Baseball's July Birthday Dream Teams
Lots of great players have July birthdays. Who would make an all-star team amongst active players? Who would make an all-time July Birthdays dream team?
Issue #4
I’m a few days late, but what would July Birthday dream teams look like? Demographic oddities aside, on average you'd expect such a roster to be composed of about 1/12th of the top players during whatever period is under consideration.
I'll start with an active players July 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 depth chart:
Daulton Varsho of the Diamondbacks was born on July 2nd, and would be an intriguing addition to this roster given his rare position combination of C and CF. Nathaniel Lowe and Jared Walsh are two more 1B who could one day crack this roster. And Pirates rookie LF Jack Suwinksi is only batting .227, but already has 14 HR in 62 games.
Starting lineups might look like this:
Against RHP:
DJ LeMahieu 2B (R)
Charlie Blackmon CF (L)
Shohei Ohtani DH (L)
Manny Machado 3B (R)
Cody Bellinger 1B (L)
Nelson Cruz RF (R)
Andrew Benintendi LF (L)
Jorge Polanco SS (S)
Yadier Molina C (R)
Against LHP:
DJ LeMahieu 2B (R)
Ty France 1B (R)
Manny Machado 3B (R)
Nelson Cruz RF (R)
Shohei Ohtani DH (L)
Jorge Polanco SS (S)
Charlie Blackmon CF (L)
Austin Hayes LF (R)
Yadier Molina (R)
The starting pitching here is pretty loaded — and also oddly slanted towards Washington Nationals' hurlers: Strasburg, Scherzer, Corbin, and even Giolito, who was drafted in the first round by the Nationals in 2012, and pitched in six games for them in 2016.
Aside from Scherzer as the ace, you could arrange this rotation in a variety of ways. And of course you could mix in Ohtani, perhaps using him as a well-rested spot starter. I've included Corbin too, in part because he is the only lefty of the bunch.
In the bullpen, I'd probably go with Smith and Doval as lefty/righty co-closers. The others are a nice balance of R/L relievers too.
Here are the players above listed in order by birthday, with a few career stat highlights for each:
Hitters:
July 1: Charlie Blackmon (L) 12 yrs, 204 HR, 136 SB, .299 BA, 113 OPS+
July 1: Nelson Cruz (R) 18 yrs, 457 HR, 1,284 RBI, .520 SLG, 132 OPS+
July 5: Jorge Polanco (S) 9 yrs, .273 BA, 110 OPS+
July 5: Austin Hayes (R) 6 yrs, 109 OPS+
July 5: Shohei Ohtani (L) 5 yrs, 111 HR, .531 SLG, 138 OPS+
July 6: Andrew Benintendi (L) 7 yrs, .278 BA, 108 OPS+
July 6: Brandon Lowe (L) 5 yrs, .508 SLG, 133 OPS+
July 6: Manny Machado (R) 11 yrs, 263 HR, .282 BA, 125 OPS+
July 7: Franmil Reyes (R) 5 yrs, 98 HR, 115 OPS+
July 8: Josh Harrison (R) 12 yrs, .272 BA
July 13: Ty France (R) 4 yrs, .289 BA, 127 OPS+
July 13: DJ LeMahieu (R) 12 yrs, .299 BA
July 13: Yadier Molina (R) 19 yrs, 173 HR, .278 BA
July 13: Cody Bellinger (L) 6 yrs, 144 HR, 122 OPS+
July 15: Ramon Laureano (R) 5 yrs, 118 OPS+
July 18: Eugenio Suarez (R) 9 yrs, 206 HR, 109 OPS+
July 19: Yan Gomes (R) 11 yrs, 120 HR
July 27: Adalberto Mondesi (S) 7 yrs, 133 SB
SP:
July 1: Michael Wacha (R) 10 yrs, 69-49 W-L, 4.05 ERA, 7.9 K/9
July 5: Shohei Ohtani (R) 5 yrs, 20-9 W-L, 3.28 ERA, 11.3 K/9
July 14: Lucas Giolito (R) 7 yrs, 47-42 W-L, 4.26 ERA, 9.5 K/9
July 19: Patrick Corbin (L) 11 yrs, 85-94 W-L, 4.18 ERA, 8.7 K/9
July 20: Stephen Strasburg (R) 13 yrs, 113-62 W-L, 3.24 ERA, 10.5 K/9
July 27: Max Scherzer (R) 15 yrs, 195-98 W-L, 3.15 ERA, 10.7 K/9
July 28: Walker Buehler (R) 6 yrs, 46-16 W-L, 3.02 ERA, 9.7 K/9
RP
July 3: Tommy Hunter (R) 15 yrs, 4.02 ERA
July 4: Camilo Doval (R) 2 yrs, 15 SV, 2.93 ERA
July 9: Steven Okert (L) 7 yrs, 3.32 ERA
July 10: Will Smith (L) 11 yrs, 91 SV, 3.52 ERA
July 12: Chasen Shreve (L) 9 yrs, 3.87 ERA
July 18: Ryan Helsley (R) 4 yrs, 3.22 ERA
July 26: Ryne Stanek (R) 6 yrs, 3.52 ERA
July 27: Wandy Peralta (L) 7 yrs, 4.15 ERA
All-Time July Birthdays Dream Team
What about an all-time July birthdays dream team? Check out this fun roster!
Starting lineups, against righties and lefties, might look like this:
Against RHP:
Shoeless Joe Jackson RF (L)
Roger Connor 1B (S)
Barry Bonds LF (L)
Alex Rodriguez 3B (R)
Tony Oliva DH (L)
Andre Dawson CF (R)
Joe Torre C (R)
Lou Boudreau SS (R)
Willie Randolph 2B (R)
Against LHP:
Willie Randolph 2B (R)
Shoeless Joe Jackson RF (L)
Alex Rodriguez 3B (R)
Nelson Cruz DH (R)
Barry Bonds LF (L)
Roger Connor 1B (S)
Andre Dawson CF (R)
Lou Boudreau SS (R)
Yadier Molina C (R)
Lots of options for DH, so I went with Oliva as a lefty bat against RHP. Then either Cruz or Canseco could be the DH against lefties. (Should Ohtani already be included here?)
I decided to mix things up against LHP by having Randolph lead off. He hit .297 with a .395 OBP against lefties and had 271 stolen bases in his career.
Catcher is obviously a case of offense vs. defense. I've split them here, as Molina hits lefties with slightly more pop than he does righties. Given how much offense is already in this lineup, I could understand starting Molina all the time for his superior defense.
Here are the position players in the depth chart above listed in order by birthday, with a few career stat highlights for each:
July 1: Roger Connor (S) 18 yrs (19th Century), 84.3 WAR, 1,620 Runs, 1,323 RBIs, .316 BA, 153 OPS+ (NOTE: higher than A-Rod's 140)
July 1: *Nelson Cruz (R) 18 yrs, 42.9 WAR, 457 HR, 1,284 RBI, .520 SLG, 132 OPS+
July 2: Jose Canseco (R) 17 yrs, 42.5 WAR, 462 HR, 200 SB, 132 OPS+
July 6: Willie Randolph (R) 18 yrs, 65.9 WAR, 271 SB, .373 OBP
July 6: *Manny Machado (R) 11yrs, 49.2 WAR, 263 HR, .282 BA, 125 OPS+
July 7: Billy Herman (R) 15 yrs, 57.3 WAR, .304 BA, 112 OPS+
July 10: Andre Dawson (R) 21 yrs, 64.8 WAR, 438 HR, 314 SB, 119 OPS+
July 13: *Yadier Molina (R) 19 yrs, 42.1 WAR, 173 HR, .278 BA
July 16: Shoeless Joe Jackson (L) 13 yrs, 62.2 WAR, 202 SB, .356/.423/.517, 170 OPS+
July 17: Lou Boudreau (R) 15 yrs, 63.3 WAR, .295 BA, .380 OBP, 120 OPS+
July 18: Joe Torre (R) 18 yrs, 57.5 WAR, 252 HR, .297 BA, 129 OPS+
July 18: Torii Hunter (R) 19 yrs, 50.7 WAR, 353 HR, 195 SB, 110 OPS+
July 20: Tony Oliva (L) 15 yrs, 43.0 WAR, 220 HR, .304 BA, 131 OPS+
July 20: Heinie Manush (L) 17 yrs, 48.0 WAR, .330 BA, 121 OPS+
July 23: Pee Wee Reese (R) 16yrs, 68.4 WAR, 1,338 Runs, 232 SB
July 23: Nomar Garciaparra (R) 14 yrs, 44.3 WAR, 229 HR, .313 BA, 124 OPS+
July 24: Barry Bonds (L) 22 yrs, 162.8 WAR, crazy numbers
July 27: Alex Rodriguez (R) 23 yrs, 117.6 WAR, also crazy numbers
* = Active
You may have noticed that I cheated a bit with this roster by including Garciaparra at 1B. There is a logjam at SS with Hall of Famers Boudreau and Reese, and after old-timer Connor, the other candidates at 1B were guys who had long careers, but were mostly good, not great: Harry Davis, Phil Cavarretta and Ron Fairly. Nomar played 1B over 200 times at the end of this career, and given how great he was at his peak, I wanted to include him in this roster somehow.
Cheating comes up a lot with this roster actually, as I suspect no other birthday month has as many outstanding players whose careers were marred by proof or at least accusations of cheating: Bonds, A-Rod, Shoeless Joe, and Canseco.
Here are a few who deserve honorable mention (players with career WAR over 40), in order by birthday:
July 7: 2B Chuck Knoblauch 12 yrs, 44.6 WAR, 407 SB, .289 BA
July 9: CF Willie Wilson 19 yrs, 46.2 WAR, 668 SB, .285 BA
July 14: 3B Robin Ventura 16 yrs, 56.1 WAR, 294 HR, 114 OPS+
July 21: 2B Johnny Evers 16 yrs, 47.7 WAR, 324 SB
July 22: SS Jack Glasscock 17 yrs (19th Century), 62.0 WAR, 372 SB (from 10 yrs of data), 112 OPS+
July 27: SS Joe Tinker 15 yrs, 53.2 WAR, 336 SB
July 31: 2B Larry Doyle 14 yrs, 45.1 WAR, 298 SB, .290 BA, 125 OPS+
Interesting that both Tinker and Evers had July birthdays — the third man in that famous trio, Frank Chance, was born in September.
And further honorable mention to three negro leagues players: C Biz Mackey (July 27), SS Dick Lundy (July 10), and 1B Ben Taylor (July 1). Unlike two of the pitchers, their accomplishments weren't quite enough to crack this dream team roster.
As for the starting pitchers, you could make a decent case for Paige, Scherzer, or Clarkson as the ace. In addition to Paige, another all-time great Negro Leagues pitcher was born in July, Bullet Rogan, who in the official statistics at baseball-reference.com compiled a .698 winning percentage (120-52) with a 161 ERA+. And then for the fifth spot it is a really tough call between C.C. Sabathia, Don Drysdale, and Stan Covelski — I broke the tie by going with CC as the only lefty in the 5-man rotation.
July 1: John Clarkson (R) 13 yrs (19th century), 85.0 WAR, 328-178 W-L, 2.81 ERA, 133 ERA+
July 7: Satchel Paige (R) 20 yrs (negro leagues), 47.6 WAR, 121-81 W-L, 2.70 ERA, 152 ERA+
July 13: Stan Coveleski (R) 17 yrs, 66.6 WAR, 215-142 W-L, 2.89 ERA, 127 ERA+
July 21: CC Sabathia (L) 19 yrs, 61.8 WAR, 251-161 W-L, 3.74 ERA, 116 ERA+
July 23: Don Drysdale (R) 14 yrs, 61.3 WAR, 209-166 W-L, 2.95 ERA, 121 ERA+
July 27: Max Scherzer (R) 15 yrs, 67.1 WAR, 195-98 W-L, 3.15 ERA, 10.7 K/9
July 28: Bullet Rogan (R) 9 yrs (negro leagues), 37.8 WAR, 120-52 W-L, 2.65 ERA, 161 ERA+
There are plenty who deserve honorable mention here too, like old-timers Mickey Welch and Jack Quinn, Negro Leagues star Bill Byrd, and then more recent and familiar names like Frank Tanana, Vida Blue, Dave Stieb, Tim Hudson, and Stephen Strasburg.
For relievers this July birthdays dream team is blessed with two Hall of Famers in Wilhelm and Gossage. For balance we have two great lefty closers as well in Lyle and Wagner (I hope a Hall of Famer soon.) Johnny Murphy was a relief-pitching pioneer for the Yankees in the 1930s and 40s. And then Kinder, Hrabosky, Minton, Thigpen, and Shaw all had their moments and round out a really solid bullpen. Again, here they are in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
July 5: Goose Gossage (R) 22 yrs, 310 SV, 3.01 ERA, 126 ERA+
July 7: Jeff Shaw (R) 12 yrs, 203 SV, 3.54 ERA, 119 ERA+
July 14: Johnny Murphy (R) 13 yrs, 107 SV, 3.50 ERA, 117 ERA+
July 17: Bobby Thigpen (R) 9 yrs, 201 SV, 3.43 ERA, 119 ERA+
July 21: Al Hrabosky (L) 13 yrs, 97 SV, 3.10 ERA, 122 ERA+
July 22: Sparky Lyle (L) 16 yrs, 238 SV, 2.88 ERA, 128 ERA+
July 25: Billy Wagner (L) 16yrs, 422 SV, 2.31 ERA, 187 ERA+, 11.9 K/9
July 26: Ellis Kinder (R) 12 yrs, 104 SV, 3.43 ERA, 125 ERA+ (also started 122 games)
July 26: Hoyt Wilhelm (R) 21 yrs, 228 SV, 2.52 ERA, 147 ERA+
July 29: Greg Minton (R) 16 yrs, 150 SV, 3.10 ERA, 118 ERA+
It will be interesting to see how this roster stacks up with the other 11 months as we progress through the calendar!
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.