today. So while Glaus posted 3 strong seasons after being dealt away, every aspect of the Troy Glaus move was a win for the Diamondbacks, and here is the thank you Glaus deserves.

2006 Diamondbacks

The 2006 Diamondbacks had one of the most consistent lineups I’ve ever seen, with everyone having a .772 OPS or higher once Stephen Drew got called up.

The 2006 Diamondbacks were a strange blend of the Baby Back starting to break through with a series of veteran players still here. Counsell & Gonzo returned to Arizona their last dances in the desert. Shawn Green randomly played one season in Arizona, and this was Chad Tracy’s last strong season. For a team that was 76-86 and never a real playoff threat, this lineup was remarkably consistent. It’s just a strange statistical thing for a team to have 2 players over 15 homers, but everyone have an OPS around .800. If anyone wants to know the most consistently average offense in Diamondbacks history, I think its the 2006 Damondbacks.

That wraps up the purple jersey era, more articles like this will be coming up! Make sure to follow my SubStack to get all posts sent directly to your email!!

-@GoldyHappens