Young Diamondbacks look to continue on success of last year. The Arizona Diamondbacks surprised a great number of people last year as they struck out of nowhere to claim the National League West division title. The Diamondbacks return most of their young prospects and added big names in order to take that next step in the playoffs.

Bats. This Diamondbacks team is simply loaded with young offensive talent. There really isn’t any other way to put it. The offense will rely on the young bats the likes of Conor Jackson, Stephen Drew, Justin Upton, and Chris Young. All four of these guys proved that they belong in the bigs, and all of them are destined for great careers. The fact that they are all starting out in the same place at the same time is a testament to how well this organization has been run. In addition the Diamondbacks have Eric Byrnes, who will look to repeat his career year form last year, and hopefully avoid any announcing booths this fall. Mark Reynolds at third base is another young stud who had a good year in somewhat limited duties last year. Besides Byrnes the only real veteran of note is Orlando Hudson who will be about as consistent as you could ask for at second base hitting a solid .280 and hitting anywhere between 10-15 home runs and being solid defensively. This line is filled with talent, and the scariest part for the rest of the National League is that they’re all so very young, and that could be a concern for the Diamondbacks as well. What happens if all of these guys hit a sophomore slump? Fortunately for them it doesn’t appear as if that will happen, and really there isn’t a weak spot in this lineup.

Pitching. As if having one perennial Cy Young contender on your team wasn’t good enough with that lineup, the D-Backs added Dan Haren this off season and gave the D-Backs a one two punch that can go toe to toe with any other in baseball. They also have Doug Davis who has been consistent, if not stellar for the past few years with the Brewers and D-Backs. Fourth in the rotation is Micah Owings, who showed flashes of brilliance and not just on the mound, but at the plate as well. I fully expect him to develop into a capable and vicious third option behind Webb and Haren which will make this team deadly in a short playoff series. Fifth is the youngster Edgar Gonzalez who is slowly getting his feet wet with big league experience. With this lineup and the guys in front of him they don’t need a great year from Gonzalez, just a serviceable one. The only real question mark for this team is in their bullpen, and it isn’t even the bullpen as a whole, it’s just their closer. Jose Valverde, better known as one of the scariest looking men alive, departed for Houston which left a void in the closer role that is going to be filled by Brandon Lyon. Lyon had a few opportunities for saves a few years back, but his numbers haven’t exactly been stellar besides last year. He will look to recapture that magic he had in a setup role as the closer and shut down the 9th this year. The rest of the bullpen will continue to take care of business as they did last year.

Outlook. After really going through this team it is hard to see how one would argue that they won’t win the NL West. While this may be one of the best divisions in baseball it is clear that this team is head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. As long as they can avoid a sophomore slump from all their hitters they should be right in the running come playoff time.