The United States Baseball League 2.0

[NYY #23]

The 2060's are a little bit hard to measure with four players looking like they were destined for the Hall of Fame, but having incomplete careers (Wesley Washington, Julio Antunez, Dan Weirich, Mike Derogatis). In the end no players made it to the Hall of Fame, and the one "bust" looked like he could be a late bloomer. This decade of draftees looked like it could have challenged for the top spot among decades if everyone played a full career.

Total WAR: 381.8
Avg. WAR: 38.2
HOF's: 0

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In the end it shouldn't be too big of a surprise that being drafted first overall usually worked out pretty well. 31 Hall of Famers were produced, and the first overall draft picks totaled 6124.8 career WAR, or an average of 42.5 WAR.

[NYY #23]

Winning a Triple Crown seems to be a good way to punch your ticket to the Hall of Fame. There were eight seasons where a batter achieved a Triple Crown by seven different hitters. Six of those seven are now in the Hall of Fame.

There were thirty seasons were a pitcher had a Triple Crown season. Just six pitchers didn't make the Hall of Fame who earned the Triple Crown.

[NYY #23]

Marcus Zrust of the Seattle Pilots won two Silver Slugger Awards during his career and hit .271 with 348 home runs, 929 RBI, and 843 runs scored. The big problem for Zrust was his first year in the league was as a 33 year old. He did get 10 years old service time though and compiled a career WAR of 29.7, but fell off the ballot after just one year.



Jorge Zertuche was another player who won a Silver Slugger Award and hit .252 with 138 home runs, 432 RBI, and 386 runs scored. Because Zertuche only played six years in the league he didn't qualify for the Hall of Fame ballot.



Manuel Zarate led the league in batting average in 2061 when he hit .376 for the Council Bluffs Zephyrs. The speedy right fielder would hit .300 for his career with 388 stolen bases. Zarate didn't have much power, hitting just 116 home runs while driving in 642 runs, and scoring 794. He finished with 27.8 WAR and didn't make the Hall of Fame.



Peter Staffieri got on my radar after winning a Silver Slugger Award for the Boston Shamrocks when he hit .314 with a league leading 53 home runs, and 165 RBI. That would be his best season, although Staffieri would have a solid career going to two All-Star games and hitting .290 with 390 home runs, 1559 RBI, and 1168 runs scored.



Jeffrey Search was a two time All-Star and three time Silver Slugger winner for the Fort Lauderdale Storm who would hit .307 for his career with a .374 on-base percentage and 343 home runs, 1304 RBI, and 1352 runs scored. Search also stole 218 bases during his career and compiled a career WAR of 101.4. He was a defensive whiz at shortstop, although he did fail to win a Gold Glove during his career.

Sometimes it's all about timing, but I think Search had a better Hall of Fame case for several shortstops that were elected. For example Tom Andreou who hit .289 with a .363 on-base percentage with 237 home runs, 1576 RBI, and 1509 runs scored with 183 stolen bases and a career WAR of 70.

[NYY #23]

Jeff Whitley of the Boise Cutthroats was inducted into the Hall of Fame in2 026 after hitting .288 for his career with 312 home runs, 1529 RBI, and 1539 runs scored. A three time All-Star, Whitley won two Silver Slugger Awards at third base, and won one championship during his career. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame with 75.5% of the vote, his sixth year on the ballot.

But with a nickname of 'Ratbreath' I wanted to look a little deeper into the Utah natives Hall of Fame credentials. Here are his metrics, with the averages in parenthesis:

JAWS: 39.5 (62)
Black Ink: 18 (28)
Gray Ink: 121 (158)
HOF Standards: 56 (64)
HOF Monitor: 127 (222)

It looks like Ratbreath may have some problems. His JAWS score was second lowest among 20 third baseman in the Hall of Fame. His WAR of 46.8 was second lowest. His wRC+ was second lowest. Hof Monitor - second lowest, HOF Standards - second lowest.

It's probably fair to say that Whitley doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame, and the guy below him in every category, Jose de la Garza, shouldn't be in the hall either. I can identify a few players without doing too much who didn’t make it to the Hall of Fame that probably should have over Ratbreath.

Let's take Pat 'Little Rat' Guckert. I couldn't make this up if I tried. He hit .287 during his career with 449 home runs, 1318 RBI, 1221 runs, and a WAR of 86.9. His metrics were:

JAWS: 59.8
Black Ink: 0
Gray Ink: 20
HOF Standards: 39
HOF Monitor: 65

He did only play in the league 11 years, and played with many more teams in the league. His wRC+ was 150. I'm not sure I would vote for 'Little Rat', but I'd vote for him over 'Ratbreath'. While I could easily invoke my powers and take him out of the Hall of Fame in a strange way I kind of like things like this. He's my own Lloyd Waner, or (Insert Hall of Famer that doesn't belong).

[NYY #23]

Ryan Faletti won a Silver Slugger Award at catcher in 2062 to get on my radar and would go on to hit .276 for his career with 303 home runs, 1063 RBI, and score 951 runs. With 52.2 career WAR Faletti was a two time All-Star and he fell off the Hall of Fame ballot his first year of eligibility.



It's disappointing when I don't even remember why I shortlisted a player, like CF Aaron Polletta. I had to go back and check, but it was for a third place finish in Rookie of the Year voting for a year in which he hit .238 with 8 home runs and 30 RBI. Hit career would be brief, hitting just .212 for his career with 47 home runs and 202 RBI in 673 games spread over five years. He was out of baseball after turning 25 and hit .184 with a -1.4 WAR his final season.



Julio Santana was another one of the infamous Silver Sluggers from 2062 and went on to hit .267 for his career with 231 home runs, 858 RBI, and 1013 runs scored. He finished with a career WAR of 47.2 and was off the Hall of Fame ballot in a single year.



Julio Marroquin won the Rookie of the Year Award in 2060 when he hit .266 with 33 home runs, 98 RBI, and 116 runs scored as a 23 year old. His first year would be his best though, and Marroquin would never equal the 5.3 WAR he posted his first year. He'd finish with a career batting average of .246 with 282 home runs, 936 RBI, and 976 runs scored.

[NYY #23]

Carl Juarez entered the league as a 19 year old with the Indianapolis Racers after being the second overall draft pick in 1939 and would quickly win the starting right fielder job for the Racers, a position he would hold until he turned 35 years old before a trade to Jackson where he finished out his career.

Juarez was a .346 career hitter in Indianapolis with 308 home runs, 1712 RBI, and 1583 runs scored. He won one Championship with the Racers , one MVP Award, six Silver Slugger Awards, and went to 12 All-Star Games.

Juarez retired in 1960, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame his first year of eligibility with 94.2% of the vote.

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I've had a few notes about players written that I wanted to finish off, and a list of players that I intended to get to, but I've decided to abandon that and end this here. At one point I was pretty invested in this league, and then I wasn't and simmed forward a bunch of years, and then I was again, until I wasn't. I think I've reached the point where I'm tired of going through the history, and I'd rather start a new league and build a new history with 17. So I believe it's time to sign off on this dynasty, and thanks for reading what I admit was a bit of a mess at times.