AL Felipe Bournigal award and MVP

This season I am evaluating the five AL MVP’s and Bournigal award candidates and placing them in the order I’d put them on my ballot. I am also going to name two honourable mentions, the best two players that were not on the final candidates list. Please note this write-up was completed after 161 games.

AL MVP

1. Magglio Javier (Louisville): 120 R (T-2), 52 HR (2nd ), 142 RBI (1st), .315 AVG (8th), 1.015 OPS (T-2)

The 3-time and 2-time defending MVP put together another fantastic season. The only candidate to finish in the top 10 in R, HR, RBI, AVG and OPS, while finishing in the top 2 for R, HR, RBI and OPS. Add those stats to the fact Magglio Javier powered the Sluggers to the 2nd best AL record and I think he can add a 3rd MVP to his mantle. I’m sure some people will think I’m biased to my own player but the numbers bear his ranking out.

2. Braden Cox (Pawtucket): 120 R (T-2), 49 HR (3rd), 120 RBI (5th), .302 AVG (21st), 1.015 OPS (T-2)

Last year’s runner up looks to be a bride’s maid again. Cox might have dethroned Javier has he avoided the 2 trips to the DL this season with that said in the end Cox only played 6 games fewer. In the 5 major cats the best Cox could do is two ties. The record of 0-3-2 vs Magglio speaks for itself. The future looks bright for Cox as Magglio’s power numbers are slowly beginning to erode. This former MVP will likely take the mantle as the AL’s best hitter very shortly.

3. Ozzie Purcell (Sco): 122 R (1st), 40 HR (T-10), 109 RBI (13th), .289 AVG (NR), .968 OPS (6th)

The top 3 slot into their spots quite easily. Purcell’s power numbers put him squarely infront of McCarty and Zorilla. While his average and HR total place him behind Cox and Javier. It does deserve to be noted that Purcell lead the AL in runs (2 better than Javier/Cox) and finished in the top 10 of three major categories.

4. Juan Zorrilla (SF): 85 R (NR), 26 HR (NR), 109 RBI (14th), .332 AVG (3rd), .948 OPS (9th)

This is the part of the list where WIS places too heavy a focus on average. I actually think McCarty had a slightly better year but, this is MVP voting and Zorrilla gets credit for playing on the better team. I won’t say he’s SF best player as that mantle goes to Bournigal. Normally I am against SP as the MVP however, had he made the list of final candidates I would have had a really tough time picking between him and Javier.

5. Glenn McCarty (Tex): 103 R (12th), 26 HR (NR), 94 RBI (NR), .329 AVG (4th), 1.001 OPS (4th)

Texas’ 2nd best hitter made the list while their best hitter (Kaufman) got snubbed. I’d like to take this spot to congratulate Texas on their first playoff appearance. Wolfhound has been in Hunter since season 1, so it was very nice to see his persistence payoff. I fully expect the Beefeaters to push the Sluggers hard next season in the AL South

Honorable Mention:

Desi Nixon (Har): 114 R (2nd), 41 HR (9th), 135 RBI (2nd), .302 AVG (T-20) , 1.024 OPS (1st)

Nixon should check to see if he’s missing his wallet because he was robbed not to make the finalists. Had he made the list I would have ranked him 3rd just in front of Purcell. Nixon was the only player other than Javier to finish in the top 20 in all five categories. He should have received the recognition of making the finalists.

Bruce Kaufman (Tex): 90 R (NR), 43 HR (7th) , 105 RBI (T-16), .302 AVG (T-20), .990 OPS (5th)

SF deserves to have a player on the MVP finalist list. So I would swap Kaufman in for his teammate McCarty. The only thing holding Kaufman back is his lack of durability, which keeps him out of 35 games or so a season.


AL Felipe Bournigal Award

1. Felipe Bournigal (SF): 229 IP (T-5), 21 W (T-1), 214 K (2nd), 1.65 ERA (1st)

The award’s namesake put together he’s best season to date. An argument for another candidate can’t even be made. The race for 2nd is extremely interesting as all four pitchers can make a valid claim that they are the best “human” pitcher. As it’s been revealed that Bournigal is from another planet.

2. Pete Daly (SF): 229 IP (T-6), 20 W (T-3), 221 K (1st) , 2.87 ERA (3rd)

When it comes to the Bourngial Award, I put a lot of focus on IP and K’s. Therefore Daly last year’s runner-up deserves 2nd spot again. Led the league in K’s, was top 10 in IP. He’s sub-3 ERA clinched the 2nd spot on the list.

3. Bob Creek (Lou): 242 IP (1st), 21 W (T-1), 206 K (3rd), 3.71 ERA (12th)

This was an extremely hard spot to pick however, based on my value of K’s and IP, Creek edges out Meng for the 3rd spot. Creek bested Meng in IP (14), W (3) and K’s (39) which was just enough to justify the .88 difference in ERA.

4. Mark Meng (Sco): 228 IP (8th), 18 W (T-6), 167 K (10th), 2.83 ERA (2nd)

Meng came to Scottdale in the year of the FA pitcher (when WIS closed the loop-hole of extending your own player by one year). Meng’s contract was the largest contract ever given to a starting pitcher and thus far he has earned every dollar of it. Meng lead Scottsdale to a WS last year and has them back in the playoffs for a chance to defend the title.

5. Giovanni Dale (NB): 230 IP (T-4), 20 W (T-3), 156 K (13th), 3.21 ERA (6th)

Dale another member of the bumper FA pitcher crop of Season 8 has also earned every dollar of his contract. It was a coin flip between Dale and Meng but the .4 difference in ERA and 11 extra K’s was enough to overcome 2 W and 2 IP.

Honourable Mention:

Mark Cheng (Paw) & Phillip Daniels (Bur): The top 5 were clearly the class of the AL this season. I wouldn’t bump any of them out for Cheng or Daniels but both do deserve a mention for almost identical great seasons.

Hunter League - Selected Career Pitching Statistics

Wins:

1. Felipe Bournigal (San Francisco Night Demons) - 166


2. Pete Daley (San Francisco Night Demons) - 158


3. Shawn Owen (Pittsburgh Studdabubbas) - 156


4. Elvis Ogea (Washington DC Generals) - 154


5. Charles Lawton (Tucson Shockers) - 143

ERA*:

1. Felipe Bournigal (San Francisco Night Demons) - 2.41


2. Derek O'Keefe (Santa Fe Flyers) - 3.12


3. Elvis Ogea (Washington DC Generals) - 3.17


4. Kevin Coleman (Tucson Shockers) - 3.26


5. Mark Meng (Scottsdale Aces)/Giovanni Dale (New Britain Yorkies) - 3.41

Complete Games:

1. Shawn Owen (Pittsburgh Studdabubbas) - 67


2. Elvis Ogea (Washington DC Generals) - 62


3. Tony Cortez (Salt Lake City Mormons) - 41


4. Felipe Bournigal (San Francisco Nigth Demons) - 39


5. Peter Carpenter (Salt Lake City Mormons) - 35

Strike Outs:

1. Felipe Bournigal (San Francisco Night Demons) - 1,897


2. Pete Daley (San Francisco Night Demons) - 1,685


3. Shawn Owen (Pittsburgh Studdabubbas) - 1,585


4. Derek O'Keefe (Sante Fe Flyers) - 1,460


5. David Anderson (San Juan TCB) - 1,452

Saves:

1. Terence Floyd (Burlington BlackSox) - 334


2. Jared Page (San Francisco Night Demons) - 270


3. BC Tracy (Anaheim Angels) - 225


4. Ariel Guerrero (San Juan TCB) - 206


5. Miguel Bennett (Charlotte FatNasty) - 192

All statistics as of 8:30 PM, 30 August 2008; Team names reflect player's current team

*At least 810 Innings Pitched to qualify for ERA leaders

Hunter League All-Time Batting Leaders

Home Runs:

1. Magglio Javier (Louisville Sluggers) - 455
2. James Hayashi (Tuscon Shockers) - 454
3. Rich Peters (Baltimore BayDogs) - 439
4. Lou Stevenson (Augustus Caesars) - 435
5. Lonnie Iglesias (Colorado Blasters) - 419

Runs Batted-In:

1. Magglio Javier (Louisville Sluggers) - 1,334
2. James Hayashi (Tuscon Shockers) - 1,302
3. Garrett Biggio (San Juan TCB) - 1,267
4. J.P. Mercedes (Buffalo Nickels) - 1,205
5. Albert Henley (Salt Lake City Mormons) - 1,180

Hits:

1. Albert Henley (Salt Lake City Mormons) - 1,839
2. Angel Bolivar (San Juan TCB) - 1,816
3. Garrett Biggio (San Juan TCB) - 1,777
4. James Hayashi (Tuscon Shockers) - 1,696
5. Jerome Skrmetta (Chicago Fire) - 1,695

Runs Scored:

1. Albert Henley (Salt Lake City Mormons) - 1,303
2. Garrett Biggio (San Juan TCB) - 1,234
3. Erubiel Molina (Augustus Caesars) - 1,169
4. James Hayashi (Tuscon Shockers) - 1,165
5. Magglio Javier (Louisville Sluggers) - 1,155

All statistics as of 6:30 PM, 24 August 2008; Team names reflect player's current team

Season 9 Top 10 Power Rankings update (game 81)

We’re half way through season 9 and I probably speak for most when I say that season 9 had many surprises so far. Teams like Baltimore, Santa Fe, Huntington and Texas are all enjoying fine seasons much improved from last season. Teams like Augusta, Charlotte, Louisville and Burlington are playing at a lesser level than last season but still have 81 games to go. Some major changes occurred to many teams in the off-season resulting in major changes to the power rankings, Hunter is finally seeing some shifting of power as younger teams are starting to show some teeth.

1. San Francisco Night Demons (56-25) – Still #1 and it doesn’t look like anyone has gained any ground in the AL. Hunters best pitching staff is having another amazing season, they’re #1 in every single pitching stat except for HR given up (3rd). It’s pretty simple, if you can’t score 1 run how are you going to win?

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2. New York Metropolitans (56-24) – Best record in Hunter through the first 81 games, at one point of the season there was a 26 game stretch where this team went 22-4 with a 9 game winning streak. Metropolitans are the only team in Hunter ranked in the top 3 in all 3 team categories. They have the 2nd best pitching staff (3.59 ERA), 2nd best offense (524 RS) and 3rd best defense (.983 FPct) in the world…..nuff said.

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3. San Juan TCB (50-31) – In a very tough NL south TCB are looking to capture their 2nd straight division title. San Juan is another very good overall team that’s powered by their 3rd ranked offense in Hunter. With 508 runs scored, 867 hits, .290 team BA and .852 team OPS any pitching staff facing this line up will give up runs sooner or later (excluding SF :-).

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4. Washington D.C. Generals (48-32) – With a less than impressive start the Generals have picked it up a bit going 16-1 in their last 17 games. Now that they have an 8.5 games lead on 2nd place Rochester it looks like Washington is heading for their 9th straight postseason.

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5. Santa Fe Flyers (49-31) – Out of nowhere the Flyers are challenging San Juan for the NL South, with the addition of Derek O’Keefe and a top 5 line up in Hunter this team may actually stay around for a while. Not on the previous power rankings Santa Fe made some huge strides in season 9 so far.

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6. Colorado Blasters (46-35) – The Blasters had another rough start but with this power line up they wouldn’t stay down for long. Yet again this offense is putting up magical stats, through 81 games Colorado has 697 runs scored, 919 hits, 277 HR and 1.021 team OPS, all best in Hunter.

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7. Texas Beefeaters (48-32) – The Beefeaters have been on a clime for the past 3 seasons posting 84 wins in S7 and 86 wins in S8 and are looking even stronger in S9. Not on the power ranking after S8 this is definitely one of the young surprise teams looking to make history in S9.

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8. Salt Lake City Mormons (47-34) – Will we see a new division champ in the NL West? Salt Lake is another team that was not on the power ranking last time around, and they’re doing it with total team effort. Mormons pitching staff, line up and defense have been hovering around the 10th place all season long proving the Mormons deserve to be in the top 10.

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9. Huntington Head Hunters (48-32) – Head Hunters made lots of changes with the new ownership, signing many free agents and trading for other players resulted in a first place tie in the very tough AL South. Huntington mostly depends on their offense to provide the spark, as their pitching staff hasn’t been as impressive. First time in the top 10 means they’re doing something right.

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10. Pittsburgh Studdabubbas (48-32) – Pittsburgh leads the tough NL North by 7.5 games, did anyone thought that would happen? Studdabubbas line up scored 465 runs in 80 games so far and is the strength of this team, if the defense and pitching staff pick it up a bit this could be a very dangerous team to face in the playoffs.

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- Notable - New Britain Yorkies (45-35) and Baltimore BayDogs (45-35) are on their way up.

- There were 4 major changes as WS Champs Scottsdale Aces and NL Champs Augusta Caesars, Charlotte and Louisville all considered power teams in Hunter did not make the top 10 this time around. There’s talent on all 4 of those teams but you are what your record says you are.

- Next power rankings update will come at the end of season 9.

- Please post in comments if you think teams are not ranked properly, please include why we should make the changes and what you’re basing your opinion on.

Top 10 Power Rankings (S9)

First let me say thanks to those who took the time and voted, the results were a huge part of these power rankings. Some teams are so close to each other in qulity and performance that it was really hard to put one over the other but with the votes it was much easier.

Here are the top 10 clubs in Hunter going into S9

1. San Francisco Night Demons (116-46) – No surprises here, even after the poor showing in S8 playoffs they will remain on top of the power rankings, personally I don’t think it’s even that close. The fact they won S6 and S7 WS combined with 116 win in S8 (13 wins better than any other franchise) proves they are still the best. The main part of this team is the pitching staff that finished season 8 with 3.03 team ERA, 1.12 team WHIP and .228 team OAV, is that crazy or is it just me? Some franchises don’t have a single pitcher put up these numbers not to mention entire staff doing it. Think about this, having a starter put up those numbers would be pretty sweet but we’re talking about the entire pitching staff doing it!

2. Scottsdale Aces (93-69) – Scottsdale stormed into the 2nd spot on the power rankings after their Championship run last season. The regular season record may not be as good as other teams ranked below them but they showed in the playoffs that regular season record doesn’t really matter. Let me point out that on their way to the Championship the Aces swept the Night Demons 3-0 in the DCS than beat up on very strong Sluggers club 4-2 in the LCS and took down the best team in NL Caesars for the WS title. In short they beat the #1, #3 and #4 teams on this ranking, need I say more?

3. Augusta Caesars (101-61) – In the 1st season of new ownership Augusta comes 2 games away from winning the WS. Augusta had to go through very tough NL on their way to the NL crown, they beat a very good up coming Salt Lake 3-2 in DPS, than took care of the very strong San Juan TCB club 3-2 in DCS, next in the LCS they beat up on very talented Charlotte team 4-2 and lost in the WS. Since they beat the next best two NL teams on the rankings and currently hold the NL crown, the #3 spot belongs to them.

4. Louisville Sluggers (103-59) – Personally I thought this is one of very few teams that could give San Fran a run for their money. The Sluggers strength in S8 was their pitching staff ranked 3rd in Hunter with 3.99 team ERA and 1.32 team WHIP. There’s also a guy by the name of Magglio Javier playing on this team who btw won the AL MVP last season as in S5 and S7. He posted .340 BA, .402 OBP and 1,064 OPS in S8 for his 3rd MVP award.

5. San Juan TCB (103-59) – San Juan held the best record in the NL for the majority of season 8 but allowed Colorado to catch up by game 162. Going into the playoffs as the 2nd seed they fell short in the DCS losing 3-2 to the current NL Champ Augusta. The offenses last season was ranked #2 in the world and many may argue that it should be #1 . Last season they posted .299 team BA and .856 team OPS both 2nd best in Hunter with .374 team OBP that was tops. This line up is lead by S7 NL MVP Angel Bolivar who also may be the best pound for pound player in Hunter.

6. Colorado Blasters (103-59) – The Blasters are exactly what their name says, they will simply blast you away. We all know but I will point out that Colorado line up made legendary marks in S8 that may be difficult to reach again, just to name a few they hit 448 HR (177 more than 2nd team) with 1140 RBI and unreal .945 team OPS. If the pitching staff takes their game to another level and the line up keeps on hitting like last season this team could be almost unbeatable. Hitters like Johnson, Zhang, Grimsley, Iglesias and Hutton is what powered this team to 103 wins last season, NL best record.

7. Charlotte FatNasty (98-64) – Second year in a row FatNasty reached the NLCS and second year in a row it’s a losing outcome. Charlotte beat S7 NL Champ NY 3-2 in DPS, came on top over the very strong Colorado club 3-2 in the DCS before losing to Augusta 2-4 in NLCS. Charlotte is probably the best young talented team in Hunter, with players like Henriquez, Beamon, Guardado, Molina, Morga, Allen, Kondou, Benett all under 30 y.o. and many of them are under 26 y.o., the future look very bright.

8. New York Metropolitans (87-75) – Season 7 NL Champs came into S8 with high hopes but injuries and 16-29 record in 1-run games equaled to only 87 wins. Mets pitching staff is near the top in Hunter every season and is the strength of the team, the offense can hit as shown by their .289 team BA but the lack of power is the weak point of this team. Overall Metropolitans are a very solid clun top to bottom full of hight quality veterans mixed in with some very good young players, the expectations for S9 are as hight as they ever were.

9. Washington D.C. Generals (92-70) - The Generals fought Burlington for the top spot in the AL East the entire season and managed to finished 2 games ahead of the Black Sox for their 8th straight divison crown. In the playoffs it was a diffrent story as Burlington got the better of Washington by a 3-1 score in the DPS. Not reaching the ALCS is not what the Generals are use to as this was only the 2nd time in their 8 year history where they did not get at least to the ALCS. Let me repete that, Washington reached the ALCS 6 out of 8 seasons, not only are the a very good regural season team but they're also one of the best in the playoffs. Lets not forget about the 3 Championships they own, still most in Hunter by any franchise.

10. Pawtucket Patriots (90-72) - Pawtuckett in S8 won the AL North by 24 games and finished the regular seaosn with 90 wins. In the DPS the Patriots lost to Scottsdale 3-2 and will need to do more than just get to the playoffs if they want to move up on the rankings. One players that stands out on the team is Braden Cox who in 6 ML seasons hit 279 HR so far and is only 28 y.o. Braden won ROY in S3, ALMVP in S6 and went to the all star game 5 out of his first 6 seasons in the majors. With small improvements this team can not only get very good but they have the core to be one of the best in Hunter.