Small market, big dreams in the 2024 Draft

This story was excerpted from Steve Gilbert’s D-backs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Diamondbacks have done well during general manager Mike Hazen’s tenure when it comes to the MLB Draft. For proof, just look around the field on any given night.

There’s 2019 first-round pick Corbin Carroll in right, 2018 second-round pick Alek Thomas in center and left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was acquired from the Blue Jays in exchange for 2017 second-round pick Daulton Varsho.

On the pitching staff are Ryne Nelson, Brandon Pfaadt, Kevin Ginkel and Bryce Jarvis and, well, you get the picture.

Having a pipeline of talent flowing to the big leagues is important for any team, but especially a smaller-market team like the Diamondbacks, who don't often chase the biggest talent in free agency.

Senior vice president/assistant general manager Amiel Sawdaye and scouting director Ian Rebhan oversee the Draft for Arizona.

“I think we have a good group of scouts,” Hazen said. “We have a good process. Amiel and Ian do a great job of running everything and managing everything. There’s no ego in the room, which is nice, and I think we're about trying to make the right decisions, as opposed to guys sort of politicking for their particular player.”

Push any GM or scouting director and they’ll tell you that they aren’t focused on any particular position in the Draft, but instead are focused on selecting the best player available when their pick rolls around.

But if you study a team’s previous Drafts, you can often detect a pattern and with the D-backs, it’s clear -- they like athletic players who tend to play in the middle-of-the-diamond believing that they can move them around as needed.

“We probably have a type, something that we have had some success with,” Hazen said. “But you never know the way the Draft is gonna fall and what's gonna be available to you. Sometimes it’s more pitching and corner guys, but yeah, I think if there's middle-of-the-diamond guys available to us, that's usually something that we take a hard look at.”