Biggest one hit wonders in Arizona Diamondbacks history

There are a ton of one-hit wonders throughout professional sports history. Playing a sport at that level is hard, and a lot of guys can’t sustain high-level production for a long time and, in some cases, beyond just one season. The Arizona Diamondbacks haven’t been around for all that long, at least compared to the rest of Major League Baseball’s history. But there have been plenty of instances of one-hit wonders for them.

That is what we will be looking at today. These guys peaked in one season and never seemed to be able to recapture the magic of that one year. No other season even comes close to this one year in their career. For some, this was a life-defining season.

Junior Spivey

The Diamondbacks drafted Junior Spievey in their very first MLB draft in 1996. The D-Backs wouldn’t play their inaugural season until 1998. On top of that, Spivey was a 36th-round pick, a round that doesn’t exist anymore (2023’s draft was 20 rounds). Spivey played his first MLB games in 2001, where he hit .258/.354/.423 with a 101 wRC+. As a platoon second baseman, these were decent numbers. But 2002 would be the peak of Spivey’s career.

Over 626 plate appearances, Spivey batted .301/.389/.476. He struck out in 16% of his plate appearances with a quality 10.4% walk rate. The middle infielder had 34 doubles and 16 home runs, leading to an isolated slugging percentage of .175. Spivey’s defense was league average with zero DRS and only +0.2 UZR/150, but he still finished the year with +4.3 fWAR.

Not only did Spivey make the 2002 All-Star game, but he also received some MVP votes. He finished 14th in voting, ahead of the likes of Andruw Jones, Gary Sheffield, Jim Edmonds, Todd Helton, and Larry Walker. Now, it’s totally debatable if Spievey was truly more deserving than any of those players. But the point of the matter is we are talking about someone who got MVP votes at one point in their career, deserving or not.

Spivey would fall well below these marks in the following three seasons. He would bat just .252/.332/.413 with a .327 wOBA and 93 wRC+ over his next 964 plate appearances with the D-Backs, Milwaukee Brewers, and Nationals. While he provided good defense at the keystone, his wRC+ in 2003-2005 would fall 31% short of his 2002 campaign. Spivey would appear in games with the Cardinals and Red Sox’s Triple-A affiliates and play some independent ball before retiring in 2009.

Alex Cintron

A year after the Diamondbacks took Junior Spivey in the 36th round of the MLB draft, the D-Backs would take Alex Cintron in the same round in 1997. Cintron would become one of the D-Backs’ best prospects, and after a few brief looks in the big leagues in ‘01 and ‘02, he would get an extended shot at playing time in 2003.

Cintron definitely capitalized on his first long look in the big leagues, as he slashed .308/.359/.489 through 487 plate appearances. Cintron rarely walked with a BB% of just 6%. However, he rarely struck out as well, with a K% clocking in at 6.8%. Cintron hit for some decent pop, going yard 13 times with a .172 isolated slugging percentage. While he hit well, Cintron’s defense at shortstop was lackluster, with -3 DRS and and a -16.8 UZR/150 remark.

After 2003, however, Cintron never posted a wRC+ above 80 again. His final 1633 plate appearances, which spanned from 2004 through 2009, saw him bat just .265/.299/.370 with a .291 wOBA and 67 wRC+. He appeared in contests with the Chicago White Sox (‘06-’07), the Baltimore Orioles (‘08), and Nationals (‘09) before bouncing around foreign and leagues for the next handful of years until he retired in 2012. Since 2018, he has served as a coach for the Houston Astros.