Baseball's April Birthday Dream Teams
Lots of great players have April birthdays. But who would make an all-star team amongst active players? And who would make an all-time April Birthdays dream team?
Issue #76
Continuing my series of active and all-time dream teams for players born during each month—how about April? Demographic oddities aside, on average you'd expect such rosters to be composed of about 1/12th of the top players during whatever period is under consideration. Starting with an active players April Birthday dream team, here is the roster I came up with:
The most loaded position is clearly 3B, where we have three sluggers, two perennial MVP candidates in Arenado and Riley, and two Gold Glovers in Arenado and Chapman. Other highlights on the offensive side include Aaron Judge in the outfield, Corey Seager at SS, and interestingly two of the most contact-centric hitters in the game at 2B in Jeff McNeil and Luis Arraez.
There are however some relatively weaker positions, like 1B where Andrew Vaughn is still finding his stride and Belt, Santana, and Cabrera are clearly past their prime. The catchers are all currently backups and so as a group are below average for these birthday month dream teams. And CF is in good hands defensively with Kiermaier and Bradley, but they don’t provide much offense.
Starting lineups for this roster might look like this:
Against RHP:
Jeff McNeil / Luis Arráez 2B (L)
Corey Seager SS (L)
Aaron Judge RF (R)
Nolan Arenado 3B (R)
Austin Riley DH (R)
Joc Pederson LF (L)
Brandon Belt 1B (L) / Carlos Santana 1B (S)
Danny Jansen C (R)
Kevin Kiermaier CF (L)
Against LHP:
Corey Seager SS (L)
Aaron Judge RF (R)
Nolan Arenado 3B (R)
Austin Riley DH (R)
Andrew Vaughn 1B (R)
Jeff McNeil 2B (L)
Chas McCormick LF (R)
Danny Jansen C (R)
Kevin Kiermaier CF (L)
There was an obvious platoon option for LF with Joc Pederson and Chas McCormick. I also figured a platoon would make sense at 1B, with Vaughn playing against LHP and then Belt and Santana splitting up the games against RHP. Both McNeil and Arraez are lefties, but Arraez has really extreme splits and doesn’t hit LHP very well at all. The logjam at 3B means Chapman is the odd man out, with Arenado starting at the hot corner and Riley’s offense earning him the DH spot. And all three catchers are right-handed batters, so no good platoon options available there.
On the pitching side, McClanahan is a solid #1, and based on his 2022 performance I’d say Pérez is a solid #2. After that you could debate how to rank the rest of the guys I’ve included, and who should make up the five-man rotation. I gave the third spot to Kluber in part as a nod to his longer career than the others.
As the March dream team’s bullpen was frontloaded with Emmanuel Clase and Edwin Diaz, so too this April dream team has Jordan Romano and Josh Hader. David Robertson has had many fine seasons in his career, and hopefully for the Mets’ sake will in 2023 as well given the injury to Diaz. After those top three you could debate the right order to rank the others I included on the roster.
Here are the players shown above in order by birthday:
April 2: 3B Austin Riley (R)
April 3: 1B/LF Andrew Vaughn (R)
April 4: SP Martín Pérez (L)
April 4: SP Mitch Keller (R)
April 7: SP Eduardo Rodriguez (L)
April 7: RP Josh Hader (L)
April 8: 2B/LF Jeff McNeil (L)
April 8: 1B Carlos Santana (S)
April 9: RP David Robertson (R)
April 9: 2B/3B/1B Luis Arraez (L)
April 10: SP Corey Kluber (R)
April 11: SP Kenta Maeda (R)
April 11: RP Alex Vesia (L)
April 12: C Tomás Nido (R)
April 13: SP Edward Cabrera (R)
April 15: C Danny Jansen (R)
April 16: 3B Nolan Arenado (R)
April 18: DH/1B Miguel Cabrera (R)
April 19: CF Jackie Bradley Jr. (L)
April 19: LF/CF Chas McCormick (R)
April 20: 1B Brandon Belt (L)
April 20: C Kyle Higashioka (R)
April 21: LF/CF Joc Pederson (L)
April 21: RP Cionel Pérez (L)
April 21: RP Jordan Romano (R)
April 22: RP Bryan Abreu (R)
April 22: CF Kevin Kiermaier (L)
April 23: RF Gavin Sheets (L)
April 24: SP John Means (L)
April 24: 2B/SS/OF Willi Castro (S)
April 25: RP A.J. Puk (L)
April 25: RP Trevor Williams (R)
April 26: RF/CF Aaron Judge (R)
April 26: 2B/3B/SS Joey Wendle (L)
April 27: SS Corey Seager (L)
April 28: SP Shane McClanahan (L)
April 28: 3B Matt Chapman (R)
April 30: SP Michael Kopech (R)
All-Time April Birthdays Dream Team
What about an all-time April birthdays dream team? One could easily guess that Miguel Cabrera will make this roster, but what about anyone else from the above active players squad?
(Note: Unlike the above active players’ roster, here I’ve listed players at each position where they played a significant number of games. While this makes it look a bit cluttered, it makes the visual more of a true depth chart.)
Lots of great names here, though for position players I’m not sure any of them are in the top-12 all-time—and again, on average you’d expect to see at least one from the top-12 in each month’s dream team roster. Like for February you could make a case that there were three of the top-12 all-time greatest position players in Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Honus Wagner. For April… maybe Rogers Hornsby?
On a per-position basis there are definitely some spots where this April roster sports a top-12 all-time player, arguably several: Hornsby at 2B, Tris Speaker in CF, and Gary Carter at C are no-brainers. Beyond that… perhaps Mickey Cochrane at C, Miguel Cabrera and Cap Anson at 1B, Luke Appling and Barry Larkin at SS, and Adrián Beltré and Chipper Jones at 3B. Then Pete Rose is always hard to compare, in part because he played so many positions over his long career—given this roster’s relative weakness in LF, I’ve listed him first there, and then as a backup in the depth chart at RF, 3B, 2B, and 1B.
There is also tremendous depth of star names at several positions, like 1B with Gil Hodges, Mark Teixeira, and Don Mattingly in addition to the aforementioned Anson and Cabrera. Or centerfield with Tris Speaker, Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, Hack Wilson, and Reggie Smith. 3B not only has Beltré and Jones, but new HOFer Scott Rolen and old-time OBP machine John McGraw as well. And at Catcher, beyond Carter and Cochrane we’ve also got Joe Mauer and Hall of Famer Ernie Lombardi.
Some readers might not be familiar with two of the position players included: Pop Lloyd and Heavy Johnson. John Henry “Pop” Lloyd played in the Negro Leagues from 1906-1932, and that includes eight seasons (1921, 23-29) in leagues that are now officially considered “major leagues.” In the data we have from those eight seasons he hit .349 while playing mostly 2B. Earlier in his career he played mostly shortstop, and is often called the greatest Negro Leagues SS ever. Lloyd was called the "Black Wagner," a reference to Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Honus Wagner. On Lloyd, Wagner said "It's an honor to be compared to him." I could have included Lloyd on this roster at SS—even listing him ahead of Appling and Larkin. But for these rosters I’m only looking at the accomplishments and stats (that we have a record of) for the leagues that are considered “major leagues,” so that is why I’ve included him at 2B where he mostly played later in his career.
While Lloyd is in the baseball’s Hall of Fame, RF/LF Oscar “Heavy” Johnson is not—but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have some very impressive seasons. Like in 1923 when he won the Negro National League Triple Crown with 20 HR, 120 RBI, and a .406 batting average (while also pacing the league in hits, runs, and doubles). His official career numbers at baseball-reference.com include a .370/.428/.592 slash line and 170 OPS+.
Starting lineups, against righties and lefties, might look like this:
Against RHP:
Tris Speaker CF (L)
Rogers Hornsby 2B (R)
Miguel Cabrera / Cap Anson 1B (R)
Chipper Jones DH (S)
Adrián Beltré 3B (R)
Paul Waner / Sam Crawford RF (L)
Luke Appling / Barry Larkin SS (R)
Mickey Cochrane / Joe Mauer C (L)
Pete Rose LF (S)
Against LHP:
Tris Speaker CF (L)
Rogers Hornsby 2B (R)
Miguel Cabrera / Cap Anson DH (R)
Adrián Beltré 3B (R)
Gil Hodges 1B (R)
Paul Waner / Sam Crawford RF (L)
Luke Appling / Barry Larkin SS (R)
Gary Carter C (R)
Pete Rose LF (S)
Lots of options for these lineups. Initially it might look a little odd for baseball’s all-time hit leader to be batting ninth, but Speaker and Hornsby are the better high-average, high-OBP hitters for sure. As noted 1B and 3B are loaded, so I worked several of the guys into these lineups by leveraging the DH spot too. Anson was arguably the most dominant player of his time, but I realize some readers might prefer (for several reasons) Miggy as the top 1B, so I just listed them both at 1B against RHP, and as DH against LHP since Hodges was a good fielder.
Hard to choose at LF where both Waner and Crawford were lefties, and at SS where both Larkin and Appling were righties. At the loaded Catcher position there are some platoon options, so Cochrane and Mauer could split the games against RHP and Carter could play against LHP.
Here are the position players in the depth chart above listed in order by birthday, with a few career stat highlights for each:
April 2: SS Luke Appling (R) 77.5 WAR, 179 SB, .310/.399/.398, 113 OPS+
April 2: RF/CF Reggie Smith (S) 64.6 WAR, 314 HR, .287/.366/.489, 137 OPS+
April 4: CF Tris Speaker (L) 134.9 WAR, 3,514 H, 792 D, 222 T, 1,882 R, 436 SB, .345/.428/.500, 158 OPS+
April 4: 3B Scott Rolen (R) 70.1 WAR, 316 HR, .281/.364/.490, 122 OPS+
April 4: 1B Gil Hodges (R) 43.8 WAR, 370 HR, .273/.359/.487, 120 OPS+
April 6: C Mickey Cochrane (L) 49.7 WAR, 119 HR, .320/.419/.478, 129 OPS+
April 6: C Ernie Lombardi (R) 37.7 WAR, 190 HR, .306/.358/.460, 126 OPS+
April 7: 2B Bobby Doerr (R) 51.4 WAR, 223 HR, .288/.362/.461, 115 OPS+
April 7: 3B Adrián Beltré (R) 93.5 WAR, 477 HR, .286/.339/.480, 116 OPS+
April 7: 3B John McGraw (L) 45.7 WAR, 436 SB, .334/.466/.410, 135 OPS+
April 8: C Gary Carter (R) 70.1 WAR, 324 HR, .262/.335/.439, 115 OPS+
April 11: 1B Mark Teixeira (S) 50.6 WAR, 409 HR, .268/.360/.509, 126 OPS+
April 14: LF/RF/3B/2B/1B Pete Rose (S) 79.6 WAR, 4,256 H, 2,165 R, 746 D, 160 HR, 198 SB, .303/.375/.409, 118 OPS+
April 16: RF Paul Waner (L) 74.8 WAR, 3,152 H, 605 D, 191 T, .333/.404/.473, 134 OPS+
April 17: 1B Cap Anson (R) 94.4 WAR, 3,435 H, 1,999 R, 2,075 RBI, 582 D, 277 SB (partial total), .334/.394/.447, 142 OPS+
April 18: RF Sam Crawford (L) 75.3 WAR, 309 T, 367 SB, .309/.362/.452, 144 OPS+
April 18: 1B/3B Miguel Cabrera (R) 67.7 WAR, 3,088 H, 607 D, 507 HR, 1,847 RBI, .308/.384/.524, 142 OPS+
April 19: C/1B Joe Mauer (L) 55.2 WAR, 143 HR, .306/.388/.439, 124 OPS+
April 20: 1B Don Mattingly (L) 42.4 WAR, 222 HR, .307/.358/.471, 127 OPS+
April 20: LF/RF Heavy Johnson (R) 17.8 WAR, .370/.428/.592, 170 OPS+ (1,981 PA)
April 23: CF Andruw Jones (R) 62.7 WAR, 434 HR, 152 SB, .254/.337/.486, 111 OPS+
April 24: 3B/LF Chipper Jones (S) 85.3 WAR, 468 HR, 150 SB, .303/.401/.529, 141 OPS+
April 24: CF/RF Carlos Beltrán (S) 70.1 WAR, 435 HR, 312 SB, .279/.350/.486, 119 OPS+
April 25: 2B/SS Pop Lloyd (L) 13.8 WAR, .349/.400/.465, 131 OPS+ (1,786 PA)
April 26: CF Hack Wilson (R) 38.7 WAR, 244 HR, .307/.395/.545, 144 OPS+
April 27: 2B Rogers Hornsby (R) 127.1 WAR, 301 HR, .358/.434/.577, 175 OPS+
April 27: RF Enos Slaughter (L) 57.6 WAR, 169 HR, .300/.382/.453, 124 OPS+
April 28: SS Barry Larkin (R) 70.5 WAR, 198 HR, 379 SB, .295/.371/.444, 116 OPS+
April 29: SS Luis Aparicio (R) 55.8 WAR, 506 SB, .262/.311/.343, 82 OPS+
You could make a case for Nolan Arenado to be on this roster, given his combination of outstanding offensive and defense—but it is hard with so many other good 3B candidates as listed. And based on peak performance Aaron Judge would be included, but again given all the great CF and RF candidates shown above, I’ll wait for a few more years of production before including him here.
Beyond those two active players, several others also deserve honorable mention, including: CF Willie Davis, LF Jeff Heath, RF Rusty Staub, INF/OF Tony Phillips, SS Dave Bancroft, SS Jim Fregosi, SS Omar Vizquel, CF Amos Otis, 1B Dolph Camilli, SS/1B Hughie Jennings, RF/LF David Justice, 2B/OF Hardy Richardson, 1B Jake Daubert, SS/2B Herman Long, 1B Jim Bottomley, 1B Mickey Vernon, 3B Ken Caminiti, RF Ross Youngs, OF/1B Ken Griffey Sr., 1B/LF Bob Watson.
For the starting pitchers, I found it very interesting that arguably the top three candidates were best known for their time with the Braves organization: Greg Maddux, Warren Spahn, and Phil Niekro. For the fourth spot I went with Bert Blyleven, and then you could argue about who should round out the five man rotation. For me it came down two contemporaries of Niekro and Blyleven in Catfish Hunter and Don Sutton, and I like the former’s five consecutive 20+ win seasons and generally strong post-season resume over Sutton’s longer and very consistent career (he won 10+ games in 21 of 23 seasons).
As with the position players where I noted Pop Lloyd and Heavy Johnson, there was one Negro Leagues pitcher I considered. Smokey Joe Williams pitched from 1905 to 1932, and is widely considered one of the greatest pitchers in Negro Leagues history—no doubt the best of his generation at least. He was 37 years old by the time he played for teams in the leagues that have been recognized as “major leagues,” so his numbers based on those seasons aren’t close to enough to crack this roster—but I certainly wouldn’t argue with anyone who used different criteria and wanted to not only include Williams here, but include him near the top of rotation alongside the likes of Maddux and Spahn.
Beyond Williams, there are also several other starting pitchers who at least deserve honorable mention, including: Bret Saberhagen, Billy Pierce, Jimmy Key, Frank Viola, Tommy Bond, Hippo Vaughn, Bucky Walters, Noodles Hahn, Doc White, Claude Passeau, Virgil Trucks, Dutch Leonard, Chris Carpenter, Corey Kluber, Sal Maglie, Johnny Antonelli.
Here are the starters I chose in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
April 1: Phil Niekro (R) 97.0 WAR, 318-274 W-L 3.35 ERA, 115 ERA+, 3.62 FIP
April 2: Don Sutton (R) 68.3 WAR, 324-256 W-L, 3.26 ERA, 108 ERA+, 3.24 FIP
April 6: Bert Blyleven (R) 96.1 WAR, 287-250 W-L, 3.31 ERA, 118 ERA+, 3.19 FIP
April 8: Félix Hernández (R) 49.9 WAR, 169-136 W-L, 3.42 ERA, 117 ERA+, 3.52 FIP
April 8: Catfish Hunter (R) 36.3 WAR, 224-166 W-L, 3.26 ERA, 104 ERA+, 3.66 FIP
April 12: Vic Willis (R) 67.0 WAR, 249-205 W-L, 2.63 ERA, 117 ERA+, 2.96 FIP
April 12: Addie Joss (R) 47.7 WAR, 160-97 W-L, 1.89 ERA, 143 ERA+, 2.25 FIP
April 14: Greg Maddux (R) 104.8 WAR, 355-227 W-L, 3.16 ERA, 132 ERA+, 3.26 FIP
April 23: Warren Spahn (L) 92.4 WAR, 363-245 W-L, 3.09 ERA, 119 ERA+, 3.45 FIP
The bullpen for this April Birthdays All-Time Dream Team lacks any Hall-of-Famers like Rivera, Fingers, Sutter, or Wilhelm. But there is plenty of depth, including several relievers who starred in the 1960s before the closer role became such a specialty. You could argue how to rank Ron Perranoski, Dick Radatz, John Hiller, and Phil Regan, but at the very least I thought all four deserved spots on this roster.
Southpaw Jesse Orosco’s career seemed like it went on forever, as he pitched 24 seasons, for nine different teams, across four decades (1979-2003). A two-time All-Star, he pitched in a record 1,252 games—all but four of them in relief—and posted a career 3.16 ERA and 126 ERA+.
I listed several others to round out the bullpen on this roster, and even more deserve honorable mention, including: Todd Jones, John Axford, Antonio Alfonseca, John Wyatt, Koji Uehara, Turk Farrell, Eddie Watt, Rafael Betancourt, Don Elston.
Again, here are the relievers I included in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
April 1: Ron Perranoski (L) 178 SV, 2.79 ERA, 124 ERA+, 3.17 FIP
April 2: Dick Radatz (R) 120 SV, 3.13 ERA, 123 ERA+, 3.03 FIP
April 6: Phil Regan (R) 92 SV, 3.84 ERA, 98 ERA+, 3.90 FIP
April 7: Josh Hader (L) 132 SV, 2.71 ERA, 156 ERA+, 2.73 FIP
April 8: John Hiller (L) 125 SV, 2.83 ERA, 134 ERA+, 3.39 FIP
April 9: David Robertson (R) 158 SV, 2.88 ERA, 146 ERA+, 2.91 FIP
April 21: Jesse Orosco (L) 144 SV, 3.16 ERA, 126 ERA+, 3.61 FIP
Compare this roster with those of the other months I have done so far: July, August, September, October, November, December, January, February, and March.
All data is from Baseball-Reference.com, and also their subscription service Stathead.com. If you are a big sports fan, be sure to check out the latest features at Stathead and the Sports Reference family of sites.
Did you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.
