Baseball's December Birthday Dream Teams
Lots of great players have December birthdays. But who would make an all-star team amongst active players? And who would make an all-time December Birthdays dream team?
Issue #51
Continuing my series of active and all-time dream teams for players born during each month—how about December? 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.
I'll start with an active players December Birthday dream team, choosing players based on their entire careers to-date both in terms of credentials and what positions they could play at. Here is the roster I came up with—in this case with each player only listed at one position:
I’d say CF is clearly a position of strength here. It is a good thing Acuña has shifted to playing more RF recently, or we’d really have a logjam of talent in center on this roster. Alonso is the big bat in the infield, and there is some nice depth at catcher (and even more than the three I’ve listed above, as Jacob Stallings and Austin Barnes are other notable active December birthdays).
Starting lineups for this roster might look like this:
Against RHP:
Ronald Acuña Jr. RF (R)
Julio Rodriguez CF (R)
Byron Buxton DH (R)
Pete Alonso 1B (R)
Christian Yelich LF (L)
Josh Donaldson 3B (R)
Gary Sanchez C (R)
Adam Frazier 2B (L)
Javier Báez SS (R)
Against LHP:
Ronald Acuña Jr. RF (R)
Julio Rodriguez CF (R)
Byron Buxton DH (R)
Pete Alonso 1B (R)
Josh Donaldson 3B (R)
William Contreras C (R)
Javier Báez SS (R)
Gleyber Torres 2B (R)
AJ Pollock LF (R)
I couldn’t see benching either Buxton or Rodriguez, so I’ve list Buxton as a DH as an injury precaution for him. There are only three lefty hitters on this roster, so there weren’t many platoon options. Pollock has mostly played CF, but some in LF so he could platoon with Yelich there. Frazier and Torres are a natural platoon at 2B, and then Contreras hits LHP far better than RHP, while Sanchez is more balanced but hits righties slightly better.
The starting pitching lacks an obvious ace, but not from a lack of candidates—in fact, there are several #1-2 type guys here. The best single season from them is likely Blake Snell’s 2018 AL Cy Young Award season, though you could make a case for Dylan Cease’s 2022 as well. And in 2016 Kyle Hendricks led the NL with both a 2.16 ERA and 196 ERA+.
For relievers I listed Britton first based on his career accomplishments, with Pressly second as he is the most dominating closer of the bunch at present. Ian Kennedy was the final pick, as he’s had a nice career both as a starter and reliever, including two seasons with 25+ saves, and a 21-4 record and 2.88 ERA back in 2011. Oddly, all eight of the relievers I’ve included here have birthdays in the second half of the month.
Here are the players shown above in order by birthday:
December 1: SS/2B Javier Báez (R)
December 2: C Gary Sanchez (R)
December 4: SP Joe Musgrove (R)
December 4: SP Blake Snell (L)
December 5: OF Christian Yelich (L)
December 5: CF/LF AJ Pollock (R)
December 7: 1B Pete Alonso (R)
December 7: SP Kyle Hendricks (R)
December 8: 3B Josh Donaldson (R)
December 10: SP Nestor Cortes (L)
December 10: 1B/OF Wil Myers (R)
December 10: SP Carlos Rodón (L)
December 12: SP Luis Castillo (R)
December 13: 2B/SS Gleyber Torres (R)
December 14: 2B/OF Adam Frazier (L)
December 14: 3B/2B Ryan McMahon (L)
December 15: RP Ryan Pressly (R)
December 16: SS Alcides Escobar (R)
December 17: RP Taylor Rogers (L)
December 18: OF Ronald Acuña Jr. (R)
December 18: CF Byron Buxton (R)
December 18: RP Scott Barlow (R)
December 19: RP José Leclerc (R)
December 19: SP/RP Ian Kennedy (R)
December 19: RP Aaron Loup (L)
December 21: SP Mike Clevinger (R)
December 22: RP Zack Britton
December 23: RF Mitch Haniger (R)
December 24: C William Contreras (R)
December 28: C Austin Nola (R)
December 28: SP Dylan Cease (R)
December 29: CF Julio Rodríguez (R)
December 31: RP Alex Colomé
All-Time December Birthdays Dream Team
What about an all-time December birthdays dream team? There is lots of talent on the above active stars roster, but many of them are still fairly young. Do some of the veterans like Donaldson, Yelich, or maybe Britton have a chance of making the all-time dream team?
Each month’s all-time dream team has at least one position that really presents a challenge as to who should be the starter. In August the OF was loaded with Williams, Trout, Clemente, F. Robinson, and Yastrzemski. In September, it was 2B with Morgan, Lajoie, and Sandberg. In October I had a tough choice to make in CF between Yankees legend Mickey Mantle and Negro Leagues legend Oscar Charleston. And in November CF was again tough with Ken Griffey Jr. or Joe DiMaggio.
For December, the loaded position is catcher. How do you choose a starter between arguably the greatest AL/NL catcher ever in Johnny Bench and the legendary Negro Leagues slugger Josh Gibson? With all due respect to Gibson, I went with Bench based on the greater data we have available, and his combination of power hitting and elite defense. Fortunately, for the lineups listed below, Gibson can still play every day as the DH, and spell Bench behind the plate as needed. And you’ll notice they aren’t the only Hall-of-Fame backstops on this roster, as both Carlton Fisk and Gabby Hartnett were also born in December. Clearly multi-position stars Craig Biggio and old-timer King Kelly would never need to don the tools of ignorance on this Dream Team.
Beyond the catcher conundrum, other standout names include clear-cut Hall of Famers like Ty Cobb, Rickey Henderson, Al Kaline, and Ozzie Smith. There were some positions of relative weakness, such as 1B where I went with Steve Garvey and then two old-timers in Harry Stovey and Joe Kelley (who played more in the OF than 1B actually).
3B was not an easy position to figure out, but in the end I went with David Wright and Josh Donaldson over Stan Hack, Eric Chavez, and others. Hack was a lifetime Chicago Cubs star and posted a higher career WAR than either David Wright or Josh Donaldson. A 5-time All-Star, he scored 100+ Runs seven times, hit .301 with a .394 OBP for his career, and received at least some down-ballot NL MVP consideration in eight seasons. He didn’t hit for power though, with only 57 HR in almost 2,000 games played. And he also was not a smart baserunner, five times leading the NL in caught-stealing and ending his career with a poor ratio of 165 SB vs. 155 CS.
2B was loaded with good candidates, with Biggio clearly the top guy given his outstanding play and longevity. After that it gets tough how to pick or rank Nellie Fox, Chase Utley, and Tony Lazzeri. You could certainly make a case for Lazzeri, as his career WAR comes in just below Nellie Fox and in far fewer games played. He had seven seasons with 100+ RBI, though those numbers were aided by playing for some powerhouse New York Yankees clubs from 1926-37. But Fox was an All-Star an impressive 12 times, led his league in hits four times, and was the superior defensive player. An easier comparison might be between Lazzeri and Chase Utley, as both provided some power at 2B. Their career OPS+ numbers are almost identical, but Utley has far higher career WAR again because of superior defensive metrics. I decided to include all four here, but don’t feel strongly about how they are ranked.
Ozzie Smith was the obvious starter at SS, but I did consider a few guys for the backup spot before settling on Hanley Ramirez. Like Ramirez, Harvey Kuenn won a Rookie of the Year award. He was also an All-Star eight times (consecutive), vs. only three for Ramirez. He led the AL in hits four times, doubles three times, and batting average once. But Ramirez had a nice combination of HR power and speed on the bases, while Kuenn had neither. For what its worth, Hanley Ramirez is also the only player to ever have two seasons with 45+ doubles and 50+ SB, a feat he accomplished in his first two full seasons.
Like Kuenn, Marty Marion was an All-Star an impressive eight times and was definitely better defensively at SS than either Ramirez or Kuenn (who actually shifted to the OF after only five full seasons at SS). But Marion not only lacked HR power and the ability to steal many bases, he wasn’t much of an offensive threat overall, providing a career 81 OPS+ and .263/.323/.345 slash line. Yes, he won the NL MVP award in 1944, narrowly edging out Bill Nicholson of the Cubs. But was Marion even the best player on his own team that season, given that Stan Musial put up outstanding numbers, very similar to those he had in 1943 when he won the MVP award?
Starting lineups, against righties and lefties, might look like this:
Against RHP:
Rickey Henderson LF (R)
Ty Cobb CF (L)
Josh Gibson DH (R)
Larry Walker RF (L)
Johnny Bench C (R)
Steve Garvey / Harry Stovey 1B (R)
David Wright / Josh Donaldson 3B (R)
Nellie Fox / Chase Utley 2B (L)
Ozzie Smith SS (S)
Against LHP:
Rickey Henderson LF (R)
Ty Cobb CF (L)
Josh Gibson DH (R)
Johnny Bench C (R)
Al Kaline RF (R)
Steve Garvey / Harry Stovey 1B (R)
David Wright / Josh Donaldson 3B (R)
Craig Biggio 2B (R)
Ozzie Smith (S)
You couldn’t ask for better table-setters at the top of a batting order than Rickey Henderson and Ty Cobb. And they would score plenty with Josh Gibson as a DH, along with other power hitters behind him like Bench, Kaline, Walker, etc.
This roster was weighted towards right-handed hitters, so there weren’t a lot of platoon options. Walker and Kaline in RF was one. Two of the four 2B I included were lefties, Nellie Fox and Chase Utley, so you could use them if you didn’t just play Biggio every day. Both 1B Garvey and Stovey hit right-handed, and ditto for 3B Wright and Donaldson.
Here are the position players in the depth chart above listed in order by birthday, with a few career stat highlights for each:
December 1: RF Larry Walker (L) 72.7 WAR, 383 HR, 230 SB, .313/.400/.565, 141 OPS+
December 4: LF Jesse Burkett (L) 62.8 WAR, 2,850 Hits, 182 Triples, 389 SB, .338/.415/.446, 140 OPS+
December 6: 2B Tony Lazzeri (R) 47.6 WAR, 178 HR, 148 SB, .292/.380/.467, 121 OPS
December 7: C Johnny Bench (R) 75.1 WAR, 389 HR, .267/.342/.476, 126 OPS+
*December 8: 3B Josh Donaldson (R) 46.7 WAR, 266 HR, .265/.361/.492, 131 OPS+
December 9: LF/CF/1B Joe Kelley (R) 50.4 WAR, 194 Triples, 443 SB, .317/.402/.451, 133 OPS+
December 13: CF Larry Doby (L) 56.5 WAR, 273 HR, .288/.389/.499, 140 OPS+
December 14: 2B/C/CF Craig Biggio (R) 65.5 WAR, 3,060 Hits, 668 doubles, 291 HR, 414 SB, .281/.363/.433, 112 OPS+
December 17: 2B Chase Utley (L) 64.5 WAR, 259 HR, 154 SB, .275/.358/.465, 117 OPS+
December 18: CF/RF Ty Cobb (L) 151.4 WAR, 4,189 Hits, 724 Doubles, 295 Triples, 2,245 Runs, 897 SB, .366/.433/.512, 168 OPS+
December 19: RF/CF Al Kaline (R) 92.9 WAR, 3.007 Hits, 399 HR, .297/.376/.480, 134 OPS+
December 20: 3B David Wright (R) 49.2 WAR, 242 HR, 196 SB, .296/.376/.491, 133 OPS+
December 20: 1B/LF Harry Stovey (R) 45.2 WAR, 509 SB (partial), .288/.361/.462, 144 OPS+
December 20: C Gabby Hartnett (R) 55.9 WAR, 236 HR, .297/.370/.489, 126 OPS+
December 21: C Josh Gibson (R), 38.6 WAR, 165 HR (in only 598 official games), .374/.458/.720, 214 OPS+
December 22: 1B Steve Garvey (R) 38.0 WAR, 272 HR, .294/.329/.446, 117 OPS+
December 23: SS Hanley Ramirez (R) 38.0 WAR, 271 HR, 281 SB, .289/.360/.486, 124 OPS+
December 25: LF Rickey Henderson (R) 111.1 WAR, 3,055 Hits, 2,295 Runs, 297 HR, 1,406 SB, 2,190 BB, .279/.401/.419, 127 OPS+
December 25: 2B Nellie Fox (L) 49.5 WAR, .288/.348/.363, 94 OPS+
December 26: SS Ozzie Smith (S) 76.9 WAR, 580 SB, .262/.337/.328, 87 OPS+
December 26: C Carlton Fisk (R) 68.5 WAR, 376 HR, .269/.341/.457, 117 OPS+
December 31: RF/C King Kelly (R) 47.0 WAR, 368 SB (partial), .307/.368/.438, 138 OPS+
* = Active
Several other players deserve honorable mention including those already mentioned above and more: 1B Cecil Cooper, 1B Tino Martinez, 1B Chris Chambliss, 1B Mo Vaughn, 1B Bill Skowron, 1B/LF Dave Kingman, 2B Jimmy Williams, SS Marty Marion, SS/2B Jay Bell, SS/OF Harvey Kuenn, 3B Stan Hack, 3B Eric Chavez, 3B/C Deacon White, C/DH Victor Martinez, LF George Foster, LF Roy White, LF Lonnie Smith, LF Cliff Floyd, CF/SP Cy Seymour, OF Ben Chapman, OF Christian Yelich, CF/RF Cy Williams, CF Devon White, CF Andy Van Slyke, RF Bill Nicholson, RF/LF Reggie Sanders.
As for the starting pitchers, the top spot could be debated between two all-time great lefties, Steve Carlton and Sandy Koufax. I went with Carlton for the top spot, based on his far greater longevity. He won four NL Cy Young Awards vs. Koufax’s three, and was an All-Star 10 times vs. Koufax’s six. If you just went by peak three or four seasons, then obviously Koufax was as good as just about anyone, ever.
After those top two, you could rank other starting pitchers in a variety of ways. I liked Mike Mussina’s higher WAR in fewer innings pitched than Fergie Jenkins and Ted Lyons, and he had the higher ERA+ too. After that five man rotation, I included Jerry Koosman, and two old-timers Pud Galvin and Old Hoss Radbourn, though there were several other good candidates who at least deserve honorable mention: Cole Hamels, Kevin Appier, Tommy Bridges, Bob Shawkey, Sam Leever, and Ed Reulbach.
Here are the starters I chose in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
December 8: Mike Mussina (R) 82.8 WAR, 270-153 W-L, 3.68 ERA, 123 ERA+
December 11: Old Hoss Radbourn (R) 73.2 WAR, 310-194 W-L, 2.68 ERA, 119 ERA+
December 13: Fergie Jenkins (R) 82.2 WAR, 284-226 W-L, 3.34 ERA, 115 ERA+, 3,192 K
December 22: Steve Carlton (L) 84.1 WAR, 329-244 W-L, 3.22 ERA, 115 ERA+, 4,136 K
December 23: Jerry Koosman (L) 57.0 WAR, 222-209 W-L, 3.36 ERA, 110 ERA+
December 25: Pud Galvin (R) 83.3 WAR, 365-310 W-L, 2.85 ERA, 107 ERA+
December 28: Ted Lyons (R) 66.8 WAR, 260-230 W-L, 3.67 ERA, 118 ERA+
December 30: Sandy Koufax (L) 53.1 WAR, 165-87 W-L, 2.76 ERA, 131 ERA+
For relievers, this December Birthdays Dream Team has one Hall of Famer (Lee Smith), and a host of other closers and relievers who had great careers. You could argue about how to rank the eight I included, and also make a case for several others who at least deserve honorable mention, including: Stu Miller, Michael Jackson, Mike Henneman, LaTroy Hawkins, Darold Knowles, B.J. Ryan, Roger McDowell, Mel Rojas, Billy Koch, Alex Colomé, Ryan Pressly, and Pedro Borbon. If this were a real bullpen, you’d probably need to substitute Knowles or Ryan in for Bedrosian (or someone), as of the eight I included only Britton was a lefty.
Again, here are the eight I included in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
December 4: Lee Smith (R) 478 SV, 3.03 ERA, 132 ERA+
December 6: Steve Bedrosian (R) 184 SV, 3.38 ERA, 115 ERA+
December 13: Lindy McDaniel (R) 174 SV, 3.45 ERA, 110 ERA+
December 19: Rafael Soriano (R) 207 SV, 2.89 ERA, 144 ERA+
December 21: Tom Henke (R) 311 SV, 2.67 ERA, 157 ERA+
December 22: Zack Britton (L) 154 SV, 3.13 ERA, 135 ERA+
December 23: Brad Lidge (R) 225 SV, 3.54 ERA, 122 ERA+
December 31: Rick Aguilera (R) 318 SV, 3.57 ERA, 118 ERA+
Compare this roster with those of the other months I have done so far: July, August, September, October, and November.
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.