3 Arizona Diamondbacks Minor Leaguers Who Will See Time in the Majors This Year
General manager Dave Stewart, chief baseball officer Tony La Russa and manager Chip Hale have turned the Arizona Diamondbacks' team over to the young players in 2015.
Players like 24-year-old Jake Lamb, 24-year-old Ender Inciarte and 22-year-old Archie Bradley have performed well, despite their relative inexperience at the big league level. It can be argued that without them, the D-backs would not be 5-5 entering Friday.
The youth movement will certainly keep players in the minor league organizations on high alert, as opportunities for them could come at any time.
Here are three D-backs minor leaguers who could see some serious time with the big club this year.
Peter O'Brien
1 of 3
As good as Tuffy Gosewisch has been thus far defensively, his offense has been quiet. Entering Friday, he is hitting .200 with only one RBI.
With Gerald Laird on the DL, Jordan Pacheco has served as the backup catcher. He also is hitting .200 with only one RBI.
Soon enough, it could be time for some pop in the bottom half of the Arizona order. That's where 24-year-old Peter O'Brien can make an impact. Although he only hit .235 in the spring, O'Brien is hitting .375 with a home run and seven RBI at Triple-A Reno.
O'Brien certainly has the power to displace Gosewisch and Pacheco, but he will need to improve his defense before he gets called up.
But, the 34 home runs that he hit last season in the minors cannot be ignored. The D-backs need more offense from the catcher position, and O'Brien could be the answer.
Braden Shipley
2 of 3
The D-backs are lucky to be 5-5, considering how poorly the starting pitching has been. With the exception of Bradley, no Arizona starter has an ERA under 4.00.
Chase Anderson has yet to record a decision, and his ERA sits at 4.09. The soft-tossers Josh Collmenter (6.52 ERA) and Jeremy Hellickson (6.55 ERA) have not been sharp and have been unable to deceive hitters—an ability that is the key to their success.
And finally, Rubby De La Rosa is 2-0 but has the highest ERA of the starters at 7.15. His good fortune will not continue.
Considering how dominating Bradley has been, management will likely not hesitate to bring up a young arm from the minors.
That is where Braden Shipley should prevail. Shipley has been untouchable this season in two starts at Double-A Mobile. He is 1-0 with a 0.77 ERA, allowing only one run in 11.2 innings and striking out nine.
He also went 1-0 this spring with Arizona and carried a 2.25 ERA.
If anyone is to make an impact in the rotation, it should be Shipley. If De La Rosa and Hellickson continue to struggle, it may not be too long before we see the 23-year-old right-hander.
Brandon Drury
3 of 3
Arguably, no one in the D-backs organization had a more impressive spring offensive campaign than 22-year-old Brandon Drury.
He hit .435 with three home runs and nine RBI in 23 at bats before being sent back down to Double-A Mobile.
Unfortunately, that success has not transferred over to the regular season. So far at Mobile, he has struggled mightily hitting .042 in 24 at-bats.
But, current second baseman Chris Owings has been equally terrible this season, hitting .103 with only two RBI. He has struck out 14 times in only 29 at-bats and, clearly, isn't right after his shoulder surgery.
With time, Drury will begin to turn things around at Mobile. His performance in the spring was not a fluke, as he hit .299 with 23 home runs in Double-A last season.
Like O'Brien, Drury offers the D-backs some much needed power and offense that Owings has not been able to provide in 2015 thus far.
All statistics are courtesy of Baseball-Reference, unless otherwise noted.
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