Baseball's March Birthday Dream Teams
Lots of great players have March birthdays. But who would make an all-star team amongst active players? And who would make an all-time March Birthdays dream team?
Issue #69
Continuing my series of active and all-time dream teams for players born during each month—how about March? 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 March Birthday dream team, here is the roster I came up with:
There are definitely some elite position players here, including Vlad Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Wander Franco, Alex Bregman, J.T. Realmuto, Michael Harris II, and Kyle Schwarber. That is plenty for a one-month birthday dream, but the talent depth goes further with Brandon Nimmo, Adolis García, and Nick Castellanos as other outfielders, and Will Smith giving this dream team two of the top three or four catchers in the game.
And wow… first base is absolutely loaded, as beyond Guerrero the power keeps coming with Matt Olson, Christian Walker, Rhys Hoskins, Rowdy Tellez, and even Trey Mancini too.
Starting lineups for this roster might look like this:
Against RHP:
Bo Bichette SS (R)
Michael Harris II CF (L)
Vlad Guerrero Jr. DH (R)
Kyle Schwarber LF (L)
Matt Olson 1B (L)
Alex Bregman 3B (R)
Adolis García RF (R)
J.T. Realmuto / Will Smith C (R)
Nicky Lopez 2B (L)
Against LHP:
Bo Bichette SS (R)
Alex Bregman 3B (R)
Wander Franco DH (S)
Christian Walker 1B (R)
Nick Castellanos RF (R)
J.T. Realmuto / Will Smith C (R)
Michael Harris II / Brandon Nimmo CF (L)
Tommy Pham LF (R)
Jean Segura 2B (R)
There were plenty of platoon options, but even so I couldn’t really work every good player on this roster into these two lineups. Kyle Schwarber is a great slugger but he doesn’t hit most lefties very well, so that is why I slotted Tommy Pham in the less frequent lineup against LHPs.
I was able to get Wander Franco in the lineup as a DH against lefties, as he hits LHP really well. Against the more frequent right-handed starters, Vladdy will be the DH, as he actually hits RHP better than lefties. This allows the better defensive 1B combo of Matt Olson and Christian Walker to play in the field.
In RF, both Adolis García and Nick Castellanos are right-handed hitters, but García hits RHP better, while Castellanos has the more traditional splits by hitting LHP better. In CF, both of the candidates are left-handed hitters, but Michael Harris really didn’t hit LHP well as a rookie, so even though Brandon Nimmo hits righties better himself, I could see using him against some lefties over Harris.
Admittedly Nicky Lopez only hit .227 last year, but hit .300 with 22 SB in 2021 so he seems like a good platoon partner at 2B with Jean Segura. Alas at Catcher both of the studs, J.T. Realmuto and Will Smith, hit right-handed so there really isn’t a platoon option available.
On the pitching side you might expect Christian Javier to have the better season in 2023, but I listed him third behind veterans Clayton Kershaw and Chris Sale in honor of their longer careers—and I’m optimistic that if they can stay healthy, they will both still be strong starters this year. After those three, you could argue the order for the next three (Pablo López, Carlos Carrasco, Hyun Jin Ryu), and also again the last three (Frankie Montas, Rich Hill, and Jake Odorizzi).
The bullpen is really strong here, frontloaded with two outstanding closers in Emmanuel Clase and Edwin Díaz, with two more in Mark Melancon and Clay Holmes. I included three other relievers, but there were plenty more with March birthdays that you could make a case for instead, such as Domingo Acevedo, Joe Mantiply, Lucas Luetge, Daniel Hudson, Andrew Kittredge, Matt Festa, Kirby Yates, and Brad Hand.
Here are the players shown above in order by birthday:
March 1: SS Wander Franco (S)
March 1: RP Robert Suarez (R)
March 2: RF Adolis García (R)
March 4: RF Nick Castellanos (R)
March 5: RP John Schreiber (R)
March 5: LF Kyle Schwarber (R)
March 5: SS Bo Bichette (R)
March 7: SP Pablo López (R)
March 7: CF Michael Harris II (L)
March 8: LF Tommy Pham (R)
March 11: SP Rich Hill (L)
March 13: 2B/SS/3B Nicky Lopez (L)
March 15: RP Michael Fulmer (R)
March 16: 1B Rowdy Tellez (L)
March 16: 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R)
March 17: 1B Rhys Hoskins (R)
March 17: 2B Jean Segura (R)
March 18: RP Emmanuel Clase (R)
March 18: C J.T. Realmuto (R)
March 18: DH/1B/OF Trey Mancini (R)
March 18: OF/2B/SS Leury García (S)
March 19: SP Clayton Kershaw (L)
March 21: SP Carlos Carrasco (R)
March 21: SP Frankie Montas (R)
March 22: 2B Michael Massey (L)
March 22: RP Edwin Díaz (R)
March 25: SP Hyun Jin Ryu (L)
March 25: C Mike Zunino (R)
March 26: SP Christian Javier (R)
March 27: RP Clay Holmes (R)
March 27: SP Jake Odorizzi (R)
March 27: CF Brandon Nimmo (R)
March 28: RP Mark Melancon (R)
March 28: C Will Smith (R)
March 28: 1B Christian Walker (R)
March 29: 1B Matt Olson (L)
March 30: SP Chris Sale (L)
March 30: 3B Alex Bregman (R)
All-Time March Birthdays Dream Team
What about an all-time March birthdays dream team? One could easily guess that Clayton Kershaw will make this roster, but what about anyone else from the above active players squad?
Lots of great names here, though for position players I wouldn’t say that 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. This result for March is in stark contrast to February when 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.
That said, there is a lot of depth of really good players at many positions here, most notably 1B, RF, and CF. There is also some nice position flexibility in various ways, with many of the outfielders, as well as Stargell between LF and 1B, Dick Allen between 3B and 1B, and Buddy Myer at 2B, SS, and 3B.
Some readers might not be familiar with Mule Suttles but he was a standout 1B and LF in the Negro Leagues. A Hall-of-Famer who played in several leagues from 1924-1944, his career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com include slashing .340/.410/.619 with a 172 OPS+. His best season seems to have been his third when at age 25 he led the Negro National League in just about everything, including a .425 average, .472 OBP, .877 SLG, 19 Triples, 32 HR, 130 RBI, and 152 Hits (all in just 89 games). He even had a career high 15 stolen bases that year too.
Starting lineups, against righties and lefties, might look like this:
Against RHP:
Arky Vaughan SS (L)
Kirby Puckett CF (R)
Will Clark / George Sisler 1B (L)
Mel Ott RF (L)
Willie Stargell LF (L)
Home Run Baker 3B (L)
Bobby Abreu / Sam Thompson DH (L)
Jeff Kent 2B (R)
Buster Posey C (R)
Against LHP:
Kirby Puckett CF (R)
Bobby Bonds / Jim Wynn / Dale Murphy DH (R)
Dick Allen 3B (R)
Mule Suttles 1B (R)
Jim Rice LF (R)
Mel Ott RF (L)
Jeff Kent 2B (R)
Buster Posey C (R)
Arky Vaughan SS (L)
These lineups were not easy! There is a nice mix of righty and lefty hitters, but there is just too much depth of good players overall, so I feel bad that I couldn’t find room for guys like Willie Keeler, Richie Ashburn, and Harold Baines. And really that list is longer since I have Bobby Bonds, Jim Wynn, and Dale Murphy fighting for just DH at-bats against LHP, with Bobby Abreu and Sam Thompson doing the same against RHP.
Willie Stargell was my favorite player as a kid, but I admit he didn’t hit lefties nearly as well as righties, so given the many candidates at 1B to work with, I platooned Pops in LF with Jim Rice. You could also get Mule Suttles into the LF mix instead of Rice, especially if you prefer Rice as a DH over Bonds, Wynn, or Murphy.
At 3B it seemed fine to platoon Frank “Home Run” Baker with Dick Allen, and at 1B to hit Suttles against lefties (assuming he had normal splits), and then a mix of Will Clark and George Sisler against righties. All three catchers are right-handed hitters, so I just listed Buster Posey in both lineups, though obviously Realmuto and Crandall are good backup backstops.
Here are the position players in the depth chart above listed in order by birthday, with a few career stat highlights for each:
March 2: RF Mel Ott (L) 110.8 WAR, 511 HR, 1,859 R, 1,860 RBI, 2,876 H, .304/.414/.533, 155 OPS+
March 3: RF Willie Keeler (L) 54.2 WAR, 1,719 R, 2,932 H, 495 SB, .341/.388/.415, 127 OPS+
March 5: RF Sam Thompson (L) 44.4 WAR, 161 T, 232 SB, .331/.384/.505, 147 OPS+
March 5: C Del Crandall (R) 28.1 WAR, 179 HR, .254/.312/.404, 96 OPS+
March 6: CF Kirby Puckett (R) 51.2 WAR, 207 HR, 134 SB, .318/.360/.477, 124 OPS+
March 6: LF/1B Willie Stargell (L) 57.5 WAR, 475 HR, .282/.360/.529, 147 OPS+
March 7: 2B Jeff Kent (R) 55.4 WAR, 377 HR, 560 D, .290/.356/.500, 123 OPS+
March 8: 1B/3B Dick Allen (R) 58.7 WAR, 351 HR, .292/.378/.534, 156 OPS+
March 8: LF/DH Jim Rice (R) 47.7 WAR, 382 HR, .298/.352/.502, 128 OPS+
March 9: SS/3B Arky Vaughan (L) 78.0 WAR, .318/.406/.453, 136 OPS+
March 9: SS Bert Campaneris (R) 53.1 WAR, 649 SB, .259/.311/.342, 89 OPS+
March 11: RF Bobby Abreu (L) 60.2 WAR, 288 HR, 574 D, 400 SB, .291/.395/.475, 128 OPS+
March 12: CF/RF/LF Jim Wynn (R) 55.7 WAR, 291 HR, 225 SB, .250/.366/.436, 129 OPS+
March 12: CF/RF Dale Murphy (R) 46.5 WAR, 398 HR, 161 SB, .265/.346/.469, 121 OPS+
March 13: 3B Home Run Baker (L) 62.8 WAR, 96 HR, 235 SB, .307/.363/.442, 135 OPS+
March 13: 1B Will Clark (L) 56.5 WAR, 284 HR, .303/.384/.497, 137 OPS+
March 15: RF/CF Bobby Bonds (R) 57.8 WAR, 332 HR, 461 SB, .268/.353/.471, 129 OPS+
March 15: DH/RF Harold Baines (L) 38.8 WAR, 2,866 H, 384 HR, 488 D, .289/.356/.465, 121 OPS+
March 16: 2B/SS/3B Buddy Myer (L) 48.6 WAR, 157 SB, .303/.389/.406, 108 OPS+
March 18: C J.T. Realmuto (R) 29.7 WAR, 134 HR, .275/.332/.456, 113 OPS+
March 19: CF Richie Ashburn (L) 64.2 WAR, 234 SB, .308/.396/.382, 111 OPS+
March 24: 1B George Sisler (L) 54.8 WAR, 164 T, 375 SB, .340/.379/.468, 125 OPS+
March 27: C Buster Posey (R) 44.8 WAR, 158 HR, .302/.372/.460, 129 OPS+
March 31: 1B/LF Mule Suttles (R) 36.7 WAR, 179 HR, .340/.410/.619, 172 OPS+
Several other players deserve honorable mention, including: OF Curtis Granderson, CF/1B Paul Hines, CF Steve Finley, RF Darryl Strawberry, CF Mike Griffin, CF Roy Thomas, CF Clyde Milan, CF/LF George Van Haltren, RF Johnny Callison, 1B George Scott, 3B Denny Lyons, 2B Miller Huggins, RF Carl Furillo, LF Ron Gant, RF Gavvy Cravath, 3B Arlie Latham, CF Lloyd Waner, RF Raúl Mondesi, 1B Paul Konerko, RF Jackie Jensen, C Manny Sanguillén, C Benito Santiago, 1B Lee May, LF Lefty O'Doul, LF Hank Sauer, LF Tommy Davis, OF Joe Carter.
For starting pitchers, there were three clear frontrunners in Cy Young, Lefty Grove, and Clayton Kershaw, and I ranked them in that order. Unlike the position players for this March Birthdays All-Time Dream, I think you could make the case that Young and Grove are amongst the top-12 starting pitchers of all time. And before his career is complete, perhaps we’ll be saying the same of Kershaw too.
After those three, I think Hall-of-Famer Dazzy Vance deserves the fourth spot, as he led NL in wins twice, ERA three times, and strikeouts an impressive seven consecutive seasons. In 1924 he paced the NL in all three pitching triple crown categories, going 28-6 with a 2.16 ERA and 262 strikeouts (he also completed 30 of his 34 starts).
For the fifth spot in this dream team’s rotation there were several candidates to consider, but I think it is pretty clear that the 305-game-winning Hall of Famer Tom Glavine is the most deserving. He was a 10-time All-Star, led the NL in wins five times, and won two Cy Young Awards (while also coming in the top three another four times.) He had a long 22-year career during which he posted a solid 118 ERA+, though during his prime years from 1991-2002 his ERA+ was a far more impressive 134.
How you rank the others I’ve included on the roster could be debated, and several others deserve at least honorable mention, including: Dutch Leonard, Chris Sale, Lon Warneke, Charlie Root, Mort Cooper, Ray Kremer, J.R. Richard, and Denny McLain. Certainly some of these guys, like Sale, Richard, and McLain in particular, you could include based on their peak performance over Mark Buehrle.
Here are the starters I chose in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
March 4: Dazzy Vance (R) 62.9 WAR, 197-140 W-L, 3.24 ERA, 125 ERA+, 2.97 FIP
March 6: Lefty Grove (L) 113.3 WAR, 300-141 W-L, 3.06 ERA, 148 ERA+, 3.20 FIP
March 13: Johan Santana (L) 51.1 WAR, 139-78 W-L, 3.20 ERA, 136 ERA+, 3.44 FIP
March 14: Kevin Brown (R) 68.2 WAR, 211-144 W-L, 3.28 ERA, 127 ERA+, 3.33 FIP
March 19: Clayton Kershaw (L) 73.1 WAR, 197-87 W-L, 2.48 ERA, 156 ERA+, 2.76 FIP
March 20: Joe McGinnity (R) 61.9 WAR, 246-142 W-L, 2.66 ERA, 121 ERA+, 3.04 FIP
March 23: Mark Buehrle (L) 60.0 WAR, 214-160 W-L, 3.81 ERA, 117 ERA+, 4.11 FIP
March 25: Tom Glavine (L) 73.9 WAR, 305-203 W-L, 3.54 ERA, 118 ERA+, 3.95 FIP
March 29: Cy Young (R) 165.6 WAR, 511-315 W-L, 2.63 ERA, 138 ERA+, 2.84 FIPIP
For the bullpen, I went first with long-time side-armer Kent Tekulve, who from 1974-89 pitched in 1,050 games, and led the NL in games pitched four times, including in 1987 when he appeared in 90 games for the Phillies at the age of 40. How you rank the next several that I included could certainly be debated, but I really like the peak performance numbers of Edwin Díaz ahead of José Valverde or Mark Melancon. I then included three more modern day closers, and closed out the bullpen with Ted Abernathy as a good reliever from the 1960s, and Mike Timlin based on his 18-year career and 1,058 games pitched as both a closer and quality setup man.
One issue with this group is that they are all right-handers, but none of the lefty candidates seemed as deserving as the nine I went with. That said, the following I think do deserve at least honorable mention: Sergio Romo, Chad Cordero, Glen Perkins, Brad Hand, Wayne Granger, Ron Kline, Bob Locker, Steve Howe, Jim Kern, Jim Konstanty, Dellin Betances.
Again, here are the nine I included in order by birthday and with some numbers for each:
March 5: Kent Tekulve (R) 184 SV, 2.85 ERA, 132 ERA+, 3.26 FIP
March 6: Ted Abernathy (R) 149 SV, 3.46 ERA, 107 ERA+, 3.61 FIP
March 10: Mike Timlin (R) 141 SV, 3.63 ERA, 125 ERA+, 3.94 FIP
March 14: Bobby Jenks (R) 173 SV, 3.53 ERA, 131 ERA+, 3.21 FIP
March 16: Brian Wilson (R) 172 SV, 3.30 ERA, 122 ERA+, 3.20 FIP
March 18: Fernando Rodney (R) 327 SV, 3.80 ERA, 110 ERA+, 3.77 FIP
March 22: Edwin Díaz (R) 205 SV, 2.93 ERA, 139 ERA+, 2.55 FIP
March 24: José Valverde (R) 288 SV, 3.27 ERA, 133 ERA+, 3.66 FIP
March 28: Mark Melancon (R) 262 SV, 2.94 ERA, 136 ERA+, 3.04 FIP
Compare this roster with those of the other months I have done so far: July, August, September, October, November, December, January, and February.
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.
