[FuzzyRussianHat]

For the 1993 season, the Asian Baseball Federation lowered its minimum service requirement for free agency from seven years to six years. Six was among the least restrictive of any of the world leagues and proved a win for the big free agents. However, ABF officials found that many of these top free agents would leave for other world leagues for the big pay days.



Entering 1993, Multan was the only Pakistan League without a playoff appearance in the first eight seasons of the Asian Baseball Federation. The Mighty Cocks ended that distinction by dominating the PL at 105-57. Defending ABF Peshawar extended its playoff streak to five seasons by taking second at 88-74. The Predators beat out both Faisalabad and Karachi by two games.

Leading Multan’s first place season was Pakistan League MVP Abdul Rahman Karwan. In his sixth pro season at only age 23, the Pakistani third baseman led the league in walks (91), stolen bases (121), OBP (.425), and WAR (11.2). Karwan’s 121 steals remains ABF’s single-season record as of 2037. The elite leadoff man would leave the Mighty Cocks in the offseason and sign a big five-year, $13,280,000 deal with MLB’s San Diego Seals.

Pitcher of the Year was Peshawar’s Sa’id Farahani. The 25-year old Iranian led the league in wins (17-9), strikeouts (448), FIP- (40), and WAR (10.7). The 448 Ks was seven short of Ali Dahir’s single-season record from 1988 and sits fourth-best all-time as of 2037. He also had a 22 strikeout game against Lahore, tying his own single-game record from the prior year. Impressively, he did this time in only 8.1 innings. Farahani also had a 1.99 ERA over 243.2 innings.



Tehran had an impressive turnaround from only 79 wins the prior year. The Tarpons finished 100-62 for their second-ever Persian League title (1989 was the other). Defending West Asia Association champ Mashhad was a close second at 97-65, seeing their playoff streak end at three years. 91-71 Tabriz was also in the mix. The Turkish League narrowly went to Izmir at 85-77 for their third TL title in four years. The Ice Cats were one game ahead of last year’s TL winner Adana at 84-78.

Izmir’s Gokhan Karatas won repeat WAA MVP titles with an all-time season, becoming ABF’s first Triple Crown hitter. The 24-year old Turkish first baseman led in runs (133), hits (210), home runs (62), RBI (153), total bases (458), triple slash (.377/.462/.822), OPS (1.285), wRC+ (238), and WAR (14.9). Karatas set single-season records in WAR, RBI, runs, slugging, and OPS. As of 2037, his slugging mark remains the ABF all-time record, while his season is still third in hitting WAR and second in OPS.

Bursa’s Fahri Unal won Pitcher of the Year for the second time in three years. The 27-year old righty led in strikeouts (336), while adding a 16-15 recrd, 2.96 ERA, 273.1 inning, and 7.9 WAR. Unal would leave after the 1994 season for MLB on a six-year, $22,560,000 deal with New York. Also of note, Adana’s Nezih Duman became the second ABF closer to win Reliever of the Year thrice. He’d also soon be MLB bound and end up playing for 16 different teams between MLB and ABF in a 22 year career.



In the Pakistan League Championship Series, Multan became a first-time pennant winner by unseating defending champ Peshawar 4-2. Meanwhile in the West Asia Association Championship, Tehran earned its first pennant. The Tarpons cruised to a sweep of Izmir. Tehran didn’t have the same success against Mighty Cocks in the ABF Championship. Multan swept the Tarpons with finals MVP going to pitcher Tahir Ghanim, who tossed five scoreless innings in relief with five strikeouts and one hit allowed.



Other notes: Qazi Khwaja became the first ABF pitcher to 2000 career stirkeouts. Third basemen Saif Karim and Kals Rana both won their seventh Gold Gloves. Earning their sixth Silver Sluggers were C Erhan Buyukdemir, P Ahmed Mirza, and C Razak Mohiyoudeen.