Through the blown saves and the walk-offs, the 3-hour defeats and the 5-hour heroics, the disappointments and the pleasant surprises, the Diamondbacks at last have reached the conclusion of the first half of the season, though many questions have arisen as to what will happen in the final three months of the season. In reality, just how good is each individual player? Perhaps my end-of-the-season stat predictions will help.
Hitting:
| Player | BA | HR | RBI |
| Montero, Miguel | .249 | 14 | 68 |
| Nieves, Wil | .308 | 2 | 20 |
| Chavez, Eric | .287 | 13 | 56 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul | .312 | 39 | 128 |
| Gregorius, Didi | .257 | 7 | 38 |
| Hill, Aaron | .292 | 17 | 64 |
| Pennington, Cliff | .234 | 4 | 32 |
| Prado, Martin | .288 | 13 | 71 |
| Bloomquist, Willie | .278 | 0 | 10 |
| Eaton, Adam | .282 | 5 | 24 |
| Kubel, Jason | .259 | 16 | 57 |
| Parra, Gerardo | .292 | 12 | 48 |
| Pollock, A.J. | .260 | 10 | 46 |
| Ross, Cody | .264 | 16 | 63 |
Pitching:
| Player | W | L | ERA | Saves |
| Bell, Heath | — | — | 4.26 | 21 |
| Cahill, Trevor | 8 | 13 | 4.11 | — |
| Collmenter, Josh | — | — | 2.37 | 0 |
| Corbin, Patrick | 17 | 5 | 2.64 | — |
| Delgado, Randall | 3 | 3 | 4.07 | — |
| Harris, Will | — | — | 2.42 | 1 |
| Hernandez, David | — | — | 3.81 | 4 |
| Kennedy, Ian | 10 | 11 | 4.51 | — |
| McCarthy, Brandon | 7 | 8 | 4.16 | — |
| Miley, Wade | 14 | 10 | 3.53 | — |
| Putz, J.J. | — | — | 3.16 | 10 |
| Reynolds, Matt | — | — | 1.98 | 2 |
| Sipp, Tony | — | — | 3.64 | 0 |
| Skaggs, Tyler | 3 | 2 | 3.86 | — |
| Ziegler, Brad | — | — | 2.21 | 9 |
Though only hitting .255 right now, Martin Prado is a career .291 hitter and his recent hot streak should spur him on to hit in the high .280’s. When the Diamondbacks pursued Didi Gregorius in the Trevor Bauer trade, he was viewed as a defensive shortstop with offensive potential. In the first two months of the season, he proved that his offense had more than just “potential.” However, after a slow 4/24 start in July, his batting average has fallen to .274. As a career .273 hitter in the minor leagues, Gregorius is not expected to turn his struggles around drastically. His problem? He hits lefties to the sad tone of .192. Paul Goldschmidt is headed to New York for the All-Star Game after the D-Backs finish with the Brewers–for a good reason too. While I expect Goldschmidt to stay away from any major cold streaks in the second half, I do not see Goldscmidt collecting 70 RBI’s in the second half. However, with a solid second half, Goldschmidt would undoubtedly be a top N.L. MVP candidate.
The D-Backs’ starting pitching has been quite a disappointment–outside of Patrick Corbin, of course. In fact, if each regular starting pitcher (excluding Corbin) were to continue pitching as they have, each of them would suffer the worst full season of their careers. That won’t happen. Although he has already given up more home runs than he did all of last season, Wade Miley has shown some great improvement over his last four starts, posting a 1.88 ERA over that stretch. Ian Kennedy might not be a true ace, but he’s better than a 5.31 ERA. Fortunately, Kennedy has a history of pitching better in the second half of the season. That trend will continue. McCarthy was also showing improvement before hitting the 15-day DL on June 1st. Trevor Cahill after a solid April and an almost as good May had a horrible June in which his ERA was over 9.00 in part due to an injury that has placed him on the 15-day DL. I expect Cahill to improve in the second half, but he won’t be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. Although unlikely, it is possible that Kevin Towers would be willing to let one of these four starting pitchers go at the trade deadline in return for some bullpen help. Lastly, Patrick Corbin. Can you say “Cy Young Candidate?” The 23-year-old lefty has been nothing short of spectacular in 2013. Though I see Corbin’s second half ERA being closer to 3.00 than 2.00, he will finish the year much like he started it.
Now, the fun part: we get to see how it all turns out. Go D-Backs.
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