The Arizona Diamondbacks’ very own Mark Reynolds shared the weekly honor with Colorado Rockies closer Hudson Street. This was the first time that either player was awarded and we are very excited that Mark was honored. Reynolds had a tremendous week with his powerful bat, boasting a perfect slugging percentage and a batting average of .417. Reynolds also would tie a career high 5 RBI in Friday night’s game against the Houston Astros.

For the week, Reynolds would gather up five doubles, three home runs, nine RBI with one stolen base. His on base percentage would be .462 for the week. Mark looks to be on track for his first 30/30 season at the rate that he is currently playing. For those of us that remember, Mark led the league in strikeouts the year prior. Although it is not a stat that any player would like to be the leader in, Mark has been able to make improvements in the off-season but is still within reach of Texas’ Chris Davis. Davis has not been able to post the kinds of numbers that Reynolds has but we are sure that this is on the front of his mind.

Also this week, the product of Virginia baseball was hit on the wrist by a pitch that would be a moment that would scare most fans. The following day Mark would hit one of his week’s home runs as he proved to the team, the fans and the media that his wrist was in working order. We are proud of Mark and congratulate him on an awesome week and wish him and the D-backs the very best in the weeks to come.

Conner Jackson, Mark Reynolds, Justin Upton, Chris Young –they make up half of the D-backs everyday starters. One thing they all have in common is they all came to the majors in the last few years with one thing in common, potential.

Any team in the majors would have been glad to have any of these players right as they were getting ready to break into the bigs. Each player while having a slightly different skill set than the others each looked to have a promising long pro career ahead of them. Each had early success when they came to the bigs until big league pitching figured them out. The problem is, what have they done since their arrival in Phoenix?

Have any of these players improved since they arrived in the big leagues? Have any of these player improved since opening day last year? The answer is no, they have not and that is what is so troubling with the Diamondbacks and their future.

In July of 2007 Arizona changed hitting coaches and named Rick Schu to replace Kevin Seitzer. The reason the Diamondbacks made the change was because of the lack of consistency the D-backs were showing. Have they made improvements over the last two years? Based on what we have seen over the last year and a half I would say no.

With four young studs like Jackson, Upton, Reynolds and Young the Diamondbacks should be the team to beat in the NL West for years to come, but unless they start showing improvements, that is not going to happen. Bob Melvin and the Arizona organization can no longer look at these players and think about how great the future will be, they need to look at these players and ask themselves how are they going to reach their potential. The answer may or may not be a new hitting coach, but the answer definitely is not keep doing what they have been doing.