Best hitting of the 21st century: Top-50 (2003-2008)
Hello, happy Friday! I hope this is going to be a great week for you. We start with our first installment of Best hitting of the 21st century in Cuban baseball, which is kind of an advanced introduction to what you'll see.
My dedicated wife Ruth and I have talked a lot about everything coming up. I'm happy that she follows me in all my crazy things. It was a long day. But, after all, talking about Best hitting of the 21st century reminded us of an admirable group of baseball players that we loved to watch. It probably happens to you too, dear reader: you see all those names and their statistics, and you quickly connect with stories you experienced at the baseball park.
For many of us, the passion for baseball knows no limits. I began to become a baseball fan in the late 1990s when I was in elementary school. As I have said many times here, I still remember all the albums and newspaper clippings that I collected with the unconditional help of my maternal grandmother. I still have a good part of those clippings saved. For more than two decades, they have been some of my most valuable baseball treasures.
Speaking of memories, a couple of weeks ago I found one of the first baseball magazines I was given as a gift. It was an impressive compilation of Street & Smith's Baseball leading up to the 2000 season.
I still remember that my favorite team—yes, those 2000 Yankees!l—was on page 71. Street & Smith's Baseball had one particular detail that was totally new to me: they presented the teams on a baseball field. Each starter appeared in his position on the field. There was also a ranking of prospects for each franchise.
I was 10 years old.
Everything was new to me. At that time, I could not understand all the information that magazine provided in English. But the effect that that gem of a magazine had on me was definitely unforgettable. Best hitting of the 21st century is not exactly a preview of the season, like Street & Smith's Baseball compilations or Bill James' Abstracts.* But I will try to lead you through each story to a new angle of analysis in which such Maybe you didn't notice during those years.
*By the way, almost 11 years ago, in July 2013, my great friend Dolores, a great baseball fan, gave me The New Bill James historical Baseball Abstrasct, one of the great books written by Bill James. I still sleep near him.
I mean: it's about taking a trip back to relive all those memorable years at the beginning of this century, and re-appreciate the skill and greatness of the players who made history.
When I began the research process for Best hitting of the 21st century, I have been finding surprising nuggets. What do I mean? If you lived those years in Cuba, you must remember that everything related to the publication of player statistics was quite limited. The national press did not have enough space in the sports pages as it used to in the 1960s and 1970s, nor was analytical work exploited. I've talked a lot about this here. For many years, batting average was enough to define the quality of a hitter.
This was the case for many reasons.
It was also the case with pitchers: winning games and maintaining brilliant effectiveness was enough to aspire to be part of a national team. So Best hitting of the 21st century will shatter many of your doubts and give voice to many of the solid arguments that countless fans used to defend their favorite players. In Best hitting of the 21st century we will not only bring to the debate table who was the Most Valuable Player of each period we chose. We will go deeper into each story. We will talk about the best runners, the main sluggers, the clutch hitters and even those who stood out the most for their discipline at the plate.
In this first post, you will see how I chose my Top-50 hitters who shined between the 2003-2004 to 2007-2008 seasons. My statistical index called oVAL (Batter's Offensive Value) was a valuable tool in choosing the Top-50, but the ranking you will see below is simply a selection of the players. Then, from this group of 50 batters the best will be chosen for the different categories that we announced in the introduction. Here you can see them again:
1) Best hitters
2) Best stealers
3) Best hitter in plate discipline/Clutch hitting
4) Best Sluggers
5) MVP by positions
Along with the hitters with the best plate discipline will also come the best clutch hitters. Remember, all rankings will be chosen from the Top-50 qualified hitters. And, as I explained before, the ranking number could change according to the ability of each hitter.
Without further ado, here are the Top-50 eligible hitters in this period between 2003 and 2008:
1- Gurriel Castillo, Yulieski, 3B | Sancti Spíritus
2- Urgellés Cobas, Yohandry, LF | Industriales
3- Enríquez Tamayo, Michel, 3B | Isla de la Juventud
4- Céspedes Milanés, Yoenis, CF | Granma
5- Pedroso Brooks, Joan Carlos, 1B | Las Tunas
6- Meriño Betancourt, Rolando, C | Santiago de Cuba
7- Ruiz Barzán, José Julio, 1B | Santiago de Cuba
8- Cepeda Cruz, Frederich, LF | Sancti Spíritus
9- Despaigne Rodríguez, Alfredo, LF | Granma
10- Sánchez León, Eriel, C | Sancti Spíritus
11- Castro Muñagorri, Danel, 2B | Las Tunas
12- Benavides Muñoz, Manuel, 2B | Santiago de Cuba
13- Urrutia Ramírez, Osmani, RF | Las Tunas
14- Poll Martínez, Pedro, 1B | Santiago de Cuba
15- Ramírez Rodríguez, Alexei, 2B-3B-CF | Pinar del Río
16- Bell Quintero, Alexei, RF | Santiago de Cuba
17- Tabares Padilla, Carlos Alberto, CF | Industriales
18- Scull Zayas, Yordanis, CF | Las Tunas
19- Diaz Cordero, Orlis Luis, LF | Isla de la Juventud
20- Malleta Kerr, Alexander, 1B | Industriales
21- Charles Martínez, Yorelvis, 2B | Ciego de Ávila
22- Borrero Alfonso, Ariel, 1B | Villa Clara
23- Paret Pérez, Eduardo, SS | Villa Clara
24- Zamora Farres, Andy, RF | Villa Clara
25- Anderson Stephes, Leslie, CF | Camagüey
26- Rivera Despaigne, Luis Felipe, 1B | Isla de la Juventud
27- Fis Morales, Yoelvys, CF | Ciego de Ávila
28- Rodríguez López, Michel, 3B | Habana
29- Hurtado Pimentel, Reutilio, CF | Santiago de Cuba
30- Chapellí Jiménez, Loidel, 1B | Camagüey
31- Scull Hernández, Antonio, 1B | Industriales
32- Garlobo Romay, Yoandy, 1B-DH | Matanzas
33- Pestano Valdés, Ariel Osvaldo, C | Villa Clara
34- Monteagudo Castillo, Liván, RF | Sancti Spíritus
35- Duarte Hernández, Donal, 3B | Pinar del Río
36- Suarez Burquez, Amaury, 3B | Las Tunas
37- Samón Matamoros, Yordanis, RF-1B | Granma
38- Duvergel Rojas, Giorvis, CF | Guantánamo
39- González Pérez, Luis Ignacio, DH | Habana
40- Peraza Marín, Yosvani, C | Pinar del Río
41- Padrón Bravo, Jorge Alberto, 1B | Pinar del Río
42- Cerce Martínez, Yoilan, 2B | Guantánamo
43- Mustelier Bell, Ronnier, 3B-LF | Santiago de Cuba
44- Molina Guerrero, Rolexis, RF | Isla de la Juventud
45- Martínez Dorta, Isaac, RF | Ciego de Ávila
46- Diaz Martínez, Enrique Esteban, 2B | Industriales
47- Gómez Soto, Yasser Richard, RF | Industriales
48- Laborde Calunga, Alexis, 3B | Guantánamo
49- Miranda Agramonte, Danny, 1B | Ciego de Ávila
50- Luis Márquez, Marino, 2B | Camagüey
So many valuable players! Yes, perhaps now you are beginning to remember some who did not qualify in this Top-50 from the period between 2003 and 2008. As for the selection, I left everything in the hands of the oVAL. Of course, oVAL made a bold rating giving weight to the batsmen's contribution in all their game situations. This included his baserunning ability. In terms of offensive production, oVAL places a lot of credit on runs created. The oVAL matrix also works in parallel with the impact of each hitter compared to the replacement player.
In baseball, we know that no formula is the final word. Obviously, we can also find similar contributions from a great group of hitters, but that was not the case with this Top-50. Let's put an example in perspective: the offensive contribution of Marino Luis, the number 50 player in the ranking, was 34.4%. Guantánamo's third baseman at that time, Vismay Santos, ranked 51st and had a contribution of 27.7% in his added offensive value.
In terms of oVAL, the difference was significant.
Either way, the best is yet to come. Yes, I know how many controversies the presence of Yuli Gurriel in the number one position of the Top-50 could have generated, especially with Michel Enríquez and Yoenis Céspedes on the prowl. We will get to them soon. But the big story here is that nothing is defined. I think the box office success of Best hitting of the 21st century in Cuban baseball will be in how the value of each hitter can be expressed in different indices, statistics and game situations. And I think that's really what we wanted to appreciate in those years: a middle ground that helped us be more thoughtful in terms of player analysis.
Now you have it in Best hitting of the 21st century in Cuban baseball. I hope you enjoy it.
