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FuzzyRussianHat · 03-07-2025, 08:12 PM

Viaan Ramakrishna – Closer – Lucknow Larks – 88.1% First Ballot

Viaan Ramakrishna was a 6’6’’, 200 pound right-handed relief pitcher from Chennai, India; formerly known as Madras. Ramakrishna had absolutely filthy stuff along with solid control and movement. His one-two punch was a 97-99 mph fastball and a great slider, both of which were equally potent. Ramakrishna’s remarkable strikeout rate earned him the nickname “Mauler.”

Ramakrishna’s durability was decent for his career and you could usually get a full workload out of him. His stamina was very limited though, so you couldn’t expect many multi-inning outings. Ramakrishna graded as a good defensive pitcher, but his ability to hold runners was shockingly poor. His work ethic was impressive and you could rely on Ramakrishna to give you his absolute best every time.

In the 2004 SAB Draft, Ramakrishna was selected by Lucknow with the ninth pick of the second round; 40^th overall. The Larks had joined the Indian League earlier that year as part of league expansion. Ramakrishna was the full-time closer right away and by his second year, he started a streak of 11 seasons worth 3+ WAR. Ramakrishna led in saves in 2007 with 42, a career best for him. In 2009, he had his career best 203 strikeouts, taking second in Reliever of the Year voting.

Only so much recognition was possible with an expansion team. Lucknow mostly struggled for their first decade apart from a surprise 90-72 in 2008. They plummeted back to 69-93 the next year. By July 2011, the Larks were sellers and sent Ramakrishna to Hanoi at the deadline for three prospects. For Lucknow, Ramakrishna had 536 innings, 213 saves, 2.30 ERA, 1031 strikeouts, 112 walks, 152 ERA+, and 26.1 WAR. Ramakrishna was the franchise’s first Hall of Famer by way of not spending more than three years anywhere else, pitching close to seven years for the Larks.

Ramakrishna had gotten some recognition throughout South Asia Baseball for his work with India in the World Baseball Championship. He made 13 appearances with 20.2 innings and 40 strikeouts in India’s 2009 World Championship win over the United States. He then tossed 13 scoreless innings in 2010 as they finished fourth. Ramakrishna was third that year in Best Pitcher voting. In total, Ramakrishna had 73 innings from 2006-19 with a 2.47 ERA, 22 saves, 121 strikeouts, and 2.5 WAR.

He had his first taste of the SAB playoffs in 2011 with Hanoi, who lost to Dhaka in the Southeast Asia League Championship. Ramakrishna tossed six scoreless innings with 14 Ks, giving him momentum heading to free agency at age 30. Surat signed Ramakrishna for 2012, but traded him to Chittagong in the summer after the Silver Sox underperformed. Ramakrishna had 4.6 WAR, 1.45 ERA, and 35 saves between the squads.

Ramakrishna joined Kolkata in 2013 and led in saves with 42, while also posting his career best ERA at 1.13 to earn his first Reliever of the Year. He missed the playoffs though with a torn rotator cuff suffered in late September. Ramakrishna was back ready by 2014 at age 32 and had a second solid stint with Hanoi, taking second in Reliever of the Year voting. The Hounds fell in the SEAL Championship against Yangon.

Looking to cement his status as a good pick for any SAB Immaculate Grid, Ramakrishna continued to bounce around for the next few years. He had a 1.30 ERA, 35 saves, 183 Ks, and 5.3 WAR in 2015 for Mumbai, winning his second Reliever of the Year. Ramakrishna was a beast in the playoffs as the Meteors won the Indian League title, eventually falling in the SAB Championship to Yangon. Ramakrishna tossed 19 playoff innings with 36 strikeouts, two unearned runs allowed and two saves.

Hanoi brought him back for round three in 2016, taking third in Reliever of the Year voting. Ramakrishna gave up four runs in 11.2 playoff innings with 18 strikeouts and four saves, helping the Hounds win the 2016 SAB Championship over Mumbai. In the Baseball Grand Championship, Ramakrishna had seven saves in nine appearances with a 138 ERA and 25 Ks in 13 innings. Hanoi finished 12-7, one win short of the top spot for a third place finish after tiebreakers.

Between the three stints with Hanoi, Ramakrishna had 84 saves, 203.1 innings, 381 strikeouts, and 10.6 WAR. He also reached 400 career saves in 2016, the fourth to reach the mark in SAB. Ramakrishna joined Yangon in 2017 at age 35 and was moved out of the closer job, but was still effective with 52 innings and a 2.60 ERA. He again shined in the postseason as the Green Dragons beat Kanpur for the SAB Championship.

In the playoffs, Ramakrishna allowed two earned runs over 9.2 innings with 13 strikeouts. He did struggle though in the Baseball Grand Championship, giving up six earned in 5.1 innings. Yangon was near the bottom of the standings at 6-13. Ramakrishna overall earned the reputation as a great playoff pitcher, finishing his SAB career with a 1.33 ERA over 47.1 innings and 28 games, 8 saves, 18 shutdowns, 83 strikeouts, and 2.6 WAR.

Ramakrishna spent 2018 with Ho Chi Minh City and was iffy in a setup role. Hyderabad signed him for 2019 as a closer with decent results initially, but he suffered a ruptured UCL in late May that knocked him out 14 months. Ramakrishna attempted a comeback with Vientiane in 2020 and tossed 11.1 scoreless innings late in the year. That earned him another shot with Hyderabad in 2021 with a 2.35 ERA over 23 innings of back-end relief. Ramakrishna retired that winter shortly after his 40^th birthday.

In total, Ramakrishna had 1154.1 innings over 963 games, 444 saves, 537 shutdowns, a 94-75 record, 2118 strikeouts, 256 walks, 179 ERA+, 43 FIP-, and 54.7 WAR. As of 2037, Ramakrishna ranks 5^th in saves and 4^th in appearances. His WAR is 44^th among all SAB pitchers and is second among SAB Hall of Fame closers.

Most notably, his 16.51 K/9 leads all SAB pitchers with 1000+ career innings. The only other qualifying pitchers with a better K/9 in one league were BSA’s Chano Angel (17.33) and CLB’s Yongjie Xie (16.72). As for other SAB rate stats, Ramakrishna is 4^th in ERA, 3^rd in opponent’s OPS (.523), and 4^th in H/9 (5.80). His .179/.230/.293 triple slash each rank 3^rd among qualifiers.

Among all relievers in world history, Ramakrishna ranks 11^th in strikeouts and is one of 18 career relievers with 2000 Ks. He also ranks 35^th in saves, 41^st in games pitched, 29^th in WAR (among relievers), 33^rd in shutdowns, 44^th in ERA+, 32^nd in FIP-, and 48^th in opponent’s OPS.

Few relievers in any league were better at getting strikeouts and even fewer could maintain such a K rate over that long of a career. When you add in Ramakrishna’s playoff success, even most reliever-skeptic voters agreed that he was an obvious choice. At 88.1%, Ramakrishna earned a first ballot selection as part of South Asia Baseball’s 2027 class.

Seyha San – Closer – Bangkok Bobcats – 80.7% First Ballot

Seyha San was a 6’4’’, 195 pound right-handed relief pitcher from Savannakhet, the second-largest city in Laos with around 125,000 people. San was only the second Laotian to earn induction, joining Class of 2008 SP Jade Poomkeaw. San had strong stuff, excellent control, and good movement. His fastball peaked in the 96-98 mph range and was supported by a solid forkball. San had an extreme groundball tendency.

San’s stamina was good and he had mostly good durability after dealing with some injuries in his mid 20s. He graded as subpar at holding runners and defense. He was spotted in May 2001 and signed to a developmental deal with Bangkok, spending around four years in their academy in Thailand. San debuted in 2005 in mid relief at age 20 with a 3.88 ERA over 65 innings. The Bobcats moved him into the closer role after that, which he held for eight years.

There were interruptions due to injury early on. A partially torn labrum in June 2008 put San out for the rest of the year. San bounced back in 2009 with his lone Reliever of the Year win with a 1.52 ERA, 118 strikeouts, and 3.8 WAR in 83 innings. He dealt with another partial labrum tear and forearm inflammation in 2010. San was mostly healthy after that, but didn’t reclaim his 2009 dominance while with Bangkok.

The Bobcats went 88-74 in 2009, their first winning season since 2001. They earned a division title in 2010, but had a first round playoff exit. Bangkok stayed in the upper 80 win tally the next two years, then fell to 69-93 in 2013. San had signed a two-year, $5,040,000 extension in June 2011, but opted for free agency for 2014 at age 29.

With Bangkok, San had a 223 saves, 245 shutdowns, 597.1 innings, 472 games, 2.71 ERA, 729 strikeouts, 162 walks, 144 ERA+, and 17.7 WAR. He was generally liked enough for his nine-year run and the Bobcats later retired San’s #9 uniform. San would bounce back-and-forth between Mumbai and Yangon from 2014-19, closing for both. He was with the Meteors in the even years and the Green Dragons in the odd years.

San led the Southeast Asia League with 39 saves in 2015, his only time as the leader. He was second in Reliever of the Year voting in 2015 and 2018 and third in 2019. Both teams were in the midst of playoff streaks with San getting an Indian League title with Mumbai in 2016 and SAB Championship wins for Yangon in both 2015 and 2017.

His playoff numbers for his career were solid with a 2.40 ERA over 56.1 innings, 28 appearances, 11 saves, 73 strikeouts, and 1.3 WAR. San also had a 1.12 ERA over 16 innings with 21 strikeouts in the Baseball Grand Championship for Yangon. The Green Dragons finished 6-13 in both editions. For Yangon overall, San had 107 saves, 1.75 ERA, 201 innings, 267 Ks, and 7.9 WAR. With the Meteors, he had 107 saves, 2.12 ERA, 242.1 innings, 348 strikeouts, and 8.4 WAR.

In 2018, San became the fifth SAB reliever to 400 career saves. Saroth Bora’s record of 499 seemed possible as San’s game was seemingly aging well. In 2019, he lost almost two weeks to a strained shoulder, but he had his lowest ERA at 0.76. San joined Vientiane for 2020 and got 21 saves in 58 innings with 3.0 WAR. His velocity started to drop though and he was out of the closer role in 2021 with Ho Chi Minh City. San was unsigned in 2022 and retired that winter at age 38.

San finished with 1135.1 innings, 951 games, 460 saves, 502 shutdowns, 105-87 record, 1445 strikeouts, 287 walks, 160 ERA+, 65 FIP-, and 37.4 WAR. As of 2037, San is 4^th in saves and 5^th in games. He has his Hall of Fame classmate Viaan Ramakrishna just beaten in saves, but San’s rate stats were definitely weaker than Ramakrishna’s,

Still among SAB pitchers with 1000+ innings as of 2037, San ranks 9^th in ERA, 84^th in WHIP (1.06), and 38^th in opponent’s OPS (.599). San’s 7.29 H/9 ranks 78^th and his K/9 of 11.45 is 67^th. His .219/.270/.329 triple slash ranked 67^th/65^th/33^rd. San’s WAR ranked 5^th among the other Hall of Fame relievers in South Asia Baseball lore.

San’s longevity got him on the world leaderboards as of 2037, ranking 26^th in saves and 48^th in games pitched. He misses the top 50 in the rate stats though and isn’t generally placed in that tier among the elite of the elite like Ramakrishna. Getting 450+ saves in one league was a clincher by itself though for most voters and San’s playoff value with Yangon and Mumbai clinched it with most remaining doubters. At 80.7%, San secured a first ballot induction to cap off SAB’s three-player 2027 class.

03-07-2025, 08:12 PM	#2132
FuzzyRussianHat Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2020 Posts: 2,937	2027 SAB Hall of Fame (Part 2) Viaan Ramakrishna – Closer – Lucknow Larks – 88.1% First Ballot Viaan Ramakrishna was a 6’6’’, 200 pound right-handed relief pitcher from Chennai, India; formerly known as Madras. Ramakrishna had absolutely filthy stuff along with solid control and movement. His one-two punch was a 97-99 mph fastball and a great slider, both of which were equally potent. Ramakrishna’s remarkable strikeout rate earned him the nickname “Mauler.” Ramakrishna’s durability was decent for his career and you could usually get a full workload out of him. His stamina was very limited though, so you couldn’t expect many multi-inning outings. Ramakrishna graded as a good defensive pitcher, but his ability to hold runners was shockingly poor. His work ethic was impressive and you could rely on Ramakrishna to give you his absolute best every time. In the 2004 SAB Draft, Ramakrishna was selected by Lucknow with the ninth pick of the second round; 40^th overall. The Larks had joined the Indian League earlier that year as part of league expansion. Ramakrishna was the full-time closer right away and by his second year, he started a streak of 11 seasons worth 3+ WAR. Ramakrishna led in saves in 2007 with 42, a career best for him. In 2009, he had his career best 203 strikeouts, taking second in Reliever of the Year voting. Only so much recognition was possible with an expansion team. Lucknow mostly struggled for their first decade apart from a surprise 90-72 in 2008. They plummeted back to 69-93 the next year. By July 2011, the Larks were sellers and sent Ramakrishna to Hanoi at the deadline for three prospects. For Lucknow, Ramakrishna had 536 innings, 213 saves, 2.30 ERA, 1031 strikeouts, 112 walks, 152 ERA+, and 26.1 WAR. Ramakrishna was the franchise’s first Hall of Famer by way of not spending more than three years anywhere else, pitching close to seven years for the Larks. Ramakrishna had gotten some recognition throughout South Asia Baseball for his work with India in the World Baseball Championship. He made 13 appearances with 20.2 innings and 40 strikeouts in India’s 2009 World Championship win over the United States. He then tossed 13 scoreless innings in 2010 as they finished fourth. Ramakrishna was third that year in Best Pitcher voting. In total, Ramakrishna had 73 innings from 2006-19 with a 2.47 ERA, 22 saves, 121 strikeouts, and 2.5 WAR. He had his first taste of the SAB playoffs in 2011 with Hanoi, who lost to Dhaka in the Southeast Asia League Championship. Ramakrishna tossed six scoreless innings with 14 Ks, giving him momentum heading to free agency at age 30. Surat signed Ramakrishna for 2012, but traded him to Chittagong in the summer after the Silver Sox underperformed. Ramakrishna had 4.6 WAR, 1.45 ERA, and 35 saves between the squads. Ramakrishna joined Kolkata in 2013 and led in saves with 42, while also posting his career best ERA at 1.13 to earn his first Reliever of the Year. He missed the playoffs though with a torn rotator cuff suffered in late September. Ramakrishna was back ready by 2014 at age 32 and had a second solid stint with Hanoi, taking second in Reliever of the Year voting. The Hounds fell in the SEAL Championship against Yangon. Looking to cement his status as a good pick for any SAB Immaculate Grid, Ramakrishna continued to bounce around for the next few years. He had a 1.30 ERA, 35 saves, 183 Ks, and 5.3 WAR in 2015 for Mumbai, winning his second Reliever of the Year. Ramakrishna was a beast in the playoffs as the Meteors won the Indian League title, eventually falling in the SAB Championship to Yangon. Ramakrishna tossed 19 playoff innings with 36 strikeouts, two unearned runs allowed and two saves. Hanoi brought him back for round three in 2016, taking third in Reliever of the Year voting. Ramakrishna gave up four runs in 11.2 playoff innings with 18 strikeouts and four saves, helping the Hounds win the 2016 SAB Championship over Mumbai. In the Baseball Grand Championship, Ramakrishna had seven saves in nine appearances with a 138 ERA and 25 Ks in 13 innings. Hanoi finished 12-7, one win short of the top spot for a third place finish after tiebreakers. Between the three stints with Hanoi, Ramakrishna had 84 saves, 203.1 innings, 381 strikeouts, and 10.6 WAR. He also reached 400 career saves in 2016, the fourth to reach the mark in SAB. Ramakrishna joined Yangon in 2017 at age 35 and was moved out of the closer job, but was still effective with 52 innings and a 2.60 ERA. He again shined in the postseason as the Green Dragons beat Kanpur for the SAB Championship. In the playoffs, Ramakrishna allowed two earned runs over 9.2 innings with 13 strikeouts. He did struggle though in the Baseball Grand Championship, giving up six earned in 5.1 innings. Yangon was near the bottom of the standings at 6-13. Ramakrishna overall earned the reputation as a great playoff pitcher, finishing his SAB career with a 1.33 ERA over 47.1 innings and 28 games, 8 saves, 18 shutdowns, 83 strikeouts, and 2.6 WAR. Ramakrishna spent 2018 with Ho Chi Minh City and was iffy in a setup role. Hyderabad signed him for 2019 as a closer with decent results initially, but he suffered a ruptured UCL in late May that knocked him out 14 months. Ramakrishna attempted a comeback with Vientiane in 2020 and tossed 11.1 scoreless innings late in the year. That earned him another shot with Hyderabad in 2021 with a 2.35 ERA over 23 innings of back-end relief. Ramakrishna retired that winter shortly after his 40^th birthday. In total, Ramakrishna had 1154.1 innings over 963 games, 444 saves, 537 shutdowns, a 94-75 record, 2118 strikeouts, 256 walks, 179 ERA+, 43 FIP-, and 54.7 WAR. As of 2037, Ramakrishna ranks 5^th in saves and 4^th in appearances. His WAR is 44^th among all SAB pitchers and is second among SAB Hall of Fame closers. Most notably, his 16.51 K/9 leads all SAB pitchers with 1000+ career innings. The only other qualifying pitchers with a better K/9 in one league were BSA’s Chano Angel (17.33) and CLB’s Yongjie Xie (16.72). As for other SAB rate stats, Ramakrishna is 4^th in ERA, 3^rd in opponent’s OPS (.523), and 4^th in H/9 (5.80). His .179/.230/.293 triple slash each rank 3^rd among qualifiers. Among all relievers in world history, Ramakrishna ranks 11^th in strikeouts and is one of 18 career relievers with 2000 Ks. He also ranks 35^th in saves, 41^st in games pitched, 29^th in WAR (among relievers), 33^rd in shutdowns, 44^th in ERA+, 32^nd in FIP-, and 48^th in opponent’s OPS. Few relievers in any league were better at getting strikeouts and even fewer could maintain such a K rate over that long of a career. When you add in Ramakrishna’s playoff success, even most reliever-skeptic voters agreed that he was an obvious choice. At 88.1%, Ramakrishna earned a first ballot selection as part of South Asia Baseball’s 2027 class. Seyha San – Closer – Bangkok Bobcats – 80.7% First Ballot Seyha San was a 6’4’’, 195 pound right-handed relief pitcher from Savannakhet, the second-largest city in Laos with around 125,000 people. San was only the second Laotian to earn induction, joining Class of 2008 SP Jade Poomkeaw. San had strong stuff, excellent control, and good movement. His fastball peaked in the 96-98 mph range and was supported by a solid forkball. San had an extreme groundball tendency. San’s stamina was good and he had mostly good durability after dealing with some injuries in his mid 20s. He graded as subpar at holding runners and defense. He was spotted in May 2001 and signed to a developmental deal with Bangkok, spending around four years in their academy in Thailand. San debuted in 2005 in mid relief at age 20 with a 3.88 ERA over 65 innings. The Bobcats moved him into the closer role after that, which he held for eight years. There were interruptions due to injury early on. A partially torn labrum in June 2008 put San out for the rest of the year. San bounced back in 2009 with his lone Reliever of the Year win with a 1.52 ERA, 118 strikeouts, and 3.8 WAR in 83 innings. He dealt with another partial labrum tear and forearm inflammation in 2010. San was mostly healthy after that, but didn’t reclaim his 2009 dominance while with Bangkok. The Bobcats went 88-74 in 2009, their first winning season since 2001. They earned a division title in 2010, but had a first round playoff exit. Bangkok stayed in the upper 80 win tally the next two years, then fell to 69-93 in 2013. San had signed a two-year, $5,040,000 extension in June 2011, but opted for free agency for 2014 at age 29. With Bangkok, San had a 223 saves, 245 shutdowns, 597.1 innings, 472 games, 2.71 ERA, 729 strikeouts, 162 walks, 144 ERA+, and 17.7 WAR. He was generally liked enough for his nine-year run and the Bobcats later retired San’s #9 uniform. San would bounce back-and-forth between Mumbai and Yangon from 2014-19, closing for both. He was with the Meteors in the even years and the Green Dragons in the odd years. San led the Southeast Asia League with 39 saves in 2015, his only time as the leader. He was second in Reliever of the Year voting in 2015 and 2018 and third in 2019. Both teams were in the midst of playoff streaks with San getting an Indian League title with Mumbai in 2016 and SAB Championship wins for Yangon in both 2015 and 2017. His playoff numbers for his career were solid with a 2.40 ERA over 56.1 innings, 28 appearances, 11 saves, 73 strikeouts, and 1.3 WAR. San also had a 1.12 ERA over 16 innings with 21 strikeouts in the Baseball Grand Championship for Yangon. The Green Dragons finished 6-13 in both editions. For Yangon overall, San had 107 saves, 1.75 ERA, 201 innings, 267 Ks, and 7.9 WAR. With the Meteors, he had 107 saves, 2.12 ERA, 242.1 innings, 348 strikeouts, and 8.4 WAR. In 2018, San became the fifth SAB reliever to 400 career saves. Saroth Bora’s record of 499 seemed possible as San’s game was seemingly aging well. In 2019, he lost almost two weeks to a strained shoulder, but he had his lowest ERA at 0.76. San joined Vientiane for 2020 and got 21 saves in 58 innings with 3.0 WAR. His velocity started to drop though and he was out of the closer role in 2021 with Ho Chi Minh City. San was unsigned in 2022 and retired that winter at age 38. San finished with 1135.1 innings, 951 games, 460 saves, 502 shutdowns, 105-87 record, 1445 strikeouts, 287 walks, 160 ERA+, 65 FIP-, and 37.4 WAR. As of 2037, San is 4^th in saves and 5^th in games. He has his Hall of Fame classmate Viaan Ramakrishna just beaten in saves, but San’s rate stats were definitely weaker than Ramakrishna’s, Still among SAB pitchers with 1000+ innings as of 2037, San ranks 9^th in ERA, 84^th in WHIP (1.06), and 38^th in opponent’s OPS (.599). San’s 7.29 H/9 ranks 78^th and his K/9 of 11.45 is 67^th. His .219/.270/.329 triple slash ranked 67^th/65^th/33^rd. San’s WAR ranked 5^th among the other Hall of Fame relievers in South Asia Baseball lore. San’s longevity got him on the world leaderboards as of 2037, ranking 26^th in saves and 48^th in games pitched. He misses the top 50 in the rate stats though and isn’t generally placed in that tier among the elite of the elite like Ramakrishna. Getting 450+ saves in one league was a clincher by itself though for most voters and San’s playoff value with Yangon and Mumbai clinched it with most remaining doubters. At 80.7%, San secured a first ballot induction to cap off SAB’s three-player 2027 class. __________________ Baseball: The World's Game fictional world reports Continental Baseball Federation world reports (8-tier promotion/relegation sim and college feeder)