All-Star Preview: RCL Outfield & DH

This week, we're taking a look at the ABL's many potential All-Stars. Today I'm taking on the outfielders and DH in the Roberto Clemente League. We will see a pair of very tough choices and the most loaded position in the game.


First up, we take a look at the left-fielders:

PLAYER                   AB   R HR RBI   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS OPS+

Chris Barrett, CAR      279  48  6  30 .323 .401 .480  .882  133

Joe Booth, MIN          264  53 16  59 .322 .380 .580  .960  150

Craig O'Day, MON        276  45 16  50 .341 .412 .554  .966  154    

Joe Booth (no relation to GOB Bluth) and Craig O'Day are incredibly close. Booth's defensive stats look a little better than O'Day's, so he has that going for him. WAR prefers O'Day—or, more accurately, dislikes Booth as it ranks Booth behind Barrett. The quarter that I just flipped prefers heads which sounds like Craig so O'Day it is.

The choices don't get any easier when we look at the center-fielders:

PLAYER                   AB   R HR RBI   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS OPS+

Joe Herman, NEW         243  39 13  45 .321 .399 .551  .951  149

Eric Keller, MIN        251  34  1  32 .335 .401 .398  .800  114

Stan Sanders, SDT       248  36 15  51 .315 .351 .609  .960  149

If you thought that Booth and O'Day were close, how do you choose between Joe Herman and Stan Sanders? Herman walks a little more and has the higher OBP; Sanders has had a few more extra base hits (including 6 triples!). Does their defense separate them? Sanders has a very small edge. Really, this race will probably be decided in these final two weeks before the All-Star game.

At least we know who is going to be starting the game in right field:

PLAYER                   AB   R HR RBI   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS OPS+

Tom Becker, MTL         315  58 26  88 .384 .431 .702 1.133  194

Chris Collins, MON      283  50 11  56 .322 .400 .534  .934  145

Steve Frend, SEA        259  76 16  59 .359 .472 .637 1.109  192

Francisco García, SDT   308  53 16  59 .341 .408 .552  .959  152

Lorenzo Rodríguez, ANN  260  71 29  69 .396 .474 .773 1.247  224

Luis Rocha, GRN         307  49 17  54 .313 .372 .544  .916  140

Lorenzo Rodríguez

Lorenzo Rodríguez is the best player on the planet right now: he's flirting with .400 and is on pace to hit 62 home runs. Steve Frend leads the league in walks and has scored 76 runs: with his 16 homers and 17 stolen bases, he has a good shot of going 30/30 and an outside shot at 40/40. Tom Becker has driven in 88 runs—could he make 100 by the All-Star break?

Z-Rod, Frend, and Horseface also team up into a supergroup that fights crime using their baseball super-powers, so, yeah, these three should all be playing in the All-Star Game.

Finally, let's take a look at the designated hitters:

PLAYER                   AB   R HR RBI   BA  OBP  SLG   OPS OPS+

Federico Alfonso, SEA   253  47 18  66 .281 .387 .565  .953  149

George Gilliam, CAR     298  40 15  58 .302 .364 .540  .904  136

Juan Ramírez, MON       305  60 12  50 .318 .381 .538  .919  141

Alfredo Yánez, SOC      308  53 16  59 .341 .408 .552  .959  152

These four designated hitters all come from the Bobby Cox division. We don't have to worry about defense here, so it's all about the hitting stats. These are four solid hitters, but Alfredo Yánez looks like top choice to me: Batman's on-base skills are a notch above the rest, and only Federico Alfonso has a higher slugging.

Plus, his nickname is Batman. Is it possible to vote against Batman? I didn't think so.