Batting Average Single Season Leaders on Baseball Almanac
Top 10 Dominant Offensive Seasons in MLB History | TheRichest
MLB Teams: Single-Season Batting Average Leaders Quiz - By
Unbreakable Records of Hitting in Major League Baseball
Twins' all-time single-season team | MLB.com
Batting Average Team Records - Baseball Almanac
New York Yankees Top 50 Single-Season Batting Leaders
This is the Cards' all-time single-season team - MLB.com
Single-Season Leaders & Records for Batting Average
mlb highest batting average single season
mlb highest batting average single season - win
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
Born today : July 16th - Shoeless Joe Jackson, Baseball Player, "3rd-highest career batting average in MLB history", "set the record for batting average in a single season by a rookie", "spent most of the last 30 years of his life proclaiming his innocence", evidence "casts doubt on his involvement"
So after 149 seasons, the general manager of the Athletics in Challenge Mode, Mister Manager is retiring in 2020. Staring his career in 1879, the 166 year old has amassed some big numbers and enough silverware to build a shrine. Total win loss record: 15288-6888 Winning percentage: .689 117 playoff appearances 86 World Series wins Highest year score: 1865 in 1993
I broke the trading/free agent part of the game with a few different things
early in the game i could easily trade for an excellent player by packaging him up with bad old players
I used to often be able to use money/cash to win over trades
early in the game i could sneak amazing players in the draft by looking for batters with good pitching ratings and pitchers with good batting stats
once free agency was established, some incredible aging players (30yr +) were available every off season for minor league deals. I would sign a bunch of these guys and then trade them for high potential prospects
I obviously knew which players had the best chance to be great, but i was surprised to see a number of historic players just become average or busts. This happened to Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux and even Babe Ruth.
I didn't do any save game cheats, i just really exploited trade imbalances.
That was a lot of games, but a hell of a lot of fun
[Long] What is a GOAT: What would a modern day all time WAR leader look like.
I will be using bWAR for this. The all time WARLORD is Babe Ruth with 182.5 WAR. The only player to get somewhat close to this in my lifetime has been Barry Bonds, with a respectable 162.8 (4th place). The thing that makes the WAR record so hard to beat is the fact that Ruth played at a level so far beyond what the rest of the league was capable of. His OPS led baseball in 13 straight seasons. No one will ever be as dominant as Babe Ruth. The game has evolved and there is more parity in talent. I don't know if Babe Ruth would still be great today, but I know the value of the replacement player has improved drastically. If someone were to beat Ruth's record, they wouldn't have to be more dominant than Ruth, but have an all around package and everything go their way. There are a few requirements for a modern hitter to break Babe Ruth's record.
1. He has to play for fuckin ever
WAR is a cumulative stat. Thus, if anyone is going to have a chance at breaking Ruth's record, this player is going to have to play a LOT of years in the MLB. This player is going to have to start early as well. Of the top 25 WAR players, only 3 (Cy Young, Tom Seaver, and Mike Schmidt) were older that 21 when they started their MLB careers. The most recent player in this list, ARod, started at 18. If a player starts at 18 and plays to 45, which seems to be roughly the old limit, then he only has to get 6.52WAR per season on average to break Ruth's record. Having a player start at 23 raises that average to 7.93, which seems a little less attainable outside of old timey pitchers throwing 50 complete games a season.
2. He has to be durable.
Again, since WAR is a cumulative stat, such a player needs to be a rock for his entire career. Not all of the top players had such durability, including Ruth himself. But I also doubt you are going to see many players put up a 9.1WAR season in 130 games like Ruth. While gone are the days of Cal Ripken where players tried to play every game every season, it isn't unreasonable to think our young WARlord will be playing at least 150 games a season on average once he gets past his rookie year. Any injuries are going to have to come at the end of his career, particularly nagging ones and things that slow him down.
3. He has to play a premium position and play it well.
In order to maximize yearly WAR, it is important that our hypothetical star play a position with a strong defense adjustment. This leaves us with CF, SS, 2B, and C. Pitcher would have been a possibility back in the day, but with relievers taking a larger and larger piece of the innings pie, it seems like hitter is the best way to go. A 2-way player would have a better chance, but they are exceedingly rare. We can eliminate Catcher right off the bat. Catchers play less games per season, get injured more often, have shorter careers, and have worse stats due to wear and tear. The highest WAR of any catcher is Johnny Bench with 75.2. That puts him at 79th all time WAR and not even half of Ruth's total. The Majority of high WAR players in history are OF. Odds are if someone were to beat Ruth, they would be doing it from CF, at least until later in their career.
4. He will need to be an athlete.
While Babe Ruth may have a beer swilling, hot dog eating, STD collecting hero, our modern player is going to have to be an athlete. They will need to be fast, run the bases well (not necessarily steal bases), and keep in good shape for their entire careers. Good baserunning and defense, at least in the beginning of a players career could add up to 5 or more WAR in a season. Our player is going to need this defense a lot in his early years while he can still rack up dWAR.
5. He will probably need to be a Righty.
The shift has complicated things for Lefty batters. Our hypothetical hitter will need to be able to beat the shift if they are a lefty. This might not be a problem early on, but become an issue as our player slows down with age. Since the shift has been established, older, slower lefties have been getting squeezed by the shift. Every WAR counts. Unless our batter is a Switch Hitter or can hit to all fields, he will probably be a righty.
6. He will need to be on a good hitting team, probably in a big market.
Our player is going to need some top-shelf offensive talent hitting behind him to make sure he isn't getting the Bonds treatment. To afford the salaries of both megahitters, this player will probably spend most of his career on a major market team.
7. He will probably be a 3 true outcomes hitter (and a really good one, duh).
Launch Angle, batspeed, barrel, OBP, dingers, and Ks. This player is going to probably not going to spend all that much time getting singles. That doesn't mean that he won't have a high batting average. Our player is going to need to hit at a high clip, but with a fat amount of XBHs and walks added in. I wouldn't be surprised if this hitter breaks the HR record, but more in a Hank Aaron style of consistent HR success over a long career.
8. He will get all the awards.
To start off our players career. He is going to win the RoY, or at the very least become a star in his first full season. He needs to hit the ground running and start accumulating WAR right away. He will be a perennial All-Star. I am talking Hank Aaron 25 All Star appearances. While Gold Gloves don't automatically go to the best defender, our guy will quickly become a big name for his bat and his defense. Expect a ton of Gold Gloves, probably some in his 30s as well. Silver Sluggers will probably be the award our player wins the most. He will probably break Barry Bonds' record of 12 SS. Expect our player to get MVP votes pretty much every season until his last couple, much like Hank Aaron. Since our player is going to need to be the best player in baseball for many of his seasons, expect him to come close to Bonds' 7 wins. Hank only won 1, but advanced stats would have given him more wins today.
9. He is going to be an all around good guy who never takes steroids (or never gets caught).
Any suspensions are going to kill our player's chance of winning the WARLORD title. Losing a season is probably going to cost our player at least 6 WAR. Also, he doesn't want to end his career like Bonds. Barry possibly could have gotten the career WAR mark if teams were willing to deal with him. His last two seasons he got 4.0 and 3.4 WAR respectively, but he retired at 42. Had he held on until his late 40s, he could have eked it out. But Bonds was a dick, so he got blacklisted.
10. He cannot pull a Pujols.
When his time is up, he has to retire. Pujols over the last 4 years has been worth -0.7WAR. Our player has to play well past his peak, but also retire before this happens. So this his my hypothetical WARLORD.
Year
Age
WAR
Awards
1
18
1.2
2
19
7.3
RoY, AS
3
20
8.0
AS, SS, GG
4
21
9.1
AS, SS, GG, MVP
5
22
7.9
AS, GG
6
23
7.2
AS, GG
7
24
9.7
AS, SS, GG, MVP
8
25
8.9
AS, SS, GG
9
26
7.6
AS, GG
10
27
7.7
AS, GG
11
28
10.5
AS, SS, GG, MVP
12
29
11.2
AS, SS, GG, MVP
13
30
10.8
AS, SS, GG, MVP
14
31
8.9
AS, SS, GG
15
32
7.5
AS, SS
16
33
9.3
AS, SS, MVP
17
34
6.9
AS, SS
18
35
5.4
AS, SS
19
36
4.9
AS
20
37
5.2
AS, SS
21
38
3.9
AS
22
39
4.3
AS
23
40
4.0
AS
24
41
3.3
AS
25
42
3.3
AS
26
43
2.1
27
44
2.8
28
45
3.2
29
46
2.1
AVG
x
6.4
TOTAL
x
184.2 (Record)
RoY, 24 AS, 13 SS (Record), 12 GG (OF tie), 6 MVP
So recap, our CF (later RF) is a righty with good defense, speed, character, never has a serious injury, plays in front of another HoF bat on a big market team, who hits dongs and takes walks. Our guy probably ends up with the HR record, and is top 5 for a ton of other categories. He goes into the HoF unanimously. I hope this has been as fun for you to read as it was to write it.
Better Know the Ones Left Off the Ballot #12: Adam LaRoche
Hey I'm back! Wow that was a long time without posting. Didn't even fulfill my promise to post one player per day for a week. In punishment, I'm going to do my best to post one every day until either I run out or the Hall of Fame announcement saps me of my drive. To begin with, I picked a guy who's been on the frontpage a couple times lately despite not having played baseball for five years. I am nothing if not a trend chaser. Enjoy!
Adam LaRoche
Bill James Hall of Fame Monitor: 16 Career bWAR (12 years): 14.2 Stats: .260/.336/.462, 111 OPS+, 1452 H, 255 HR, 608 XBH, 882 RBI, 752 R League Leading Stats: Sacrifice Flies (9, 2012) Awards: Gold Glove (2012), Silver Slugger (2012), NL Wilson Defensive 1B of the Year (2012), NL Player of the Week (September 7th, 2014) Teams Played For: Braves (2004-06, 2009), Pirates (2007-09), Red Sox (2009), Diamondbacks (2010), Nationals (2011-14), White Sox (2015) Believe it or not, there is more to Adam LaRoche than how he retired. Most of the discussion surrounding him concerns that specific instant, and don't worry, we'll get to that. While he certainly was a family man, there's one thing many people forget: Adam LaRoche played baseball. He did it for a while, too. 12 years, if you can believe it. Did it pretty well even. At least, well enough to stick around for a length of time that a building in Cooperstown would say is worthy of qualification for entry upon a piece of paper that they send out to some people once every year. And yet, despite that, Adam LaRoche did not appear on the Hall of Fame ballot this year. Perhaps the Selection Committee, like a manager who complains about a player's kid being in the dugout forgetting just how much he loves his children and might leave if tension arose, missed something. LaRoche's career began after he was drafted as a first baseman by the Marlins in the 18th round of the 1998 draft. Wait, sorry, he didn't sign, I meant to say it began when the Marlins drafted him again in the 42nd round of the 1999 draft. Oh no, I've messed up again, because he didn't sign then either. Then the Braves in the 29th round of the 2000 draft, where he signed. Poor Marlins. After putting up some OPSes like .888 in Rookie ball, then .918 two years later in A+, then .856 the next year between AA and AAA, the Braves figured he was pretty good. So did Baseball America, who put him at #73 on their top prospects for 2004. He made the Opening Day roster, and in his first game (the Braves' second of the season), he got his first two hits. A single off Steve Trachsel, then a double off Grant Roberts that scored Andruw Jones and J.D. Drew. Those hits came in the same inning, which saw the Braves score 11 runs, and eventually win the game 18-10. Now that's how you start things off. LaRoche's rookie year would go relatively well, getting into 110 games, batting .278/.333/.488 with 13 homers, and tying the major league record for doubles in a game in just his 23rd start (it's 4 for all seventeen of you that care). He even had a great, albeit short, playoff performance in the NLDS against the Astros. He hit an RBI double in Game 2, tying it in the 8th. Rafael Furcal's walkoff home run three innings later tied the series at 1 apiece. He then had another game-tying extra-base hit in Game 4, in much more dramatic fashion. Down 5-2 in the 6th, Adam LaRoche hit a 3-run dinger off Chad Qualls, driving in Joneses Andruw and Chipper. A Russ Springer RBI single in the 9th tied the series again at 2-2. Game 5 would go the Astros' way, and LaRoche's first postseason would be brought to an end. Even with his playoff heroics, a 108 OPS+, and 1.1 bWAR, plus a rather weak rookie class, he didn't appear on a single NL Rookie of the Year ballot. Apparently, if you begin your season in a platoon with a 46-year-old Julio Franco, the voters think you're worse than someone named Terrmel Sledge. Still, LaRoche had, for the foreseeable future, secured his position at first base with the Atlanta Braves. I'm sure he was happy about that, especially since he had a 2-year-old son at home. The next two years, LaRoche showed what he was about: good at hitting, not at fielding. Over the 2005-06 seasons, he combined for a line of .273/.338/.510 with 52 home runs, 168 RBIs, and a 116 OPS+. Maybe not Albert Pujols, but still good enough to stay in the lineup. Especially on May 28th, 2006, when he hit two long balls in a game against the Cubs. Helped set the Braves franchise record for most team home runs in a game with 8. He also had another great postseason in 2005, when he went 4-for-8 with a double and a grand slam in the NLDS against his good friends the Astros. They won out in the end, but his bat was still a very good reason to keep him at first. His glove, though, tried to put him out of it. His 3.3 oWAR over the two years was neatly balanced out by his -3.9 dWAR. No other play sums this up better than when he fielded a grounder from the Nationals' Nick Johnson, and lazily walked over to first to tag him out. By the time he reached the bag, Johnson was safe, LaRoche was getting booed, and manager Bobby Cox was ready to sit him on the bench for the rest of the game. While 2006 would actually turn out to be LaRoche's best season in Atlanta so far, it was also the first time in 15 years that the Braves didn't win their division. Even worse, they didn't even finish above .500, only winning 79 games by season's end. Because of that, they decided to shake things up, and in January of 2007, Adam LaRoche was traded with minor leaguer Jame Romak to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Brent Lillibridge and Mike Gonzalez. Atlanta's first baseman most of that year was a gentleman named Scott Thorman, who was not very good. They then traded for Mark Teixeira at the deadline, giving up people named Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who have all played in the World Series, something the Braves have yet to do since trading LaRoche. Oh yeah, back to him, he's a Pirate now. I'm sure his son, who turned 5 soon after he was traded, was thrilled that his dad was now a swashbuckler instead of an adjective. How'd it go? LaRoche's time in black and yellow was remarkably unremarkable. Two-and-a-half years, hitting .265/.340/.469 with 58 homers, continued below-average play at first, and a team that couldn't win 75 games in a season if their lives depended on it. Exactly two things of interest happened during LaRoche's tenure as a seafaring Pittsburgher. One, he was the very first player to ever have a home run taken away via replay review on May 13, 2009. Two, he was teammates with his brother Andy for almost a year, doubtless showing him how great it was when his family was in the clubhouse. The bloodline stretching from third to first was severed on July 22, 2009, when LaRoche packed his bags, and headed East to Boston. He'd been traded for shortstop prospect Argenis Diaz and name-I-definitely-didn't-expect-to-show-up-in-this-story Hunter Strickland. 9 days and 6 games later, the Red Sox realized "wow, this LaRoche guy is making $7 million this year, and that Casey Kotchman kid in Atlanta isn't even making $1 million. We'd pretty much be using them the same way, so are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Right before the deadline passed, LaRoche changed teams again, becoming a Brave for the second time and starting at first base in Atlanta once more. Apparently the scene change really helped, because he finished the year batting .325/.401/.557 as a Brave, knocking 12 home runs and batting in 40 runs in just 52 games. All that gave him an OPS+ of 151, which would've been the 5th highest in the NL that year if he'd done it over the full season. He'd finish the year with a total of 2.0 bWAR just in Atlanta, which was great, because he was a free agent after that season. I'm sure his 7-year-old son was very excited for his dad's big payday. After MLB Trade Rumors named him the 21st best free agent available, somewhat surprisingly, LaRoche was still unemployed in January. The Diamondbacks took pity on him, and made him the fourth-highest paid member of their squad on a one-year, $4.5 million contract with a $7.5 million second-year option. Then the team lost 97 games, LaRoche's .261/.320/.468 was his worst hitting season since 2005, and a new career high 172 strikeouts certainly didn't help. 100 RBIs was a new best, though, so he had that going for him. He got downgraded to just the 34th best free agent available after Arizona didn't pick up his option. The Nationals said "aww, that stinks that you didn't get that $7.5 mil. Want $15 mil over two years instead?" And he said "yes." Thus, in 2011, Mr. LaRoche went to Washington. And he suuuuuucked. In his first 43 games as a National, LaRoche hit .172/.288/.258, going an anemic 26-for-151 before a surgery for the labrum in his left shoulder ended his season. Hopefully he could pick it up the next season. Wouldn't want to disappoint that 9-year-old son he had, now would he? At a glance, Adam LaRoche's 2012 season isn't exactly out of the ordinary for him. .271/.343/.510 with 33 homers and 100 RBIs seems about what you might expect. None of his rate stats were career highs, he'd already had 100 RBIs, and 33 homers was only one more than his previous best season. It's only impressive if you look at the context. In 2012, offensive output had cratered. LaRoche's 100 RBI total was the 8th highest in the National League. His 33 home runs was the 4th highest number that year. His total of 69 extra-nice-extra-base hits was the 5th highest. His 291 total bases was the 7th most. That was crazy, because even as it was ordinary LaRoche hitting, he had never before placed in the top ten of any of those categories. At a time when offense was hard to come by, Adam LaRoche's status quo was extraordinary. His 3.2 oWAR was by far the best he'd ever put up in a season. Best of all, his defense took a step forward as well. His Total Zone Runs at first base in 2012 was 14, the most he'd ever put up in his career by a long shot. His 0.0 dWAR was the highest among NL first basemen that year. No, I'm not kidding. To add on to all of that, LaRoche was a member of a Washington team that won 98 games, the first time since moving from Montreal that they'd achieved anything resembling success. And LaRoche led that team's offense in home runs, RBIs, extra-base hits, walks for some reason, and total bases. Thus, despite his offense being solidly within the realm of his previously shown ability, Adam LaRoche's output at the plate and in the field was amazing when compared to anybody else in the National League. In short, Adam LaRoche was the tortoise, and the standard NL first baseman was the hare. And for him, slow and steady won a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger, and an NL Wilson's Defensive 1B of the Year. Even won a tie with David Wright for 6th place in National League MVP voting how is this real. His team also made the playoffs, and he did hit two solo home runs, but I feel like Nationals fans would be completely fine if I didn't say anything else about the 2012 NLDS. Washington were very grateful for LaRoche's contributions, and signed him to a two-year, $24 million contract with a 3rd year option. Not before he got named the 15th best free agent available, though. He'd regress to the mean over those two years, putting up just 3.0 bWAR. .248/.347/.429 is pretty good, 46 home runs and 154 RBIs is nothing to sneeze at, and a 113 OPS+ thanks to 97 extra-base hits is quite acceptable. He also didn't do as well in the field with -2.1 dWAR, and went 1-for-18 in the only Division Series his team made it to during that time, which I'm also fairly certain Nationals fans would be perfectly fine with me ignoring. At the rate of roughly $8 million per Win Above Replacement, LaRoche gave Washington exactly what they paid for, and for that, they thanked him, did not pick up the option, and bid him farewell. That 12-year-old son of his must have been really happy with how dad had been doing, but where would he be going to school that next year? After his fourth straight time being named one of the top 50 best free agents by MLB Trade Rumors (this time at number 25), LaRoche signed a two-year, $25 million contract with the Chicago White Sox. After a lackluster 2015 that saw career lows across the board (apart from his injury-shortened 2011), he was ready to bounce back in 2016, putting his all into spring training to show he was still worth his contract. Then his 14-year-old son, Drake (have I mentioned him?), who had often accompanied him in the clubhouse, got on the nerves of Chicago's executive vice president, Kenny Williams. "Name one job in the country where you can bring your child to work every day," Williams would eventually say. At some point, an ultimatum was issued where Drake was to exit the clubhouse, never to return. LaRoche, who valued his family, said no. Williams insisted, and in response, Adam LaRoche retired from baseball, leaving $13 million on the table in the process. This situation was memed on from one side of the MLB to the other. LaRoche was called everything from a traitor to his team to a man who had clearly set his priorities in order. Williams was both villainized and praised, sometimes by the same people. White Sox ace Chris Sale and star Center Fielder Adam Eaton defended LaRoche's decision. GM Rick Hahn dodged the question, and team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said he had complete faith in his front office. The world was turned upside down, because as far as everyone was concerned, this was the strangest reason someone had retired they had ever heard. What they didn't know, and wouldn't for a couple weeks, was that Adam LaRoche, during the offseason, had worn a hidden camera and helped to expose underage sex trafficking in southeast Asia. It turns out, LaRoche did retire based on the treatment of young people, but it went far deeper than anybody understood at the time. But hey, at least it gave us Derek Jeter or Drake LaRoche, which I am mourning as it passed on when Flash died. Adam LaRoche's career isn't unique from a numbers standpoint. His stats aren't actually too far off from someone like John Mayberry, but the story around them is one-of-a-kind. From the fluke 2012 season that wasn't actually a fluke, to playing on a team for nine days, to how his career ended, nothing was predictable when it came to The Rock. (wait that's his nickname? I could've had so many wrestling puns! Oh well.) Despite his inability to stand out statistically, LaRoche has no trouble getting his name out there in all kinds of other ways. Those ways do not include appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot, which, if I'm being honest, he didn't deserve. Sorry Dwayne LaJohnsone. (Okay maybe I should be glad I didn't know that was his nickname) LaRoche would visit the Hall in a Washington Nationals cap for his 430 hits, 82 homers, and Silver SluggeGold Glove combo with the team. He'd go hand-in-hand with his son Drake LaRoche, who is turning 19 next month. No I don't feel old. We're at a dozen now. Here are the other doughnuts if you're hungry. #1: Randy Choate #2: Kevin Gregg #3: Dan Uggla #4: Josh Hamilton #5: Delmon Young #6: Willie Bloomquist #7: Grady Sizemore #8: Kevin Correia #9: David DeJesus #10: Rafael Betancourt #11: Clint Barmes
Better Know the Ones Left Off the Ballot #16: Chris Denorfia
And today on The Thing in the Title That I Don't Feel Like Typing Again, we have number four squared. If you're new here, basically Cooperstown feels like all the people who qualify for the ballot by playing for 10 years in the MLB aren't quite up to snuff, and a Selection Committee shortens the list to the ones they like. This series takes a look at the players the Selection Committee doesn't like. All the other entries can be found at the bottom. Now to you're regularly scheduled program.
Chris Denorfia
Bill James Hall of Fame Monitor: 0 Career bWAR (10 years): 10.8 Stats: .272/.330/.392, 103 OPS+, 587 H, 41 HR, 161 XBH, 196 RBI, 289 R League Leading Stats: Double Plays turned as LF (1, 2013) Awards: NL Wilson Defensive OF of the Year (2013) Teams Played For: Reds (2005-06), Athletics (2008-09), Padres (2010-14), Mariners (2014), Cubs (2015) Chris Denorfia has a funny name. It would be funnier if you just kept the "norf" part and discarded the rest, but it still functions as a humorous surname. And in more ways than one, that sums up his career rather well. Good things being somewhat lessened by their surroundings, but still being good regardless. It also functions as a reminder that having a funny name doesn't get you on the Hall of Fame ballot, especially when your career hit total would be a bad credit score. Neither does having 600 of your bobbleheads show up at some random house's doorstep, though that is certainly more creative. Chris Delphinium was drafted 555th out of Wheaton College in the 19th round of the 2002 draft by the Cincinnati Reds. Once he began in the minors, a pretty consistent pattern emerged: spend up to a season in one level doing great, then get promoted and do well enough to stick around, then repeat. In rookie ball he hit .340, then got promoted to high-A, and spent his first year hitting .236. Then in the first half of 2004, he hit .312 in high-A, got promoted to double-A for the second half, and hit .249. Then he forgot what he was doing, because he hit .330 through the 46 games he played in AA before promotion, then broke the pattern by hitting .310 in AAA to punch his ticket to a September callup to Cincinnati. Denorfia's first two plate appearances were pinch-hitting gigs, but a home run in his second career at-bat prodded the Reds to give him a starting job soon after. He'd go on to start 7 more games down the stretch for a Reds team that was well out of the playoffs, plus 9 more pinch-hitting bit parts. Now that he'd had a taste of the Bigs, Chris Determinant had to get back. Denorfia attended 2006 spring training, and after proving his mettle, made the Opening Day roster. He even pinch-hit in the first game of the season, hitting a double off Scott Williamson and scoring on a Ken Griffey Jr. sac fly. Now that's how you start a season! Ignore the part where all it did was make the final score 16-7 instead of 16-6! He'd have a much bigger impact in his next game, when he'd single in the bottom of the eighth, eventually scoring the go-ahead run with help from Adam Dunn. Denorfia's season wasn't quite as nonstop action as his first two games. He got sent down to AAA for three months before coming back in the middle of July. He'd make it into 49 games all told, batting .283/.356/.368. Enough to exceed his rookie limits, but not enough for his liking. And that spring training, Chris Deformity would show why he was special enough to stick around. Or he would instead require Tommy John surgery before March was over and end up having to miss the 2007 season. The next year would start very differently for him, because the Oakland Athletics had traded for him. With his goal the same despite the location change, Denorfia once again made the Opening Day Roster. He even got to start this time! Who cares that he was batting 9th! He tried his best to show he belonged, but after 25 games, the A's decided they'd prefer an outfield with Carlos Gonzalez instead of Chris Demoralized. After those 25 games, he'd only play 8 more as an Oakland Athletic. It had been a while since he'd practiced the pattern of mashing in a lower league to get promoted, so after struggling in AAA, the A's of the Majors saw no reason to keep him around. At the end of 2009, after getting a single hit in only 2 at-bats with Oakland all year, Chris Destratify was granted free agency. A month later, when a minor league deal with his funny name on it came from San Diego, Norf was headed Souf. Chances are, most people who are familiar with Denorfia's name only know him as a Padre. What many don't realize, or at least what I wasn't aware of before I began research, is that Chris Dilophosaurus was actually very good with the Padres. His first year began in triple-A before he finally remembered the pattern, and socked 16 extra-base hits in 34 games to get promoted in the middle of May. The rest of his 2010 was spent as a platoon member of the outfield, getting rearranged every which way with Scott Hairston, Tony Gwynn Jr., and Will Venable. Of all of those guys, Denorfia performed the best at the plate, hitting .271/.335/.433 with 9 home runs, quadrupling his career total. You might look at that slashline and think that's not very good for the best bat in the outfield, and you'd be correct. And yet, in 2010, with a week to go in August, the Padres held the best record in the National League at 76-49. Ahead of the Reds and Braves with 73 wins, the Padres had achieved this feat not through powerful hitting, but through an absolute buzzsaw of a bullpen. Of the eleven arms who had more than 30 games pitched for San Diego that year, only 4 had ERAs over 3.00. And two of those guys were starters. Their five best bullpen arms combined for 286 innings of 1.76 ERA ball and 306 strikeouts to just 99 walks. Thus, despite only scoring a division-low 665 runs and a third-worst-in-the-Majors hits total of 1338, the Padres finished the season at 90-72. That was not good enough for the playoffs, as a 14-23 run to round out the year after holding the best NL record meant they relinquished their division lead to the 92-70 San Francisco Giants. The wild card went to the 91-71 Atlanta Braves, and so Chris Dehumidifier was deprived of his first playoff berth. Over the next couple years, he'd continue platooning with the revolving door of Padres outfielders with names like Ryan Ludwick, Carlos Quentin, and Mark Kotsay. With such volatility, Denorfia actually played a rather vital role in the Padres offense. At some point, manager Bud Black realized that while his overall batting numbers were good, his marks against lefties were decidedly better. His career splits show as much, with Defatigable hitting .262/.313/.372 off right-handed pitchers and .285/.353/.419 versus southpaws. Black had the genius-and-not-totally-obvious idea of platooning him more often against lefties, and thanks to that small adjustment, Denorfia's 2012 and 2013 seasons turned out excellent. Between those two years, he basically hit like he faced lefties the whole time. .285/.340/.419 across both seasons, only 13 OBP points from his career statline versus the liberal-handed ones. Ordinarily, those numbers wouldn't be anything to write home about, but in the 2012-13 National League, they were good for 4.0 oWAR, because the league average batter hit barely above .250. Add in some defense that rightfully earned him an NL Wilson Outfield Glove of the Year award in 2013, and you've got a premium player right there. 6.6 bWAR and 4.8 fWAR in just 2 years, including 4.2 bWAR in 2013 for the highest total from any member of that year's Padres. He also exclusively put up those numbers for teams with an asymptotic relationship to a .500 record. Across the 2012-13 seasons, the Padres were above .500 for exactly eight days. Eight. And that was it. Defenestrate's seasons flew by, and pretty much no one except Padres fans and the Wilson awards people noticed. He didn't make the All-Star team, he didn't receive any MVP votes, he didn't even get all that much credit when he turned a squib in front of the plate into an inside-the-park home run. He just didn't register nationally, because platoon members aren't sexy. By the time 2014 was around and he only got 7 hits in June, the Padres figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to see what they could get for him at the trade deadline. He was traded to the contending Seattle Mariners for Abraham Almonte, and to balance out the ridiculous name quota, Stephen Kohlscheen. Chris Differential would hit .195/.256/.317 in 32 games as a Mariner before they bid him adieu that offseason. Unnecessary clarification, the Mariners did not make the playoffs. Denorfia was 34 years old, and had just put up his career worst hitting numbers. Which cheap team who had nothing to play for would pick him up? The 2015 Cubs had just had an interesting season in the outfield. Chris Coghlan had done all right for himself at the plate, but he was on an island. Regular lineup members Arismendy Alcantara, Nate Schierholtz, Junior Lake, and Ryan Sweeney all had OPSes below .650. In fact, the only other regular outfielder who hit respectably, Justin Ruggiano, had a negative bWAR season because his defense was atrocious. By 2015, Schierholtz had been released, Ruggiano had been traded, Alcantara was due to go back to the minors, and Sweeney was a couple months from getting released. With Coghlan the only sure thing, the Cubs traded for center fielder Dexter Fowler, handed starting duties in right to rookie Jorge Soler, and just to be safe, signed an aging platoon OF with a funny last name. Denorfia, Much like he did on the 2010 Padres, was part of one of the worse hitting offenses in the league. 1341 hits as a team ranked 3rd-to-last in the Majors. However, this Cubs team was similar to those Friars in more ways than one, with their pitching turning in a spectacular performance. Jake Arrieta's 1.77 ERA and 22-6 record won the Cy Young that year, and Dan Haren was the only pitcher with more than one game started to have an ERA above 4.00 (at 4.01). With a lockdown bullpen of Jason Motte, Justin Grimm, Pedro Strop, Travis Wood, and closer extraordinaire Hector Rondon, the Cubs won 97 games in 2015. That win total was good enough for third best in the entire MLB. It was also only good enough for third in their division because the 2015 NL Central was stacked. Denorfia's .269/.319/.373 line, his second-worst of his career, was just happy to be along for the ride, and maybe find time to jack a walkoff home run off Aroldis Chapman while he's at it. Even made his pitching debut in a blowout versus the Tigers. Denomorejokes returned to his roots in the playoffs, with no starts, but 6 pinch-hitting appearances, going 0-for-5. A walk in the Wild Card game was the extent of his playoff highlight reel. He'd get his walking papers once Daniel Murphy sent the Cubs packing in the NLCS. That offseason, Denorfia accepted a spring training invite from the Yankees that went nowhere, a minor league offer from the Giants that went nowhere, and a minor league offer from the Rockies that went nowhere. He finally waved the white flag on his MLB career when he accepted a front office position with the Cubs in March of 2018. He is currently the manager of the Hartford Yard Goats, whose mascots still haunt my dreams. Chris Denorfia did all right for himself. Even if his career was just 808 games long, he stuck around long enough to stave off heartbreak. There's no way he was ever going to make the ballot, but there's still something to be said about his story. From the lefty splits, to the most valuable Padre in 2013, to the home run that hit the ground 10 feet in front of him, Denorfia got his name out there enough for it to be remembered. And it should be, because Denorfia is a name that deserves to be remembered regardless of who it's attached to. Denorfia would visit the Hall in a Padres cap for his 456 hits, 1.8 dWAR, and 108 OPS+ with the team. He'd also be in a uniform with his name on it, but rearranged to say "A Friendo." Mooooooore #1: Randy Choate #2: Kevin Gregg #3: Dan Uggla #4: Josh Hamilton #5: Delmon Young #6: Willie Bloomquist #7: Grady Sizemore #8: Kevin Correia #9: David DeJesus #10: Rafael Betancourt #11: Clint Barmes #12: Adam LaRoche #13: Grant Balfour #14: Randy Wolf #15: Rafael Soriano
Better Know the Ones Left Off the Ballot #20: Jeff Francis
Second one of the day! This is actually as many as I got to last year, so as long as I do one more, I've done better this time. If you're wondering what this is, basically the Hall of Fame has too many people who are eligible for the ballot, so a Selection Committee cuts the list down to a manageable size. Here we take a look at the players they decided to cut. The rest of the players I've already looked at can be found at the bottom, and away we go!
Jeff Francis
Bill James Hall of Fame Monitor: 6 Career bWAR (11 years): 9.6 (10.1 w/o batting) Stats: 72-82, 4.97 ERA, 93 ERA+, 217 GS, 1291.0 IP, 869 K, 384 BB, 1.442 WHIP League Leading Stats: Fielding % as P 4x (1.000, 2005-07, 2011) Awards: None Teams Played For: Rockies (2004-08, 2010, 2012-13), Royals (2011), Reds (2014), Athletics (2014), Yankees (2014), Blue Jays (2015) The story of Jeff Francis reminds me of a quote by former ESPN columnist John Sickels: "If you have a top prospect, you should never be disappointed when he turns out to be Lyle Overbay." I think I have a similar statement: "If you're the Colorado Rockies, and you have a top pitching prospect, you should never be disappointed when he turns out to be Jeff Francis." With the way he played as a prospect, Overbay could have very well been predicted to set the league on fire, but he "only" had a nice long career, being an average-to-above-average first baseman. Jeff Francis, likewise, was fantastic as a prospect, and did just all right in the MLB. But in both cases, expectation and reality must meet somewhere, and these two share the distinction of riding that line. Another thing the two have in common? Neither ended up on the Hall of Fame ballot. I already talked about Lyle, so here's what I have to say about Jeff. To put it lightly, Jeff Francis had a nice college career. To put it heavily, the lefty's stats his last two years looked like this:
20-4, 1.35 ERA, 173 IP, 31 BB, 229 K
While it may have been true he was playing in Canada, that's still a statline you don't pass up in the first round of the 2002 MLB Draft. The Colorado Rockies certainly didn't, because they had the ninth pick, and driving six truckloads of money to Mike Hampton's doorstep hadn't solved their pitching woes. The pick actually made Francis the highest drafted Canadian player ever. Well, second highest, since fellow Maple Leaf Countryman Adam Loewen had been chosen just 5 picks prior. Still, Francis was a can't-miss future stud practically his whole minor league career. Just 4 runs allowed in his first 7 starts in low-to-mid A. 12-9 with a 3.47 ERA in a full high-A season, putting him at #93 on the Baseball America list. Promotion to AA resulted in his best season yet, starting 17 games, winning 13 of them, and allowing only 25 earned runs in 113.2 innings while also striking out 147 like it was no big deal. Moved on up to AAA, went 3-2 with 49 strikeouts and a 2.85 ERA in Colorado Springs. By the end of that stretch, his 2004 minor league numbers were sitting pretty at 16-3, a 2.21 ERA in 24 starts, and 196 strikeouts in 154.2 innings across double-and-triple-A. At season's end, he'd receive Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year Award. That trophy very often signified a lengthy and successful Major League career in store for the awardee. Other recipients include Derek Jeter, Jose Canseco, and Dwight Gooden. And now Jeff Francis adds his name to that list. Only reason he didn't have better stats was because the Rockies called him up in late August. After Jeff Francis' first two starts, he'd allowed 14 runs, all earned. Welcome to the Rockies! Wait, both those games were on the road? Oh dear. After his year concluded with 7 Major League starts, he laid claim to a 5.15 ERA, 8 home runs allowed, and a .286 batting average against. All of this was actually about par for the course when it came to Rockies pitching, even if you account for 5 of his 7 starts coming away from Denver. And yet, given his minor league pedigree and the hype around having an actual good pitcher in Colorado, big things were still expected of him. Thanks to those expectations, his award for pitching very well, and a good spring training to boot, the 2005 Colorado Rockies starting rotation would have Jeff Francis as its third member. Now some might be rather surprised and say "letting a rookie with a 5.15 ERA in the Major League games he's started be your third rotation piece is insane!" To that I say two things: first, this is the Rockies. Second, they've done this before. In 2001, former first-round pick Jason Jennings pitched a complete game shutout in his first start as a Rockie, but struggled down the stretch, before a nice spring training and hype around a good Rockies pitcher slotted him as the number 5 starter for 2002. His year ended with a record of 16-8, only the third time a pitcher of any experience had ever reached that number of wins for Colorado. It also ended with him as the staff ace, standing atop what was left after established arms Denny Neagle and the previously mentioned Mike Hampton exploded. Jennings ended up winning Rookie of the Year, not because his numbers were especially impressive (his 4.52 ERA was the worst among qualified rookie starters, and he only had 13 Quality Starts, 9 of which weren't at Coors), but because he did all that as a rookie pitcher on the Colorado Rockies. The apparently Herculean task of pitching moderately well for that team had been accomplished by someone in their first full season, and for that, the voters agreed Jennings should be rewarded. Colorado's pitching had not gotten much better since then (including Jennings, who had slowed down as of late), and they were hoping that the card they'd put up their sleeve could help them here. That card, Francis, was their third starter, for better or for worse. How'd it go? Jeff Francis started more games for the Rockies that year than any other pitcher. That's good! He also had more wins (14) and strikeouts (128) than any other Colorado pitcher. That's even better! He also laid claim to a 5.68 ERA, a WHIP above 1.600, and a measly 0.3 bWAR from the mound. That's not very good! One might even call that bad! Well, one might, if one were talking about anybody other than a rookie pitcher for the Colorado Rockies. Francis even provided some hope for the future of the team, because if you looked at his Home/Away splits, he actually pitched better at Coors than he did elsewhere. He even duplicated Jason Jennings' rookie number of 13 Quality Starts, but reversed the locational division by pitching 9 of them in Denver. Colorado still lost 95 games, but Francis did show up on a couple Rookie of the Year ballots. As previously mentioned, the voters saw he had 14 wins as a rookie on the team that played half their games in Home Run Derby: The Ballpark. 2006 carried a lot of promise for the Rockies pitching staff, and somehow, some way, they didn't let down. Francis did win fewer games, going 13-11, but he did so with a 4.16 ERA, over 1.50 lower than in 2005. The best part was it was second best on the staff, and only barely avoided being third. Jason Jennings (3.78) had returned to form, and number 2 starter Aaron Cook (4.23) blossomed into a legitimate option. Between the three of them, they only allowed 52 home runs in 600+ innings, roughly half of which were pitched at a veritable baseball trampoline meetup every time teams played there. Francis even pitched a complete game shutout against the eventual World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, and he did it at Coors Field no less. The bullpen showed up too, with dependable closer Brian Fuentes saving 30 games, a 40-year-old Jose Mesa finding remnants of his better self, and youngsters like Ramon Ramirez and Manny Corpas doing their part as well. Them and the rest combined to allow 812 runs that year, the lowest total a Rockies team had ever allowed over a 162-game season. Pity the offense fell asleep. Todd Helton had a down year, as his .880 OPS was his lowest in almost ten years (this man was so good). To supplement, the regular hitting core of Matt Holliday, Garrett Atkins, and Brad Hawpe just didn't do enough to finish better than 76-86. However, the groundwork had been set, and with actual good pitching for the first time in what seemed like forever, the Colorado Rockies and Jeff Francis could, possibly, compete in 2007. That next year, the Colorado Rockies won the NL Pennant. The biggest reasons that this happened were Matt Holliday and Todd Helton improving on their already stellar hitting numbers, Brad Hawpe batting in runs like there was no tomorrow, second baseman Kaz Matsui and rookie phenom Troy Tulowitzki holding the middle infield hostage with their amazing defense, and the dependable backstop of Yorvit Torrealba behind the dish. Add in a platoon at center field that had Steve Finley in it for some reason, Garrett Atkins having a down year in the field but still coming in clutch at the plate, and more utility players than you could shake a stick at, and you have the 2007 Rockies. That's the narrative that formed in the months and years following Rocktober. It also completely ignores just how instrumental the pitching was to that team. That staff and bullpen combined to allow just 758 runs, blowing the previous year's new low to pieces. Only 8 games would be started by pitchers whose ERAs were above 5 at the end of the year. That number had never been below 30. While bullpen arm Ramirez may have lost his touch, Fuentes and Corpas didn't, and they were joined by Jeremy Affeldt, LaTroy Hawkins, and Matt Herges as the best bullpen Colorado had ever seen. And hey, did I mention the rotation? While Jennings had been traded and Cook would do well before an injury, everyone else stepped up. Josh Fogg, who had struggled the past two years, put together his best season as a Rockie. Offseason acquisitions Rodrigo Lopez, Jason Hirsh, and Taylor Buchholz proved they could do just fine in Denver. A young fellow by the name of Ubaldo Jimenez even got his licks in, winning 4 games and striking out 68 in 15 starts. And then, at the top of the rotation, sporting a 17-9 record and 165 strikeouts which were both best on the team by a mile, was Jeff Francis. He had emerged as the ace, even receiving Cy Young consideration at the end of the year. This 26-year-old was the future of this team's pitching. Allowing just three runs in two playoff starts showed he could perform in the postseason as well. Ignore the 6-run outing in the World Series, that doesn't count. Clearly, the Rockies would be a force to be reckoned with for years to come, and any challengers to their throne would have to go through Jeff Francis, whose nerves of steel didn't care of he was pitching a mile above sea level or on the moon. Or at least, that's what it seemed like. Don't get me wrong, Francis' 2007 year was great, and he earned the single fifth-place Cy Young vote he got. However, his numbers weren't the stuff that aces are made of, and his ballot inclusion strikes me more as "including the best pitcher on the team that won the pennant" than it does a vote for the fifth best pitcher that year. His 4.22 ERA wasn't even the best on the staff, and his 25 home runs allowed were far from exemplary. The excitement that surrounded that Rockies team was incredible, but it also cast aside any warning signs that Francis' numbers might have shown. The 2008 season would see him start Opening Day against the Cardinals, only for it to get rained out in the third inning. Thus his first real test came against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The last time they met, Francis threw a Quality Start, which just so happened to be Game 1 of the NLCS. Francis, who up to this point had owned Arizona, allowed 12 hits, 3 home runs, and 5 runs to take the loss. His next start was against the Diamondbacks again, but this time at Chase Field, which was a venue that he had not lost at in his four trips there. This visit would see Arizona lay 3 home runs on him again, and plate 7 runs for him to take the loss again. Cracks were beginning to show. By the end of June, Francis was 3-7, had allowed 63 earned runs and 17 homers, and was on his way to the DL with shoulder inflammation. After a couple rehab starts showed he was back in tip-top shape, he came back, and started 7 games, 6 of which were Quality Starts. He also got shut down in the middle of September, since the Rockies were out of playoff contention by that point, and his coaches felt it would be better for his shoulder. Francis' final numbers were 4-10, an ERA of 5.01, and 21 homers allowed in 24 starts. Things went even further south when it was announced in February of 2009 that the September shutdown hadn't stopped him from requiring arthroscopic surgery. Francis would miss the entirety of that year's season, further delaying the opportunity for his return to form. In spring training of 2010, it was determined he still wasn't quite ready, and he began that year on the DL. After a couple more rehab starts went his way, he returned in May, winning his first contest back against the Nationals after tossing 7 innings of 1-run ball. That season would see still more ups and downs, with eight of his starts being Quality, and eleven not so much. He finished the year 4-6 in 19 games started with an ERA of 5.00, but there were signs that things were improving. His FIP of 3.88 was the lowest of his career. His K/BB of 2.91 was the highest of his career. His 1.361 WHIP was the lowest it had been in years. Even his home/away splits were still roughly equivalent. And yet, the Rockies, who would most likely have needed to tender a contract of around $7 million to retain the lefty, didn't see that sort of value in him anymore. They granted him free agency at the end of the season, and just three years after being the star pitcher on a World Series team, Jeff Francis was without a job. Was it worth it for anybody to take a chance on him? The Royals had just completed a 95-loss season, and were still rather far away from serious contention, but needed somebody to start games, so they gave Jeff Francis a call. A $2 million offer over one year got accepted, and a 6-16 record, 4.82 ERA, and overall "meh" season later, Kansas City bid him adieu. The Rockies, feeling sorry for the poor sap after a deal with the Reds fell flat, re-signed him for a couple years, watched him go 9-12 with an ERA hovering right around 6, and figured the good times had passed, turning him loose after 2013. In 2014, the Reds tried again. 8 triple-A starts and one losing MLB start with Cincinnati led to a waiver claim by the Oakland A's. Then 9 games in relief and one loss as an Athletic led to a trade to the Yankees. Two games of cleanup pitching and one win with New York led to a trip to free agency because they released him. Francis finished the year signing a contract with Toronto in October, and the Blue Jays were the only team he played for in 2015. He pitched in 14 games before getting reassigned to the triple-A Buffalo Bisons for the rest of the year, and once he wasn't brought back for the next year, Jeff Francis announced his retirement that December. Sure, Jeff Francis wasn't the best at pitching. Sure, he lost more games than he won, and he could never really be considered "elite." Sure, injuries derailed his career from ever getting back to where it once was headed. All that may be true. But when it comes to Rockies pitching development, that's honestly par for the course. Actually it's a bit better than par. Maybe a birdie, but not quite an eagle. Jeff Francis' career went way better than many other Rockies top pitching prospects. Who remembers Chin-hui Tsao? Or Lariel Gonzalez? Or Dough Million? Exactly. Okay, you probably didn't remember Jeff Francis either, but trust me, he's better than those guys. All in all, the story of Jeff Francis doesn't get the credit I think he merits, especially for the part where he was the first Canadian pitcher to do a bunch of stuff. First Canadian to start a World Series Game 1, first Sorry-sayer to pitch to another Hockey-Lover, first Regular-Tim-Hortons-drinker to start Opening Day... too much? Jeff Francis would visit the Hall of Fame in a Colorado Rockies cap for his 64-62 record, 742 strikeouts, and 8 years played for the team. He'd also wear his gold medal he won at the 2015 Pan America Games as part of Team Canada. But wait, there's more! Too much more. Dear me. #1: Randy Choate #2: Kevin Gregg #3: Dan Uggla #4: Josh Hamilton #5: Delmon Young #6: Willie Bloomquist #7: Grady Sizemore #8: Kevin Correia #9: David DeJesus #10: Rafael Betancourt #11: Clint Barmes #12: Adam LaRoche #13: Grant Balfour #14: Randy Wolf #15: Rafael Soriano #16: Chris Denorfia #17: Bruce Chen #18: Cody Ross #19: Scott Baker
Better Know the Ones Left Off the Ballot #14: Randy Wolf
Sup. You might be wondering what this is. In short, the Hall of Fame ballot doesn't include everyone who qualifies for it. Some dudes cut off names they don't like or remember to make it shorter. This is where I talk about the guys who got cut. I've done this 13 other times if you couldn't tell by the number and they're at the bottom if you want to read them after this one. Now to this one.
Randy Wolf
Bill James Hall of Fame Monitor: 6 Career bWAR (16 years): 22.8 (19.5 w/o batting) Stats: 133-125, 4.24 ERA, 99 ERA+, 379 GS, 2328.1 IP, 831 BB, 1814 K, 1.349 WHIP League Leading Stats: Games Started (34, 2009) Awards: All-Star (2003) Teams Played For: Phillies (1999-2006), Dodgers (2007, 2009), Padres (2008), Astros (2008), Brewers (2010-12), Orioles (2012), Marlins (2014), Tigers (2015) Famed poet Lucille Clifton once wrote, "There is a girl inside. She is randy as a wolf. She will not walk away and leave these bones to an old woman." Seemed as good an opening as any to talk about the person that poem was clearly referencing, Randy Asa Wolf. (Please ignore the part where his middle name is actually Christopher) Wolf was a left-handed starting pitcher for 16 years, played on several teams, did pretty well sometimes, not so well some other times, and retired. Generally, pitchers like him are remembered in the hearts and minds of fans of the teams he pitched for, but not by an appearance on the ballot. Players like Steve Trachsel, Kevin Tapani, and Ismael Valdez suffered a similar fate. And so it was for Randy. All the same, he did a fair amount during his career. Certainly didn't walk away and leave those bones to an old woman. When Randy Wolf was but a Randy Pup, he was drafted in the 25th round of the 1994 draft out of high school. He went to Pepperdine instead, and did so well that in 1997, the Phillies chose him with their 2nd round pick. He'd end up being their highest signed draft choice because J.D. Drew elected not to sign with them after being selected second overall. Much like wolf pups acclimate to the outside world in just a couple months, it didn't take very long for Randy to get used to the baseball world. His 5-0 record and 1.80 ERA in seven lower-A starts showed he was 100% worth the Phillies' high pick. The next year, before he'd even turned 22, Randy was starting games at the triple-A level, and doing very well. In roughly the same time it takes a wolf to reach full maturity, two years after he was drafted, Randy Canis Lupus was on a Major League roster. For his first appearance, he'd be starting a game versus the Toronto Blue Jays. A Blue Jays team whose heart of the lineup was Shawn Green, Carlos Delgado, and Tony Fernandez was held to only six hits and one run in 5.2 innings from Randy Wolf. After he'd captured a win in 5 of his first 7 starts, his spot in the rotation became permanent. Especially noteworthy considering he had competition like Chad Ogea and Carlton Loewer, who are recognized in several circles as "Who Now" and "Should I Know Him." Wolf's year ended on a sour note, both as a pitcher and a member of the Phillies. After that 5-0 start, Wolf would start 14 more games, and go 1-9 in them with a 6.90 ERA throughout. Likewise, Philadelphia, who were 67-59 a week before September started, went 1-16 over their next 17 games, and limped into the offseason at 77-85. While Wolf's 6-9, 5.55 ERA year was definitely worse than he'd wanted, it was still worth 0.3 bWAR. After all, this was the late 90s, and balanced breakfasts of testosterone and HGH were all the rage. He also struck out 116 so that helped too. The positives of his time starting games, coupled with the fact he was only 23 at season's end, all but glued his name to a rotation spot for the next year. Much in the way that wolves stick together, Randy Wolf would remain a fixture in the Phillies rotation for the next seven years. He'd start 169 games, going 63-51 with a 4.06 ERA, 855 strikeouts, 367 walks, a 1.303 WHIP, and a 105 ERA+. He had his share of highs and lows with the team. And there were many highs, and many lows.
In 2000, he held the Brewers at bay with a quality start in early July, and gave the 38-44 Phillies a glimmer of hope that they could turn the season around. Then he watched the team trade staff ace Curt Schilling three weeks later, and despite Wolf’s 11-9 record and 3.0 bWAR, Philadelphia ended up losing 97 games.
In 2001, he had the best start of the Phillies' year in late September: a 1H, 1BB, 8K shutout of the Cincinnati Reds. He faced only 28 batters, and almost singlehandedly kept the team in the playoff hunt that day. Then Philadelphia finished at 86-76, losing the division race to the Braves with just three games left. 10-11 and a 3.70 ERA with 152 strikeouts in 25 starts was all Wolf could give, but it wasn't quite enough.
In 2002, Wolf took his turn as the staff ace, putting up the lowest ERA, the lowest WHIP, and the most strikeouts of any regular Phillies pitcher that year. Over a four-start stretch between August 16th and September 5th, Wolf pitched three complete games and 35 total innings, allowed only one run, struck out 30, and sent the Wolf Pack, his special cheering section, into a frenzy. He pitched those games, and another 8-inning 1-hit 2-walk no-run 11-strikeout masterpiece a week later, in memory of a member of that cheering section who tragically lost his life earlier that year. He also only got the Phillies just above .500 with those games, at a time when the wild card was all but out of reach. They'd finish at 80-81, 21.5 games behind the Braves, and 15 games behind the wild-card Giants.
In 2003, Kevin Millwood was acquired in the offseason, meaning Wolf, thankfully, would no longer be expected to be the staff ace. Nevertheless, after his first 17 starts, he was 9-3 with 100 third strikes. On the back of his record, and the unexpected success of the Phillies who were in a wild card spot at that point, he was voted into the All-Star game for the first time in his career. He slowed down toward the end of September, but was still good, finishing at 16-10 with a 4.23 ERA and a career best 177 strikeouts. The Phillies were within a game of the wild card with just five games left in the season. A three-game sweep by the team ahead of them, the Florida Marlins, ended their playoff hopes prematurely, with Wolf allowing four runs in four innings to lose the last of the series, and the wild card clincher, in Miami.
From 2004 to 2006 Wolf went 15-12 over the three-year stretch. His team would go from 86-76 to 88-74 to 85-77 over that time. He'd strike out 198 in his 48 starts, and while his 4.58 ERA was just good enough for a 99 ERA+, the Wolf Pack wouldn't let up. He even hit two home runs when he was facing the Rockies. Game was in Philadelphia, if you can believe it. And yet, he had injury problems that caused him to miss the majority of both June and September in 2004. Then after he hadn’t missed a start in 2005, he was diagnosed with a torn UCL right before the All-Star break and would require Tommy John surgery, shutting him down until the last week of July, 2006. His team was good during that time, but would also miss the playoffs all three years, and even if they hadn't, Wolf wouldn't have been able to pitch in any of them.
Finally, after the season when he turned 30 ended with a 5.56 ERA, the Phillies thanked him for his contributions, and made him a lone Wolf. Where might a pitcher find work having just started his fourth decade of life? Not a month into free agency, as they often do, the lone Wolf found new territory far away from his previous home. Randy signed a 1-year, $7.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. This was a pack that had gone to the playoffs the previous year after some serious retooling, particularly in the pitching department. 36-year-old Aaron Sele and 40-year-old Greg Maddux had made serious impacts despite their AARP cards. Knowing that wasn't sustainable, the Dodgers' plan for Wolf was to inject some comparative youth into the rotation, try him out for one year, and leave the door open with a second-year option. He did okay to start out, with 6 of his first 11 Dodgers starts being Quality Starts, including a particularly good 7 innings of no-run 4-hit 11-strikeout stuff against the Cincinnati Reds. He finished May at 6-3 with a 3.41 ERA and 71 strikeouts. June wasn't as good, as he emerged at the end of the month with a 9-6 record and a 4.33 ERA after allowing at least 3 runs in each of his 6 starts. Then on July 3rd, after a particularly bad 3-inning 6-run outing, the Wolf began to hobble. His throwing shoulder was bothering him, and after electing to have surgery on it, his season was over. So was his time as a member of the Dodgers, who turned him loose that offseason. The Wolf found temporary shelter in a monastery as the Padres gave him a 1-year $5 million contract. In just his third start, against the Rockies, Randy was close to making that contract monumentally good. He had thrown 6 shutout, no-hit innings, which is generally not super noteworthy, but the San Diego Padres had never had a no-hitter in their history. Alas, it would stay that way, as person-who-dislikes-fun Brad Hawpe singled in the 7th, and Wolf was pulled after he finished the inning. It seemed to throw off his game as well, as after only allowing three runs through his first three starts combined for an ERA of 1.42, by mid-July, Randy had caused it to rise to 4.74. Pair that with a 6-10 record and a trend toward his worst career ERA+, and things weren't looking good. San Diego, who had already lost 60 games by that point, decided to save some money, and traded Wolf's $5 million to the Houston Astros for the league minimum of 26-year-old Chad Reineke. Apparently the Astros knew what they were doing, because, much like the constellation 9Lupus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupus_(constellation\)), when Wolf joined the stars, he shined. In 12 starts, he went 6-2, lowered his ERA on the season to 4.30, and struck out 57. Houston, who was 8 games below .500 when they acquired him, got as close as 2 games out of the Wild Card spot before finishing the year 86-75, an admirable turnaround. The next season would provide intrigue into whether they could keep that up. They would have to do it without Randy Wolf, who was once again granted permission to the pastures of free agency. At 32 years old, was there any chance this old dog still had some new tricks? Despite being named the 27th best free agent available by MLB Trade Rumors and being one of the catalysts for a rather successful team down the stretch, Wolf swam the rivers of free agency for a good three months before finally being offered a contract to come back to the Dodgers. Yet another 1-year, $5 million contract, but it was far better than being left to fend for himself in that harsh wilderness. Unlike the 2007 Dodgers he was familiar with, who would go on to miss the playoffs after Wolf injured himself, the 2009 Dodgers were coming off a run to the NLCS. A recent foreign signing that paid off in Hiroki Kuroda, a proven young arm in Chad Billingsley, and a 21-year-old wild card named Clayton Kershaw were all ready to anchor a starting rotation. Wolf was brought on for his experience, and maybe if he could pitch here and there that'd be nice too. Well, he did that and more. At the age of 32, Randy Wolf had his best season in seven years. His record of 11-7 was his best since the year he was an All-Star. His 3.23 ERA was his best since the year he was the Phillies' ace. His 1.101 WHIP was his lowest in his career. He started 34 games, the first time he'd ever hit that high a number in a single season. Same goes for his 214.1 innings pitched. While Clayton Kershaw doubtless had the better mechanics, clearly exhibited in his lower peripherals in almost every pitcher vs. hitter metric, people who didn't care about all that stathead mumbo-jumbo saw Randy Wolf return to the mantle of staff ace. To top it all off, the Dodgers offense was exemplary. The outfield had a collective OPS above .825, and only two regular starters, Russell Martin the catcher and Rafael Furcal the shortstop, put up an OPS+ below 100. All that, plus a great bullpen, added up to a 95-67 record, and their second straight NL West division crown. Their quick dispatch of the Cardinals in an NLDS sweep was kicked off by Game 1 starter Randy Wolf, who earned a no-decision that day. He showed up again as the starter of Game 4 of the NLCS played against his old team in Philadelphia. Game 4 would end with Jonathan Broxton allowing a walkoff two-run double to Jimmy Rollins, who was teammates with Randy for six years. The Dodgers lost Game 4, then the decisive Game 5, and ended up watching the Phillies lose the World Series to the Yankees. Randy Wolf, on the other hand, was set to hunt for a team in the wooded country of free agency another time. Would this hunt fare any better? Randy Wolf had the good fortune of being among a particularly lean crop of free agents, and having just had a year where he could be argued as the staff ace of a 95-win team, his value was as high as it ever had been. MLB Trade Rumors, therefore, rated him as the 5th best free agent available. The four names ahead of him, Matt Holliday, John Lackey, Jason Bay, and Chone Figgins, show just how weak this class was. Perfect prey for a wolf to pounce upon to gain ground. Monetarily, of course. And that he did, signing a 3-year, $29.75 million dollar contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. This contract was roughly equivalent to double what he'd earned over the past three years. It pays to be aggressive when it matters, whether you are prowling for food in the forest or prowling for a contract in the MLB. While Randy Wolf was certainly still crafty, the Brewers were giving a three-year contract with seven zeroes on it to a pitcher not named Randy Johnson or Nolan Ryan who would be 36 before it was over. Would the risk pay off? Well, old dogs can often still go in for the kill. In his first two years, Wolf went 26-22 in 67 starts. His 3.93 ERA and ERA+ of 101 was commendable, his total of 276 strikeouts was above average, and his 1839 batters faced were the most he'd ever endured over any two-year stretch of his career. Randy was even privy to some playoff action in 2011, when he allowed seven runs in a possible NLDS series-clincher against Arizona, but made up for it with a Quality Start and eventual Win in Game 4 of the NLCS. The Brewers won the series where he sucked, and lost the series where he was good. Wolf may have taken the wrong idea, because the next year he began sucking a lot more. By mid-August, he was 3-10 with a 5.69 ERA, but contrary to the previous experiment, Milwaukee was not doing well, and by this time was all but out of the playoff picture. On August 22, 2012, Randy Wolf was released by Milwaukee on what just so happened to be his 36th birthday. Told you his contract wouldn't end before then. A pity deal from the Baltimore Orioles led to two more starts and three more appearances, but didn't translate into an appearance on their playoff roster on account of another UCL tear that meant he would miss an entire year, this time not sandwiched between two seasons of play, but for the whole calendar year of 2013. Some might think that a 37-year-old coming off of his second Tommy John surgery would decide it was time to hang up his cleats and retire. Randy Wolf, not one to settle for easy meat, did not do that. On Febraury 13th, 2014, after completing his rehab, Wolf signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners. Then he got released after refusing to sign a waiver. Long story. A couple weeks later, he signed another minor league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Despite a 5-1 record over 6 AAA starts, the Snakes didn't want to keep him, and he was released again. That same day, he was picked up by the Marlins on another minor league contract. One month and 25.2 MLB innings of 5.26 ERA ball and a 1-3 record later, he was released again, only to be scooped up five days later on another minor league contract with the Baltimore Orioles. Four lackluster weeks of triple-A baseball later, Wolf was released again only for two weeks to pass before he was offered another minor league contract from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. ARE YOU STILL WITH ME?!? Good. The Angels kept him on their AAA squad for the remainder of the year. His previous season, he'd gone 6-2 with a 4.57 ERA in 19 triple-A games spread across three different organizations, and that sluggish performance in Miami was the only time he put on an MLB jersey during the regular season. Remember kids, someday signing a waiver might mean you don’t have to move house four times in one year. Anyway, the next spring training, Wolf signed a minor league contract with the Blue Jays OH NO IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN. Except this time, the Blue Jays kept him on their triple-A squad for four months of the regular season. He went 9-2 with a 2.58 ERA in 23 starts. The Detroit Tigers saw that, said "what's the worst that could happen?" and in mid-August, traded their up-and-coming prospect Cash Considerations for Randy Wolf. He thanked them by going 0-5 in 7 starts, allowing 24 earned runs in 34.2 innings for a 6.23 ERA, and getting released that offseason. At long last, the Wolf saw that his final days were upon him, and signed a one-day contract with the Phillies to retire as a member of his original Wolf Pack. Is this the part where he cries to the blue corn moon? To say Randy Wolf's career was one-of-a-kind would be a stretch. There are plenty of other lefties that have gone on to have similar careers, Floyd Bannister for one. Did Randy deserve to be on the ballot? That's a question that doesn't have an easy answer. Sure, he pitched for a long time, won more games than he lost, and was relatively good over a fairly lengthy stretch. He even places 116th on the all-time strikeouts list with 1814, right ahead of Hall-of-Famer and 350-game winner Pud Galvin. Heck, Ron Darling had similar stats across the board, and he even showed up on a ballot. And yet, to me there's just something about him that just says "he didn't belong there." Perhaps it's the fact that he was only the definitive staff ace on one team that only won 80 games. Perhaps it's the fact he only had four full seasons with an ERA below 4.00. It might even be the fact that after he came back despite the odds, he didn't do very well, and that's poisoning my thoughts on him. I don't know. I do know he wasn't on the ballot, and that's that. [Put another stupid wolf thing here] Randy Wolf would visit the Hall of Fame in a Phillies cap for his 69-60 record, 971 strikeouts, and one All-Star selection with the club. While there he would let out a quiet but distinct howl when passing by Greg "Mad Dog" Maddux's plaque. RIP Tommy Lasorda #1: Randy Choate #2: Kevin Gregg #3: Dan Uggla #4: Josh Hamilton #5: Delmon Young #6: Willie Bloomquist #7: Grady Sizemore #8: Kevin Correia #9: David DeJesus #10: Rafael Betancourt #11: Clint Barmes #12: Adam LaRoche #13: Grant Balfour
Alabama Slammers Franchise Report - Year 15: The Next Generation
Welcome back to year fifteen of the Alabama Slammers Franchise Report! Here are the links to the previous versions if you want to catch up (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032,2033, 2034). Previous Season Highlights: Jeff Hopper wins NL batting crown. Edgar Sanchez wins his fifth straight gold glove. Edgar Sanchez and Ivan Manso win platinum stick awards. Tommy Noonan wins reliever of the year award. 8 players make all-star team. 119 wins during regular season. Crushing first-round playoff loss. Start of Offseason: As with the previous versions, I’ll list the moves I made, the rationale behind those moves, the season results, and the future outlook. Here are the salaries heading into the offseason. \Unless stated otherwise, all players were re-signed to their one-year arbitration estimate* Departures (non-trades): Luis Godoy Godoy had a great three years with the Slammers, highlighted by his amazing playoff run in 2032 when he won NLCS and World Series MVP. He didn’t get the 9/$378m he wanted to re-sign but San Diego gave him a nice chunk of change in free agency. They signed him to an 8/$278.2 contract and we received a supplemental first round pick. He had a good year this season, but his ratings have already started to slip, suggesting this contract will be an albatross sooner than later. Joey Hudson I really thought Hudson was my long-term answer in center field, but injuries derailed his career, leading to his release at the start of the season. He signed a minor league contract with the White Sox and got to play a few games in the majors. Josh McBride McBride was decent in his two years in the majors, but I decided to go with other options. He still looks like a solid player and could get called up again as an injury replacement. Manny Monzon Monzon was supplanted by Steve Flores last year and then sent back to AAA, where he suffered a few injuries and saw his injury proneness downgraded to fragile. I could’ve kept him around in the minors but decided to give the playing time to guys with better upside. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees and ended up starting 54 games in the majors. Chris Ryan Ryan had a solid six year run with us, but I decided to let him walk as a free agent. He signed a 1/$4.08m deal with the Phillies and was mediocre. Move #1: Signed Edgar Sanchez to an 8/$192m extension. The last year is a team option with a $4m buyout. Sanchez is my most irreplaceable player, so there was no chance I was letting him go. He won the gold glove and platinum stick award at second base last year, has great character, and has never seen an injury. I think this is a fair deal for both sides. Move #2: Slammers Receive: Wil Mireles, $7m Cash Red Sox Receive: Ivan Manso, Josh Sheppard, Steve Bacon It’s interesting to see how my trade philosophy has shifted from winning the value battle to acquiring specific pieces. We’re giving up two really good players, and another solid one, in exchange for one guy, but that one guy is exactly what I need. Mireles won a gold glove in center field last year and should be an excellent leadoff man. Manso and Sheppard are good players, but I have minor leaguers that can approximate what they do. I don’t have anyone that can do what Mireles does. Move #3 (Part 1,Part 2,Part 3): Slammers Receive: $30m Cash Slammers Lose: Ray Zaragoza, Caleb Gunther, Glen Alcorn I just sold three guys that could all make all-star teams the next few years, but I think I can justify it. Zaragoza was the easiest to part with. He had season ending injuries in each of his years as a starter and it’s not even a guarantee he’d make the majors if healthy. I’m willing to take the chance he doesn’t amount to anything. Gunther is a solid player, but he’s not going to supplant Mireles as the center field starter, and I have other guys that can serve as utility outfielders. Also, he’s fragile. Then Alcorn is one of my favorite players, but I need to clear room for the guy I’m signing in move #5. I just can’t justify keeping a fragile pitcher over my other guys that are durable. Move #4: Signed free agent Drew Romo to a 2/$22.5m deal. The first year is for $15m and the second year is for $7.5m. This is about $20m more than I wanted to pay for Romo but I got into a bidding war with the Dodgers. I thought about just letting him walk but don’t have any reasonable way to replace his production. Move #5: Signed free agent Jose Aguilar to a 5/$55m deal. The last year is a team option with a $1m buyout. Aguilar is one of the best relievers in the game and should form an unstoppable duo with Noonan. The deal is heavily front loaded, so if he starts to regress, I should be able to move him. In-House Moves (Preseason): Bobby Butler promoted from AAA. Will be a member of the starting rotation. Jose Macias promoted from AAA. Will be a member of the bullpen. Bob Banks promoted from AAA. Will start in left field. Julio Guerra promoted from AA. Will start in right field vs. RHP and serve as the utility outfielder vs LHP. Edwin Mireles promoted from AAA. Will start in right field vs. LHP and serve as the utility outfielder vs RHP. Final Financial Situation: We have about $31m in available funds to start the year, so should be able to do anything we need to. Here are the salaries heading into the season. Season Outlook: We had a lot of turnover for a team that won 119 games last year, but I think the young guys and new acquisitions are all going to shine. If we stay healthy, we should win 100+ games and make the playoffs. Hopefully, we can break our streak of losing in the first round. Move #6 (Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4,Part 5,Part 6,Part 7): Slammers Receive: $20.8m Cash Slammers Lose: Daniel Ventura, Eric Scarpino, Ernesto Mendoza, Josh Huffman, Juan Rodriguez, Micah Laroe, Sean Vipperman, Tetsuo Nakamura Our draft pick signing bonuses were pretty hefty since we selected three players with “impossible” demands, so we had to scrounge up some more cash. There are some interesting pieces amongst the players we lost, but nothing that’s going to make a difference at the highest levels. Batters: Primary Lineupvs. RHPandvs. LHPwhen Healthy (\DH enabled in both leagues, lineup vs. RHP shown below)* CF – Wil Mireles Mireles was brought in to provide gold glove defense in center field, and he did just that, winning his second straight award. He did well in the leadoff spot, but I have a couple of young guys that’ll probably force him lower in the order next year. 1B – Ernesto Bernal I thought moving Bernal back to the two spot would get him back on track, but I’m starting to worry he’s just getting old and regressing. I’ll bring him back for the last year of his deal then see where we’re at after that. DH – Jeff Hopper Somehow, Hopper continues to improve. He made his third all-star team, won the batting crown for the second straight year, won the batter of the month in July, won his first platinum stick award, and finished third in the MVP voting. He’ll return for his last arbitration season then probably leave as a free agent. LF – Bob Banks Banks was everything I hoped for and more. He was a force in the middle of the lineup, hitting 52 homers and driving in 126 runs. He won rookie of the month in July and September, took the rookie of the year by unanimous vote, and finished fourth in the MVP voting. 2B – Edgar Sanchez The 192-million-dollar man continues to be one of the best players in the game. He started the all-star game, won his sixth consecutive gold glove and his second straight platinum stick award. He looks well on his way to the hall of fame. 3B – Alexis Colon Colon was a great two-year rental but will be leaving as a free agent. There’s no way I’m giving him the 8/$184m he wants to re-sign. RF – Julio Guerra Guerra spent about 50 games in the majors and was awful. I sent him back to AA to make room for my number one prospect. He might get another shot next year as a utility guy. SS – Steve Flores Flores doesn’t provide much offensively but he’s the best defensive short stop in the game. He won the gold glove there, which should be the first of many to come. C – Drew Romo Speaking of all defense no offense players, Romo went back to his usual ways at the plate after signing his big contract. I’m not mad though, he’s probably worth what I’m paying him. Bench C – Danny Wells Wells is the right-handed version of Romo and will be back for a fourth season. IF – Justus Evans Evans is a legitimate talent that probably deserves a starting role, but he’ll have to wait until he plays elsewhere for that opportunity. IF – Chris McClain McClain is perfect in his role, so I see no reason not to bring him back. OF – Edwin Mireles Mireles is an all-star talent but can’t stay healthy. He’s trade bait. Replacements OF – Marco Vazquez Vazquez was a revelation the last two-thirds of the year. He had to learn right field on the fly, but his offense was great the whole way through. He’ll have a starting role next year, I’m just not sure where yet. He can play almost anywhere. OF – Andy Vera Vera was called up during Edwin Mireles multiple IL stints and I decided to leave him up when Mireles returned the last time. He’s an above average defender at multiple positions and holds his own at the plate. He’ll have a role next season. Pitchers: Pitching Staff when Healthy SP – Gilles Palacios Palacios continues to add to his hall of fame resume, winning his third Cy Young and making his sixth all-star team. He’ll be back next season. SP – Corey MacDonald Speaking of hall of fame resumes, MacDonald continues to improve his chances with his fifth all-star appearance and a fifth place Cy Young finish. He has one more arbitration season, but I’ll probably try to lock him up long term. SP – Andy Schaffer Schaffer got back on track this year, posting his best season yet. He still hasn’t made an all-star team but finished second in the Cy Young voting. SP – Eddie Copping Copping’s ratings have come a long way since his major league debut in 2033 and he’d be the ace on a lot of other teams. As is, he’s our fourth best guy, but that was good enough for a fourth place Cy Young finish and a pitcher of the month award in June. SP – Bobby Butler We have an embarrassment of riches at the starting pitcher position, as Butler is another guy in the back of our rotation that would anchor a lot of other staffs. He had a great rookie year and will be back for a second season. RP – Alan McCarter The team prankster continues to churn out above average seasons. We have him for at least two more arbitration seasons, which he’ll definitely return for. RP – Jose Macias Macias didn’t get many opportunities this year and wasn’t very good in the ones he had. I’m betting there’s more to him than his performance showed though, so he’ll be back next year. RP – Danny Ibarra I’m not really sure what happened with Ibarra this season. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he took a visit to the Guru. He has an arbitration estimate of ~$4m next year, and I have an excess of lefty relievers, so there’s a good chance he doesn’t return. RP – Mike Ruhs Ruhs wasn’t terrible but I probably won’t bring him back due his age and upcoming free agent status. RP – Joe McKinney I’d love to have McKinney back next year, but not at the 4/$36m he’s requesting. I’ll let him enter free agency and see if I can get him at a better price. RP – Tommy Noonan Noonan had another dominant season, making his fourth all-star team and winning his third consecutive reliever of the year award. I’ll bring him back for his last arbitration season and hopefully work out a long-term extension next year. RP – Jose Aguilar Aguilar was mad as a hornet that I didn’t give him the closer role. Fortunately, we had enough talent around him to compensate for his substandard play, but we’ll have to re-evaluate his role with the team if he continues to play like this next season. RP – Jonathan Kelsey Kelsey is really good out of the bullpen and we have two more years of team control, so hopefully he accepts his fate as a reliever by then so he can continue to hang around. Replacements SP – Chris Larkin Larkin was called up when rosters expanded and pitched well as the sixth starter. He’s a perfectly capable major league pitcher but I don’t have a place for him. RP – Steve Hixson I thought Hixson was an interesting piece but not interesting enough to protect him in the rule 5 draft, so the Expos picked him up. He played well for them, but they released him back anyways, allowing me to give him a shot with us when rosters expanded. He was really good in limited appearances and I think he’ll be a member of the bullpen next season. Season Results: The regular season has almost become a formality at this point. We curb stomped the competition en route to 115 wins and a run differential of +333, but it really doesn’t matter if we lose in the first round again. Everyone other than Flores is healthy to start the offseason, but his injury is only a day-to-day and he’s available to play. We’re going with a playoff rotation of MacDonald, Palacios, Schaffer, and Copping. Butler will move to the bullpen. Our first-round matchup is against the 102-60 Phillies, led by veterans Pete Alonso and Kyle Brnovich and rising stars Mike Alarcon and Jonathan Magee. They have one of the best offenses in baseball and a solid pitching staff, but we should come out on top if everything goes right. Divisional Series Game 1, Slammers Win 7-1 – We started off the series great, getting 7.1 innings of one run ball from MacDonald and a strong showing from the offense. The veteran Bernal led the way with 3 RBIs. Divisional Series Game 2, Phillies Win 6-2 – This one was close most of the way, but Palacios gave up a two-run shot in the seventh, then left the bases loaded in the eighth for Noonan to give up a grand slam. The offense couldn’t come through when it mattered and left nine on base. Divisional Series Game 3, Slammers Win 6-5 (11) – Game three was back and forth throughout, with us coming through late. The rookie Vazquez had a run scoring single to tie it in the top of the ninth and Evans had a pinch hit go-ahead solo homer in the eleventh. Flores tacked on a sac-fly that gave us enough to hold on, as Ibarra allowed a run in the bottom of the eleventh before closing them out. Divisional Series Game 4, Phillies Win 7-5 – Copping did enough to win but Aguilar and Ibarra gave up a combined three runs in the bottom of the eighth to blow the lead and put them ahead. Evans had 3 RBIs in the loss. Divisional Series Game 5, Slammers Win 11-8 – This one wasn’t pretty but we won the shootout 11-8, with Hopper led the way on offense with 3 RBIs. We’re heading back home and just need to win one more to close out the series. Divisional Series Game 6, Slammers Win 4-1 – Three time Cy Young award winner Palacios came through huge to close out the series. He gave up one run over eight innings and struck out ten. Banks led the way on offense with two home runs and four RBIs, taking series MVP. We finally broke our first-round drought! Words can’t state my relief. I don’t care if I get swept next series, I just had to get out of the first round. Up next is the 99-63 Rockies, led by ace pitcher Steve Delaney and our old friend Robby Teeter. This is a strength-on-strength matchup, as they have the best offense and us the best defense. NLCS Game 1, Slammers Win 7-1 – We started off the NLCS with a bang, winning game one 7-1. Schaffer gave up one run over 6.1 innings and Banks led the way on offense with a two-run homer. NLCS Game 2, Slammers Win 9-8 (15) – This one was a wild back and forth affair that was decided in the bottom of the fifteenth with a walk-off home run from Hopper. Everyone chipped in on offense, as no player had more than one RBI. NLCS Game 3, Slammers Win 12-4 – The offense exploded with twelve runs, led by Banks with 4 RBIs. MacDonald pitched well, giving up two runs over six innings. NLCS Game 4, Slammers Win 15-7 – I was worried about the Rockies offense at Coors, but it seems they should’ve been the ones worried about us. Banks, Colon, and Romo had 3 RBIs a piece in a dominant offensive performance, with Banks taking series MVP once again. We’ll be playing the 89-73 Angels in the World Series and they’re led by another former Slammer, Fernando Tatis Jr. This looks to be the worst team we’ll face in the playoffs, so hopefully this is just a victory lap. World Series Game 1, Slammers Win 4-3 (10) – This was a wild one, as the Angels lost on an error in the bottom of the tenth. We started off the inning with a single from Hopper, who then advanced to second on a wild pitch. He then attempted to steal third and a throwing error by the catcher allowed him to reach home and win the game. Tough loss for the Angels. World Series Game 2, Slammers Win 4-3 – Copping pitched a gem, giving up one run over 7.2 innings. Aguilar and McCarter tried to lose the game, each giving up a run in the ninth, but we held on to win. World Series Game 3, Angels Win 6-4 – The Angels bounced back and won game three, roughing up MacDonald along the way. Colon had three RBIs in the loss. World Series Game 4, Angels Win 8-6 – We put our best on the mound for game four and it just wasn’t enough. Palacios, Noonan, and Aguilar gave up a combined eight runs over eight innings. We need to steal a win in game five. World Series Game 5, Slammers Win 7-5 – We got the win we needed on the road and will look to close out the series when we head back home. Romo hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the ninth. World Series Game 6, Slammers Win 2-1 – Copping had another stellar outing, striking out ten and giving up one run over 7.1 innings. Then Banks won the game and the series with a walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the ninth. This makes three World Series in fifteen years, not too bad for an expansion team! Bernal won series MVP. Here are the rest of the playoff results and MLB standings. Top Prospects: The farm system isn’t quite as loaded as last year, but that’s bound to happen when you promote three guys that perform like all-stars. We still have one of the best systems in baseball and should continue to do so for the foreseeable future. 1.) Bobby McCallum McCallum has elite power potential to go along with above average fielding skills. He played great in A+ and will begin next season in AA. I anticipate him making the majors sooner than later, where him and Banks will form a deadly middle of the lineup duo. 2.) Chris Brown Brown’s ratings have progressed nicely since last year, but I’ll probably give him another season in A+. Once his control rounds out, he’ll be ready for the majors. 3.) Eric Lawrence Lawrence was an honorable mention last season, but his ratings progression and outstanding performance have landed him at number three this year. He’ll start next season in AAA and could force his way to the majors by the end of the season. It’ll be difficult to decide whether to play him or Sanchez at shortstop. 4.) Chris Dearborn I’m out on Dearborn. I’ve seen way too many pitchers with his profile flame out, so I’m going to cash out on him while his value is still high. Maybe he’ll be great elsewhere, but I’m willing to take that risk. 5.) Alex Rivera The odds of Rivera getting a starting middle infield spot seem to get worse by the day. He was previously number three in line, behind Sanchez and Flores, but I’d say Lawrence is now ahead of him too. Depending on what the rest of the roster looks like, I might give him a shot at third base next season. 6.) Dan McIver McIver would be much lower on this list if not for his character and baserunning skills. Good hitters that don’t play defense are a dime a dozen, but McIver might get a DH role due to everything else he provides. 7.) Chris Overcash Overcash was one of my three drafted players this season with an “impossible” signing bonus demand, but I think he’ll be worth it. He’s above average defensively and has the potential to be an elite hitter. As long as he stays healthy, I like his chances of reaching the majors. 8.) Felix Lopez None of Lopez’s skills jump off the page, but he has great character, durable injury proneness, and performed really well in rookie ball. I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes an above average major league starter. He’ll begin next season in A-. 9.) Jake Maddox Relievers aren’t the sexiest prospects, but there’s nothing wrong with a guy that could give you 2-3 WAR per year for ten seasons. Maddox played well in rookie ball and will begin next season in A. 10.) Jose Gutierrez Gutierrez’s offensive potential appears to have stalled out since last year but I’m not giving up on him yet. He’s still very young and his high character gives him a good shot of improving. Honorable mentions: Ian Carroll Carroll is a great talent but can’t stay healthy. I’ll look to trade him as soon as I can. Hector Ruiz I won’t say anything about Ruiz until he’s played a year of rookie ball. Art Baker, Bobby Bockman We have a lot of solid catching prospects in the system, but I wish I could consolidate them into one elite guy. That’s easier said than done though, as great two-way catchers are harder to find than a shiny Chansey. Mike Dooner, Abel Gallagher These guys are nice minor league pieces, but like I said earlier, good hitters that don’t play defense are a dime a dozen. They’ll probably either get traded or end up blocked in the high minors. Nate Bianco I’ve never had a great six-pitch pitcher, so I get excited any time I see a guy that has a shot of becoming one. Bianco played well in rookie ball and will begin next season in A-. Joe Poffenberger Poffenberger looks ready for the majors but I prefer Romo’s skillset, so he’ll start next year at AAA. Promoted to MLB: Marco Vazquez, Rob Banks, Andy Vera, Chris Larkin Future Outlook: Money is getting tight, but I think I can work some magic and bring back most of the team. The season after next, we’ll have to do some re-tooling though, as Bernal and Hopper will be entering free agency. As long as the young guys like Banks and Vazquez continue to improve, and a couple of new talents emerge, we should be fine though. As far as future goals, I’m still hoping to get some of “my guys” into the hall of fame, but I’d also like to put together a string of championships and have a 120+ win season. We definitely have the talent to repeat next year. Fan loyalty increased to “great” at the end of the season. This is “great” news! Here is the budget and salaries heading into the offseason.
Alabama Slammers Franchise Report - Year 18: A Dynasty Cometh
Welcome back to year eighteen of the Alabama Slammers Franchise Report! Here are the links to the previous versions if you want to catch up (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031,2032, 2033, 2034, 2035, 2036, 2037). Previous Season Highlights: Edgar Sanchez and Marco Vazquez win gold gloves Mike Bentley goes from reliever to ace starter, still wins reliever of the year Gilles Palacios wins Cy Young and pitching triple crown Edwin de la Torre wins rookie of the year Five players make all-star team Eighth consecutive division crown Fourth World Series in franchise history, third win in six years Start of Offseason: As with the previous versions, I’ll list the moves I made, the rationale behind those moves, the season results, and the future outlook. Here are the salaries heading into the offseason. \Unless stated otherwise, all players were re-signed to their one-year arbitration estimate* Departures (non-trades): Wil Mireles Mireles had a good three year run with the Slammers, but I couldn’t afford to pay anyone else big money. He signed a 5/$81m deal with the Rockies, netting us a supplemental first round pick, and played well. This seems like a really good signing for them. Jonathan Kelsey Kelsey had a solid six year run with us, mostly pitching out of the bullpen, but I didn’t see any need to bring him back. He signed a 3/$23.1m deal with the Yankees and was decent, but his ratings are starting to regress, so I doubt he’s worth the money the last two years. Justus Evans Evans served as the DH vs LHPs the past five years, but we had too much talent in the minors to justify bringing him back. He signed a 1/$1.28m deal with the Dodgers and spent most of the season in the minors. Chris McClain McClain had a $1.5m arbitration estimate, so I withdrew it and offered him a minor league extension. He declined it, then proceeded to sign a minor league contract with the Twins. Danny Wells I acquired a better backup catcher, so Wells spent the year in AAA. He’ll probably leave the organization next season. Alan McCarter McCarter signed a 2/$5.04m deal with the Dodgers and spent the entire season in AA. Must be nice to have money to burn like that. Move #1: Signed Mike Bentley to a 5/$85m extension. Bentley’s demands were still modest since he’s only made five regular season starts, so I’m getting a great deal here. I could see him winning the Cy Young this season. Move #2: Slammers Receive: Mac McIlmoyle Twins Receive: Steve Flores, Andy Vera, Chris Larkin, Brad Jennett I’m losing the value battle once again, but I really wanted McIlmoyle. He just won a gold glove in center field and has the prankster personality trait. The Twins are getting two starting position players and a starting pitcher, so I can’t feel too bad about taking their young star. Move #3: Slammers Receive: Eddie Salazar, $1m Cash Cubs Receive: Sam Leintz Salazar should be an excellent platoon catcher and Leintz has serious health issues. This was an easy decision. Move #4: Signed free agent Gilles Palacios to a 5/$150m deal. This is the most irrational move I’ve made yet, but I just couldn’t part with my four-time Cy Young award winner. I want him to finish his career with the Slammers. The deal is heavily front loaded incase things go south in a few years. In-House Moves (Preseason): Joe Cope and Mike Blake will remain in the bullpen after getting called up during roster expansion last season. Eric Lawrence promoted from AAA. Will start at second base, while Edgar Sanchez will slide to short stop. Mike Honeycutt promoted from AAA. Will serve as backup outfielder. Chris Joiner promoted from AA. Will DH against lefties and serve as utility player. Jake Maddox promoted from AA. Will be a member of the bullpen Final Financial Situation: We have about $10m in available funds to start the year, so will probably have to trade for some cash. Bobby Butler is the most likely trade candidate once he returns from his torn UCL. Here are the salaries heading into the season. Season Outlook: I think this is our best team yet. We have five all-star quality starting pitchers, a dominant bullpen, elite defenders at every position, and no easy outs in the lineup. If we’re ever going to win 120 games, this is the team to do it. Our only weak point is starting pitcher depth since we don’t have much outside of our top five guys, but I like their odds of staying healthy. They have a combined 27 days of injuries over 8,550.7 innings pitched. Move #5: Slammers Receive: Omar Mendez, $900k Cash Orioles Receive: Bobby Butler The Orioles might’ve just gotten an ace in exchange for a rookie league lottery ticket, but I’d rather take my chances on the lottery ticket than a guy coming off a 14-month UCL injury. Move #6: Slammers Receive: $3m Cash Expos Receive: Tony Juarez Juarez is a solid talent, but I don’t see him making the majors anytime soon. Even if he does make it, he shouldn’t be anything more than average. Batters: Primary Lineupvs. RHPandvs. LHPwhen Healthy (\DH enabled in both leagues, lineup vs. RHP shown below)* RF – Marco Vazquez If you want to see a player with a great chance of making the hall of fame, look no further than Marco Vazquez. He has 21.5 career WAR at 22 years old, putting him on pace for about 60 WAR by the time he’s 30. He won his second batting crown, made his third straight all-star team, won his second straight gold glove, and finished fourth in the MVP voting. He had to learn center field during spring training since my backup departed and started 15 games there. He also started 102 games at his usual position of right field and an additional 20 games at third base, making him one of the most versatile weapons in the game. 3B – Edwin de la Torre De la Torre pretty much replicated his rookie of the year campaign, posting 5.2 WAR and making his first all-star team. He picked up some experience at first base during spring training in case he needs to move there in the future. LF – Seung-Hwa Kim Kim moved up in the order and responded well, hitting 38 homers and driving in 113 runs. He still has four more years of team control, so should be around for a while. DH – Bob Banks I’m starting to think Banks will never replicate his stellar rookie of the year campaign, but he’s still a really good player. He hit 43 home runs and had 121 RBIs. He’ll probably play out his last two arbitration years then leave as a free agent. 1B – Bobby McCallum McCallum missed six weeks with fractured ribs but was good when healthy. I expect him to be even better next season. 2B – Eric Lawrence Lawrence was elite defensively and average at the plate. That’s all I can ask for in a middle infielder. SS – Edgar Sanchez Sanchez failed to win a gold glove for the first time in eight years but he’s still an excellent defender. He was solid at the plate and looks like he’ll be fine for the remaining three years of his deal. C – Jose Gutierrez Gutierrez missed four weeks with an oblique strain, but other than that had a great year. If he can stay healthy going forward, he’ll be around for a long time. CF – Mac McIlmoyle McIlmoyle had an awful start to the year. He had a negative OPS+ and about -2 WAR at the end of May but figured things out after that. I think his poor play might’ve been partially due to a robber breaking into his house. Bench C – Eddie Salazar Salazar was great as the starter against LHPs and wants to be the full-time starter now. He has a fair point, but I’m going to keep him in this role next season. IF/OF – Chris Joiner The fact that Joiner is a role player shows just how much talent we have. He probably deserves a larger role but I’m not sure who he’s going to supplant. I’ll trade him if the right deal comes along. OF – Mike Honeycutt Honeycutt was terrible early in the season but got better as the year progressed. I had better options in the minors but kept them down to preserve service time. IF – Jonathan Hubbard Hubbard was excellent in his role this year, starting at second base against LHPs. He might fall victim to the disease of more though, as he now wants to start full-time. Replacements C – Josh Snellgrove A fourth-round pick in 2025, Snellgrove spent thirteen years in the minors before finally getting his chance in the majors. He played well while filling in for Gutierrez but will remain in the minors next season unless injuries arise again. IF – Chris Overcash Overcash was probably ready for the majors on opening day but I decided to start him in AAA since the highest level he’d ever played at was A+. He filled in at first base when McCallum was injured, playing well, and will probably have a role next season. Pitchers: Pitching Staff when Healthy SP – Gilles Palacios The 150-million-dollar man kept rocking in his mid-thirties, posting an FIP of 3.12 and making his ninth all-star appearance. His career stats and hall of fame metrics are looking good for his future induction. SP – Corey MacDonald MacDonald’s ratings have slipped the smallest amount, but he had his best season yet. He had a 26-1 record, won pitcher of the month in May, made his eighth all-star game, and finished third in the Cy Young voting. He has two more years left on his deal, so hopefully he can remain elite until it ends. SP – Mike Bentley Bentley is one of the best gifts RNGesus has ever given me. He made his first all-star game, won pitcher of the month in September, threw two no-hitters, posted the highest single season WAR for a pitcher in franchise history, won the Cy Young, and finished third in the MVP voting. SP – Andy Schaffer Schaffer was solid, but probably not worth $21m per year. If I need to clear salary, he’ll be one of the first to go. SP – Eddie Copping Copping looks like he should be better, but he’s just not. He’ll play out his last arbitration season next year, then leave as a free agent. Hopefully, he does well enough to get a big contract and earn me a compensation pick. RP – Jake Maddox Maddox had a good rookie season and still has plenty of room to improve. He should be around for a while. RP – Jose Macias Macias walks a lot of batters but brings enough else to the table to make it worth it. He’ll be back for his last two arbitration years. RP – Joe Cope Cope was pretty good, but not as good as I think he can be. Hopefully, he accepts his role in the bullpen next season. It usually takes a year to change a player’s expectation if they were a starter in the minors. RP – Tommy Noonan Noonan had another great year and will be back for his ninth season with the Slammers. I’d love to keep him around after that, but it probably won’t be practical with his contract demands and the excess of bullpen options coming up through the minors. RP – Sean Vahey Vahey started off the year like the greatest reliever of all time but cooled off as the season progressed. I’m not sure why he isn’t better. RP – Jose Aguilar Aguilar was excellent again, making his sixth all-star team and winning his fourth reliever of the year award. I’d love to bring him back after next season, but I’m afraid he’ll end up in the same boat as Noonan. RP – Steve Hixson Hixson is a great example of a player’s overall rating not telling the whole story. He gave us 40 solid innings and will be back next year. RP – Mike Blake Blake, like Cope, needs to accept his role in the bullpen. Unlike Cope, I’m not sure if he ever will. Replacements RP – Chris Brown Brown was my number two prospect a couple of years ago but a torn UCL stripped him of much of his potential. He was called up when rosters expanded but will probably return to the minors next season. SP – Tim Brackman When I said earlier that I didn’t have much outside of my top five starters, this is what I was talking about. Brackman started five games when we went to a six-man rotation after rosters expanded. Season Results: We didn’t win 120 games, but made a pretty good run at it, winning 117 and taking our ninth straight division crown. The pitching was as good as ever and the offense remained near the top of the league. Everyone is healthy heading into the postseason, and we’ll go with a playoff rotation of Palacios, MacDonald, Bentley, and Schaffer. Copping will move to the bullpen. The 96-66 Dodgers will be our first-round opponent and they’re led by three-time MVP and future hall of famer Joel Mogel. (If you’ve been paying close attention, you might remember me mentioning him before the 2025draft.) We have the talent advantage in this one, as we should in any series, so anything less than a win will be a disappointment. Divisional Series Game 1, Dodgers Win 2-1 – Palacios pitched a gem, but so did their starter Welliver. A solo shot off Cope in the top of the ninth was the game deciding run. Divisional Series Game 2, Dodgers Win 7-4 – It’s time to hit the panic button. Macdonald gave up four runs over five innings and Aguilar gave up three in the eighth. We need to win two of three on the road. Divisional Series Game 3, Slammers Win 4-3 – Down 3-0 in the eighth and with the season on the line, we came through with a four run inning to keep our season alive. Kim led the way with a two-run homer. Divisional Series Game 4, Slammers Win 2-1 – Kim came through again, breaking a 1-1 tie in the eighth with a solo home run. Schaffer struck out eight over 6.1 innings, holding them to one run. Divisional Series Game 5, Slammers Win 3-1 – What a turn of events. We went from heading on the road down 2-0 to going back home with a 3-2 lead. Palacios pitched seven shutout innings. Divisional Series Game 6, Slammers Win 4-0 – MacDonald came through with eight shutout innings, and McCallum led the way on offense with two RBIs. Ornelas won MVP in the loss. We’re facing off against the Rockies for the third time in four years and they’re led by the usual suspects: Zuniga, Teeter, Renteria, and Delaney, plus former Slammer Wil Mireles. I’m always worried about playing at Coors, but we’ve been successful against them in the past, winning each of our recent series. NLCS Game 1, Slammers Win 13-6 – This wasn’t as close as it looked. Bentley pitched eight innings of one-run ball before Copping gave up five runs in the ninth. Every starter reached base at least once. NLCS Game 2, Slammers Win 11-4 – The offense was cooking again, as Kim and de la Torre had four RBIs a piece. Maybe we’ll score twenty runs at Coors. NLCS Game 3, Rockies Win 8-7 – What a devastating loss. We gave up six runs in the bottom of the ninth to lose the game. Palacios gave up one of the runs, Hixson four, then Noonan allowed a walk off homer to end it. NLCS Game 4, Rockies Win 1-0 – I wasn’t really expecting a pitcher’s duel at Coors, but that’s what we got. MacDonald allowed an RBI double to Teeter in the bottom of the first and that was the end of the scoring. NLCS Game 5, Slammers Win 9-6 – This was more of your typical Coors affair. The game was tied in the eighth but two runs in each the last two innings allowed us to secure the win. Vazquez led the way with four RBIs. NLCS Game 6, Slammers Win 5-3 (11) – A blown save by Maddox sent this one into extra innings, but Vazquez came through again with a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the eleventh. De la Torre was named series MVP. We’re facing off against the Mariners in the World Series, who we beat eleven years ago to claim our first championship. They appear to be the weakest team we’ll face in the postseason, so a loss would be a major upset. World Series Game 1, Slammers Win 4-3 – Palacios and Aguilar combined to strike out fourteen batters while allowing three runs. Banks led the way on offense with two RBIs. World Series Game 2, Slammers Win 9-6 – MacDonald got roughed up a bit, but the bullpen came through with 5.1 strong innings. Lawrence led the way on offense with three RBIs. World Series Game 3, Mariners Win 3-2 – The Mariners bounced back to win game three, but I’m hoping this is just a gentleman’s sweep. World Series Game 4, Slammers Win 6-0 – We’re one win away from our fifth World Series. Schaffer and Copping combined for nine scoreless innings and Kim hit a grand slam in the fifth to give us more than enough to win. World Series Game 5, Slammers Win 3-2 (14) – The Mariners didn’t go down without a fight, but they lost in devastating fashion. McCallum reached base on a one-out double in the top of fourteenth, advanced to third on a single by Sanchez, then scored the game deciding run on a wild pitch. Kim was named series MVP. That’s our second consecutive World Series, fifth overall, and fourth in the past seven years! Here are the rest of the playoff results and MLB standings. Top Prospects: The farm system has taken a bit of a hit the last two years with so many players promoted to the majors, but two outstanding drafts have restocked the cupboards and provided us with the talent to keep rolling into the future. 1.) Phil Steele Steele was listed as an outfielder in last year’s draft but had decent pitching potential, so I took a flier on him in the eighth round. His potential has exploded since then and he looks like he could be the best pitcher I’ve ever had. He’ll begin next season in AA and will probably be playing in the majors sooner than later. 2.) Hector Ruiz Ruiz’s skills have continued to round out since last season and he’s probably ready for the majors, but I’ll give him another year in AAA since the outfield is overflowing with talent at the moment. 3.) Israel Lopez Lopez has gone through some changes since last season and now has the potential to be one of the greatest relievers of all time. He could also be a really good starter, but I’ll believe in that changeup when I see it. 4.) Brad Cole Cole’s outfield error hasn’t improved like I’d hoped it would, but his ratings have still progressed nicely since last season. If his skills continue to round out, he’ll be a dominant center fielder. 5.) Zach Harris Nothing about Harris really jumps off the page but I’ve seen a lot of players with his profile become elite pitchers. He had a good year in rookie ball and will begin next season in A+. 6.) Davin McCrary McCrary would’ve been number four on the list if not for his broken kneecap late in the year. He has elite fielding ability and the potential to be average at the plate, which is all I need in a middle infielder. He’ll begin next season in AA and could replace Hubbard by the end of the year. 7.) Aloisio Edman Edman doesn’t fit my system but he’s an elite talent. He should fetch a lot in a trade if I can’t find a place for him one day. 8.) Felix Lopez Lopez’s skills have rounded out since last season and he looks ready for the majors, problem is, I have a serious logjam in the outfield at the moment. 9.) Josh Cottrell Cottrell looks destined for the bullpen, but he should be an excellent reliever. He’ll begin next season in AA and will make the majors sooner than later. 10.) Nate Bianco I’m not sure if Bianco will ever be more than a back of the rotation starter, but there’s definite value in that. He’ll begin next season in AA. Honorable mentions: Rodrigo Esparza Esparza has normal injury proneness and missed most of the year in rookie ball, but anybody with an 80-potential knuckleball is worth mentioning. He’ll begin next season in A. Omar Mendez The return from the Bobby Butler trade, Mendez had a great year in rookie ball and will begin next season at A. I don’t love his defensive ratings but he’s still extremely young and should improve. Promoted to MLB: Chris Joiner, Chris Overcash, Chris Brown, Jake Maddox Dropped from list: Gabe Depass Depass was number seven on the list last year but I can’t keep an average pitcher with a season ending injury on here. Victor Lacayo Lacayo was number two last year but his potential has really cooled off since then. He looks like a career minor leaguer at the moment. Future Outlook: Things are looking great for the Slammers. We’ve won three of the last four World Series, have the ability to bring the entire team back, have the fourth ranked farm system, and have great fan interest/loyalty. Money is extremely tight, but we’ll find a way to make things work. Hopefully, we can reach 120 wins next year. Here is the budget and salaries heading into the offseason.
New York Yankees Top 50 Single-Season Batting Leaders. Team Names: New York Yankees, New York Highlanders Seasons: 118 (1903 to 2020) Record: 10411-7867, .570 W-L% Playoff Appearances: 56 Pennants: 40 World Championships: 27 Winningest Manager: Joe McCarthy, 1460-867, .627 W-L% More Franchise Info While Hornsby’s .424 average in 1924 is still the highest batting average ever posted since the start of the live-ball era, his 1922 season was one of the strongest all-around offensive performances ever seen. In 1922, Hornsby had 250 hits and a .401 batting average, while posting 42 home runs and 152 RBIs. Always a mark of consistency, Hornsby’s career .358 batting average remains second The Twins' all-time single-season team '88 stands out above the rest as the season with Puckett's highest batting average (.356, trailing AL batting champion Wade Boggs by 10 points), slugging percentage (.545) and OPS (.920) while playing his customary Gold Glove defense in the outfield. Puckett's 234 hits led the Majors, and though he didn't win the AL batting title, he owned the highest Highest Career and Single-Season Salaries; Largest Contracts; Postseason Leaders; Single-Season Leaders & Records for Batting Average . Create your own custom leaderboards. Become a Stathead today and run queries with our Season and Career Finders to see the best seasons in MLB history. Become a Stathead. Table; Rank Player (age that year) Batting Average Year Bats; 1. Hugh Duffy+ (27).4397 Ty Cobb holds the record of the highest career batting average with his .366 batting average. This feat definitely deserves its place among the unbreakable records of hitting in major league baseball. He led the MLB 11 times in batting average. Besides, he had three .400 seasons and nine .380 seasons in his career from 1905 to 1928. Ty Cobb achieved a batting average of .323 at the age of 41 Single Season Leaders for Batting Average. Ted Williams once commented about those that fail 'only' seven times out of ten attempts will be the greatest in the game. He was right about that and the list below reflects those great hitters who truly dominated during a single season of play. Notes: Three point one plate (3.1) appearances per scheduled game are needed to make this list, raw MLB Entire Career with One Team 20; MLB Teams Last MVP 13; MLB All-Time Starting Nines By HR 11; MLB Team HR Leaders by Decade 9; MLB Last Cy Young Winner 9; MLB Last 200-Hit Season (by Team) 8; MLB Highest Paid Player by Year 8; MLB Multi-Team 40-HR Seasons 5; 2000 Hits for One MLB Franchise 5; MLB 10K Plate Appearances for One Franchise 2 Look for your favorite MLB slugger in this impressive list of baseball's top 500 career batting leaders. MLB Single-Season (Post-1900) Batting Leaders Statistics: Batting | Pitching An all-around great hitter, Hornsby’s 1924 season was remarkable. Along with a record-setting .424 batting average, Hornsby led the NL with a .507 on-base percentage and .696 slugging percentage. If that wasn’t enough, he also led the NL in hits (227), runs (121), doubles (43) and total bases (373). Hornsby went hitless in just 24 of the Batting Average Team Records. Baseball Almanac is pleased to present a record book full of baseball milestones for team related batting averages - including highest & lowest marks team batting averages, single season team batting average plateaus, and miscellaneous team related batting average records.
Top 5 MLB Players with the highest career batting average ...
Top 40 Moments of the 2019 MLB Season by MLB. 32:16 . The Turning Point of the 2019 World Series (Nationals' Howie Kendrick's huge home run) by MLB. 9:37. Nationals CRAZY comeback, Royals Wild ... Central Pennsylvania League All-State Pennsylvania baseball honors while batting over .356 average, OBP .580, 16 hits, 7 doubles, 19 BB, 2 homers with 14 RBIs this high school season (19 games) as ... #MarshawnLynch #EveryNFLTeam #MichaelThomas If you're new, Subscribe! → http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-TPS There is no more hopeful time of year for most NFL fan... 10/1/04: Ichiro Suzuki records his 258th hit of the year, breaking George Sisler's record for most hits in a single seasonCheck out http://MLB.com/video for ... Pretend: 06/14/2017 MLB The Show 17 PS4 Batting, Pitching, Statistics, Detroit Tigers, Baseball interest, PlayStation 4 video game platform, CPU Gameplay. My Channel's Amazon Shop for Viewers ... Ichiro breaks the single-season hit record in 2004 - Duration: 3 ... MLB 261,003 views. 3:17. Joe Mauer spraying line drives in batting practice - Duration: 0:42. SKOR North 3,672 views. 0:42 ... In this episode, we talk about baseball standings and how teams are ranked through the season, what the different columns like Home and Away splits and L10 m... List of the top 5 Major League Baseball players with the highest career batting average. New uploads every single day! Be sure to subscribe for more daily content about MLB The Show 19 and other awesome videos! I play a lot of Diamond Dynasty, Battle Royale and open packs from time to ... Listen to Mathematics Professor Martin Jones explain how baseball has become specialized, meaning lower batting averages.
