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The 2024 Austronesia Professional Baseball Hall of Fame class was one of their better ones with three pitchers making it in on their debut. SP Donnie Luzon was nearly unanimous at 99.3% and Yu-Ren Yang at 93.6% would be a headliner most other years. Kuo-Sheng Ting joined them at a strong 80.1% as the third member. Closer Kyle Oliveira had a nice debut at 58.4%, but missed the 66% requirement. The best returner was fellow reliever Rizal Prastiche at 51.7% for his second ballot. No one else was above 50% and none were dropped after ten failed ballots.



Donnie Luzon – Starting Pitcher – Davao Devil Rays – 99.3% First Ballot

Donnie Luzon was a 6’4’’, 200 pound left-handed pitcher from Carmen, Philippines, a municipality of around 58,000 in the Cebu province. Luzon was known for absolutely legendary control of his arsenal, graded as a 10/10 by some scouts at his best. Along with the pinpoint control, he had great movement and solid stuff. Luzon’s velocity peaked in the 94-96 mph range, but his sinker and cutter were always in the right spot. He also had an impressive curveball as a strikeout pitch and had a changeup as a fourth option.

Luzon’s stamina was below average compared to most great APB aces, going the distance far less than one would expect considering his success. However, he was an ironman who never missed a start to injury, reliably tossing 200+ innings in all 16 years of his career. Luzon graded as above average at holding runners and defense. On top of his talents, Luzon was a team captain renowned for his leadership and work ethic. He became one of the most universally beloved players to ever come out of the Philippines.

Even in high school, Luzon’s control was well beyond his years and drew the attention of scouts. Without a second of college baseball, Luzon was picked #1 overall by Davao in the 2000 APB Draft. The Devil Rays had him in their academy in 2001 and 2002, debuting Luzon for 2003 at age 22. He took second in Rookie of the Year voting with a 5.4 WAR effort.

From 2004-14, Luzon was worth 7+ WAR each season. With his control, he would lead the Taiwan-Philippine Association in K/BB eight times, finishing his career with a staggering 13.5. Luzon amazingly never won an ERA title despite having an ERA below two in ten different seasons, an impressive mark even in the very low scoring world of APB. He had four seasons above 3000 strikeouts, peaking with 347 in 2006.

2006 also had Luzon’s career best 11.1 WAR for a second in Pitcher of the Year voting. He led again in 2010 with 9.7 and also was above 9+ WAR in 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2017. Despite that remarkable production, Luzon never won the top award. He was third in 2007’s voting, third in 2010, and second in 2011. Some scholars would suggest Luzon was the best-ever pitcher in baseball history that didn’t win Pitcher of the Year. He was also one of the few of his production to never throw a no-hitter.

Luzon was ultimately fine without the individual accolades, preferring the team success and the dynasty run Davao put together. The Devil Rays took the Philippine League title from 2005-11, winning 100+ games in all but 2006. Davao won the Austronesia Championship in 2005 over Palembang and in 2006 over Surabaya. Luzon was incredible in those two runs with an 0.82 ERA over 43.2 innings with 58 strikeouts and 2.2 WAR. In April 2007, he signed a five-year, $34,600,000 to stay committed to the Devil Rays.

Davao got the top seed in 2007 and 2008, but was upset in the Taiwan-Philippine Association by Kaohsiung and Taoyuan, respectively. The Devil Rays returned to the top with three straight pennants from 2009-11. They repeated as APB champ with a 2009 win over Singapore and a 2010 victory against Medan. The three-peat was denied in 2011 by Pekanbaru. Luzon was especially strong in 2011, but merely decent in the other runs.

For his playoff career though, he had an excellent 1.87 ERA over 149.1 innings, 9-5 record, 182 strikeouts, 10 walks, 149 ERA+, and 6.0 WAR. As of 2037, Luzon is 5^th in playoff WAR among APB pitchers, 8^th in wins, and 7^th in strikeouts. He fared surprisingly poorly in the Baseball Grand Championship appearances with a 2-3 record, 4.14 ERA, 41.1 innings, 54 strikeouts, 5 walks, and 1.5 WAR. Davao went 2-7 in the 2010 WBC and 8-11 in 2011.

Luzon’s game did translate well to the World Baseball Championship, representing the Philippines from 2004-17. He had 149.2 innings with a 2.04 ERA, 13-5 record, 207 strikeouts, 27 walks, and 5.7 WAR. Luzon ranks third in WAR among Filipino pitchers. In 2015, the Philippines beat Mexico 4-3 to win their first-ever world championship. In that run, Luzon had a 1.29 ERA over 21 innings with 34 strikeouts and 3 walks. That further cemented Luzon as an icon of Filipino baseball.

Davao’s run at the top ended in 2012, although they stayed above. 500 through 2014. The soon-to-be 32 Luzon signed a seven-year, $93,800,000 extension in April 2012 to remain with the Devil Rays. They shockingly fell to 60-102 in 2015, which was Luzon’s first season below 7 WAR since his rookie year and ended a run of eight straight years with an ERA below two.

Luzon’s ERA was a career-worst 2.95 in 2016, but he still was worth 7.9 WAR for the season. Davao bounced back for a playoff berth, falling to Taipei for the TPA pennant. They had winning seasons the next two years, but couldn’t compare to Zamboanga’s now thriving dynasty. Luzon had an impressive 1.58 ERA and 9.9 WAR in 2017. He led in quality starts in his final two seasons as his game aged impressively well.

In 2017, Luzon became the 17^th APB pitcher to reach 4000 strikeouts, then became the fifth to 250 wins in 2018. With his ironman durability, many figured he’d make a run at Hadi Ningsih’s 277 wins for the top spot in APB. However, Luzon felt he had little more to prove. He retired while still pitching at a very high level at age 37 and immediately had his #25 uniform retired by Davao.

Luzon finished with a 258-126 record, 1.94 ERA, 3713 innings, 4431 strikeouts, 329 walks, 0.81 WHIP, 13.5 K/BB, 407/490 quality starts, 66 complete games, 22 shutouts, 145 ERA+, 52 FIP-, and 137.8 WAR. As of 2037, Luzon ranks 6^th in wins, 18^th in innings, 13^th in strikeouts, and 4^th in pitching WAR.

Among all pitchers with 1000+ innings, Luzon is 31^st in ERA and 21^st in WHIP. His .528 opponent’s OPS ranks 36^th. Luzon’s remarkable control gave him 0.80 walks per nine innings, which is best among APB pitchers and among the very best of those who qualify in world history. Luzon is the only pitcher in all of baseball history to have pitched 3000+ innings while walking fewer than 350 batters in his career.

Against all pitchers ever, Luzon ranks 32^nd in WAR as of 2037. Against all players at any spot, he sits 88^th in WAR. Against Hall of Fame starters across all leagues, Luzon is 14^th in FIP-, 27^th in opponent’s OPS, 21^st in ERA, and just outside the top 50 in ERA+. As mentioned before, Luzon may be the top player that never won Pitcher of the Year or MVP over a storied career.

Efficiency is certainly the word for Luzon and few pitchers have even been more efficient. He’s a tough one to rank though, especially as APB has had so many awesome pitchers. Despite it all, Luzon never won an ERA title, never led in strikeouts, never won POTY, and only led in wins once. There were other pitchers in APB with more dominant bursts like his contemporary Ching-Chen Yao. Six of Yao’s historic ten POTY wins came directly against Luzon, keeping him from grabbing that honor in his later years.

Many have Luzon in their top five pitchers and most at least place him in the top ten. His playoff efforts gave him a lot of points with Davao’s run in the running for APB’s greatest dynasty. By any measure, Luzon was a Hall of Fame lock with a nearly unanimous 99.3% to headline an impressive three-player 2024 class in Austronesia Professional Baseball.