Arizona Diamondbacks: Giving players their final letter grades

The 2019 season was filled with ups and downs for the Arizona Diamondbacks, but there were plenty of individuals who turned in solid performances for the year.

The 2019 version of the Arizona Diamondbacks was at times incredibly frustrating and incredibly exciting to watch.  It seemed like every time they were close to something special after a long winning streak, they were brought back to earth by a losing streak.

Now while we did not give out letter grades for the half-way point of the season, we are going to go over everyone’s performance.  There will be players who weren’t with the team for the entire season, who were traded away or acquired and as long as they played a significant role for the team, they will be included here.

The rating will follow your typical A, B, C, D, F grading system and several things will be taken into consideration.  Individual statistics compared to past seasons, filling their specific role on the team and how well each player contributed to the team as a whole.

As per usual these letter grades are up for debate, they are merely my opinion.  Make sure you comment below and let me know what you think!

Arizona Diamondbacks: Consistent contributions from their infield.

Nick Ahmed: A+

Ahmed had the best season of his career in 2019.  He had career highs in hits, batting average, home runs, RBI’s, and on-base percentage.  He also played in 158 games, which is also a career-high.  The fact that he was so durable and had his best season ever, earns him the A+.

Eduardo Escobar: A+

Escobar also had a fantastic season.  Not only did he set multiple career highs this season, but he also hit for power and for average.  He led all of Major League Baseball with 10 triples.  He also had 35 home runs and 118 RBI’s, career highs by quite a bit in both categories.  He was also durable appearing in 158 games as well.

Kevin Cron: C

Cron joined the team at the end of the season and appeared in 39 games.  He wasn’t in enough to go either high or low, which is why he is just at a C, not enough games, to really make a judgment on his season.

Wilmer Flores: B

Flores was another wonderful breakout and a luxury for manager Torey Lovullo to bring off the bench or give guys rest days.  He only appeared in 89 games, the fewest of his career, but set a career-high in batting average, hitting .317.  His previous best season was .271.

Jake Lamb: D

Lamb has never been able to stay healthy since his 2017 All-Star season.  He was wildly inconsistent and simply didn’t bring much to the team this year, hitting a paltry .193.

Domingo Leyba: C

Another rookie brought up for the end of the season who simply didn’t have enough opportunities to really judge his season.

Josh Rojas: C

Rojas came to the team by way of trade as one of the top prospects in the Houston Astros farm system.  He also didn’t have enough appearances to really judge his season, thus the C grade.  He did show promise in the games he did appear in.

Ildemaro Vargas: B

Vargas played well in the most major league exposure he has had to this point in his career.  He appeared in 92 games and hit .269 and actually still has his rookie status intact after this season.

Christian Walker: B-

Walker is another young player who finally saw a lot of game action as he played in 152 games this year.  He hit .259, but the grade is lower simply because of the guy he replaced over at first base, Paul Goldschmidt, set the bar so high.

Alex Avila: D

Avila did what he could behind the dish, but he just didn’t contribute much to the team at the dish.  I was hoping for more from him.

Carson Kelly: B+

Kelly had a fantastic season.  In his first full season really handling the catching duties he hit .245, homered18 times and drove in 48 runs.

Arizona Diamondbacks: A breakout star

Ketel Marte: A+

This season was Marte’s coming out party.  He absolutely crushed the ball all season long, hitting .389 and slugging .592.  He had 32 home runs and 92 RBI’s, by far and away career highs.  He also made the first of hopefully many All-Star games to come.  (Note: While Marte did play in the infield I have him listed here as the D-backs official roster has him listed as an outfielder.)

Jarrod Dyson: B-

Dyson had a decent season, hitting .230, but it was one of the lowest batting averages of his career.  He was pushed into more service with both David Peralta and Steven Souza Jr. on the IL.  He was a speedster and stole 30 bases, but beyond that, he was simply average.

Adam Jones: B-

Jones gets this grade for filling the role the D-backs had in mind for him when joining the team.  He provided veteran leadership in the clubhouse and held his own at the plate.  He struggled at the plate compared to previous seasons, having the worst batting average of his career since his second year in the league.

Tim Locastro: C

Locastro appeared mainly off the bench and to give guys days off in his third season in the majors.  He played in 91 games, but only had 250 plate appearances although he hit a respectable .250.

David Peralta: C+

Peralta failed to meet some of the lofty expectations we had for him after his career year last season.  He did miss some time after being injured towards the end of the season so that really can’t be held against him too much, but he just wasn’t himself this year.

Arizona Diamondbacks: some inconsistent starting pitching

Zack Greinke: A-

Greinke had a phenomenal season pitching for the D-Backs.  It just so happened they needed to get out of his contract and were able to pull off a trade to the Astros.  He went 10-4 with a 2.90 ERA in 23 starts.  I’m just sad to see him go.

Robbie Ray: B

Ray gets a B because I still feel like he is underperforming.  He shows flashes of brilliance with the strikeouts but also gets in trouble walking batters.  He went 12-8 with a 4.34 ERA with 235 strikeouts compared to 84 walks.  He could be so much better.

Merrill Kelly: C+

Kelly gets this grade because he was a little bit better than okay. Keep in mind he was a rookie this past season.  He struggled giving up the long ball this year and went 13-14 in 32 starts with a 4.42 ERA.  His 14 losses led all of baseball.

Taylor Clarke: C

Clarke, another rookie pitcher like Kelly also had an okay season.  He went 5-5 with a 5.31 ERA in 15 starts.  He also struggled giving up the long ball, giving up 23 of them and walking 30 batters.

Alex Young: B-

Young was another rookie pitcher who made 15 starts.  He went 7-5 with a 3.56 ERA and was able to keep the walks and home runs allowed to a minimum.

Luke Weaver: B+

Weaver made 12 starts, going 4-3 with a 2.94 ERA.  The third-year pitcher acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals showed great promise and will be a centerpiece of the rotation for the next few years.

Mike Leake: D

Leake flat out did not impress at all during his time with the team.  He went 3-3 in 10 starts with a 4.35 ERA.  It’s hard to justify having him in the lineup taking starts away from some of the young promising starters.

Zac Gallen: A

Gallen is the pitcher I am most excited about of this bunch.  He has the potential to be a great starter.  He didn’t make many starts after coming over from the Miami Marlins, but what he did do was impress.  He went 2-3 with a 2.89 ERA in 8 starts, striking out 53 and only allowing 5 home runs.