Arizona has a large class of prospects ready to graduate to the Show, and Drew got a jump on the rest when he hit .316 after his call-up last July. Brad Mangin/SI
	FAST FACTS MANAGER BOB MELVIN third season with Diamondbacks Team Page | 2007 Schedule THE NUMBERS       LIE | DON'T LIE 60 Home runs allowed by pitcher Randy Johnson during his two seasons with the Yankees, the most he's given up over a two-year span. That's not surprising when you consider that in 2005 and '06 more hitters got wood on Johnson's pitches than he's used to. His strikeout rate was below one per inning each season, and the last time that had happened was in 1990. CONSIDER THIS The Diamondbacks were right to have been patient with 27-year-old closer Jose Valverde, who had an 8.22 ERA in his first 30 games last year. He bounced back after the All-Star break and had a 1.93 ERA in his final 14 appearances, but pitching coach Bryan Price needs to encourage Valverde to do a better job of mixing his pitches. Despite throwing a first-pitch strike to 67% of the hitters he faced last season, Valverde required 4.14 pitches per batter -- far higher than the National League average of 3.75. That suggests he's having trouble figuring out how to put away batters later in the at bat -- no surprise for a pitcher who throws fastballs almost 80% of the time. Heavier use of his splitter, which he threw only 12% of the time and against which opponents hit .176 last season, is the perfect antidote. BATTING ORDER POS. PLAYER B-T PVR BA HR RBI SB LF ERIC BYRNES R 83 .267 26 79 25 SS STEPHEN DREW L-R 135 .316 5 23 2 2B ORLANDO HUDSON S-R 151 .287 15 67 9 1B CONOR JACKSON R 171 .291 15 79 1 3B CHAD TRACY L-R 90 .281 20 80 5 RF CARLOS QUENTIN R 207 .253 9 32 1 CF CHRIS YOUNG (R) R 100 .243 2 10 2 C CHRIS SNYDER R 218 .277 6 32 0 BENCH POS. PLAYER B-T PVR BA HR RBI SB 1B TONY CLARK S-R 350 .197 6 16 0 INF ALBERTO CALLASPO (R) S-R 332 .238 0 6 0 OF JEFF DAVANON S-R 323 .290 5 35 10 ROTATION THROWS PITCHER PVR W L K WHIP ERA RH BRANDON WEBB 4 16 8 178 1.13 3.10 LH RANDY JOHNSON 68 17 11 172 1.24 5.00 RH LIVAN HERNANDEZ 250 13 13 128 1.50 4.83 LH DOUG DAVIS 99 11 11 159 1.51 4.91 RH ENRIQUE GONZALEZ 243 3 7 66 1.39 5.67 BULLPEN THROWS PITCHER PVR W L S WHIP ERA RH JOSE VALVERDE 89 2 3 18 1.46 5.84 RH JORGE JULIO 121 2 4 16 1.31 4.23 RH BRANDON LYON 296 2 4 0 1.30 3.89

The wealth of young talent on the Diamondbacks was apparent one day in early March when general manager Josh Byrnes watched outfielders Carlos Gonzalez, 21, and Justin Upton, 19; catcher Miguel Montero, 23; and infielder Emilio Bonifacio, 21, play in a morning B game, then saw infielder Alberto Callaspo, 23; shortstop Stephen Drew, 24; first baseman Conor Jackson, 24; rightfielder Carlos Quentin, 24; and centerfielder Chris Young, 23, in the regularly scheduled afternoon exhibition. It was like watching airplanes line up at an airport during the morning rush.

So loaded is Arizona that Byrnes isn't even tempted to carry the teenage Upton on the major league team when it breaks camp -- and probably not at any point this season -- even though the G.M. says some scouts compare Upton's power with Gary Sheffield's or Frank Robinson's. As one rival hitting coach said after seeing Upton this spring, "He's a star with a major league bat right now. If they have five guys better than him, I have a hard time believing that."

"We studied all the teams over history that were dominant over a prolonged period," says Byrnes, "and in every case their run began with a heavy concentration of young players. Teams like the 1966 Orioles, for example."

After three straight losing seasons, the appropriately fresh-looking Diamondbacks (they dumped the purple-and-teal duds for a more tasteful brick-red-and-black ensemble) are primed for takeoff. But will it be this year? Arizona will start as many as five players (Drew, Jackson, Quentin and Young, and possibly Montero, if he earns a share of the catching job) who are either 23 or 24 (they were all born 16 months apart) and combined have only 332 games of major league experience. (Only Jackson among them did not play in the minors last year.)

Byrnes, for one, doesn't believe his club is too green to contend, mostly because his young players are so talented and have a "maturity that goes beyond whatever inexperience they may have" -- in particular, Drew, whose brother is 31-year-old Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew. Hardly awed by his first look at the majors last year, the younger Drew hit better after his July promotion (.316) than he did in Triple A (.284). "He's a special player," second baseman Orlando Hudson says. "He's got every tool, but what's so impressive is that the game slows down for him. Young players tend to speed things up, but he doesn't panic if he's in an 0-and-2 hole or has to come in on a [ground] ball with a fast runner. He's going to be the starting shortstop for the National League All-Star team for a lot of years."

Says Byrnes, "He's very athletic defensively, even though his body language can seem kind of slow, like his brother's or Joe Mauer's. He can be deceiving that way because when there's a play that needs to be made, he makes it."

The Diamondbacks figure to get reliable starting pitching, considering they have four guys who were Opening Day starters last year (Brandon Webb; Randy Johnson, who pitched the opener for the Yankees; Livan Hernandez, for the Nationals; and Doug Davis, for the Brewers) and who all rank among the top 15 inning-eaters over the past three years. The bullpen is far less secure, especially with little added to a unit that ranked ninth in ERA (4.34) and lost 27 games last year. (Only the Florida and Milwaukee pens lost more in the NL.)

Still, Arizona's fate likely will depend mostly on how quickly its young players develop. Can a team break in three or four every-day players at the same time and still win a division title? The Diamondbacks enthusiastically believe the answer is yes. "Can we win with this group?"asks Hudson. "Oh, yeah. We're definitely good enough to win." -- Tom Verducci

Issue date: March 26, 2007