S27- Power Ranks (6-10)

1. 6..    Tacoma

The Narrows sit at 18-21 at the time of this writing so many might be surprised to see this team so high. Like a point out every year if people want to look at records there is this magical tool called………the standings. Tacoma is a team that looked like it was one piece away and picking up J. Paranoto pushes this team into title contention

27..    Norfolk

Norfolk boosts the best record in all of Hunter. Last season was a disappointing season for Norfolk after winning the divison and 89 games the previous season. Jbburner’s frustration was apparent as he made a major splash in the offseason signing one of the top FA targerts Ace Bryan Parrish

38.. Jacksonville

Since joining the league Knine had never allowed Jacksonvill to drop below 79wins until  S26. It became apparent in FA that Knine did not intend to suffer through another 70 win season. The Velioraptors signed SP A. Norris, 2b E. Mendoza, LF M. Cobb, RP G. Taylor & RP H. Piedra. All resulted in compensatory picks and that doesn’t even include the biggest FA fish A. Jackson the top SP available in FA. 

9..9.  Pittsburgh

Last year’s NL rep is off to a strong start yet again. Dizz has built a strong core of young players who took a big step forward last year making a run to the NLCS before falling to eventual champion: New Orleans. 

5. 10.      Louisville

Claim favoritism……..but the Sluggers look to rebound off their disappointing 87W season and their first playoff miss in franchise history. I stated going into last season I had forsaken season 26 for championship runs in S23-S25, two titles later I’d make the trade again although……I loved the streak. With a lot of veterans coming off the cap for the current season and minor league reinforcements ready the Sluggers are poised to start another streak.

Honorable Mentions:

Cleveland, Kansas City (the toughest omission), Charlotte, Los Angeles & Philly.

Power Ranks (1-5): S27

1.     1.   New Orleans

3 seasons ago BigTex put me on notice that the Jazz were going to make some noise. It turns out the noise was Championship music. Two seasons ago in a Power Ranks post I stated the thing holding New Orleans back was a lack of MVP bat and Bigtex quickly remedied that with the acquisition of Branch Garnder. This acquisition lead to a title which would point to me being correct ,however the defending NL MVP is E. Patterson who was on the roster that the time I made my comment…..whoops

2.      2.  San Francisco

BJB correctly pointed out that over the last 5 seasons he has likely had either the best or 2^nd best team on paper every season and hasn’t won a title since S21. The scary part is during the game 22 annual prospect pissing content this perennial title contender took silver. The end of the Night Demon run is no where in sight. The one thing other teams can take solace in is the “Playoff Crap Shoot Factor”, all a team can hope for is to put itself in position to potentially win a title. 

3.       3. St. Louis

If there was a candidate for the next “New Orleans Jazz” it would be the Browns. This team has been built slowly and then augmented with a few key trades however has yet to see the talent convert to post season success.  The Browns are likely to secure one of the two AL byes which shortens the road to the championship. I have a feeling that if SF is bounced from the post-season this year it will by this roster

4.       4. Salt Lake City

There are a few owners in the world that can be counted on to create perennial contenders and Shmish is definitely among those ranks the S24 champs are off to yet another good start and have a roster built for title contention. Estaban Gomez entering his 2^nd complete ML season anchors the batting order while providing gold glove defense in CF. A huge bat at a premium position

5.       5.New Britain

For the first time in as long as I can remember there are 3 NL teams in the top 5 of the power ranks.  I’ve often joked that the NL is Quadruple A and the jokes for years were well founded whenever a huge player hit the FA or trade market it was always an AL team that stepped up to secure the player as the AL was a nuclear arms race however in recent seasons that trend has started to shift and it shows in roster talent. 

      I’m a full paragraph in and haven’t mentioned the Yorkies. DJ moved to the NL and turned around a disappointing franchise in a very short period of time. Making the WS in S25, was likely a year or two ahead of schedule but they came within a win of DJ’s 4^th championship. This S25 young roster has matured to become what will likely be a championship contender for years to come.

Season 26 WAR Leaders

National League:

1. Branch Gardner RF, New Orleans - 6.9 WAR. Gardner is a solid RF who carries a lethal bat.  He punished pitchers to the tune of .343/.437/.591. His split time with two teams almost fooled me into thinking he was further down on this list.  Glad I noticed.

2. Kennie Henderson 3B, Philadelphia - 5.9 WAR. Kennie is a dominant third sacker, a full 35%+ better than the next best 3B. He adds more than a full win on defense. He adds a .272/.335/.530 slash line with 26 SB to boot.

3.  Victor Guzman 3B, Baltimore - 5.8 WAR. What is it with 3B in S26?  It's quite the bumper crop.  Victor is basically neutral on defense, he doesn't hurt but he isn't better than average either.  What he does bring is a .285/.341/.618 slash line.  Lots and lots of power.

4. Asdrubal Tarasco 1B, Philadelphia, - 5.6 WAR.  Tarasco is an above average defender at 1B who also happens to hit a little, as his .308/.369/.585 line demonstrates.

5. Luis Rijo C, Philadelphia - 5.4 WAR.  Rijo is a solid backstop who provides value behind the plate as well as at the plate.  He hit .299/.399/.529 in S26.

6. Ken Shoppach CF, San Jose - 5.3 WAR. Shoppach creates value on defense (16 + plays), with his legs (75 SB) and with a decent stick (.283/.362/.417).  He's a true all-around player.

7. Steve Murphy C, San Jose - 5.3 WAR. It's interesting how Murphy can create so much value in only 96 games.  That just goes to show how good catching is hard to find.  He delivered solid results behind the plate in terms of throwing at runners and CERA.  He hit .281/.356/.574.  Great power for a good defensive C.

8.Ren Pong 2B, Salt Lake City - 5.0 WAR. Pong doesn't really add much on defense as he is slightly below average. His bat makes up for it, with a .328/.405/.491 line.

9.  Eddie Patterson 1B, New Orleans - 4.9 WAR. Yes more smooth Jazz, as another of New Orleans S26 group makes the list. Eddie rocked to the tune of .314/.375/.612 and threw in above average defense to boot.

10.  Orlando Cruz LF, New Orleans - 4.9 WAR. Let's make it a Jazz trio with Cruz rounding out the list. Cruz hit .299/.382/.493 with 26 SB and good D in LF.

WAR -Season 26 Leaders

I've recently loaded all of the hitting and fielding stats for Hunter's position players from Season 26. I will posting a few items of interest from the spreadsheet, starting with Season 26's league leaders in WAR.

 American League:

1. Felipe Sosa 3B, Richmond - 8.3 WAR. Sosa, who manned 3b for Richmond, was far and away the WAR leader for Hunter. He the only player above 8 WAR. With above average defense (4th in Hunter) and a .334/.428/.581 slash line, it's a wonder he did not win the MVP award

2.Tim Ryan DH, San Juan- 7.3 WAR. Ryan was a DH, so he did all his damage with his bat, and boy was it a lot.  He had a .376/.467/.644 line and was the leader in wOBA at .454.  The AL MVP was a force to be reckoned with, but with a 1+ WAR difference from WAR leader Sosa, you could argue he should have been the runner up.

3. Gary Morton 3B, Tacoma- 6.2 WAR. Gary is a fine all around player that created good defensive value at 3B (3rd best in Hunter) and put up a .275/.331/.549 slash line.

4. Carl Ford 3B,St. Louis - 6.1 WAR. Carl was a middling 3B in the field, but he was a sterling batsman, posting a .318/.384/.517 line.  Third base is a very deep position in the AL, capturing 3 of the top 4 spots.

5.  Art Ackley 2B, Charlotte - 6.0 WAR. Ackley delivered above average D (10th in Hunter overall) and a .301/.386/.536 slash line for the Smokies.

6. Bingo Thames LF/2B, Chicago - 5.9 WAR. Thames is an oddity in the sense that he played 60 games at 2B, where he had no business playing (he is LH). He created a good amount of negative defensive value, which offset his bat to an extent. When he played LF, he played well, but interestingly, LF must have been deep defensively, because he comes up short compared to other LF. But his bat more than made up for this, as he hit .354/.435/.507

7. Derrik Tucker 2B, Norfolk - 5.9 WAR. Tucker is a natural 2B and produced slightly above average defensive value, which helped give him a small boost. His hitting line of .330/.392/.576 is where he made his largest contribution.

8.  John Yoshii CF, San Francisco - 5.8 WAR. No surprise that SF had one of their own in the Top 5. Yoshii produced a lot of value with his glove to go along with a .292/.361/.516 line. He had the single biggest boost from defense of anyone in the Top 10, posting a 50% higher defensive value than the next closest CF (Esteban Gomez of SLC).

9. Mickey Webster RF, Richmond - 5.7 WAR. Mickey, if we looked back, would surely be a perennial occupant of this list. Mickey does a lot of damage with the bat, posting a .300/.386/.552 in S26. Mickey is a brutal RF, costing his team a full win in the field (he ranked dead last among all RF in Hunter). He truly is a DH playing the field, evoking memories of Dave Kingman in the Wrigley OF.

10. Rondell Sadowski DH, Kansas City - 5.6 WAR. A second DH (or 3rd if you count Webster) to round out the top 10, Sadowski brutalizes pitching to the tune of .293/.390/.590.