22-year old righty swinging RF Justin Upton finished in a tie with Ryan Zimmerman and Huston Street for 25th in the N.L. MVP voting. He played in 138 games for the D-Backs last season and he was 158 for 526 (.300 avg, .899 OPS) with 84 runs scored, 26 homers, 86 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. He has now played in 289 games in his three years with the Diamondbacks and he is 278 for 1,022 (.272 avg, .836 OPS) with 153 runs scored, 43 homers, 139 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. Upton along with Reynolds gives the D-Backs hope for the future. It would be interesting to be a Fly on the Wall at Christmas time at the Upton’s house as Justin might be telling his bro B.J. that he is better than him and it would be hard to argue that point.

26-year old righty swinging 3B Mark Reynolds finished in a tie with Yunel Escobar for 20th in the N.L. MVP voting. Reynolds played in 155 games for the D-Backs last season and he was 150 for 578 (.260 avg, .892 OPS) with 98 runs scored, 44 homers, 102 RBIs and 24 stolen bases. He has now played in 418 games in his three years with the Diamondbacks and he is 381 for 1,483 (.257 avg, .839 OPS) with 247 runs scored, 89 homers, 261 RBIs and 35 stolen bases. Reynolds reminds me of Mike Schmidt, the Hall of Fame 3B from the Philadelphia Phillies as he whiffs a lot but hits a ton of homers. Look for Reynolds to lead the league in homers very soon but his average will likely never get over .275 because of all the K’s. Still, he is a player the Diamondbacks should build around in the future.

Chris Young appeared to have learned from his short demotion to the minors. He has played in 13 games since his recall to the D-Backs and he is 14 for 48 (.292 avg, 1.066 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 6 homers and 9 RBIs. The D-Backs hope that Young will finish the season strong. His numbers for the season still don’t look good as he has played in 119 games for the D-Backs in which he is 76 for 373 (.204 avg, .702 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 13 homers, 37 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. It’s time for Young to start earning the cash the Diamondbacks have invested in him.

The D-Backs are giving 28-year old righty swinging 2B Ryan Roberts his first extended chance to show what he can do in the majors and he’s not wasting his opportunity. He has played in 86 games this season and he is 66 for 220 (.300 avg, .845 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 6 homers, 20 RBIs and 6 stolen bases. Roberts has done a good job replacing Felipe Lopez who was traded to the Brewers last month. Coming into this season Roberts had only played in 18 major league games and he was 2 for 27 (.074 avg, .379 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 1 RBI. The D-Backs hope that Roberts keeps up the good work.

26-year old righty swinging 3B Mark Reynolds continues to maul baseballs this season. He has played in 125 games for the D-Backs this season and he is 131 for 468 (.280 avg, .962 OPS) with 86 runs scored, 40 homers, 90 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. The Diamondbacks shouldn’t change a thing with Reynolds despite the fact that he has whiffed 176 times already this season because he centers the ball really well which gives him his power. The D-Backs now have a player to build the offense around in the future.