The Evergreen Park Diamondbacks finished the 2008 baseball season with several questions concerning the team’s sporadic offense, and like the current Obama stimulus package, little has been done this off-season to address the deficit in production at the plate.

The Diamondbacks come into the 2009 season with nearly the same line-up from last year. Leading the attack are veterans Pete Gubricky and Jim Cesak. Gubricky lead last year’s team in batting average (.426) and on-base percentage (.518) while Cesak placed first in home runs (2), doubles (6), RBI (21) and slugging percentage (.587). Thad Sochacki is expected to be fully recovered from a partial ACL tear and should post improved number over those of last year (.348 BA; .424 SGL%; 18 RBI) even though he led the team in Runs Scored (24).

According to manager Sergio Senese, those three are not the only ones that the D-backs are relying on. “Martin Will, Eddie Milas and Matt Flavin are big parts to our offense and we are looking for these three guys to have a huge impact in 2009,” he said. “The success of these three will determine how well we do this year, mark my words.”

The team’s forecasted batting order will consist of Flavin leading off and Milas batting second. These two will be the table-setters for the rest of offense. Cesak will bat in the three position followed by Sochacki in the four-spot and Will, protecting Sochacki, will hit fifth. According to Senese, these first five spots in the order are “chissled in stone” and the rest of the line-up, based on who has the hot bat.

For the last four spots, look for Gubricky to bat in the sixth spot and veteran first baseman Ted Andrysiak to hit seventh. With uncertainty as to who will be reporting to camp this Spring, look for the remaining two spots to be filled by Senese, Don Myczek and Nate Glass.

While the Diamondbacks have heavily relied on their veterans, former manager Joe Cipolla said that the team is actively pursuing younger talent this Spring to help the team get through the dog days of Summer. “It won’t be easy, and it won’t always be pretty,” said Cipolla, “but it will be Diamondback baseball.”

If not, look for this to be a long, long Summer for the Diamondbacks and their offensive output to match that of the Nation’s 2008 fourth-quarter Gross Domestic Product – down, 6.4%.

Tagged with: Evergreen Park Diamondback, Martin Will, Offensive Preview

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