Baseball's January Birthday Dream Teams
Lots of great players have January birthdays. But who would make an all-star team amongst active players? And who would make an all-time January Birthdays dream team?
Issue #58
Continuing my series of active and all-time dream teams for players born during each month—how about January? 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 January Birthday dream team, and this time I’m switching up my approach a bit. Going forward for these birthday month articles, I’m selecting the active players dream team based on their 2022 and expected 2023 performance levels, not their entire careers. As you’ll see, that makes a difference for the month of January, both in terms of who makes the team, and how some of the players are ranked. Here is the roster I came up with—in this case with each player only listed at one position:
Pretty solid roster overall, with catcher being a relative weak spot and a lack of depth in LF. Plenty of All-Stars here, and I was impressed with the versatility of many of the players, so much so that I included three under the heading “utility.”
Starting lineups for this roster might look like this:
Against RHP:
Ke'Bryan Hayes 3B (R)
Jake Cronenworth 2B (L)
Bryan Reynolds CF (S)
Kyle Tucker RF (L)
José Abreu 1B (R)
Kris Bryant LF (R)
C.J. Cron DH (R)
Brandon Crawford / J.P. Crawford SS (L)
Tucker Barnhart C (L)
Against LHP:
Ke'Bryan Hayes 3B (R)
Ozzie Albies 2B (S)
Bryan Reynolds CF (S)
José Abreu 1B (R)
Kris Bryant LF (R)
Kyle Tucker RF (L)
Hunter Renfroe DH (R)
José Iglesias SS (R)
Mitch Garver C (R)
The two clearest leadoff-type hitters on this roster are Whit Merrifield and Jon Berti. But based on his 2022 performance Merrifield doesn't have a starting spot here, nor does Berti given the many other solid infield candidates on the roster. I could have them DH, but then guys like Renfroe and Cron wouldn't be in the lineups. So I went with Ke'Bryan Hayes at leadoff, as he has batted first some for the Pirates so far in his career.
Speaking of Renfroe, he has extreme splits and really hits LHP far better than RHP. So even though Cron is also a right-handed hitter, I platooned the two of them in the DH spot. Other platoons that made sense were at catcher with Barnhart and Garver, at 2B with Cronenworth and Albies (who although a switch hitter, hits LHP far better than RHP), and at SS where there is a mix of guys,
The starting pitching is loaded, and you could certainly argue how to rank the three aces in Fried, Manoah, and Gausman. Quintana is a solid fourth, and then you could again have a debate about who should round out the starting rotation. For relievers I like Iglesias and Durán as closers, and there is plenty of bullpen depth to set them up too.
Two other quick notes about the pitching selections. First, I purposely did not include Trevor Bauer (born on January 17) as he currently is not signed with a team, and his MLB future remains unclear. And then Dallas Keuchel (born on January 1) would clearly have made this roster if I had continued my approach from previous articles and considered active players’ entire careers. A two-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove Award winner, Keuchel won the 2015 AL Cy Young Award after going 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA and 216 strikeouts. But at this point his career is winding down and might be over, having struggled for three teams in 2022, going 2-9 in 14 starts with a 9.20 ERA. Even though his FIP was a less disturbing 5.52, his 2.060 WHIP was just plain ugly.
Here are the players shown above in order by birthday:
January 3: SP José Suarez (L)
January 4: 3B/LF/RF Kris Bryant (R)
January 4: RP Raisel Iglesias (R)
January 4: RP Reynaldo López (R)
January 5: 3B Eduardo Escobar (S)
January 5: 2B Vaughn Grissom (R)
January 5: 1B C.J. Cron (R)
January 5: SS José Iglesias (R)
January 6: SP Kevin Gausman (R)
January 7: 2B Ozzie Albies (S)
January 7: C Tucker Barnhart (L)
January 7: SP Dean Kremer (R)
January 8: RP Jhoan Durán (R)
January 9: SP Alek Manoah (R)
January 10: RF Óscar González (R)
January 10: RP Nick Sandlin (R)
January 11: SS J.P. Crawford (L)
January 12: SP Alex Wood (L)
January 15: C Mitch Garver (R)
January 16: 2B/OF/3B/1B Brendan Donovan (L)
January 16: RP Andrés Muñoz (R)
January 17: RF Kyle Tucker (L)
January 17: RP Joe Jiménez (R)
January 18: SP Max Fried (L)
January 18: RP Diego Castillo (R)
January 21: SP Zach Plesac (R)
January 21: 2B/SS/1B Jake Cronenworth (L)
January 21: SS Brandon Crawford (L)
January 22: CF/RF/LF Tyrone Taylor (R)
January 22: 2B Jon Berti (R)
January 24: 2B/RF/CF Whit Merrifield (R)
January 24: SP José Quintana (L)
January 27: CF/LF Bryan Reynolds (S)
January 28: 3B Ke'Bryan Hayes (R)
January 28: RF/LF Hunter Renfroe (R)
January 29: 1B José Abreu (R)
January 29: RP Connor Brogdon (R)
January 30: RP Luis García (R)
January 31: SP Cole Irvin (L)
January 31: RP Caleb Thielbar (L)
All-Time January Birthdays Dream Team
What about an all-time January birthdays dream team? Are any of the active players above worthy of the all-time version too?
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. In November, CF was again tough with Ken Griffey Jr. or Joe DiMaggio. And then in December it was catcher with arguably the greatest AL/NL catcher ever in Johnny Bench and the legendary Negro Leagues slugger Josh Gibson (not to mention Hall of Famers Carlton Fisk and Gabby Hartnett as well).
For this January roster, the most loaded position is clearly 1B. Prince Albert is I think clearly the top of the list, but then there are other great Hall of Famers like Johnny Mize, Willie McCovey, and Hank Greenberg. I had to stretch a little (sorry for the pun, Mr. McCovey), but you’ll see from the lineups below that I found a way to get them all included.
While not as elite as those guys, it was interesting that January birthdays also included so many solid players who spent a lot of their time as designated hitters. I went ahead and included four of them here, with Edgar Martinez clearly being the best.
Interestingly, compared with December’s crowded situation, the catchers born in January were not nearly as elite. The best of the bunch were Darrell Porter and Walker Cooper—a far cry from Bench, Gibson, Fisk, and Hartnett.
Starting lineups, against righties and lefties, might look like this:
Against RHP:
Max Carey CF (S)
Jackie Robinson 2B (R)
Johnny Mize DH (L)
Willie McCovey LF (L)
Albert Pujols 1B (R)
Ernie Banks SS (R)
Elmer Flick / Brian Giles RF (L)
Jimmy Collins / Bill Madlock 3B (R)
Darrell Porter C (L)
Against LHP:
Max Carey CF (S)
Jackie Robinson 2B (R)
Albert Pujols 1B (R)
Hank Greenberg LF (R)
Ernie Banks SS (R)
Edgar Martinez DH (R)
Magglio Ordóñez RF (R)
Jimmy Collins / Bill Madlock 3B (R)
Walker Cooper C (R)
I went with Max Carey in the leadoff spot because of his ability to get on base (.361 OBP) and his elite speed (738 SB with only 112 CS). He was also great defensively in CF, which I know Curt Flood was as well, but I think Carey makes for a better leadoff hitter in these lineups.
The toughest consideration was how to get all those great 1B into these lineups. You could platoon Albert Pujols (R) at 1B with either Johnny Mize (L) or Willie McCovey (L). Doing that would allow the lineups to have people who played a lot of LF in their career out there in LF, like say a platoon of Matt Holliday and Brian Giles. But I really didn’t like the idea of not including Pujols in both lineups, so instead I decided to get McCovey and Greenberg into the lineups as a LF platoon, since they both did play some there during their Hall of Fame careers. That still left Johnny Mize without playing time, so what about DH? Well, he batted left-handed and Edgar Martinez batted right-handed, so they make a strong platoon.
Here are the position players in the depth chart above listed in order by birthday, with a few career stat highlights for each:
January 1: 1B/LF Hank Greenberg (R) 55.5 WAR, 331 HR, .313/.412/.605, 159 OPS+
January 2: DH/3B Edgar Martinez (R) 68.4 WAR, 309 HR, 514 Doubles, .312/.418/.515, 147 OPS+
January 5: SS Bill Dahlen (R) 75.2 WAR, 163 Triples, 548 SB, .272/.358/.382, 110 OPS+
January 7: LF/2B Alfonso Soriano (R) 28.6 WAR, 412 HR, 289 SB, .270/.319/.500, 112 OPS+
January 7: 1B Johnny Mize (L) 70.7 WAR, 359 HR, .312/.397/.562, 158 OPS+
January 7: DH/1B/3B Edwin Encarnación (R) 35.5 WAR, 424 HR, .260/.350/.496, 123 OPS+
January 8: C Walker Cooper (R) 27.3 WAR, 173 HR, .285/.332/.464, 116 OPS+
January 8: 1B/DH Jason Giambi (L) 50.5 WAR, 440 HR, .277/.399/.516, 139 OPS+
January 10: 1B/LF Willie McCovey (L) 64.5 WAR, 521 HR, .270/.374/.515, 147 OPS+
January 11: RF Elmer Flick (L) 52.7 WAR, 164 Triples, 330 SB, .313/.389/.445, 148 OPS+
January 11: CF/LF Max Carey (S) 55.3 WAR, 159 Triples, 738 SB, .285/.361/.386, 108 OPS+
January 12: 3B Bill Madlock (R) 38.2 WAR, 163 HR, 174 SB, .305/.365/.442, 123 OPS+
January 15: LF Matt Holliday (R) 44.5 WAR, 316 HR, .299/.379/.510, 132 OPS+
January 15: 2B Bobby Grich (R) 71.1 WAR, 224 HR, .266/.371/.424, 125 OPS+
January 16: 1B Albert Pujols (R) 101.7 WAR, 703 HR, 686 doubles, 2,218 RBI, 3,384 Hits, .296/.374/.544, 145 OPS+
January 16: 3B Jimmy Collins (R) 53.3 WAR, 194 SB, .294/.343/.409, 113 OPS+
January 17: DH/CF/RF Chili Davis (S) 38.2 WAR, 350 HR, .274/.360/.451, 121 OPS+
January 17: C Darrell Porter (L) 40.9 WAR, 188 HR, , .247/.354/.409, 113 OPS+
January 18: CF Curt Flood (R) 41.9 WAR, .293/.342/.389, 100 OPS+
January 20: RF/LF/CF Brian Giles (L) 51.1 WAR, 287 HR, .291/.400/.502, 137 OPS+
January 28: RF Magglio Ordóñez (R) 38.8 WAR, 294 HR, .309/.369/.502, 125 OPS+
January 31: SS/1B Ernie Banks (R) 67.7 WAR, 512 HR, .274/.330/.500, 122 OPS+
January 31: 2B/1B/3B/LF Jackie Robinson (R) 63.8 WAR, 141 HR, 200 SB, .313/.410/.477, 133 OPS+
Several other players deserve honorable mention, starting with 1920s Negro League star 3B/SS John Beckwith. Others include: 1B José Abreu, 3B/LF Kris Bryant, LF Riggs Stephenson, 1B Bill White, 1B George Burns, CF Brady Anderson, CF Mike Cameron, LF Kevin Mitchell, SS Art Fletcher, 2B Del Pratt, SS Al Dark, 1B/2B Pete Runnels, 2B Steve Sax, 2B Delino DeShields, C Darren Daulton, LF Bibb Falk, LF Rusty Greer, RF Jermaine Dye, CF Benny Kauff, CF Chick Stahl, RF Mike Tiernan, 1B Henry Larkin.
As for the starting pitchers, I know there are critics of Nolan Ryan’s greatness, but in this context he seemed like the clear number one. There were several 19th century pitchers who were candidates, but in the end I only included one on the roster, Hall of Famer Tim Keefe, given his 2.63 ERA, 126 ERA+, and 342-225 record. I then chose Dizzy Dean’s peak performance level over fellow Hall of Famer Early Wynn’s much longer career.
Rounding out a five-man rotation was a harder choice, but I went with David Cone over Jon Lester and some others. I included knuckle-baller Charlie Hough here but could have listed him as a reliever, since he spent the first half of his career coming out of the bullpen, recording 18 saves in 1976 and 22 in 1977.
You could make a case for other starters, starting with three old-timers from the 19th century in Tony Mullane, Silver King, and Bob Caruthers. Others who deserve honorable mention include: Jack McDowell, Jason Schmidt, Greg Swindell, A.J. Burnett, Sonny Siebert, Bill Doak, Randy Jones, Scott McGregor, Ubaldo Jiménez, Dallas Keuchel, Mike Caldwell, Bob Forsch, Don Gullett, Hank Aguirre.
Here are the starters I chose in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
January 1: Tim Keefe (R) 89.1 WAR, 342-225 W-L, 2.63 ERA, 126 ERA+, 2.92 FIP
January 2: David Cone (R) 61.6 WAR, 194-126 W-L, 3.46 ERA, 121 ERA+, 3.57 FIP
January 5: Charlie Hough (R) 39.0 WAR, 216-216 W-L, 3.75 ERA, 106 ERA+, 4.29 FIP
January 6: Early Wynn (R) 51.5 WAR, 300-244 W-L, 3.54 ERA, 107 ERA+, 3.66 FIP
January 7: Jon Lester (L) 43.5 WAR, 200-117 W-L, 3.66 ERA, 117 ERA+, 3.78 FIP
January 11: Schoolboy Rowe (R) 34.3 WAR, 158-101 W-L, 3.87 ERA, 110 ERA+, 3.56 FIP
January 16: Dizzy Dean (R) 43.9 WAR, 150-83 W-L, 3.02 ERA, 131 ERA+, 3.23 FIP
January 19: Jon Matlack (L) 38.9 WAR, 125-126 W-L, 3.18 ERA, 114 ERA+, 3.06 FIP
January 20: Camilo Pascual (R) 37.5 WAR, 174-170 W-L, 3.63 ERA, 103 ERA+, 3.32 FIP
January 31: Nolan Ryan (R) 83.6 WAR, 324-292 W-L, 5,714 SO, 3.19 ERA, 112 ERA+, 2.97 FIP
For relievers, this January Birthdays Dream Team has one Hall of Famer, the late Bruce Sutter. But there were many other candidates, so I decided to include nine in all, though how you rank them could certainly be debated.
Even after including nine relievers, there were a few others that at least deserve honorable mention, starting with active closer Raisel Iglesias, but also including Norm Charlton, Jeff Fassero, Terry Forster, Byung-Hyun Kim, and Mark Wohlers.
Again, here are the nine I included in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
January 3: Gary Lavelle (L) 136 SV, 2.93 ERA, 126 ERA+, 3.14 FIP
January 4: Don McMahon (R) 152 SV, 2.96 ERA, 120 ERA+, 3.43 FIP
January 7: Eric Gagné (R) 187 SV, 3.47 ERA, 119 ERA+, 3.59 FIP
January 7: Jeff Montgomery (R) 304 SV, 3.27 ERA, 135 ERA+, 3.59 FIP
January 7: Francisco Rodríguez (R) 437 SV, 2.86 ERA, 148 ERA+, 3.31 FIP
January 8: Bruce Sutter (R) 300 SV, 2.83 ERA, 136 ERA+, 2.94 FIP
January 15: Mike Marshall (R) 188 SV, 3.14 ERA, 118 ERA+, 3.23 FIP
January 21: Dave Smith (R) 216 SV, 2.67 ERA, 130 ERA+, 3.04 FIP
January 24: Rob Dibble (R) 89 SV, 2.98 ERA, 129 ERA+, 2.43 FIP
Compare this roster with those of the other months I have done so far: July, August, September, October, November, and December.
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.