[Highlander]

The Inaugural Season of the RDL (Random Debut League….I never came up with a creative name) is in the books!

When the dust cleared at the end of the regular season, there was mayhem in Chicago, as the Orphans and White Sox were both at the top of the standings in their respective leagues. Despite very similar records and what seemed like it would be a hard fought series, the Orphans completed a sweep of the White Sox in 4 games, by scores of 5-3, 9-8, 15-2 and 4-3. More on each team below!

Here’s a look at the teams in the American League, in reverse order of the standings.

Baltimore Orioles

Record- 56-84

Games Back- 24

Batters
- Fred Snodgrass was the star on the Orioles. He finished 2nd in MVP voting and was the Platinum Stick Award winner in RF. He hit .329/.408/.459 with 97 runs, a league leading 34 doubles, 13 triples, 3 HR, 68 RBI and 61 SB.
- Corbin Carroll also had a strong season as the Platinum Stick winner in LF….strange a team this bad had 2 winners of that award! He hit .283/.347/.443 with 86 R, 24 doubles, a league leading 24 triples, 3 HR, 100 RBI and 56 SB. He also led the league in Sac Flys (8) and Extra base hits (51).
- Buzzy Wares only got 10 AB the whole season, but he made the most of them with 7 hits!

Pitchers
- Freddy Peralta was the only Oriole starter with a winning record. He went 21-13 in 294 IP with a 3.55 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and 96 Ks.
- Mike Caldwell led the league in losses with 26 and added to his misery by leading the league in wild pitches with 13.


Philadelphia Athletics

Record- 60-80

Games Back- 20

Batters
- Christian Yelich was the AL Batting Champion with a .343 BA. He also tied Fred Snodgrass for the lead in doubles with 34. His total stat line was- .343/.409/.442, 92 R, 34 doubles, 8 triples, 1 HR, 84 RBI, 40 SB.
- As expected, Ke’Bryan Hayes was the AL Gold Glove winner at 3B.

Pitchers
- Bobby Madritsch was the #1 starter and seemed to have the best season of the Philly starters. He went 16-17 with 1 save in 296.2 IP. He had a 3.58 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 98 Ks. Nothing fantastic, but with a better offense, he could win a good number of games I am sure.

Milwaukee Brewers

Record- 70-70

Games Back- 10

Batters
- Al Schweitzer was the AL Rookie of the Year. His batting line was .342/.407/.452 with 80 R, 23 doubles, 5 triples, 7 HR, 74 RBI and 50 SB. He led the league in Ks with 73. Not bad for a 13th round pick.
- Interestingly, Milwaukee had the runner-up in the ROY voting in Tom Downey. He won the Platinum Stick award at SS with a line of .314/.367/.386, 67 R, 15 doubles, 8 triples, 1 HR, 82 RBI, 42 SB.
- Jake Lamb only hit 4 HR on the season, but he made the most of them as 2 were Grand Slams.
- Jim Gantner had a tale of 2 seasons. He started out with Baltimore and over 77 games he hit .339. He was traded to Milwaukee on 7/29 for OF Charlie See and proceeded to hit just .249 for the rest of the season.
- Somehow I missed that both Ozzie Virgils….father and son….were in this inaugural season. Well, on 7/23, Ozzie Jr. was traded to Milwaukee for 2B Jordan Diaz. Unbeknownst to me until right now, his father is also on the team! Strangely, however, Ozzie Jr is 32 years old and Ozzie Sr is just 25! Hopefully they can play a few seasons together.

Pitchers
- On 8/23, Logan Gilbert was put on the injured list due to needing surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. He will be out 6 months, so should be back for next season if all goes well. Before the injury, he was really good on the mound, going 14-10 with 1 save in 215.2 IP. He had a 2.40 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 68 Ks. He also led the league in Percentage of Quality Starts at .808.
- Unsurprisingly, Pedro Martinez was another very good member of this staff. He went 19-15 with 2 saves in 308.2 IP, a 3.27 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and a league leading 185 Ks. He also led the league in K/9 (5.39) and FIP- (84.8). He and Gilbert should be a formidable duo for a number of years.

Cleveland Blues

Record- 71-69

Games Back- 9

Batters
- John Mc Graw had a huge season and was named AL MVP as well as the Platinum Stick winner at 3B. He missed about 5 weeks with a fractured foot and another week or so with a bruised shoulder. Despite that, he still hit .334/.484/.414, 104 R, 16 doubles, 9 triples, 1 HR, 52 RBI, and 66 SB. His OBP, R and SB were all league leading numbers. He also led the league in walks (111), HBP (25), RC (109.94), RC/27 (8.51), wOBA (.444), OPS (.898), wRC+ (172.2) and WAR (7.8).
- Clay Dalrymple won the Gold Glove Award at catcher.
- Dale Mitchell was a preseason favorite to win the batting title and while that didn’t happen, he still had a great season, hitting .323/.353/.426 with 82 R, 15 doubles, 22 triples, 1 HR, 82 RBI and 9 SB. He led the league in both hits with 194 and AB with 601, as well as total bases with 256.
- Chick Fullis started the season with the Boston Americans. He didn’t have a full time role, despite hitting .388/.448/.491 over 27 starts and a bunch of PH appearances. He was traded to Cleveland on 7/25 for Heinie Mueller and Ben DeMott. Other than a 3 week day-to-day bout with wrist tendonitis, he was full-time player the rest of the way for the Blues and he hit .338/.388/.415 for them. With a chance to play full time all season next year, he will be one to watch.
- Tony Abreu was a bench player who only got 192 ABs, but it seems like he should have had more. He had 12 triples and a solid .831 OPS.
- Sherry Robertson was another part time guy who needs a look at more ABs next season. Despite just 216 ABs, he finished 9th in the league in HR with 6.

Pitchers
- Reggie Cleveland made his mark by getting into a league leading 53 games, 35 of which were starts. His season numbers were a 19-13 record with 3 saves over 311 IP. He had a 3.73 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 109 Ks. His 1 hold was good enough to lead the league, along with batters faced (1356) and K/BB (2.42).
- Shawn Estes had a strange season. On the negative side, he had a losing record at 12-17, led the league in walks with 124 and had a pretty poor 1.41 WHIP. On the positive side, he had a solid 3.16 ERA, led the league with .03 HR/9 (gave up 1 in 264.2 IP) and led the league in GB% at 59%. If he could improve his control, he could be quite a pitcher…..that’s a HUGE “if”, though.
- Jerad Eickhoff had a solid season at 12-5 in 160.2 IP with a 2.86 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 47 Ks. He also won the Platinum Stick award at P, hitting .339/.355/.441 in 59 AB. He had 3 doubles and 1 HR.

Detroit Tigers

Record- 71-69

Games Back- 9

Batters
- Chuck Hinton won the Platinum Stick at 1B and was 3rd in the ROY voting. He hit .333/.381/.447 with 96 R, 27 doubles, 14 triples, 2 HR, 75 RBI and 36 SB.
- The Tigers had another Platinum Stick winner in George Grantham at 2B. He hit .296/.370/.418 with 101 R, 28 doubles, 13 triples, 4 HR, 73 RBI and 34 SB.

Pitchers
- Bob Welch lived up to his billing as a top pitcher in the league as he led the league in wins with 25 to go along with just 11 losses and 1 save. He threw 307 IP with a 2.73 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 100 K. He won 2 Pitcher of the Month awards and finished 3rd in Best Pitcher Award voting.
- Dave Koslo came over in a trade with Cleveland along with Bobby Stevens. Detroit sent back Ben DeMott and Frank Manush. Koslo ended up winning the Gold Glove Award for P. Despite an overall decent 3.66 ERA, he ended up having some bad luck on both teams with an overall 11-21 record.

Boston Americans

Record- 73-67

Games Back- 7

Batters
- Dave Martinez had a strong year at the plate, hitting .293/.352/.401, 90 R, 14 doubles, 20 triples, 1 HR, 51 RBI and 29 SB. He also won the Gold Glove Award for RF.
- Luis Aparicio was also solid, with a stat line of .311/.354/.392, 77 R, 26 doubles, 8 triples, 1 HR, 82 RBI and 27 SB. Soon after the World Championship games, Aparicio was traded to the Pirates for P Biff Schlitzer, so he will be the SS for Pittsburgh next season.
- Brett Butler, not known as a slugger by any means, ended up leading the league in SLG at .473. He did it by hitting an overall .326 with 16 doubles, 20 triples and 2 HR in just 423 AB. He only started 99 games and appeared in 123. Seems like Boston may want to give him a real full time spot next season.
- Alejandro De Aza won the Gold Glove Award in LF, despite starting in just 72 games.

Pitchers
- 21-year old Curt Simmons had a very good season for a pitcher of his age. He was only 18-17 with 1 save in 312 IP, but had a 3.35 ERA and 173 Ks. He showed some real control issues, so his WHIP was 1.39, but if he can figure that out he could be really good.
- Mario Soto was another guy with some control issues, but he still went 19-13 in 298.2 IP with a 2.92 ERA and 144 Ks. His 1.33 WHIP wasn’t awful, but could be even better without so many walks.
- Ed Whitson was also 19-13 and was on the opposite end of the spectrum with control, as he led the league with just 1.3 BB/9.
- Jeff Nelson led the league with 6 saves. He pitched in 31 games and threw 50.1 IP with 29 Ks, a 3.58 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP. He also led the league in Relief Appearances and Games Finished with those 31 games.


Washington Senators

Record- 79-61

Games Back- 1

Batters
- Lorenzo Cain was the star of the Seantors, as he won the Platinum Stick Award for CF and finished 3rd in MVP voting. His season results were- .320/.369/.417, 100 R, 23 doubles, 16 triples, 1 HR, 60 RBI, 56 SB. He led the league with 139 Games Started and 645 Plate Appearances.
- Gil Hodges was a pre-season candidate to lead the league in HR….and boy, did he ever! He hit 18 HR, which actually tied him for the lead with a player we haven’t seen yet, but the next closest player only had 7. Hodges also scored 95 and drove in 97. He also led the league in ISO (.178).
- Earl Averill Jr. won the Platinum Stick Award at catcher in a surprising result. His surprising season looked like this- .285/.354/.370, 58 R, 16 doubles, 2 triples, 6 HR, 64 RBI and 10 SB.
- Asdrubal Cabrera had a 20-game hitting streak which helped him to a .311 BA on the season.
- Joe Connolly suffered a torn groin in May that kept him out about 3 months. Otherwise, he would have been among the best players in the game and we may have seen this team in the championship instead of Chicago. In just 250 AB, he hit .320/.391/.468 with 30 R, 21 doubles, 5 triples, 2 HR, 44 RBI and 11 SB. Watch out for him next season.
- Leonys Martin only got 281 AB but still hit 13 triples. He will be another one to watch if he gets a more full time role.

Pitchers
- Patrick Corbin was named the #1 starter of this team, but kind of fell short on being their ace. He only went 17-20 with 2 Saves in 307 IP. He had a 3.46 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 106 Ks. Not bad, but for a team 1 game away from a pennant, he needed to be better.
- Stepping up as the ace of the team was Butch Wensloff. He belied his “Fragile” reputation to go 22-13 in 312 IP with a 2.68 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 95 Ks. There was some luck involved, however, as he led the league in BABIP at just .234.
- Mark Clark only started 12 games and appeared in 17 overall, but in his 106.1 IP he went 7-6 with 1 save, a 2.62 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 23 Ks. He looks to be part of the rotation for next year, so we’ll see if he can build on what he did.


Chicago White Sox

Record- 80-60….They were the AL Champs, but didn’t have a big margin for error, finishing just that 1 game ahead of Boston.

Batters
- Ryan Sweeney lived up to the hype and won the Gold Glove Award in CF. He also did pretty well at the plate, hitting .329/.374/.397 with 69 R, 23 doubles, 5 triples, 0 HR, 54 RBI and 16 SB.
- Cy Williams lived up to his reputation as a power hitter, as he was a major force on this Chicago team. He hit .290/.347/.442 with 17 doubles and 6 triples. He tied for the league lead in HR with 18 and led the league with 105 RBI. He stole 18 bases.
- Jamey Carroll was the Gold Glove winner at 2B. He also led the league in Sacrifices with 37.
- Wayne Tolleson was a solid hitter for the White Sox as well, hitting .300/.355/.387 with 62 R, 17 doubles, 10 triples, 0 HR, 55 RBI and 32 SB. Guess he came up in a lot of spots with the pitcher batting after him!

Pitchers
- Ian Anderson was one of the best pitchers in the league, as he went 23-11 in 309 IP with a 2.42 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 84 Ks. He led the league in Games Started with 36, H/9 at 7.46, Quality Starts with 27 and Shutouts with 5. He finished 2nd in the Best Pitcher Award voting.
- Brandon Beachy was the one who beat out Anderson for that best Pitcher Award. Pretty good to have teammates be #1 and #2 in that voting. Beachy went 22-14 with 1 save in a league leading 320.1 IP….not bad for a pitcher labeled as “fragile”. He had a 2.56 ERA, league leading 1.08 WHIP and 128 Ks. He also led the league in WAR (6.4), RA/9 (9.97), CG (30) and tied Anderson with 5 Shutouts.

The White Sox had one of the two biggest power hitters in the league, 2 Gold Glove Winners and the 2 best pitchers in the league….not a bad formula to win a pennant. The NL will be up next, then we’ll see who gets added to the league through the draft heading into the 1902 season.