2066 Hall of Fame Presser
2066 Hall of Fame Class – Batters
RF/DH Preston “Punk” Loyd – Atlanta Swarm (2050-2052), Detroit Motors (2053-2057), Kentucky Bootleggers (2058-2059), Carolina Reapers (2060), Vancouver Titans (2060)
PL Silver Slugger Award at RF: 3 (2050, 2051, 2053)
SL Silver Slugger Award at DH: 1 (2058)
League Championships: 0
Tournament of Champions Rings: 1 (2053 – Detroit)
The 9th overall pick in the inaugural draft (by Atlanta), Loyd entered the Championship Baseball Association as a 29-year old veteran ready to make an impact. Offensively, Loyd was immediately one of the most productive outfield bats in the entire association, winning Silver Slugger awards in RF in three of his first four seasons. Despite the awards, Loyd is perhaps best thought of as a DH; he fielded a position in only 31.3% of his career games. In 1220 career games split 60-40 between the PL and SL, Loyd carried a career .890 OPS and a 147 OPS+ along with 186 HR and 761 walks.
Loyd retired with 17 total seasons as a major league professional, but only 10 of those seasons were in the current iteration of the CBA. Voters will have to decide if his resume in the association, which includes a ToC tournament ring in 2053 and 33.9 career WAR, is enough to make the cut.
Prediction: Tough one. On one hand, if all 17 of Loyd’s seasons were in the CBA, he’d be a no-doubt Hall of Fame talent, but we can only judge him on the resume before us. Still, especially with a Tournament of Champions ring on his finger, I think he’s the first Hall of Famer to wear a Motors cap.
1B Arturo “Salesman” Martinez – Los Angeles Chilis (2050-2054), Toronto Mythics (2055-2056), Austin Gauchos (2057-2058), New Orleans Krewe (2059)
PL Silver Slugger Award at 1B: 3 (2050, 2051, 2052)
League Championships: 0
Tournament of Champions Rings: 0
Another inaugural draft first rounder, Martinez went 20th overall to the Los Angeles Chilis, where he spent the first five seasons of his CBA career. Martinez was immediately effective on the biggest stage, posting an OPS of at least .947 in his first three career seasons in the Premier League. Martinez amassed 14.8 WAR in those first three seasons, but would go on to amass a comparatively small 12.7 WAR over the next 7 seasons.
Never much of a home run hitter, Martinez nevertheless managed to swat over 100 career HR (109) and boasts a career batting average of .324 across 10 seasons in the PL and SL.
Prediction: While Martinez was one of the best hitters in the PL for a few seasons, he didn’t have the sort of sustained impact that others have had, and he has no team accolades to fall back on, either. I think he’s out.
2B/DH Victor Galindo – Chicago Gale (2050-2056, 2061), Seattle Steelheads (2057-2060)
BL Silver Slugger Award at 2B: 3 (2051, 2052, 2053)
BL Silver Slugger Award at DH: 1 (2057)
League Championships: 2 (Bronze League: 2053 / Silver League: 2056)
Tournament of Champions Rings: 0
Drafted in the 3rd round of the Inaugural Draft, Galindo spent his entire major league career in the CBA, and amassed 22.4 WAR in 11-plus seasons. Nominally a 2B, Galindo played in the field in fewer than 50% of his career games. Galindo is the Bronze League’s all time walks leader with 535 (plus 101 more in the Silver League for a total of 636), which helped him post a career .381 OBP.
While Galindo spent most of his career in the BL, his offensive production remained constant during his three seasons in the SL.
Prediction: Though there seems to be a consensus among the voting body that leagues should be regarded somewhat equally, it’s hard to ignore Galindo’s lack of consistent success above the BL level. That, combined with his lack of fielding success makes him a candidate for the Hall of Very Good. It’s a pass.
RF Jose Avina – Galveston Gremlins (2050-2057, 2059-2060), Vancouver Titans (2058), Minnesota Freeze (2060), Los Angeles Chilis (2061), Phoenix Sundogs (2062)
SL Gold Glove Award: 1 (2051)
PL Gold Glove Award: 5 (2053, 2054, 2055, 2056, 2057)
League Championships: 5 (Silver League: 2052 / Premier League: 2054, 2055, 2057, 2059)
Tournament of Champions Rings: 1 (2054 – Galveston)
Another 3rd round pick in the Inaugural Draft, Avina is the most defensively-minded candidate on this year’s ballot. Making his major league debut with the Galveston Gremlins in 2050, Avina was on a Hall of Fame pace through the 2055 season. By that point, he had accumulated 13.7 career WAR, a Tournament of Champions ring, three league championships, and four gold gloves. In the 7 seasons beyond, however, Avina only added another 5.9 WAR, along with two more gold gloves and two more league championships.
Avina spent the lion’s share of his career in the Premier League and enjoyed good health throughout, so it’s ultimately kind of surprising he only played in 1072 games.
Prediction: If the rest of Avina’s career looked anything like his four-season peak from 2052-2055, this would be a conversation. As it stands, he’ll be one and done.
3B Chase Qualls – Seattle Steelheads (2050-2052), Toronto Mythics (2053-2056), Boston Shoremen (2056), Philadelphia Liberty (2057-2058), Minnesota Freeze (2059-2061), New Orleans Krewe (2061), Las Vegas Lightning (2062)
SL Silver Slugger Award at 3B: 2 (2050, 2059)
League Championships: 1 (2050 Silver League)
Tournament of Champions Rings: 0
Drafted in the 4th round of the inaugural draft as a 26 year old third baseman, Qualls’ CBA career has been the embodiment of the word journeyman. Qualls enjoyed success in each league of the association throughout his career, and played for almost a full 25% of the teams in the association.
Qualls’ best seasons in the CBA were his first two seasons with Seattle, where he posted 9.8 WAR in the SL and the PL, won his only league championship and half of his individual awards. Though he would enjoy a career renaissance with Minnesota in 2059 and win another Silver Slugger award, the rest of his seasons were fairly unremarkable.
Prediction: On one hand, 25.6 WAR is a pretty good career. On the other hand, it’s impossible to ignore the precipitous drop in productivity after 2051. While Qualls may have been on a Hall of Fame track after 2051, those dreams got derailed somewhere along the way.
RF Noah Porter – Charlotte Knights (2050-2053), Mexico City Chupacabras (2053-2056), Phoenix Sundogs (2057), Philadelphia Liberty (2058-2062)
PL Gold Glove Award at RF: 1 (2052)
League Championships: 1 (2050 – Charlotte)
Tournament of Champions Rings: 0
A 2nd-round pick of the then-Charlotte Knights during the inaugural draft, the 26-year old Porter was a force to be reckoned with right out of the gate. In his first season he led the Knights to the PL League Championship with a slash line of .362/.394/.556 and 5.5 WAR. By the end of 2054, Porter had accumulated 15.1 WAR and looked well on his way to immortality. Unfortunately, the back half of his career landed with a thud. In many ways, he was never the same player after a strained abdominal muscle in 2056, which Porter then tore completely in 2058.
From 2055 to the end of the 2062 season, Porter accumulated only 8.8 WAR, and was much more of a reserve player.
Prediction: Porter’s career certainly leaves me wondering about what could have been. The abdominal injuries really sapped what remaining athleticism he had in his early 30s, and his career just never got there.
Pitchers
SP Chuck Armbruster – Toronto Mythics (2050-2061), Phoenix Sundogs (2062)
PL Gold Glove Award at P: 2 (2054, 2058)
League Championships: 3 (2051, 2052, 2060)
Tournament of Champions rings: 2 (2051 and 2060, with Toronto)
The third overall pick in the inaugural draft, Armbruster was a key player for one of the premier franchises in the Association for over a decade. Though he was never the best pitcher in a given season, his Premier League rankings speak for themselves:
Among PL Pitchers:
Total WAR: 37.66 (4th all time)
Innings Pitched: 1930.0 (1st all time)
Wins: 119 (3rd all time)
Strikeouts: 1549 (8th all time)
Games Started: 214 (10th all time)
…and also
Losses: 88 (2nd all time)
Hits Allowed: 1954 (1st all time)
There is an argument to be made that Armbruster was nothing more than a stats compiler: someone who just hung around the league long enough to amass an impressive resume. The counter argument to that is that he did it on the biggest stage for a full decade with nary a bump in the road. In fact, the only time Armbruster was ever listed on the injury report in the years between 2050 and 2061 was in 2056 when he had a head cold.
He didn’t miss any starts.
So while Chuck Armbruster never won the award bearing his family name, there’s still a very good argument that he deserves a spot in the Hall – but that is up to the voters.
Prediction: I’m not going to think about this one too much, because it’s easy to overthink it. Yes, another Mythics player in the Hall.
SP Sergio Lung – Baltimore Blue Crabs (2050-2058), Cincinnati Kings (2059), Cleveland Bobcats (2060), Galveston Gremlins (2061)
BL Rookie of the Year: 1 (2050)
League Championships: 1 (2058 – Silver League with Baltimore)
Tournament of Champions rings: 0
Another first round pick in the inaugural draft, Lung was taken by the now-defunct Blue Crabs with the 18th overall pick. He would make his debut early that same season and exploded into the league, putting up 4.3 WAR and winning Rookie of the Year. Lung was with the team as they climbed through the Silver League, and had arguably his best season in 2054 in the PL where he posted an ERA of 3.07 and led the league with a WHIP just a hair under 1.00. Unfortunately, Lung’s career took a decided turn after that season. Entering his age-28 season in 2055, Lung had already amassed 18.0 career WAR, but would go on to accumulate only 6.3 more in his career.
Lung’s career only spanned 10 seasons, and the last few seasons were pretty unremarkable. He did experience a brief renaissance with the Cleveland Bobcats in 2060 where he posted a 108 ERA+ in the PL at age 33, but he was out of the league by 2062, and formally retired in 2063.
Prediction: While it’d be nice to have another Blue Crab in the Hall, you’d have to look at Lung’s career through the rosiest of glasses to elect him to the hall.
Other Batters
3B Ridley Hill – BOS (2050-2051), PHX (2051-2053), SLC (2054-2060)
2050 BL Sean Milbrandt Most Valuable Player Award, BL Silver Slugger Award at 3B: 3 (2050, 2054, 2056)
League Championships: 2 (1 SL, 1 BL)
Tournament of Champions Rings: 0
It’s altogether fitting that Hill would debut on this ballot. Taken with the 6th pick of the Inaugural Draft (one pick ahead of presumptive Hall of Famer Danny Buijs), Hill also jumped into CBA baseball and hit the ground running, taking home the first ever MVP award in the BL. Hill was also involved in one of the league’s first blockbuster trades, a deal that saw the reigning BL MVP head to Phoenix in the Silver League. Hill would eventually win his first league championship ring with Phoenix in 2053, even though he was only pretty good with the Sun Dogs.
(By the way, the player Hill was traded for in 2051, Dylan Marsh, can be found elsewhere on this ballot)
2054 saw Hill traded back to the Bronze League with Salt Lake City, and he immediately rejuvenated his MVP-caliber career. Hill put up 5.7 WAR in his first season back in the BL and captured his second consecutive League Championship ring, this time in the Bronze League. Hill would have one great season left in the SL in 2055, but would play into the 2060 season before finally hanging it up.
1B Noah York – DEN (2050-2054), PHX (2054-2055, 2057), CHA (2056), GAL (2056), DET (2058), TOR (2059), LV (2061), KTY (2062)*
*Did not play in the CBA in 2060
2050 PL Gold Glove Award at 1B
League Championships – 1
Tournament of Champions Rings – 0
Having suited up for eight different franchises, there are few men in CBA history who can claim to be as well-traveled as York. A 6th round pick in the Inaugural Draft, York always seemed to be fighting his way into that upper echelon of great players. His consistency was remarkable: even at the Premier League level, he was always at least a league-average hitter over a full season. In twelve CBA seasons, York was always good but rarely great. There were, however, flashes of something – a transcendent level of play he struggled to sustain. His 2053 season with Denver didn’t win him any hardware, but a .323/.382/.558 slash line in the PL is nothing to sneeze at.
York’s best season came in 2056, but this also turned out to be a turning point in his career. York, having signed a 1-year ‘prove it’ deal with Galveston, put together a monstrous line of .356/.406/.604 in the first 70 games of the season. Understandably, he expected a rich payday to follow this success, but the Gremlins weren’t believers. They shipped York off to Charlotte and the Bronze League for a handful of picks outside of the first round. York, for his part, cratered in Charlotte, and left in free agency.
After accumulating 4.1 WAR in the first 70 games of 2056, York would accumulate just 6.3 WAR over his next 5 seasons and 490 games.
Fun Noah York fact: Despite playing for over 25% of the teams in the league, York never played a single game in the Silver League.
LF Rico Santellan (Retired 2058) – Santellan only has 20 career WAR, but his career in the CBA started at age 27 and he spent the heart of his career on contending teams in the Silver League and Premier League. Santellan led the league in HRs and BBs twice.
2B Ricardo Nava – MIA (2053-2059), NO (2060-2062)
BL Silver Slugger Award at 2B: 3 (2054, 2055, 2057)
League Championships: 0
Tournament of Champions Rings: 0
From the moment he was drafted in the 1st round by Miami, Nava looked the part of a Warrior middle infielder. Most teams prioritize defense in their second basemen and shortstops, but not the Warriors, who featured a middle infield of Ricardo Nava and Jason Stob for the middle of the 2050s. While Nava didn’t have the power bat of Stob, he proved himself more than capable with a bat in his own right.
Nava boasted a .351 on-base percentage for the Warriors over more than 3600 plate appearances for the franchise. His 334 walks are also nearly 50 more than anyone else in franchise history. Though his teams didn’t win any leagues outright, Nava contributed to an offense that helped elevate the Warriors from the BL to the PL in only two years, a feat only accomplished a handful of times.
Ultimately, the biggest questions for Nava will focus on his longevity. It’s hard to have a Hall of Fame worthy career in less than a decade, and Nava fell short of that full 10th season.
RF Jeremy Nadeau (San Diego, Toronto, Mexico City) – 9 year career, .252/.351/.505 slash line, 24.3 WAR – Nadeau, who spent the bulk of his career with the San Diego Steam, was never really on a lot of radars. He’s almost certainly not a Hall of Famer, but his peak was something to behold. From 2052 through 2056, Nadeau was worth 19.5 WAR, bashed 173 home runs, helped the Steam get over the hump and into the Silver League, and was unquestionably one of the most feared hitters in the game. The rest of his career, unfortunately, failed to live up to the lofty heights of this peak.
1B Julio Goicochea – BAL (2052-2058), NO (2059-2062)
2052 SL Carlos Juarez Rookie of the Year, 2054 PL Silver Slugger Award at 1B, PL Gold Glove Award at 1B: 2 (2056, 2057)
League Championships: 0
Tournament of Champions Rings: 0
A 29th rounder in the Inaugural Draft, Goicochea’s career emerged suddenly when he was traded from Cleveland to Baltimore following the 2051 season. The next season, he immediately went from struggling in Dev-A to Silver League rookie of the year with the Blue Crabs.
His first three seasons with Baltimore were nothing short of a revelation. Though his defense left a lot to be desired at 2B, his offense carried him to 10.8 WAR through 2054. Even more impressive, Goicochea posted his best season to date in 2054 (137 OPS+, 3.9 WAR), which was his first in the Premier League.
Unfortunately, it was also his best season for a while. Goicochea’s bat took a step back in 2055, which only served to highlight his defensive deficiencies. Following a slide over to 1B, Goicochea thrived defensively, but his offense deteriorated to a nadir of 53 OPS+ in 2058.
Goicochea did revitalize his career with a successful stint in New Orleans, but he retired following the 2062 season having only completed 8 major league seasons. He was, at times, one of the best infielders in his league, but the questions about longevity will always be at the forefront of any discussion about the Hall of Fame.
CL Sean Johnson (Houston, San Diego, Kentucky, Carolina, and Phoenix) – All time leader in Saves for the Silver League, 14-year career, 20.6 Pitching WAR, 2056 and 2057 SL Reliever of the Year Award – You’re forgiven if this name is surprising to you. Johnson spent the bulk of his career on Kentucky during a time when the franchise was exceptionally quiet, but he was absolutely one the best relievers in the entire CBA, and perhaps the best reliever in the Silver League period. His 156 Silver League Saves is 50 more than 2nd place, and 53 more than the highest active total. His career ERA of 2.73, outstanding K/9 of 13.1, and career ERA+ of 152 speak to his sustained dominance, and he should be an easy selection for enshrinement.
SP Juan “Rash” Gonzalez (Austin, Salt Lake City, and Houston) – 14 year career (~2 prior to 2050) 35.8 Pitching WAR, 2054 PL Pitcher of the Year Award – Not a lot of ink has been dedicated to one of Mexico’s greatest baseball products, but that somehow seems appropriate. Gonzalez spent nearly his entire career on Austin and Salt Lake City teams that were better at winning baseball games than earning headlines, and Gonzalez’s brilliance was rarely blinding. He won the Chad Armbruster award in 2054, and deservedly so, but he rarely did it with flash. He was always very good – he’d show up, stay healthy, pitch 150-170 high quality innings a season – but he was less-frequently great. He was never the highest-paid player on his team, nor was he ever the consensus best player on his team. In essence, he’s the first Hall of Fame candidate to be much more of a stat accumulator than a star, and his candidacy will be a good litmus test for the future.
SP Javier Jimenez (PHI/TB/DET/ATL) – Entering the CBA at age 30 as a pitcher, Jimenez was a reliable force at the front of the rotation for the entirety of his career in the CBA. He was the PL’s best pitcher in 2052, but only put up 18.0 WAR for his CBA career. One must wonder what his resume would look like if we could see the other 5 years.
CL Arcibaldo Briz – NO (2050-2058), PHX (2058-2060), LA (2060-2061), GAL (2062)
League Championships: 0
Tournament of Champions Rings: 0
One of the best players ever from Portugal, Briz was a mainstay in the 9th inning across all three leagues for a decade. He is one of the few players in league history to rack up more than 200 career saves (209). His 14.3 Career WAR as a reliever is also impressive.
Unfortunately, there’s just not much more to say about his career. Drafted by New Orleans in the 9th round of the Inaugural Draft, he was along for the ride for their rise from the BL to the PL, always there in the 9th inning to slam the door shut. The closest he came to winning an individual award was in 2059 when he finished a distant 2nd to Denver’s Carlos Romero for Reliever of the Year.