We expanded from 24 to 26 in 2018. Louisville Bats entered the league, while we also got the whole New England moves to Colorado, but stays in New England at the same time as well scenario. We had some monster years, making most of the decisions pretty cut and dry. Four batters posted seasons of 200+ hits, at least a .300 avg and greater than 1.000ops. While Jaime Cruz and Alex Rodriguez would probably be the first two guesses of many and correct they would be, Eduardo Cruz and Chris Kennedy would probably be way down the list. A 5th batter, Nolan Gibbons, also posted above 1.000ops. While 2015 may have been the year of the newcomer with 14 first-timers, 2018 we only saw 5 first-timers as 13 batters bring home their multiple-th [sic] award.
Notable Snubs:
AL 1B Louie Gaudreau, New York .270avg 34hr 110rbi .844ops
AL 1B Bill O'Higgins, Miami .285avg 42hr 130rbi .861ops
AL 2B Randy Lawrence, Pittsburgh .311avg 13hr 58rbi .801ops
AL 3B Leonard David, Hartford .289avg 21hr 107rbi .759ops
AL OF Ramon Ruiz, Port Orange .260avg 29hr 124rbi .799ops
AL C Seiichi Shini, Houston .328avg 13hr 70rbi .843ops
PL 1B Dave Huggins, Albany .344avg 27hr 134rbi .969ops
PL 2B Albert Vasquez, Chicago .331avg 24hr 119rbi .931ops
PL C Pancho Escobar, Albany .236avg 28hr 96rbi .755ops
2019 was a fun season, the Year of the Wu. A lot of people almost got their wish for a restart with the whole Wu debacle. Batted .415 in just 99 games, injury hurt his chance at qualifying for a record, but he still brought home the ROTY award. Lots of great seasons made the decisions tough. Wu won over a quartet of great seasons in the AL DH race. Hitter of the Year winner Gustavo Alvarez doesn't win an award as Jaime Cruz gets the nod at AL 1B. Both leagues had tough decisions at both 2B and C while the OF slots were littered with worthy candidates as well. I could probably field an adequate second team with all the offensive prowess we saw in '19. We also saw the greatest offensive season ever in my opinion as Alex Rodriguez batted .400 and drove in 170 runs. We will see a couple of seasons in the future that rival that season (Cruz in '20, Rodriguez again in '22, and Hernandez in '27), but for me, that was the best.
Notable Snubs:
AL 1B Gustavo Alvarez, Toronto .396avg 13hr 97rbi 1.012ops
AL 1B Luis Romero, Miami .274avg 40hr 116rbi .948ops
AL 2B Larry McDonald, Toronto .295avg 11hr 78rbi .840ops
AL OF Ramon Ruiz, Port Orange .254avg 34hr 104rbi .889ops
AL OF Danny Ford, Sheltown .300avg 34hr 127rbi .858ops
AL C Jose Suarez, Toronto .249avg 22hr 84rbi .798ops
AL DH Louie Gaudreau, New York .293avg 31hr 135rbi .894ops
AL DH Eric MacGregor, Toronto .326avg 31hr 140rbi .950ops
AL DH Bill O'Higgins, Miami .298avg 43hr 163rbi .848ops
AL DH Pablo Lopez, Carolina .327avg 29hr 125rbi .961ops
PL 1B Lawrence Franks, Sioux City .318avg 11hr 89rbi .883ops
PL 2B Jorge Reyna, Albany .287avg 29hr 115rbi .840ops
PL 3B Bill Hill, Chicago .310avg 11hr 75rbi .858ops
PL OF Jesus Rivera, Sioux City .284avg 27hr 88rbi .894ops
PL C Jose Andrade, Steel City .291avg 20hr 68rbi .776ops
PL DH Jim Scott, Albany .336avg 0hr 51rbi .858ops
Cruz had his best season, taking home the triple crown with an incredible slash line of .381/48/168. Gibbons and Amaya won their fifth award. We see international superstar Ando make his first visit. In another shocking tidbit, two of these guys (Ando and Burgos) and a snub (Valles) were traded not once, but twice during the season. Two different owners said, "Oh man, look at the season this guy's having. I gotta get rid of him!"
