Arizona Diamondbacks | Fantasy Draft (MLB 15 The Show)

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Hey everyone, welcome to my new franchise here for MLB 15 The Show. I've been playing this game pretty much non-stop since it came out but I haven't really stuck with any franchise yet so that's what this is going to be. This is the franchise I'm sticking with. I did do a fantasy draft for this team. I know, I know, fantasy drafts can be pretty cheap sometimes and you end up with a loaded team but I like to build my team from scratch as opposed to just picking one up. Basically, I don't draft a whole lot of superstars and prefer to draft youth with potential.

I couldn't really decide on what team to do this franchise with at first. I wanted to do an American League team but I wanted to actually have to use strategy more so I settled on the Diamondbacks. I did live in Arizona for a little while and I loved Chase Field. Plus, the team only has a budget of $87.5 million in the game which means I'll have the added challenge of a budget strapped team. With that said, here is the basic information for my franchise here and I hope you all enjoy.

FRANCHISE BASICS

Roster: Live roster from April 27th
Sliders: Armor & Swords
Difficulty: All-star for both hitting and pitching
Quick Counts: Off

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YEARLY RECAPS

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AWARDS HISTORY

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DRAFT HISTORY

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SPRING TRAINING OUTLOOK

Spring Training is about to get underway in the desert after a long winter of waiting. Baseball is back and with that comes new faces, fan favorites, veterans, and surprising rookies. The Diamondbacks are a team built around youth which makes their future look very bright but the question is will there be some growing pains for the young team along the way? Let's take a look at some of the biggest keys for the Diamondbacks this season.

1. Runs, runs, and more runs: The D-Backs have a very young rotation. In fact, there is no one over the age of 25 that's even competing for one of those five spots. That means that the D-Backs lineup is going to need to put up a lot of runs and give these young pitchers some room to breathe as they work through the kinks and find their groove in the bigs.

2. Better with age: The D-Backs are a very young team but they also have a few key veterans that could play a big part in the development of the younger players. Guys like David Ross, Maicer Izturis, and Garret Jones will be looked up to by the young hitters while Koji Uehara, Joaquin Benoit, and Randy Choate look to bring a calm, veteran presence in the back end of games.

3. Knowing their role: The D-Backs have a plethora of multi-positional players that are looking to crack the opening day roster. Players like Willie Bloomquist, Maicer Izturis, Odubel Herrera, and Arismendy Alcantara may become critical cogs in the machine. These guys are able to bounce around from position to position which gives the team more flexibility to give guys days off to prevent injuries. These guys won't be the big headline names more then likely but by buying into their roles they could have just as big an impact as their stars.

2015 Spring Training Roster
#	PITCHERS	POS	B/T	AGE	OVR	POT	SALARY
45	Gerrit Cole	SP	R/R	24	86	A	$1.6m
48	Andrew Miller	RP	L/L	29	86	B	$6.4m
49	Julio Teheran	SP	R/R	24	84	A	$1.4m
19	Koji Uehara	CL	R/R	40	83	A	$4.4m
53	Joaquin Benoit	RP	R/R	37	81	A	$3.9m
47	Tyler Skaggs	SP	L/L	23	78	B	$880k
50	Mike Foltynewicz	SP	R/R	23	76	B	$880k
64	Mike Morin	RP	R/R	23	76	B	$630k
36	Randy Choate	RP	L/L	39	75	A	$2.2m
38	Vic Black	RP	R/R	26	74	B	$510k
25	Archie Bradley	SP	R/R	22	73	A	$510k
52	Tony Cingrani	RP	L/L	25	71	B	$540k
55	Carlos Rodon	RP	L/L	22	70	A	$510k
32	Daniel Norris	SP	L/L	21	69	B	$760k
68	Matt Barnes	SP	R/R	24	67	B	$540k
54	Preston Claiborne	RP	R/R	27	67	C	$510k
26	Raisel Iglesias	SP	R/R	24	67	B	$70k
60	Hunter Strickland	RP	R/R	26	63	C	$510k
#	CATCHERS	POS	B/T	AGE	OVR	POT	SALARY
39	Devin Mesoraco	C	R/R	26	81	B	$3.8m
3	David Ross	C	R/R	38	72	B	$2.0m
22	Kevin Plawecki	C	R/R	24	68	A	$90k
40	Chris Gimenez	C/1B	R/R	32	64	D	$510k
#	INFIELDERS	POS	B/T	AGE	OVR	POT	SALARY
17	Kris Bryant	3B/CF	R/R	23	81	A	$510k
7	Micah Johnson	2B	L/R	24	77	A	$510k
29	Jung-ho Kang	SS	R/R	27	76	A	$507k
21	Wilin Rosario	1B/C	R/R	26	74	B	$2.3m
8	Willie Bloomquist	UT	R/R	37	71	B	$1.7m
13	Maicer Izturis	2B/3B/SS	S/R	34	70	C	$1.5m
33	Garrett Jones	1B/LF/RF	L/L	33	70	C	$890k
9	Von Canales	3B/2B	R/R	22	58	D	$60k
28	Jason Ramsay	SS/2B/3B	S/R	23	58	D	$50k
#	OUTFIELDERS	POS	B/T	AGE	OVR	POT	SALARY
27	Giancarlo Stanton	RF/LF	R/R	25	94	A	$7.5m
6	Corey Dickerson	OF	L/R	25	80	B	$920k
4	George Springer	OF	R/R	25	79	A	$1.3m
37	Odubel Herrera	OF/2B/SS	L/R	23	68	B	$510k
10	Arismendy Alcantara	OF/2B/SS	S/R	23	67	B	$660k
46	Dalton Pompey	OF	S/R	22	64	B	$660k
12	Stephen Knight	OF	R/R	22	62	B	$510k
24	Julian Hannahan	OF	R/R	18	59	C	$60k

POSITION BATTLES TO WATCH
4th and 5th Starting pitcher: Mike Foltynewicz, Archie Bradley, Daniel Norris, Carlos Rodon, Tony Cingrani
1B: Wilin Rosario and Garrett Jones
2B: Micah Johnson, Willie Bloomquist, Maicer Izturis

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SPRING TRAINING WRAP-UP

Spring Training is over and teams have begun finalizing their Opening Day rosters. The D-Backs spring didn't necessarily go the way they wanted it to ending up 13-15. They received some rather underwhelming performances from guys that they were counting on being stable pieces which means some tough decisions had to be made. The team sent down some of their younger arms (Iglesias, Barnes, Norris, and Rodon) to get more seasoning down in the minors. Strickland, Claiborne, Gimenez, Plawecki, Canales, Ramsay, Knight, Hannahan, Pompey, and Alcantara were all sent down as well.

As for the Spring Training position battles. The D-Backs manager has stated that they will be using platoons at both 1B (Jones/Rosario)and 2B (Johnson/Izturis) to start off the year. The team has also named Julio Teheran their opening day starter and released their Top 10 Prospects list. The D-Backs will open their season off at home against their divisional rivals the San Francisco Giants on April 6th.

2015 Spring Training Stats Stats - Hitting
NAME	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG
Jung-ho Kang	84	7	13	4	1	4	12	11	24	0	0	.155	.260	.369
Devin Mesoraco	77	7	14	0	0	1	9	8	20	0	0	.182	.253	.221
Corey Dickerson	77	10	24	5	0	2	10	8	16	1	1	.312	.372	.455
Giancarlo Stanton	75	15	24	3	0	8	18	12	17	1	0	.320	.414	.680
George Springer	75	7	15	2	1	2	10	7	22	3	0	.200	.282	.333
Kris Bryant	70	8	16	0	0	4	7	11	22	0	1	.229	.333	.400
Garrett Jones	67	8	19	1	1	4	13	7	15	0	0	.284	.342	.507
Micah Johnson	54	13	12	5	2	0	3	8	9	1	0	.222	.344	.389
Willie Bloomquist	49	4	9	0	0	0	1	2	4	0	0	.184	.216	.184
Wilin Rosario	40	5	14	3	0	1	6	3	5	0	0	.350	.386	.500
Odubel Herrera	40	9	10	1	1	0	3	5	8	0	0	.250	.340	.325
Kevin Plawecki	32	3	7	1	0	1	2	1	4	0	0	.219	.242	.344
Maicer Izturis	27	1	7	1	0	0	1	2	5	0	0	.259	.310	.296
Stephen Knight	25	2	2	0	0	0	2	4	8	0	0	.080	.200	.080
Jason Ramsay	21	5	6	1	0	1	1	1	5	0	0	.286	.318	.476
Arismendy Alcantara	17	2	2	1	0	0	3	2	6	0	0	.118	.211	.176
Dalton Pompey	17	1	3	0	0	0	2	1	4	0	0	.176	.222	.176
Chris Gimenez	14	2	6	1	1	0	1	3	2	0	0	.429	.529	.643
David Ross	10	0	2	1	0	0	2	0	4	0	0	.200	.200	.300

2015 Spring Training Stats Stats - Pitching
NAME	GP	GS	W	L	SV	QS	HLD	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	ERA
Julio Teheran	13	6	1	0	0	0	3	31.0	21	10	6	6	29	0.87	2.90
Tyler Skaggs	13	6	1	3	0	0	3	31.0	31	16	2	12	25	1.39	4.65
Mike Foltynewicz	12	5	0	4	0	0	3	27.2	31	15	3	12	29	1.55	4.88
Gerrit Cole	9	6	2	2	0	0	1	26.0	34	9	4	5	29	1.50	3.12
Archie Bradley	6	5	2	1	0	0	0	22.0	22	17	3	10	24	1.45	6.95
Joaquin Benoit	19	0	1	0	0	0	2	17.1	15	2	1	1	16	0.92	1.04
Mike Morin	14	0	1	1	0	0	2	14.0	14	9	4	7	6	1.50	5.79
Tony Cingrani	15	0	3	1	0	0	3	13.1	14	6	0	7	14	1.58	4.05
Andrew Miller	15	0	0	0	0	0	5	12.1	13	10	2	5	11	1.46	7.30
Matt Barnes	11	0	1	1	0	0	2	10.1	24	15	2	10	7	3.29	13.06
Carlos Rodon	10	0	0	1	0	0	3	10.0	11	9	1	10	9	2.10	8.10
Vic Black	10	0	0	0	0	0	3	9.2	8	2	0	3	12	1.14	1.86
Koji Uehara	9	0	1	0	7	0	0	8.2	10	4	1	1	10	1.27	4.15
Randy Choate	8	0	0	1	1	0	1	6.2	12	9	2	7	6	2.85	12.15
Daniel Norris	5	0	0	0	0	0	2	5.0	10	6	0	3	4	2.60	10.80

TOP 10 PROSPECTS
1. SP Carlos Rodon (AAA), 22 years old, 75 overall, A Potential
2. C Kevin Plawecki (AAA), 24 years old, 68 overall, A Potential
3. SP Alex Tovar (AAA), 22 years old, 67 overall, A Potential
4. SP Roberto Cardenas (AA), 18 years old, 65 overall, A Potential
5. SP Daniel Norris (AAA), 21 years old, 69 overall, B Potential
6. CF Arismendy Alcantara (AAA), 23 years old, 67 overall, B Potential
7. SP Matt Barnes (AAA), 24 years old, 67 overall, B Potential
8. SP Raisel Iglesias (AAA), 24 years old, 67 overall, B Potential
9. 3B Jermaine Stacy (AA), 25 years old, 58 overall, A Potential
10. SP Dwayne Ogden (AA), 25 years old, 57 overall, A Potential

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OPENING DAY LINEUP RELEASED
A look at the D-Backs Opening Day lineup vs. the Giants and season preview

1. Micah Johnson, 2B - Johnson will be one of three rookies in the starting lineup on opening day. While his spring batting average wasn't anything to write home about the 24 year old second baseman still managed to get on base at a decent rate. Combine that with his speed and you have the what could be a potential run scoring machine with the hitters that follow him in the order. Expect Johnson to split time with Maicer Izturis until one of them wins the job outright.

2. Corey Dickerson, LF - Dickerson had one of the better springs on the team after coming off a breakout year last season. He looks to continue that over into this year and become a fixture in the Arizona outfield for years to come. He should bat in the two-hole for most of the season and may even move to the lead-off spot eventually.

3. Giancarlo Stanton, RF - Stanton is the no-brainer three-hole hitter in this lineup. He's their superstar and has a massive amount of power. He hit 37 home runs last season while driving in 105 and in spring training he knocked out 8 with 18 RBIs. There's no reason to think that won't be able to put up those kind of numbers again this year.

4. George Springer, CF - Springer is a rare breed of speed and power and will be the D-Backs center fielder, rounding out one of the most dangerous outfields in the bigs. He has a ton of pop and can swipe a few bags as well but the D-Backs are going to want to see him cut down on the amount of strikeout he had in the spring.

5. Kris Bryant, 3B - A lot of hype has surrounded this young rookie and he's looking to deliver for the D-Backs in a big way this year. He had a bit of a rough spring and like Springer needs to cut back on strikeouts but the boy can hit and hit he shall. Expect him to be up there with Stanton and Springer in home runs.

6. Devin Mesoraco, C - Mesoraco broke out last season with 25 home runs. He had a really bad spring but the D-Backs have a lot of faith in the 26 year old backstop. Given where he's at in the lineup, he should get plenty of RBI opportunities and teams will more then likely will want to pitch to him over Stanton, Springer, or Bryant but he's not much different then them.

7. Garrett Jones, 1B - Jones will get the nod at first on Opening Day and will more then likely be in the lineup against right handers. Jones had a good spring which solidified him into a platoon role with Wilin Rosario. He brings a veteran presence to a young lineup and has the flexibility of playing in the outfield as well if someone needs a day off.

8. Jung-ho Kang, SS - Kang is the last of the rookies in the lineup. He will bat near the bottom of the order for most of the season due to what could be a new Murderer's Row ahead of him. He had an awful spring at the plate with a lot of strikeout but despite that he still managed to hit 4 home runs and drive in 12. Kang may end up being a hidden weapon down at the bottom of the order.


BENCH PLAYERS

Wilin Rosario, 1B - Rosario will start at 1B against lefties after having a great spring. He hit .350 with 1 home run and 6 RBIs during the spring and playing in a big park with a platoon should help him maintain those numbers. Rosario may even get a start behind the plate every so often if Mesoraco needs a break.

Maicer Izturis, 2B - The 34 year old infielder didn't really dazzle anyone in the spring but he didn't make anyone puke either. He is going to start the year off in a platoon role with Micah Johnson and that's only because Willie Bloomquist had such a dismal spring. Izturis will need to perform if he wants to stay relevant or else he could be replaced.

David Ross, C - The 38 year old backstop probably won't see a whole lot of time behind the dish. The D-Backs kept him on because of his veteran status while giving prospect Kevin Plawecki more time in the minors. Ross will probably see some pinch hit appearances against lefties and may DH a bit in interleague play.

Odubel Herrera, CF - Herrera made the club after an average spring. He is another one of the D-Backs multi-positional players and will find time for that reason alone as he can play the outfield and both middle infield positions. More then likely, he will be used mainly as a pinch-runner or defensive replacement.

Willie Bloomquist, SS - The veteran utility man barely held onto a roster spot during spring training. They were originally thinking he would platoon with Micah Johnson but he had such a dismal spring that they've decided to give that duty to Maicer Izturis instead. He remains on the club because he can play everywhere but he is most likely the first one to be sent-down if a prospect is performing.

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PITCHING STAFF

1. Julio Teheran - Despite only being 24 years old, Teheran has a veteran-like poise. Teheran had a good spring and looked the strongest out of the D-Backs starters sporting a 0.87 WHIP. He should continue to get better and become a dominant force on the mound.

2. Gerrit Cole - Cole is thought to be the best starter on the D-Backs staff by many but he will be in the number two spot of the rotation to start the year. He had a decent spring showing and him and Teheran could be one of the best 1-2 punches in the bigs.

3. Tyler Skaggs - Skaggs didn't have the best of springs but the D-Backs like what they see in this young lefty. He should do well pitching after Teheran and Cole. Those spring stats don't tell the full story with Skaggs and he should be better then what they show.

4. Mike Foltynewicz - Foltynewicz was favored to win the 4th rotation spot and he did. Of course, he got a little bit of help from his competition for the job having rough springs. He didn't look entirely sharp during the spring but hopefully that month allowed him to work out the kinks.

5. Archie Bradley - Bradley had a terrible spring but the D-Backs decided to go with him to round out their rotation. The team loves the stuff that this 22 year old brings to the table and feels that he will pitch much better then what his spring numbers have shown. Ultimately, some experts think he could be a number one or two starter eventually.

BULLPEN

Tony Cingrani - Cingrani had a decent spring and some thought he would bump Bradley out for the 5th starting spot. Instead, the D-Backs have decided to keep him on as their long-relief specialist. He may get an occasional spot start and will more then likely be the first man in to replace an injured starter.

Vic Black - Black was lights out this spring and looks to continue that going forward. He is a hard throwing righty out of the pen that should help lock down the middle innings. If he continues to thrive like he did in the spring, he may find himself pitching in more and more clutch situations.

Mike Morin - Morin had a rough go of it in the spring but made the club. He had a 5.79 ERA through 14 innings but a lot of that came off of four home runs. If can limit the long ball, he should keep his spot in the middle of the bullpen.

Randy Choate - Despite the abysmal spring, Choate was kept on. He is a veteran left-hander that will more then likely be used as the D-Backs lefty specialist. Don't expect to see him being used for much more then that.

Joaquin Benoit - Benoit had a dominant spring. He had a 1.04 ERA and 0.92 WHIP through 17.1 innings and has solidified himself as one of the late inning shut down pitchers. He will more then likely be the bridge between Andrew Miller and Koji Uehara.

Andrew Miller - Miller had a rough spring but it's hard to ignore what he brings to the table. He is an extremely hard throwing lefty that gets a lot of strikeouts. His spring numbers shouldn't really be taken seriously and he will be a part of the back end of the bullpen.

Koji Uehara - The 40 year old closer has earned his role as the D-Backs closer. With Benoit and Miller ahead of him, he will seem like a complete change of pace. The only thing that is worrisome with Uehara is his age and health.