[ArquimedezPozo]

Hitters
Ramon Rodriguez, Division 3 Calgary Outlaws, 2009: Rodriguez didn’t age gracefully, but in 2009 - his age 24 season - he put up arguably the greatest single season by a position player in NABF history for the D3 West Outlaws, leading the league in all three slash categories with a /339/.426/.688 line while smashing 50 doubles and 40 homers to lead the Federation at 375 TB. He combined that line with a Gold Glove season in RF to hit 12.2 WAR in 2009 - no player at any position has come within 1 WAR of that mark, before or since.

Francisco Carreno, Division 1 Los Angeles Angels, 2012: A contender for the greatest offensive season in NABF history, Carreno’s second Triple Crown came along with 51 homers, 151 RBI, and a slash line of .365/.458/.704. His Slugging percentage, along with his 1.16 OPS, are both D1 records. Carreno, along with SS Dennis Sokol, led the Angels to five straight Division titles in the period between 2009 and 2013, and Carreno - whose 2011 was nearly as good, with a still-D1 record 54 homers and NABF record 167 RBI - was the greatest offensive force of the team.

Omar Arteaga, Division 1 Toronto Maple Leafs, 2007: Though the team itself finished 20 games under .500 on its way to a fifth place finish in the NABF’s inaugural season, it had a legitimate star in the 25 year old Arteaga. The best season of his short but illustrious career saw him hit .332/.429/.654, leading the league with 43 homers and a .654 SLG, but also dominating on the basepaths with 26 steals and a league-leading 11 triples. He won the D1 MVP easily, racking up 11 WAR, which remains a D1 single-season record. While Arteaga posted 9.6 and 9.5 WAR seasons in 2008 and 2009, his 2007 remains the pinnacle of his career.

Carlos Jara, Division 4 Salt Lake Gulls, 2007: Jara was already an established star when the NABF opened its doors in 2007, but then he blasted those doors clean off with a 9.5 WAR season in which he socked 54 homers, drove 131, and batted .349, all league leaders. His .744 SLG and 1.164 OPS remain the highest single season totals in NABF history, as do his .491 wOBA and 231 wRC+. Jara was a huge factor in the Gulls dynasty that propelled them into D2 in their first six years, a period in which Jara posted 40.8 WAR. But this, his first, was his greatest.

Dennis Sokol, Division 1 Los Angeles Angels, 2010: the greatest shortstop in the Federation’s history hit marks no one else has overcome in 2010, with a record .486 OBP that remains the highest in Federation history, and 93 steals, eclipsed only once since… by Sokol himself, with 94 in 2012. His 9.8 WAR is easily the highest recorded by a shortstop, as he walked 101 times while posting the highest OPS and RC/27 of his career (.950 and 11.0, respectively). He also hit two of his career 10 homers as the Angels took the D1 West, their second of five consecutive Conference titles.

Pitchers
Oliver Chase, Division 3 Las Vegas 51s, 2010: Chase, one of the all-time greatest hurlers in Federation history, was a workhorse for the 51s in the early years. While his 226 innings didn’t lead the league that year, his incredible 1.75 ERA, 44 FIP-, 10.2 WAR, and 291 Ks all did, with his WAR still the highest of any pitcher in Federation history. His Triple Crown, Pitcher of the Year season was highlighted by his no-hitter against the Cleveland Spiders in late April - with 14 strikeouts and no walks, one of the most dominant outings ever, and the only no-hitter of his career.

Malcolm Bush, Division 3 Indianapolis Clowns, 2012: The greatest season by the game’s greatest pitcher. Though it incredibly (and controversially) did not win him the Pitcher of the Year Award, it was a vastly superior season to Oliver Chase’s (which did). Bush struck out 266 in 219 innings, with a 45 FIP- and 1.52 ERA, the lowest mark in NABF history. He allowed just 8 home runs all season, as he led his Clowns to their second straight D3 championship, lifting them into D2, where they would remain for the next nine seasons. Bush owns the best career WAR, strikeout total, and FIP of any pitcher in the 30 years the NABF has been in operation, yet one just a single Pitcher of the Year, in 2015. His 2012 should have as well.

Antonio Venegas, Division 4 Baltimore Terrapins, 2009: Venegas starred for the Pins before their golden age, and between that and his career dominating the weakest Conference in that period of the NABF (the D4 East), he can be overlooked. But don’t, because he was astounding: in 217 innings of work in 2009, Venegas struck out 232 against just 63 walks, while allowing a mere 6 home runs. His 53 Fip- was the best of his career and among the lowest marks for any D4 pitcher (or any NABF pitcher). 2009 was one of Baltimore’s three first place finishes in the decade plus before their superhuman run of the 2020s, and Venegas was the single biggest reason why.

Randy Alcala, Division 2 Ottawa Champions, 2012: Alcala’s 2012 is among the greatest power pitching seasons ever, as the Champions righthander used his devastating fastball/change/slider combo to overmatch 315 hitters - at the time an NABF record and still higher than any recorded outside Division 2. The same can be said for his stellar 13.3 K/9. It was Alcala’s only great season, with an 8.2 WAR far higher than the runner-up, a 3.9 mark the next season. He was the only thing that went right for Ottawa in 2012: the team was relegated to D3 for Cycle 3 and Alcala opted out, signing on with the Angels, where he was a piece of three D1 Championship teams.

Mike O’Neill, Division 1 New York Giants, 2012: O’Neill’s 2012 set the standard for D1 pitching, in a Division that has been defined far more by its prodigious offensive talent. O’Neill’s 8.3 WAR is the highest for any D1 season, driven by his 2.16 ERA, 200 strikeouts, and 1.03 WHIP, with a 2.58 FIP (58 FIP-). It was the only time O’Neill won the pitching Triple Crown in his career, and it resulted in the first of his two Pitcher of the Year wins.

Two-Way Players
Ryan Little, Division 3 San Diego Padres, 2008:
Ryan Little did something no one in the NABF has ever done since in 2008: he won the Pitcher of the Year and the MVP in the same season. No, not like that - two pitchers have won the MVP, recognizing the value of their pitching seasons, in the 2030s. No, Little won the Pitcher of the Year, throwing a D3-high 232 innings with 242 strikeouts, a 0.91 WAR, 5.5 K/BB ratio, and a 63 FIP- with 7.5 pitching WAR… AND THEN ALSO won the MVP, batting .277/..357/.537, with 31 homers, a 170 wRC+, .383 wOBA, and a 6.1 WAR, for a grand total of 13.6 - the greatest single season combined WAR ever. Another way of putting this: the Padres roster in 2008 earned a combined WAR of 43.5. Little, alone, was responsible for 31.3% of that. Oh, and he did this all at age 23. It is the best all around season in NABF history, and it’s hard to imagine any ever topping it.


Next: The Quiet Years (Cycles 3 and 4)