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Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Prospects for 2017

By Benjamin Chase

Apr 4, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Famous cat Grumpy Cat wears an Arizona Diamondbacks hat prior to the game against the Colorado Rockies during Opening Day at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Famous cat Grumpy Cat wears an Arizona Diamondbacks hat prior to the game against the Colorado Rockies during Opening Day at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 4, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Famous cat Grumpy Cat wears an Arizona Diamondbacks hat prior to the game against the Colorado Rockies during Opening Day at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2016; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Famous cat Grumpy Cat wears an Arizona Diamondbacks hat prior to the game against the Colorado Rockies during Opening Day at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

The Arizona Diamondbacks recently did a complete overhaul of their front office. What is left for the new front office to inherit?

An Introduction

Our minor league top 10 series is coordinated by Benjamin Chase, one of our contributors at Call To The Pen.

He has poured over thousands of minor league games over the course of the year via milb.tv along with speaking with a number of team and independent scouts. These lists are based out of those conversations.

Each system will have prospects from 10 to 1, and then finish with one newcomer to the system that is worth keeping an eye on that is not in the top 10 at this time.

Conversations are certainly encouraged in the comments section on each system as we go along!

The new management team will have their work cut out for them

Diamondbacks System Review

The Arizona Diamondbacks have struggled to find an identity in recent years, and their minor league system certainly reflects that.

Last offseason, the Diamondbacks traded away a host of players that you’ll see playing important roles for other teams and/or on other teams’ top 10 lists this offseason, including Daniel Palka, traded to the Twins for catcher Chris Herrmann, Isan Diaz to the Brewers in the trade that brought Jean Segura to Arizona, and then of course, the big blockbuster that sent away 2015 #1 overall selection Dansby Swanson and Aaron Blair as part of the deal to acquire Shelby Miller.

The Diamondbacks made big splashes in the international market, especially the Cuban market, that really haven’t played out as well as they’d like. Yasmany Tomas had a 30+ home run season in 2016, but his walk rate and defense were so poor that he actually had a negative bWAR, yet the $55.5M remaining on his contract seems more like a heavy weight around Arizona’s neck than a deal in hindsight.

Yoan Lopez was a major signing for the team from Cuba, receiving an $8.27M bonus. Instead, his stuff has never been worthy of that level of investment, and he got rocked in 2016 in his first exposure to upper level hitting, with a 5.52 ERA over 14 starts, nearly walking as many as he struck out.

While this tearing down of the system has been frustrating for fans, its left the system with little outside of “fringe” major leaguers at the upper levels and pretty low-floor type of guys at the lower levels.

The new management team will have their work cut out for them, but they have already shown a willingness to move off guys who don’t have a future with team, as seen with the recent DFA of Vicente Campos, who was picked up by the Angels off of waivers. They do have the #7 pick in the 2017 draft, so they’ll have the opportunity to pick up an impact player at that spot!

Next: #10

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