It's not been a great week for the Arizona Diamondbacks, at least not JABO-wise, as I took a couple of swipes at the franchise (here and here).
But fair's fair!
Thursday night, the Diamondbacks summoned right-hander Zack Godley to the majors for his debut, and all he did was pitch six shutout innings against the Brewers, seven strikeouts without any walks.
This is an amazing and bizarre turn of events. Godley's 25, and opened the season in the Class A California League. He pitched well enough to earn a promotion to Double-A ... where he made three starts, racked up a 5.14 ERA, and walked nearly as many as he struck out. His best start there was his first: 5 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts.
So how often is a player's major-league debut far more impressive than anything he'd done above Class A?*
* rhetorical question, since I don't have any idea except it's gotta be wildly uncommon
Can Godley keep it up? Who knows! Once a 10th-round draft pick by the Cubs -- actually, that was just two years ago -- he spent his pro career as a reliever until the Diamondbacks traded for him last winter. Godley was never considered much of a prospect, but management obviously saw something in him that the Cubs did not. Maybe they just liked his grit?
Leaving aside a couple of rough Double-A starts -- remember, that's two of three -- Arizona management's now looking pretty smart. Hey, maybe they do know value when they see it.
