Diamondback Journal

The third of three brothers to play Major League Baseball takes the field at shortstop. A small-town Kentucky boy at the hot corner. The son of an actor from the CBS show JAG holding down first base.

Stephen Drew, Mark Reynolds and Conor Jackson fill three-quarters of the Arizona Diamondbacks infield this year. Orlando Hudson, in his third season with the Diamondbacks, is slated in to start at second base.

Drew, the 15th overall pick in the first round of the 2004 MLB Draft, is the younger brother of Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew, and former MLB pitcher Tim Drew. After starring at Florida State, the organization was excited to have found Drew still available at number 15. He made his debut in 2006, hitting .316 in 59 games, after Craig Counsell was placed on the DL.

After a successful rookie season, Drew hit a sophomore slump, hitting just .238. Starting this season, Drew will be looking at the chance to have a coming out party in 2008. Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus listed Drew as a potential breakout player this upcoming season. Following suit, Daniel Rathman from the Most Valuable Network, rated Drew as the #2 breakout candidate in the 08 campaign. If that is any indication, maybe D’backs fans have yet to see what Drew can really do.

Reynolds, a 16th round draft pick in 2004, is entering his second season as the starting third baseman. He made his debut last season on May 16, after Chad Tracy went down with an injury. Reynolds had an immediate impact, hitting .426 in the month of May with 15 RBI in 15 games. After ups and downs for the rest of the season, he finished hitting .279, with 17 homers, making for a nice rookie campaign.

The Diamondbacks concern with Reynolds is his selectivity at the plate. He posted 129 strikeouts in 2007, including a record-tying nine consecutive K’s in August, while drawing just 37 walks. With maturity, and working with hitting coach Rick Schu, the ratio of K/BB should improve this season.

Jackson, a first round pick in the 2003 MLB Draft, opens the season as the starting first baseman after splitting time with the now departed Tony Clark last year. After hitting over .300 at all of his minor league stops, Jackson was called up in late 2005, and opened 2006 on the 25-man roster. For the 2007 season, Jackson posted a .284 batting average with 15 homers, almost duplicating his .291 and 15 homers from 2006.

A former third baseman and outfielder, Jackson is still working on his fielding at first. He finished last among MLB first baseman last year with a fielding percentage of .988. Once he finds the consistency in the field that he has displayed at the plate, Jackson should anchor down first base in Chase Field for a while.

After spending the first four seasons of his career north of the border in Toronto, Orlando Hudson signed with Arizona before the 2006 season. The switch-hitting second baseman quickly became a fan favorite for his great defense and hard, all out play. Baseball America ranked Hudson as the best defensive second baseman before the 2007 season. Before going down with a torn ligament in his thumb, Hudson was hitting .294 in 2007. Coming back healthy, the “O-Dog” is going to be back on Baseball Tonight’s “Web Gem’s” in no time.

Newly acquired Chris Burke is expected to back up Hudson and Drew, while Tracy returns from injury to back up at first and third. Augie Ojeda is also in the mix up the middle.