AL All-Decade Team

I figured since this was the 10th season of Hunter it deserved a special blog post. I have started in the AL and hope to move to the NL and list each league’s “Hunters All-Decade All-Star Teams”. Please note I had to rely a lot of All-Star appearances and Silver Sluggers since you can’t sort career stats via position. This will obviously lead to some snubs, additionally players who split careers between the AL and NL are going to be slightly disadvantaged.

I will try and list all the teams that the player had played for however, ultimately some will be missed as this was a large undertaking. I apologize in advance if I miss listing your team behind a current or past player. Please note since this is the AL list, I will only be listing the AL teams.

Starting Pitching: (Naming three starting pitchers)

Felipe Bournigal- Night Demons (8-time All-Star & 6 Cy Youngs)

This was a pretty obvious decision to name the starter as Bournigal has clearly been the most dominant pitcher over the first 10 seasons of Hunter and will be a sure fire Hall of Famer. If this list gets re-done after 20 seasons I would find it hard to believe that another pitcher would take the starting spot. At age 37 his career is drawing to a close however, I still expect another 3 solids seasons from this Superstar.

Elvis Ogea-Generals (6-time All-Star & 2 Cy Youngs)

Had Bournigal never existed Ogea’s Cy young title would most likely be 5 or higher. However, Bournigal did exist which relegates Ogea to 2nd banana status. However, being the 2nd best pitcher over a decade is nothing to sneeze at. The one place that Ogea leads Bournigal is the fact he was the “ace” of three championship teams and Bournigal only took home two titles

Pete Daly- Night Demons (5-time All-Star & 1 Gold Glove)

If you think Ogea had it bad being ranked 2nd behind Bournigal, just think about Daly having never been the top starting pitcher on his own team. When you look at their stats and longevity Ogea, Daly and Bournigal are in a class of their own. Filling out the remainder of the SP spots proved to be the most difficult part in this exercise.

RP (Naming two: Closer and Set-up)

Closer- Terrence Floyd- Black Sox (8-time All-Star & 3 Fireman of the Year)

Hunter’s career leader in saves was an obvious choice for the closer role. His 8 all-star appearances ties Bournigal as the most for an AL pitcher. His three fireman awards are also an AL-Record. For the decade Floyd was the best of the four AL dominant closers.

Setup- Jared Page - Night Demons (6-time All-star & 3 Fireman of the year)

Surprise, surprise another SF pitcher. For Hunter’s first decade it’s clear to see how SF lead the AL in wins. Pitching, pitching and more pitching. Page falls just behind Floyd and is a worth set-up man. His three fireman awards tie Floyd’s record. The one place Page does best Floyd is he’s the Hunter world leader in SV%.

Catcher - Bruce Nixon- scorpions/The Whale (6-time All-star & 3 Silver Slugger)

As a catcher the 6 time all-star and three Silver sluggers are AL bests at age 37 Nixon is still in the league but the end of his career isn’t far off. The last couple years have caused his career batting average to drop just below .300 however his OPS still sits above .800 which is an impressive feat. The one sad note for Nixon is he has never made the playoffs.

1b- Lou Stevenson-Fire/Bald Beaver (2-time All-Star, 3 Silver Slugger & 4 MVP)

Despite only 6 seasons in the AL Stevenson was an obvious choice for the 1b spot. In his first 5 seasons he racked up 4 AL MVP’s before adding a 5th MVP via the NL to his resume. His 5 total MVP’s is a Hunter record shared with Magglio Javier. Javier and Stevenson have combined for 9 of the 10 AL MVP’s. Despite three seasons of under-use in the NL before returning to the AL this season Stevenson still boosts career numbers of 1007 R, 450 HR & 1234 RBI

2b- Mendy Clemens- Cheese Grits (3-time All-Star & 5 Silver Sluggers)

Mendy moved to the NL during Atlanta’s season six fire sale. However despite this fact Clemens was a slam-dunk for the AL’s staring lineup. He won the 2b silver slugger for every full season he played in the AL. His five silver sluggers are a record shared with Magglio Javier and Dan Miller. Clemens continued his fine play in the NL and was a member of last year’s world series winners (New York).

SS- Dan Miller - Generals (3-time All-Star & 5 Silver Sluggers)

As mentioned above Miller is one of three, 5-time AL Silver slugger winners and did so in only 6 full AL seasons. During that time he also managed to pick up three championship rings. Miller’s range in his prime was slightly below average however, his bat more than made up for it and it certainly didn’t hurt the Generals in the playoffs.

3b - Rodrigo Brito- Black Sox (4-time All-Star, 4 Silver Sluggers & 2 Gold Gloves)

Brito is the first player on the list to not only have silver slugger but gold gloves. This in itself is an impressive achievement. In addition to this Brito had authored 10 consecutive 30 HR seasons and has failed to reach 100 RBI only one-time. Thus making him a model of consistency. His four AL silver sluggers fall one short of the record and having moved to the NL (Pittsburgh) it looks like his final total will be one short.

Lf- Magglio Javier – Sluggers (9-time All-Star, 5 Silver Sluggers, 5 MVPs & Rookie of the Year)

If there were an MVP for the first decade of Hunter Magglio Javier would probably be the winner. His 9 all-star appearances, 5 silver sluggers and 5 MVPs are all AL records. In addition to that his career numbers and consistency is staggering. Magglio has never scored less than 114 runs, hit less than 44 HR or drove in less than 135 RBI. All of these numbers were posted this season (10) and he still walked away with the MVP. He missed being the first member of the 500 HR club by one game and sits 5 RBI’s short of being the first 1500 RBI player. Additionally, he’s lead Louisville to 10 playoff appearances, 9 division titles, 5 ALCS appearance and 2 World Series appearances. The only flaw in his resume is a lack of a ring; however as I write this Sluggers lead the World Series 1-0.

Cf- Pablo Chavez - Generals (3-time All-Star)

The toughest position to pick a start as no player really separated themselves from the rest. This pick makes Chavez the youngest member of the team at 27 and still has a few more CF seasons left in him before moving to a corner OF spot to improve his resume. This pick ultimately came down to three options. However, Chavez’s combination of power and defense is what landed him on this list.

Rf- Mark Gabriel - Explorer/Patriots (4-time All-Star, 2 Silver Slugger and 1 Gold Glove)

Gaberial won the three horse race for this spot and joins Brito as the only other Gold Glove winner on the list. Gabrial strong career numbers are a result of a long and extremely consistent career.

DH- Glenn McCarty - Beefeaters (7-time All-Star, 4 Silver Sluggers)

McCarty was an easy pick for this spot as his seven AL all-star appearances only trails Javier and his 4 silver sluggers sit one back of the AL record. In addition to this McCarty is the career leader in OBP with a ridiculous .420 plus he is top five in terms of career batting average.


Reserves:

SP: Derek O'Keefe- Night Demons/Bad Boys/Yorkies (2-time All-Star & 1 Cy Young)
SP: Steve Sheldon- Explorer/ Patriots (3-time All-Star)
SP: J.T. Cook- Generals (2-time All-Star)
SP: Bob Creek - Sluggers (2-time All-Star & 1 Gold Glove)
SP: Dave Caufield- Sluggers (3-time All-Star)
RP: Clark Connelly- scorpions (4-time All-Star, 2 Fireman of the year)
RP: B.C. Tracy- thunderstrikers (3-time All-Star, 1 Fireman of the year)

C: Tanner Sager- Generals (2-time All-Star & 2 Silver Slugger)
1b: Sherm Norton- Yorkies/Choking Dogs (4-time All-Star & 2 Silver Slugger)
2b: Desi Nixon-Mud Hens/The Whale (2-time All-Star & 2 Silver Slugger)
3b: Walter Hansen-Cheese Grits (1-time All-Star & 2 Silver Slugger)
SS: Eduardo Gonzalez-Pines/Posse/Velvet Vultures (4-time All-Star & 4 Silver Slugger)
LF: Braden Cox- Patriots/Explorer (5-time All-Star, 3 Silver Slugger & 1 MVP)
CF: Mendy Montana- Night Demons (3 Silver Slugger)
RF: Bruce Kaufman-Beefeaters (2-time All-Star & 1 Silver Slugger) DH: Julian Pisciotta- Rattlers/Yorkies (1 Silver Slugger)


Snubs:
SP- Mark Meng- Aces (2-time All-Star) hurt by limited time in AL
SP- Mike Eckstein- Sluggers (2-time All-Star)
RP: Willie Gutierrez-Generals (4-time All-Star)
RP: Louis Fisher- Beefeaters (3-time All-Star)
C: Trenidad Molina-thunderstrikers (3-time All-Star & 1 Silver Slugger)
1b: Darryl Biddle- Generals/Memphis (3-time All-Star & 1 Gold Glove)
1b: Mark Kim- Night Demons (2-time All-Star & 1 MVP)
1b: Juan Zorrilla- Night Demons (2-time All-Star)
2b: Bruce Grey- Sluggers (3-time All-Star & 1 Silver Slugger)
2b: J.R. Alston- Aces (4-time All-Star & 1 Silver Slugger)
SS: Emmanuel Javier- Sluggers (3-time All-Star)
SS: Bud Thomas- Fire(2-time All-Star & 2 Gold Glove)
3b: Russell Henson- Sluggers (2-time All-Star & 2 Silver Slugger)
LF: James Hayashi- Bad Boys (1-time All-Star & 2 Silver Slugger)
CF: Evan Levrault- Explorer (1-time All-Star & 3 Gold Gloves)
CF: Pinky Duffy-Aces/Fire (2-time All-Star & 1 Glove)
RF: Marquis Fischbach-Aces (4-time All-Star & 1 Glove)
RF: Tom Leonard-scorpions- (1-time All-Star & 1 Silver Slugger)
RF: Trevor Rooney- Sluggers (1 All-Star, 2 Silver Slugger & 1 Gold Glove)