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Fantasy baseball

Diamondbacks' fantasy standouts mostly on the hitting side

Steve Gardner
USA TODAY Sports

As the 2017 fantasy baseball season approaches, we kick off our preseason series examining the biggest news and storylines from each MLB club. We'll feature one team each weekday ... and we'll finish up on Feb. 15, the first day all teams will have their pitchers and catchers on the field for workouts.

Jake Lamb, center, finished the 2016 season with 29 homers and 91 RBI, while Paul Goldschmidt led the D'backs with 95 RBI.

The Arizona Diamondbacks thought they had the pieces in place to contend last season, but so many things went wrong. As a result, manager Chip Hale and GM Dave Stewart were let go and replaced by skipper Torey Lovullo and former Red Sox GM Mike Hazen.

Expect a more analytics-based approach from the D'backs under the new regime, which is a positive sign for fantasy owners.

2016 at a glance

Record: 69-93 (4th in NL West)
Hitting: 10th (4.64 RPG)
Pitching: 30th (5.09 ERA)

Arrivals

SP Taijuan Walker
SS Ketel Marte
C Jeff Mathis
RP Fernando Rodney

Hazen wasted no time putting his stamp on the club by trading the club's second-most productive player, 2B Jean Segura, to Seattle to get Walker and Marte. Pitching was a problem in 2016 as the Diamondbacks' 5.09 ERA was the worst in the majors. The enigmatic Walker (who's still only 24) had the lowest average fastball velocity of his career last season (93.9). He also had bone spurs removed from his foot shortly after it ended. (Connection? Perhaps.) Marte, 23, has excellent speed but very little pop.

Mathis is a defense-first catcher who should do his part to help the pitching staff improve.

Players to watch

1B Paul Goldschmidt
OF A.J. Pollock
3B Jake Lamb
SP Zack Greinke

Goldschmidt remains the gold standard among fantasy first basemen with his combination of power  (24 HR) and speed (32 SB). While his home run total should rise, don't expect as many steals under Lovullo. Regardless, he's a top-5 overall player.

Due to various injuries, including a broken elbow in spring training, Pollock played only 12 games last season. But he's a five-category contributor as well. He'll make up for the loss of Segura at the top of the order, and then some.

Lamb broke out last season with a stellar first half, in which he hit 20 homers and led the National League with a .612 slugging percentage. The second half was a different story as he hit just .231/.315/.431. (Cue the lion/lamb jokes.)

Greinke, the club's big-ticket signing last offseason, had a little trouble adjusting to hitter-friendly Arizona. A couple really bad starts in April blew up his ERA and it never recovered  (4.37 ERA, 1.27 WHIP). With a strikeout rate of 7.6 K/9, he needs to limit damage via the home run (career-high 23 allowed) to be a solid fantasy SP2.

Sleepers

OF David Peralta
3B/OF Brandon Drury
SP Robbie Ray

Peralta played in 48 games (just 15 after May 9) and his season ended with surgery on his right wrist. He hit .312/.371/.522 over 462 at-bats in 2015.

Drury (16 HR, .458 slugging in 461 AB) has some decent pop and can play several positions. In addition to qualifying at third and outfield, he's in line to add second base to his fantasy eligibility with the D'backs penciling him in as the starter there.

Ray is an interesting flier. He struck out 218 batters in 174 1/3 innings (11.3 K/9), but his tendency to walk batters and give up home runs resulted in an unusable 4.90 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. At age 25, he could be one skill away from a major breakout.

Bullpen

Closer: Fernando Rodney
Next: Jake Barrett

Rodney, 39, gives the team an established closer to handle the ninth inning after the team converted just 58% of its save opportunities last season (which ranked 26th out of 30 teams). Barrett got a few save chances last season after Brad Ziegler was traded, but struggled in high-leverage situations.

Position battles

Marte will have to win a job at shortstop by beating out incumbent Chris Owings. Defensive whiz Nick Ahmed will make the roster as a reserve so the odd man out at short may be sent to the minors.

Chris Herrmann (.284/.352/.493) could be an interesting pick in two-catcher leagues. He'll play most of the time on the strong side of a platoon with Mathis.

Prospects

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The previous administration unloaded a number of promising prospects, including first-rounders SS Dansby Swanson (2015), SP Touki Toussaint (2014) and Aaron Blair (2013, supplemental) to the Braves.

First-round pitchers Archie Bradley (2011) and Braden Shipley (2013) don't qualify anymore after seeing their first significant action with the D'backs last season. However, neither one figures to crack the opening day rotation.

Projected batting order

1. CF A.J. Pollock
2. RF David Peralta
3. 1B Paul Goldschmidt
4. 3B Jake Lamb
5. RF Yasmany Tomas
6. C Chris Herrmann*
7. 2B Brandon Drury
8. SS Ketel Marte/Chris Owings

*-Platoon with Jeff Mathis

Projected rotation

1. RHP Zack Greinke
2. RHP Taijuan Walker
3. LHP Robbie Ray
4. RHP Shelby Miller
5. LHP Patrick Corbin

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