| 14 April 2011
What kind of team would the Diamondbacks have right now if they only rostered players that they signed from the June Amateur Draft? On offense, the team would be very good, led by current players Justin Upton and Stephen Drew, and would include former Diamondbacks such as Dan Uggla (ATL), Mark Reynolds (BAL), and Carlos Quentin (CHA). The starting pitching would also be decent, with Brett Anderson (OAK) and Max Scherzer (DET) leading the way. The weakest area would probably be the bullpen, where Sergio Santos (CHA) and Jason Bulger (LAA) are the best options. Here is how I would construct the 25-Man Roster, using only players drafted and signed by the Diamondbacks (Note that this excludes draft picks that were drafted but did not sign with the Diamondbacks, like Ian Kinsler. This roster also does not include international free agents, such as Miguel Montero).
Here are my choices for the 13 position players, listed with stats from the 2010 season as well as their Wins Above Replacement (from Baseball-Reference.com) and their 2010 salary.
| Batter | Pos | AVG/OBP/SLG | HR | RBI | WAR | SAL ($M) |
| Chris Snyder (PIT) | C | .207/.320/.376 | 15 | 48 | -0.2 | 4.8 |
| Lyle Overbay (PIT) | 1B | .243/.329/.433 | 20 | 67 | 2.4 | 5.0 |
| Dan Uggla (ATL) | 2B | .287/.369/.508 | 33 | 105 | 4.0 | 9.0 |
| Stephen Drew | SS | .278/.352/.458 | 15 | 61 | 3.2 | 4.7 |
| M. Reynolds (BAL) | 3B | .198/.320/.433 | 32 | 85 | 0.8 | 5.0 |
| Justin Upton | OF | .273/.356/.442 | 17 | 69 | 3.5 | 4.3 |
| Jack Cust (SEA) | OF | .272/.395/.438 | 13 | 52 | 2.0 | 2.5 |
| Car. Quentin (CHA) | OF | .243/.342/.479 | 26 | 87 | 0.1 | 5.1 |
| Con. Jackson (OAK) | OF | .236/.336/.327 | 2 | 16 | -0.1 | 3.2 |
| Sco. Hairston (NYM) | OF | .210/.295/.346 | 10 | 36 | -0.4 | 1.1 |
| Chris Carter (TAM) | 1B | .263/.317/.389 | 4 | 24 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Matt Kata (HOU) | 2B | .270/.319/.367 | 6 | 47 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Kon. Schmidt (AAA) | C | .125/.222/.125 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| TOTAL | 178 | 649 | 15.3 | 45.7 |
This is a pretty good offensive team, but the defense, particularly in the outfield, would be suspect. Upton would have to play CF, and Cust would be an adventure in LF. The other choice would be to use Quentin and Jackson in the corner OF spots, with Cust as a pinch-hitter. A better defensive CF, such as a minor leaguer like Cole Gillespie or Collin Cowgill, might make more sense for a real team.
| Pitcher | Pos | ERA | W | L | Sv | WAR | SAL |
| Br. Anderson (OAK) | SP | 2.80 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 2.2 | 1.0 |
| Max Scherzer (DET) | SP | 3.50 | 12 | 11 | 0 | 3.2 | 1.2 |
| R. Ohlendorf (PIT) | SP | 4.07 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 1.9 | 2.0 |
| Brad Penny (DET) | SP | 3.23 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0.7 | 3.0 |
| Chris Capuano | SP | 3.95 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0.9 | 1.5 |
| Barry Enright | SP | 3.91 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 1.4 | 0.4 |
| Sergio Santos | RP | 2.96 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1.4 | 0.4 |
| Micah Owings | RP | 5.40 | 3 | 2 | 0 | -0.4 | 0.4 |
| Jason Bulger | RP | 4.88 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -0.1 | 0.4 |
| Brian Bruney | RP | 7.64 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -0.9 | 0.4 |
| Bryan Augenstein | RP | 6.49 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.4 |
| Daniel Schlereth | RP | 2.89 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Total | 10.6 | 11.5 |
The starting rotation is very good - Anderson's numbers were down in 2010 since he missed some time due to injury, but he's a solid #1. The bullpen is the weak link, where converted SS Sergio Santos would probably be the closer.
As a group, this 25-Man roster cost about $57M in 2010, while the actual 2010 team cost about $77M. But this team out-produced the real version, generating 26 Wins Above Replacement, while the real 2010 Diamondbacks only produced around 18 WAR. Of course, a lot of that was due to the many negative value pitchers in last year's bullpen - if you only took the Top 12 pitchers from 2010, the value would be about the same. But this "All-Draft" team would still be about $20M cheaper, leaving some money to fill in the missing pieces.
