1998 Arizona Diamondbacks season

The 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks season was the Diamondbacks' inaugural season. They looked to contend in what was a strong National League Western Division. They finished the season 33 games behind the National League Champion San Diego Padres with a record of 65-97, last in the division. However, they would improve in 1999, finishing with a record of 100-62 and winning 35 games more than the previous year.

1998 Arizona Diamondbacks
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Jerry Colangelo
Ken Kendrick
General manager(s)Joe Garagiola Jr.
Manager(s)Buck Showalter
Local televisionFSN Arizona
KTVK (3TV)
(Thom Brennaman, Greg Schulte, Bob Brenly, Joe Garagiola, Al McCoy)
Local radioKTAR (620 AM)
(Thom Brennaman, Rod Allen, Greg Schulte)
KSUN (Spanish)
(Jose Tolentino, Ivan Lara)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
     Next season >

Jeff Suppan was the last player from the inaugural team still active in Major League Baseball when he retired in 2012.

Offseason
  • February 7, 1997: Mark Davis was signed as a Free Agent with the Arizona Diamondbacks.[1]
  • August 14, 1997: Mark Davis was sent to the Milwaukee Brewers by the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a conditional deal.[1]
  • November 17, 1997: Jay Bell signed as a Free Agent with the Arizona Diamondbacks.[2]
  • November 18, 1997: Devon White was traded by the Florida Marlins to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Jesus Martinez (minors).[3]
  • November 18, 1997: Travis Fryman was traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Gabe Alvarez, Joe Randa, and Matt Drews (minors).[4]
  • December 1, 1997: Matt Williams was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Travis Fryman, Tom Martin, and cash.[5]
  • January 8, 1998: Andy Stankiewicz signed as a Free Agent with the Arizona Diamondbacks.[6]
  • January 11, 1998: Mark Davis was signed as a Free Agent with the Arizona Diamondbacks.[1]

Expansion Draft

Round 1
PickPlayerPositionFromTo
2Brian AndersonLHPCleAri
3Jeff SuppanRHPBosAri
5Gabe Alvarez3BSDAri
7Jorge FábregasCCWSAri
9Karim GarcíaOFLAAri
11Edwin DiazIFTexAri
13Cory LidleRHPNYMAri
15Joel AdamsonLHPMilAri
17Ben FordRHPNYYAri
19Yamil BenitezOFKCAri
21Neil WeberLHPMonAri
23Jason BoydRHPPhiAri
25Brent BredeOFMinAri
27Tony BatistaIFOakAri

Round 2
PickPlayerPositionFromTo
29Tom MartinLHPHouAri
31Omar DaalLHPTorAri
33Scott WinchesterRHPCinAri
35Clint SodowskyRHPPitAri
37Danny KlassenIFMilAri
39Matt DrewsRHPDetAri
41Todd ErdosRHPSDAri
43Chris ClemonsRHPCWSAri
45David DellucciOFBalAri
47Damian MillerCMinAri
49Héctor CarrascoRHPKCAri
51Hanley FriasSSTexAri
53Bob WolcottRHPSeaAri
55Mike Bell3BAnaAri

Round 3
PickPlayerPositionFromTo
57Joe Randa3BPitAri
59Jesus MartinezLHPLAAri
61Russ SpringerRHPHouAri
63Bryan CoreyRHPDetAri
65Kelly StinnettCMilAri
67Chuck McElroyLHPCWSAri
69Marty JanzenRHPTorAri

1996–97 MLB June drafts and minor league affiliates

The two expansion teams set to debut in 1998, the Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, had two full seasons to establish scouting and player development systems and were permitted to participate fully in the 1996 and 1997 Major League Baseball drafts. The Diamondbacks drafted 30th in both 1996 and 1997, selecting 62 players (1996) and 60 players (1997) in those drafts. The team began developing those players in a farm system with three minor-league affiliates in 1996 and four in 1997.

Among the players selected and signed by Arizona from those drafts were pitchers Brad Penny (fifth round, 1996) and Casey Fossum (seventh, 1996); infielders Alex Cintrón (36th, 1997), Jack Cust (first, 1997) and Junior Spivey (36th round, 1996); and outfielders Ron Calloway (eighth, 1997) and Jason Conti (32nd, 1996).

1996 farm system
Level Team League Manager
A Visalia Oaks California League Tim Torricelli
Rookie AZL Diamondbacks Arizona League Dwayne Murphy
Rookie Lethbridge Black Diamonds Pioneer League Chris Speier

Visalia affiliation shared with Detroit Tigers[7]

1997 farm system
Level Team League Manager
A High Desert Mavericks California League Chris Speier
A South Bend Silver Hawks Midwest League Dick Scott
Rookie AZL Diamondbacks Arizona League Brian Butterfield and Don Wakamatsu
Rookie Lethbridge Black Diamonds Pioneer League Tommy Jones

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: High Desert[7]

Regular season

Opening Day starters

Season standings
NL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
San Diego Padres 9864 0.605 — 54–27 44–37
San Francisco Giants 8974 0.546 9½ 49–32 40–42
Los Angeles Dodgers 8379 0.512 15 48–33 35–46
Colorado Rockies 7785 0.475 21 42–39 35–46
Arizona Diamondbacks 6597 0.401 33 34–47 31–50

Record vs. opponents
1998 National League Records

Sources:
Team ARI ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LAD MIL MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Arizona —1–85–74–56–66–24–54–86–32–74–52–76–33–95–72–75–8
Atlanta 8–1—3–67–25–37–54–58–17–26–69–38–47–25–47–26–39–7
Chicago 7–56–3—6–57–27–24–74–56–67–24–53–68–35–47–34–75–8
Cincinnati 5–42–75–6—4–59–03–85–46–58–13–64–55–71–112–78–37-6
Colorado 6–63–52–75–4—6–36–56–64–77–23–65–45–45–77–53–64–8
Florida 2–65–72–70–93–6—3–64–50–95–75–76–63–64–50–94–58–8
Houston 5–45–47–48–35–66-3—3–69–27–25–47–29–25–46–35–710–4
Los Angeles 8–41–85–44–56–65–46–3—5–45–43–55–47–55–76–64–58–5
Milwaukee 3–62–76–65–67–49–02–94–5—6–31–84–56–53–65–43–88–6
Montreal 7–26–62–71–82–77–52–74–53–6—8–45–72–74–43–63–66–10
New York 5–43–95–46–36–37–54–55–38–14–8—8–44–54–54–56–39–7
Philadelphia 7-24–86–35–44–56–62–74–55–47–54–8—8–11–82–63–67–9
Pittsburgh 3–62–73–87–54–56–32–95–75–67–25–41–8—5–42–76–56–7
San Diego 9–34–54–511–17–55–44–57–56–34–45–48–14–5—8–46–36–7
San Francisco 7–52–73–77–25–79–03–66–64–56–35–46–27–24–8—7–58–5
St. Louis 7–23–67–43–86–35-47–55–48–36–33–66–35–63–65–7—4–9

Notable transactions
  • June 23, 1998: Alan Embree was traded by the Atlanta Braves to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Russ Springer.[8]
  • June 26, 1998: Aaron Small was selected off waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks from the Oakland Athletics.[9]

Roster
1998 Arizona Diamondbacks
Roster
Pitchers
  • 58 Efrain Valdez
 Catchers

Infielders

  •  2 Hanley Frias
 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Game log
1998 Game Log (65–97)
Legend:           = Win           = Loss           = Postponement

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H HR RBI Avg.
CKelly Stinnett92274711134.259
1BTravis Lee1465621512272.269
2BAndy Fox139502139944.277
3BMatt Williams1355101362071.267
SSJay Bell1555491382067.251
LFDavid Dellucci124416108551.260
CFDevon White1465631572285.279
RFKarim García11333374943.222

[10]

Other batters
Player G AB H HR RBI Avg.
Tony Batista106293801841.273
Brent Brede9821248217.226
Jorge Fábregas5015130115.199
Bernard Gilkey291012515.248
Hensley Meulens715111.067
Andy Stankiewicz771453008.207

Pitching

Starting pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO BB
Brian Anderson32208.012134.339524
Andy Benes34231.114133.9716474
Willie Blair23146.74155.347151
Omar Daal33162.78122.8813251
Jeff Suppan1366.0696.683921
Amaury Telemaco27121.0173.946033

[10]

Other pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO BB
Joel Adamson523.0038.221411
Scott Brow1721.3107.171314
Bobby Chouinard2638.3024.232611
Ben Ford810.0009.9053
Aaron Small2331.7313.69148
Russ Springer2632.7434.133714
Bob Wolcott633.0137.092113

Relief pitchers
Player G IP W L SV ERA SO BB
Willie Banks3343.71213.093225
Alan Embree3535.03214.112413
Gregg Olson6468.734303.015525
Felix Rodriguez4344.00256.143629
Clint Sodowsky4577.73605.684239

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tucson Sidewinders Pacific Coast League Chris Speier
A High Desert Mavericks California League Don Wakamatsu
A South Bend Silver Hawks Midwest League Roly de Armas
Rookie AZL Diamondbacks Arizona League Mike Brumley
Rookie Lethbridge Black Diamonds Pioneer League Joe Almaraz

[7][11]

References
  1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/davisma01.shtml
  2. Jay Bell Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  3. Devon White Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  4. Travis Fryman Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  5. Matt Williams Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  6. Andy Stankiewicz Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  7. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  8. Alan Embree Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  9. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smallaa01.shtml
  10. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/ARI/1998.shtml
  11. https://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/affiliate.cgi?id=ARI&year=1998
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