I chose Josh VanMeter because I wanted him to get a good and fair review for the work he put in on our behalf in 2021; it seemed like too many vocal people in online D-Backs communities gave him a lot of hate this season. It’s time to delve in and see how warranted that was. Spoiler warning: it was pretty warranted….
Josh was originally drafted by the Padres as a high schooler in the 5th round of the 2013 draft. He signed and went to the Arizona League Padres. He was brought along slowly throughout his MiLB career, finally making his MLB debut on May 5, 2019 with the Cincinnati Reds (to whom he’d been traded as a PTBNL for Luis Torrens in 2016).