Substitute the “d” in random and today’s random D-Back becomes Cody Ransom. He is what you’d call a home town kid: born in Mesa, went to high school in Chandler and visited two colleges in Phoenix: South Mountain Community College and Grand Canyon University. It weren’t the Diamondbacks, but the San Francisco Giants that plucked him in 1998 out of that latter university, after playing just one season there, starting every game at shortstop while hitting .330, slashing eight home runs and knocking in 48 runners.
It was probably a moment of personal glory for Cody Ransom, but how often might his thoughts have wandered off to his team mates he lost in 1996 in an accident?