Game Of The Week: Brewers At Diamondbacks July 26

The Arizona Diamondbacks will host a four game series against the Milwaukee Brewers  beginning on Thursday night at Chase Field in Phoenix. The D-Backs are currently in fourth place in the National League West, tied with the San Diego Padres, eight and a half games behind the division leading LA Dodgers. The Brewers have been struggling all season with a few bright spots here and there and are in last place in the National League Central, seventeen and a half games behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

Last Season:

Brewers-

Last season the Milwaukee Brewers showed a lot of promise as they were able to lead the division for the majority of the season. However, after All-Star Break any and all hope of making a post-season run quickly fell to the wayside and they finished in third place of the NL Central, eight games back and missed the playoffs with a 82-80 record.

Diamondbacks-

The Arizona Diamondbacks finished in last place of the National League West in 2014. They lost their General Manager Kevin Towers and Manager Kirk Gibson in September. They finished 64-98 on the season, the worst in the MLB and hired their new Manager Chip Hale in October in preparation of the upcoming season.

Managers:

Brewers-

Ron Rooenicke began the season as the Manager for the Milwaukee Brewers but was fired in early May after the a 7-18 start to the 2015 season. The Brewers then hired Craig Counsell, a Wisconsin native to lead the team, and signed him to a three year deal. He has previously played with several teams in the MLB after beingdrafted with the Colorado Rockies while playing with Notre Dame and was considered a great infielder. After retiring he was hired by the Brewers as a special assistant to GM Doug Melvin and was also a part-time analyst with the Brewers radio network.

Diamondbacks-

Chip Hale is in his first season as Manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He has previous experience with the D-Backs serving as a Coach on Bob Melvin‘s staff in 2006 and was Manager of the AAA Tucson Sidewinders and even won the Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year. In 2011 he was the Bench Coach for the Oakland Athletics and third base coach for the New York Mets.

Key Additions/Subtractions:

Brewers-

The Milwaukee Brewers top signing of the 2014 season was the two year contract with Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod) in the offseason after his 2014 campaign saw an stellar 44 saves. In November 2014 Adam Lind was traded to the Brewers from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for Marco Estrada. Lefty Neal Cotts signed a $3 million one-year contract with the Brewers in January of 2015 after spending the previous season in Texas.

Diamondbacks-

Since the 2014 Opening Day roster the D-Backs have made quite a moves. At the trade deadline they traded second baseman Martin Prado to the New York Yankees in exchange for Yankees’ top prospect, catcher Pete O’Brien. In the offseason they trade Wade Miley to the Boston Red Sox. In exchange for Miley the D-Backs got Allen Webster who was considered a top prospect as well as Rubby De La Rosa and entered the starting rotation after Spring Training. Arizona acquired Jeremy Hellickson from the Tampa Bay Rays and was also added to the rotation in the third spot. Yasmany Tomas however was one of the biggest additions to the team as he took a six year deal for $68.5 million. In 2015, Mark Trumbo was traded to the Seattle Mariners along with Vidal Nuno.

 Prospects:

Brewers-

AS of the start of the 2015 season, the Milwaukee Brewers’ top prospect was shortstop Orlando Arcia. The 20 year old signed as an international free agent out of in 2010 and moved up three spots from the previous season. He hit for .289 last season with High-A BRevard and is impressive with his fielding skills where his plate skills still need a little work.

Diamondbacks-

The Arizona Diamondbacks top prospect is RHP Archie Bradley and the fourth best is Yasmany Tomas who can play the outfield as well as third base who was mentioned above. The acquisition of Pete O’Brien last season was also a good one for the D-Backs because he now ranks as the eighth best prospect in the organization and can now play catcher as well as outfield.  The new prospect rankings at the end of the season should look a little different as the D-Backs added more depth into their farm system in last month’s MLB Draft. Most importantly their first overall pick out of Vanderbilt University, SS Dansby Swanson.