13 years into the league and we've now reached 88 hitters who have hit .400 or greater in a season, proving that a .400 batting average isn't necessarily as special in this universe with the smaller sample size and number of games per year.
Dan Brouthers of the Titans led the way this season with a .429 batting average though, one of five players to join the .400 club.
Joining Brouthers in the .400 club are
Ron Paty of the Ravens (.410),
Ross Barnes of the Lions (.420),
Larry Hagen of the Panthers (.419), and
Dave Orr of the Saints (.400). That makes 3 of the 5 players real life players.
For whatever reason it does seem like real life players are dominating the hitters, and fictional players are dominating the pitchers. Looking at the career WAR leaders for hitters -
1) Ross Barnes - 18.94
2) Travis Losch - 13.41
3) Cap Anson - 13.24
4) George Wright - 13.02
5) Eric Johnson - 10.83
6) Cal McVey - 10.54
7) Jimmy Wood - 10.42
8) Ed Pinkham - 9.79
9) Ross Nighbor - 8.62
10) Everett Mills - 7.77
The only fictional players are Losch, Johnson, and Nighbor. Looking at the career WAR leaders for pitchers -
1) Aaron Jackson - 60.03
2) Mike McBurnett - 55.98
3) Cameron Cotter - 50.25
4) Scott Young - 47.11
5) Milt Foss - 45.34
6) Matt Kelley - 45.30
7) Dan Anderson - 44.01
8) Lee O'Neill - 42.24
9) Mike Courtney - 38.58
10) Chris Garbo - 38.51
All ten are fictional players, although
George Zettlein and
Jim Britt are numbers 11 and 12 on the list respectively. It also shows that comparing a pitcher's WAR and hitter's WAR is pretty pointless in this universe, since the pitcher's WAR will be much higher.
I haven't talked much about the NCAA, but
Bert Dorr and the Orange captured the National Championship for Syracuse. Dorr was 10-3 this season with a 2.57 ERA, his third season with Syracuse, and third season with 10 or more wins.
There are two "leagues" at the college level, and Dorr finished third in the Outstanding Pitcher of the Year Award voting for the 'National' league, losing out to
Mike South of the Hoosiers (10-2, 1.73) and
Pete Meegan of the Gators (10-4, 2.42). In the 'American' League
Charlie Geggus of the Auburn Tigers was named Outstanding Pitcher of the Year after going 9-5 with a 2.59 ERA.
Marty Sullivan of the Seminoles (.397, 14 RBI) and
Erik Plumlee of the Kentucky Wildcats (.406, 14 RBI) captured the Outstanding Hitter Awards.
Then finally, the award winners:
