There’s an old baseball adage that good pitching beats good hitting. The Arizona Diamondbacks are buying into that, quickly.
First it was Zack Greinke. They gave him a six-year deal worth $206.5 million coming off of a season in which he recorded a miniscule 1.66 ERA (best in the league) and also led in WHIP, while finishing runner-up in this year’s National League Cy Young Award voting. People questioned his motives for signing there, but he’s making $34 million a year, the most in MLB history.
Now, it’s Shelby Miller.
Miller came over to the Diamondbacks in a trade with the Atlanta Braves. The Braves receive the number one overall pick in this year’s draft, shortstop Dansby Swanson, prospect Aaron Blair, and outfielder Ender Inciarte.
Swanson was the key to Vanderbilt’s victory in the College World Series over Virginia, and was named the MVP of the tournament. After being drafted, he made his professional debut for the Class Short-Season A Hillsboro Hops on August 12, 2015. Swanson fills a need in Atlanta after the Braves dealt gold glove award winner Andrelton Simmons to the Angels for an aging Erick Aybar.
Inciarte is a proven major league outfielder. Last season, he hit .303 in 132 games while also scoring seventy-three runs, hitting twenty-seven doubles, and stealing twenty-one bases. The year prior, he finished fifth in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
Miller, 25, got his first All-Star nod in 2015 despite leading the National League in losses with seventeen. He is living proof that pitchers cannot be judged by their records alone; he pitched to a meager 3.02 ERA with 171 strikeouts in 205.1 innings. In 2013, Miller finished third in NL Rookie of the Year voting, when he struck out nearly a batter an inning, recording 169 strikeouts in 173.1 innings pitched.
Arizona has quickly become a force to be reckoned with in an ever-competitive NL West.
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