A look back at the Arizona Diamondbacks' 2001 Game Seven World Series line-up
The last World Series game the Diamondbacks played prior to 2023 was Game Seven of the 2001 World Series, so let's look at their most recent World Series winning line-up.
Shortstop Tony Womack
The Diamondbacks started their line-up off shortstop Tony Womack. Womack had been a regular fixture in the Pittsburgh Pirates' and Diamondbacks' line-ups for the last four seasons going into '01. The 2001 season was no different, as he was the D-Backs' primary shortstop for the year.
Womack was not a big hitter. He batted .266/.307/.384, only had seven home runs and a .113 isolated slugging percentage. Womack had a sub-5% walk rate. But there were two things Womack did exceptionally well: avoiding the K and stealing bases. Womack had just an 11.2% K-rate and took 28 bases in 31. That was actually a low point for Womack, as he stole 50+ in three of the four prior seasons.
But Womack was outstanding defensively for the Snakes. He had +9 total zone runs at shortstop in 2001 with +1.5 defensive WAR. Overall, despite his poor hitting, Womack was about average in terms of bWAR at +1.4.
Womack only had eight hits in the 2001 World Series. While he had done well in the Division Series, he had struggled from that point forward. But he still played all seven games and came to the plate a total of 34 times.
Second Baseman Craig Counsell
Craig Counsell was a hero for the Diamondbacks in their Postseason run. But even though he had come up clutch a handful of times in the 2001 Postseason, he was not much of a hitter in the regular season. But like Womack, he was a great defensive infielder, but with more versatility than Womack.
Counsell hit .275/.359/.362 with a .321 wOBA, and 88 wRC+. Counsell hit for little power and only had four homers in 533 plate appearances, as well as an ISO under .100 at .087. But he got on base at a respectable rate, struck out in just 14.3% of his plate appearances, and drew a walk 11.4% of the time.
Counsell saw 240+ innings at second base, shortstop, and third base. His best position was third, where he racked up +8 total zone runs in just 403.2 innings. But he lined up at second base during the Postseason. He was also good at the keystone and had +4 TZR in just 240 innings at the position.
Counsell won the National League Championship MVP award. In five games and 23 plate appearances, Counsell racked up eight hits, including three doubles. But he contributed almost nothing with the bat in the World Series. He appeared in six of the seven games and had just two hits in 29 plate appearances.
Left Fielder Luis Gonzalez
Now we get to the big hero of the 2001 Diamondbacks' World Series run. Luis Gonzalez solidified himself as the best player in Diamondbacks history, then and now, in the 2001 season. Not only did he have a career year in 2001, but he delivered the final hit of the '01 Postseason.
In ‘01, Gonzalez hit .325/.429/.688 with a .454 wOBA, and 173 wRC+. He also demolished 57 home runs with a .363 isolated slugging percentage. Gonzalez also walked far more often than he struck out, with a 13.7% walk rate and 11.4% strikeout rate. Pretty much everything Gonzalez did in 2001 was a career-best for him. The only stats mentioned in this paragraph that he didn't set career bests in were strikeout rate, walk rate, and batting average. Even then, they were still among the best in his career.
Gonzalez, despite never winning a Gold Glove, was a very underrated defensive outfielder for a good portion of the first half of his career. While he steadily declined once he got older, he had multiple seasons with double-digit positive total zone runs. In 2001, he had +5 TZR, which, while not his best remark ever, was still above average.
Gonzalez was solid in the Postseason, delivering nine hits and hitting one home run in each of the Division and Championship Series. Ironically, he was arguably worse in the World Series than either the DS or CS. But that doesn't matter because of the seven hits; the seventh was a Game Seven walk-off. Gonzalez hit a bloop single over a drawn-in infield off the seemingly untouchable Mariano Rivera. It was one of the rare times Rivera was hittable in the Postseason, but Gonzalez was the hero of the day and helped deliver the Diamondbacks their first World Series trophy.
Third Baseman Matt Williams
Matt Williams was in the twilight of his career when he won his first and only World Series ring with the Diamondbacks. While his prime was behind him with his days in San Francisco, Williams was still a productive player for the Diamondbacks in 2001. He also delivered some hits in the Postseason.
Williams batted .275/.314/.466 with a .330 wOBA and 94 wRC+ in 436 plate appearances during the regular season. Williams had never been one to draw many walks and had just a 5% BB%. But his 16% strikeout rate was one of the lowest remarks of his career. He still could blast one out and hit 16 dingers with a .191 isolated slugging percentage. Overall, because this was the steroid era, Williams was a slightly below-average hitter.
Williams had always been renowned for his glovework at the hot corner, and even though he was in his mid-30s, he could still field third base with some grace. Williams had +3 total zone runs in 852.1 frames at third. That's where Williams lined in during the Postseason as well.
In the 2001 World Series, Williams collected 29 plate appearances and seven total hits. Even though he didn't draw a walk and struck out nine times, he also hit two doubles and a home run. Williams also had five hits in five games in the NLCS in '01 as well.
Center Fielder Steve Finley
Steven Finley had a lot of good years in the Majors throughout his long 19-season career. 2001 was not one of those seasons. But even though the '01 season was a down year for Finley, he heated up when they needed him the most and had a fantastic performance during the World Series.
Finley batted .275/.337/.430 in 548 plate appearances. He still knocked out 14 home runs and stole 11 bases, but for a guy who had hit 28+ homers and stole a dozen or more bases in four of the previous five seasons, it wasn't the most productive season for him. Finley finished off the 2001 season with a .327 wOBA and 92 wRC+, making him 8% worse than the league average.
Finley was a solid defensive center fielder. He had +2 total zone runs. So while it wasn't his best season with the glove, it wasn't his worst either. At the very least, he had a well above-average range factor per game (+2.34), as well as range factor per nine innings (+2.48).
But despite Finley's mostly disappointing season, he went off in the World Series. In 23 plate appearances, Finley had seven hits, including a home run, and walked four times to oppose five strikeouts. He was excellent throughout the Postseason, racking up eight hits in five NLDS games and four more in the Championship Series.
Right Fielder Danny Bautista
Danny Bautista mostly served as a fourth outfielder for the Diamondbacks. Reggie Sanders was the primary right fielder for the D-Backs for most of the year and hit 33 home runs with a .887 OPS. He also played in the first six games, but the Diamondbacks had opted to turn to Bautista in Game 7.
Bautista certainly wasn't a bad hitter. He hit .304/.346/.437 with a 99 wRC+ in the regular season. He barely walked with a 5.9% BB% but had a 13.9% strikeout rate. He also didn't hit for much power, only having a .135 ISO. But overall, he hit over .300 with an above-average OBP.
Bautista mostly filled in at both center field and right field. He was a pretty good defensive outfielder, too, with +5 total zone runs between RF and CF. Bautista simply did not get very many starts. Bautista had just 239 plate appearances in 100 games. He appeared in the field for 64 of those games and started even fewer 42 of the contests.
While he mainly served a similar purpose as a 4th OF/pinch hitter in the Postseason, it's not as if the Diamondbacks didn't have reason to start Bautista over Sanders in Game Seven. Bautista ended the 2001 World Series with seven hits in 13 plate appearances. Starting Bautista in Game Seven ended up being a brilliant move, as he racked up one hit and drove in one of the three runs for the D-Backs.
First Baseman Mark Grace
Mark Grace spent the first 13 seasons of his career with the Chicago Cubs. But in 2001, his first year in Arizona, he would become a key member of their line-up and win his first World Series. After many productive seasons in Chicago, Grace took his talents out West and continued to hit for the Snakes.
Grace, in 553 plate appearances, slashed .298/.386/.466 with a 118 wRC+. He clubbed 16 home runs, and his .168 ISO was the third-best of his career. Grace never once struck out in more than 10% of his plate appearances in any of the 16 years he was in the big leagues. He had just a 6.5% K% in '01, but he still walked at a strong 12.1% rate.
Grace had always been known as a great defensive first baseman, and 2001 was no different. He racked up +5 total zone runs, and while he didn't win a Gold Glove this season, he was a positive force with the leather at the corner. Grace was a positive defensive first baseman in all but three of his 16 seasons.
Grace was a good hitter in the Postseason, including the World Series. Grace had four walks and five hits in 23 WS plate appearances. Two of those hits were extra-base hits, with a double and a homer. He had struck out just five times in all 15 games he played in the '01 Postseason. For reference, Kyle Schwarber struck out five times in the NL Wild Card Series this year alone.
Catcher Damian Miller
Damian Miller was the eight-hole hitter in the line-up for the final game of the 2001 World Series. Miller's defense behind the plate was good for the Diamondbacks. But he was also able to hold his own with the stick and was sort of an underrated member of the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks.
Miller batted .271/.337/.424 with a .324 wOBA, and 90 wRC+. He hit for some pop, blasting 13 home runs and having a .153 ISO. The only thing was his 18.8% strikeout rate, nor his 8.2% walk rate was anything too great to write home about. Nevertheless, overall, for a catcher, he was far from a non-threat with the bat in his hands.
Miller caught 36% of would-be base stealers and had +3 total zone runs. But he struggled with blocking pitches. He had led the league in 1999 in passed balls with 11 and had ten more in 2001. But, aside from some passed balls, Miller more than held his own with the glove behind the plate.
Miller struck out 11 times in the World Series and had just four hits. Of the few positives he brought with the bat, half of the hits he got were doubles. But given that he struggled with hitting in the National League Championship Series, he wasn't much of a contributor, hitting-wise, during the Diamondbacks' World Series run.
Starting Pitcher Curt Schilling
I'm not here to discuss Curt Schilling's post-career and off-field antics. Yes, I know he's not a great guy, and that's putting it lightly, but even though he's a bad person, there's no doubt that he was a fantastic pitcher. He was one of the heroes of the Diamondbacks' 2001 World Series team and took home co-World Series MVP with fellow ace Randy Johnson.
Schilling pitched a league-leading 256.2 innings and worked to a 2.98 ERA, 3.11 FIP, and 1.08 WHIP. The veteran right-hander was allergic to walking batters. He had just a 3.8% walk rate but paired that with a healthy 28.7% strikeout rate. That combination of limiting walks and striking out batters led to a league-leading 7.51 K:BB ratio. The only real knock on Schilling's regular season was that he allowed home runs at a below-average rate. His 1.3 HR/9 was slightly worse than the average of 1.1 in 2001.
Schilling ended the 2001 season as one of baseball's best pitchers. He finished top ten in MVP voting and second in Cy Young voting. Diamondbacks fans probably were not too sad when Schilling finished second in CYA voting because Randy Johnson and his 372 strikeouts took home the award.
Schilling's baseball career can't be told without talking about his Postseason. In 2001, he pitched 48.1 innings and allowed six earned runs. His first three Postseason starts in the DS and CS were complete games. In his Game Seven start, Schilling pitched 7.1 innings, allowed just two earned runs, and struck out nine Yankees batters. None of the batters who reached base did so via a free pass.