The Best Single Seasons by a Diamondback at Each Position
Over the past few weeks we've run a series of the best single seasons by a Diamondback at each position. As I explained in the initial articles, these were not straight WAR rankings. Sure, WAR helped create a framework for grouping the players into tiers. But other areas, both objective and subjective were taken into consideration. I made a point to only choose one best season per player per position, so no one player took up all the spots. We all know Paul Goldschmidt would take up the top five spots at first base. It was more interesting to pick his best season and see who else could fill out the top five, for example.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, of the top 12 positions covered six were acquired during the Jerry Colangelo/Joe Garagiola Jr. era, with the other six spread among the subsequent ownership and GM's.
Here then is the summary of the greatest single seasons by a Diamondback at each position. I hope you've been following and enjoyed this series. If you missed any of these, note that the position highlighted is a link to the story showing all of the top five for that position
Catcher: Miguel Montero, 2011
First Base: Paul Goldschmidt, 2015
Second Base: Jean Segura, 2016
Third Base: Matt Williams, 1999
Shortstop: Nick Ahmed, 2018
Outfield: Luis Gonzalez-2001, Ketel Marte, 2019, A.J. Pollock, 2015
Left Hand Reliever: Greg Swindell, 1999
Right Hand Setup: Archie Bradley, 2017
Closer: Byung-Hyun Kim, 2002
Starting Pitcher: #1 Randy Johnson, 2001
#1a: Curt Schilling
