Right now, there are more great power-hitting third basemen in baseball than maybe ever before. Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado, and reigning AL MVP Josh Donaldson have all swatted 20+ homers already this season, plus Evan Longoria and Manny Machado are not too far behind with 18 each.
Also in that mix is one of baseball's most unheralded great young players, Diamondbacks third baseman Jake Lamb. Lamb, who is in his second full season as a big leaguer, crushed his 19th home run of the year Sunday, his one a game-tying two-run shot in the eighth inning against the division rival Giants. To the action footage:
Lamb has now hit four home runs in his last five games, seven home runs in his last 15 games, and 15 home runs in his last 42 games. His 15 homers since May 16th -- an admittedly arbitrary date -- are third most in baseball behind Bryant (17) and Adam Duvall (16).
Sunday's home run improved Lamb's season batting line to .292/.368/.609 in 307 plate appearances. He's second among all qualified hitters in slugging percentage, behind only Red Sox DH David Ortiz, who is slugging an otherworldly .677. So consider Lamb the slugging percentage leader among mere mortals.
Where did Lamb come from, and why is he suddenly mashing so many home runs? Well, this was not entirely unexpected. Lamb, a 2012 sixth round pick out of the University of Washington, was never an elite prospect, but he wasn't an unknown either. Baseball America ranked him as Arizona's tenth best prospect prior to the 2014 season, the last time he was prospect-eligible. Here's a snippet of their scouting report:
Lamb's breakout season in 2014 shows that the Diamondbacks guessed right when they believed they could iron out his swing coming out of college ... The improvement in Lamb's bat came when he adjusted his swing to better handle inside pitches, with an approach more suited for hitting for a high average. He has above-average power to all fields, driving the ball even in Mobile's pitcher-friendly park.
Lamb, now 25, hit .327/.407/.566 with 15 home runs in 108 games between Double-A and Triple-A during that breakout 2014 season. Last season he hit .263/.331/.386 (93 OPS+) with six home runs in 107 games for the D-Backs, so he didn't hit the ground running like Bryant. Few do. Lamb has made the adjustment this year and is emerging as a force at the hot corner.
The D-Backs have had a lot of success not only developing position players, but getting them to surpass their perceived ceilings. Both Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock developed into much better hitters -- and better all-around players, at that -- than expected, and now it appears Lamb is doing the same. No, he's not Bryant or Arenado, but Lamb is an impressive young player who is coming into his own in 2016.
