After the Arizona Diamondbacks traded their starting first baseman Brandon Allen to the Oakland Athletics earlier today, they decided to call up top prospect Paul Goldschimdt from Double-A Mobile, according to Nick Piecoro.
Prior to this season, Goldschmidt did not even rank on Baseball America's top ten list for the D-backs. But after a monster season of a .306/.435/.626 line in Mobile, he ranked as the third D-back on their midseason list, behind Tyler Skaggs and Jarrod Parker.
Goldschmidt was drafted in the 8th round in 2009 and has an overall minor league line of .317/.407/.620. The D-backs home park Chase Field is a hitter's haven, which should help his transition to the major leagues. The Baseball Prospectus Annual had this to say about him before this season:
"Massive uppercut" is also the sum of Goldschmidt's baseball skills, as he has the speed and mobility of a very firm pudding. He's the classic all-bat, no-field first baseman—probably. We're sure about the latter part, but Goldschmidt will have to survive the Double-A test before we feel secure about the former.
He has definitely survived the Double-A test. Now we shall see if he can pass the Major League Test.