So, as DBacks fans, we are all enamored with Trevor Bauer and everything he does, viewing him almost as a deity.

This is only for fun, and are Chuck Norris jokes esque. Athletics Nation did something similar with Brandon Allen, but of course, Brandon Allen is no Trevor Bauer. Some of these aren't my own, and aren't very good to begin with, but hey, you all have more creative minds than I do.

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bauer up again today. K so far.

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Bauer up today.

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via www.minorleaguebaseball.com

A lot of talk has come about recently regarding the possible decision the Diamondbacks are about to face in the near future of whether or not to promote Trevor Bauer, a 20 year old who is fresh off a big season in college, to the major league roster to help out in the September run (Two articles for you today - one by Kevin Goldstein over at Baseball Prospectus, the other by Jack Moore of FanGraphs). There is little doubt in my mind that Bauer is fully ready to take on a role as a Diamondback. But would it be best for the ball club, and for Bauer, to pull the trigger and give him a rotation spot?

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This isn't meant to be anything really analytical (is that a word?), but I just looked at the remaining schedules for both teams, and then adjusted the winning percentages for each team they face against how often they face them. I know I'm going to get the weighing wrong, so please correct any mistakes. 

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Whoah. You can certainly call me surprised. I realized he had been playing well, really well, in fact, but MVP candidate? 

So, out of pure boredom on a Saturday morning, I decided to run through Justin Upton's stats on FanGraphs, and had realized he has amassed 5.3 WAR this season, already a career high. One of the more encouraging things so far from Upton this year has not only been his strong play, but he's been  healthy all season. Indeed; he's on pace to play 160 games this year, and 5.3 WAR in 105 games works out to 8 WAR over 160 games. That really hit me, as 8 WAR is a legitimate MVP candidate, and as I soon realized, Upton does not only have a reasonable chance of accumulating some votes, or an outside chance of it; he's a legitimate MVP candidate. There's also nothing in his batted ball rates to suggest his performance to date has been any sort of fluke. Of course, you don't care about how I came to this realization. 

Per FanGraphs WAR, Jose Reyes leads the way with 5.5 WAR, but Upton is only .2 wins behind, and then there's Matt Kemp at 5.1, Andrew McCutchen 4.9, and Ryan Braun and Shane Victorino are both tied at 4.7. Of course, this is just FanGraphs, and baseball-reference is less kind to Upton, ranking him 10th among NL position players at 3.7 WAR. But still, he's been phenomenal this year, and I'm  really glad Rob Neyer  has been wrong about him so far.

So what do you think? Will Justin Upton actually win the prestigious award? Will he get significant consideration? How many votes will he get? 

This is something I've been wondering about for a while, and some blogs I've seen believe the D-backs should still go after a top prospect with the pick considering they were handcuffed by Barrett Loux's injury, and it wasn't one of those situations where the two sides simply could not come to an agreement.  I'm not really sure about this though, as the club has never really gone after overslot players, especially since this is an unprotected pick. They also have a 3rd overall pick that still needs to be signed.

Bryan Smith of FanGraphs said during a live chat a couple of weeks back that John Stilson of Texas A&M is the guy for them, and I think I have to agree.  Stilson has a terrific arm, but he's a reliever, though he's nearly major league ready and should help out in a fairly iffy D-backs 'pen.  And, since he's a reliever, he should be fairly inexpensive to sign.

There's also below slot college arms like Danny Hultzen and Jack Armstrong who could draw some interest, but I still think Stilson is the best fit right now.

It's an intriguing  situation, and I really don't know what Kevin Towers and Co will do, but it should be interesting to follow.  So what do you think?  What type of player should the D-backs go after with the unprotected 7th overall pick?

When the occasional, one-team-watch fan hears or sees the name "Upton", their first thoughts might be of Bossman Jr, the center fielder of the Tampa Bay Rays, due to their miracle run in 2008. While BJ looks like he's on his way to a bright future, there's another Upton who's made his way onto the stage and quickly taking the spotlight: It's younger brother Justin.

Justin Upton was born in Northfolk, Virginia and played at the Area Code Games in 2002. Despite being two years younger than everyone else, all eyes were on the 14-year old star. He played alongside guys like Jay Bruce, Andrew McCutchen and Colby Rasmus. Two years later, he was awarded the AFLAC National High School Player of the Year Award.

Before you know it, Justin would be selected 1st overall in the 2005 Amateur Draft, ahead of stars such as Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki. Upton went on to represent USA at the future's game in 2007, and was rewarded for his efforts by being called up by the Diamondbacks in August, and received the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year Award.

Although he struggled in his first stint in the big leagues, coaches, fans, scouts and everyone related to baseball raved on about how talented the young kid was. Indeed so, as he was the youngest player in 2007 at the ripe old age of 19.

In his second season in the big leagues, and what would look to be his first full season, Justin struggled again, after hitting just .250 with 15 home runs, and missed 43 games due to an oblique injury.

Bust? Not so fast. In just 25 games in the second half, Justin did have an OPS over .900, an achievement worth bragging about for the youngster.

After following possible demotion to Triple A Reno in 2009, Justin had to prove that he was ready for the big leagues. He started off slow in April, but in May is when he truly turned things around. He hit .373/.444/.709, and was recognized for his accomplishments as he was named the Player of the Month. Justin followed suit in June, hitting .303/.389/.525. He wasn't named player of the month, but it was still a solid 25 games all around.

In July, the biggest of accolades came. Charlie Manuel, manager of the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies, selected Justin to play in the all-star game. The 21-year old was thrilled to participate in an event that featured the game's biggest stars such as Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez and Joe Mauer. While he will be remembered in that game for making misread in the field that would end up resulting in the go ahead run, you could take absolutely nothing away from Upton. He was only 21, and was already recognized as one of the brightest young stars at his profession.

Things were looking way up for Justin, but he suffered a setback in August. He would be bothered by an oblique injury again, but only missed 18 games this time. He doesn't seem to be fazed by the injury, as he has hit .457/.486/.857 with 3 home runs since then.

In his 2009 campaign, Justin wasn't just an all-star, he wasn't just player of the month, he was having a breakout season, a season for the ages. Sure, there's still a month of baseball left, but Upton was on his way to super stardom, and at this rate, he would have accomplished something that has only been done THREE times in the last 20 years. This feat is having a .300 AVG, and a .900 OPS, while doing so at the age of 21 years or younger. (ages are recorded as of June 30) The other players are Ken Griffey Jr in 1991, Alex Rodriguez in 1996, and Albert Pujols in 2001.

As it looks like, those three players are surefire, first ballot hall of famers, and each of them had great success early on in there careers. So, will Upton become as big a legend as one of those three greats?

High school credentials, first overall pick, legitimate 5-tool player, early accolades and accomplishments, what's not to like? Justin Upton has the makeup and resume of a phenom. Now the question is, is he baseball's next big thing? Arizona Diamondbacks fans everywhere are surely loving him right now.

via cdn3.sbnation.com

When the occasional, one-team-watch fan hears or sees the name "Upton", their first thoughts might be of Bossman Jr, the center fielder of the Tampa Bay Rays, due to their miracle run in 2008.  While BJ looks like he's on his way to a bright future, there's another Upton who's made his way onto the stage and quickly taking the spotlight:  It's younger brother Justin...

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Mark Reynolds was born in Pikeville, Kentucky. He attended First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and also played on an Amateur Athletic Union that included New York Mets superstar third baseman, and good friend, David Wright, and future teammate Justin Upton.

He was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the sixteenth round of the 2004 amateur draft, and no one would have figured that this kid would one day become a huge steal for the Diamondbacks organization.

In 2007, Mark Reynolds was called up from double-A Mobile after starting third baseman Chad Tracy had gone down with an injury. He hit 17 home runs in 111 games, good enough to earn himself the starting job for the next season.

The next year, Reynolds showed off a bit of a power stroke by belting out 28 home runs and smashing 28 doubles. It did come at a price though, as he set the major league record in strike outs with 204, along with a sub par .239 batting average.

As a 25 year old, he seemed to have a classic "young hitter's" attitude, which would be swinging for the fences at every at bat. He showed some upside, but people wondered whether he would ever cut down on the K's and up his average a bit to become a decent regular at the major league level. If both were to happen, his home run total would possibly go down, thus eliminating his only value he has shown so far. He was also no fielder at the hot corner, as he committed 34 errors.

But as a determined young player, improvements were expected, and improvement came.

This season Mark Reynolds has been a monster. Not only is he hitting more home runs than ever (has already surpassed last season's total by a wide margin), but he has also brought his average up to a respectable .290 clip, while adding a new attribute to his game: stolen bases. He has gone 20 for 27 and is on pace for just shy of 30 stolen bases, but one couldn't help but think he would go 30/30 one day, possibly even 40/40.

He plays in a hitter friendly park, so non believers would have to question whether he is for real or not. He answered this the best he could, as he crushed 4 home runs in 3 games at Citi Field (including two on his birthday), arguably one of the toughest parks to put one over the fence. To put into perspective, that was the same amount as good friend David Wright had all season.

He is currently sitting at 36 home runs, tied for the league lead with Albert Pujols, and has been on a tear lately, as he has hit 7 homers in his last 8 games with a triple slash line of .441/.500/1.118 

If you don't know who he is yet, his name is Mark Andrew Reynolds, and he is baseball's newest power threat.

via assets.espn.go.com

Mark Reynolds was born in Pikeville, Kentucky. He attended First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and also played on an Amateur Athletic Union that included New York Mets superstar third baseman, and good friend, David Wright, and future teammate Justin Upton.

He was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the sixteenth round of the 2004 amateur draft, and no one would have figured that this kid would one day become a huge steal for the Diamondbacks organization.

In 2007, Mark Reynolds was called up from double-A Mobile after starting third baseman Chad Tracy had gone down with an injury. He hit 17 home runs in 111 games, good enough to earn himself the starting job for the next season.

The next year, Reynolds showed off a bit of a power stroke by belting out 28 home runs and smashing 28 doubles. It did come at a price though, as he set the major league record in strike outs with 204, along with a sub par .239 batting average.

As a 25 year old, he seemed to have a classic "young hitter's" attitude, which would be swinging for the fences at every at bat. He showed some upside, but people wondered whether he would ever cut down on the K's and up his average a bit to become a decent regular at the major league level. If both were to happen, his home run total would possibly go down, thus eliminating his only value he has shown so far. He was also no fielder at the hot corner, as he committed 34 errors.

But as a determined young player, improvements were expected, and improvement came.

This season Mark Reynolds has been a monster. Not only is he hitting more home runs than ever (has already surpassed last season's total by a wide margin), but he has also brought his average up to a respectable .290 clip, while adding a new attribute to his game: stolen bases. He has gone 20 for 27 and is on pace for just shy of 30 stolen bases, but one couldn't help but think he would go 30/30 one day, possibly even 40/40.

He plays in a hitter friendly park, so non believers would have to question whether he is for real or not. He answered this the best he could, as he crushed 4 home runs in 3 games at Citi Field (including two on his birthday), arguably one of the toughest parks to put one over the fence. To put into perspective, that was the same amount as good friend David Wright had all season.

He is currently sitting at 36 home runs, one shy of leader Albert Pujols, but has been on a tear lately, as he has hit 6 homers in his last 7 games with a triple slash line of .452/.500/1.097.

If you don't know who he is yet, his name is Mark Andrew Reynolds, and he is baseball's newest power threat.

via assets.espn.go.com