Big bats, slick gloves who should be your 2020 headliners

Looking to sell advance season tickets for your 2020 team? Start marketing your marquee players. You know, the ones who are the best at their position. Such as Silver Sluggers and Gold Glovers.

South Grand Prairie has a pair of Silver Sluggers on the right side of its infield; so does Tatooine, both from the Atlanta Braves. Satellite Beach has three Silver Sluggers in total. And the Superior Titans have Gold Glove winners not only on the right side of the infield, but at the key defensive positions of shortstop and center field as well.

Every team but Greendale and West Atlanta had at least one player represented between the two lists. There’s three Gold Glove winners available to be drafted. Here’s the complete rundown:

Silver Sluggers

Pos.	AL Player	I-75 team	NL Player	I-75 team
1B	Carlos Santana	SGP	Freddie Freeman	TAT
2B	DJ LeMahieu	SGP	Ozzie Albies	TAT
3B	Alex Bregman	DYT	Anthony Rendon	SAT
SS	Xander Bogaerts	APPL	Trevor Story	BTH
LF	Mookie Betts	SAV	Christian Yelich	NNY
CF	Mike Trout	BTH	Ronald Acuna Jr.	DBB
RF	George Springer	BUS	Cody Bellinger	SAT
C	Mitch Garver	MAR	J.T. Realmuto	SAT
DH/P	Nelson Cruz	DBB	Zack Greinke	BIS

 Gold Glovers

Pos.	AL Player	I-75 team	NL Player	I-75 team
1B	Matt Olson	DYT	Anthony Rizzo	SUP
2B	Yolmer Sanchez	FA	Kolten Wong	SUP
3B	Matt Chapman	NNY	Nolan Arenado	SAV
SS	Francisco Lindor	MAR	Nick Ahmed	SUP
LF	Alex Gordon	FA	David Peralta	SAV
CF	Kevin Kiermaier	BUS	Lorenzo Cain	SUP
RF	Mookie Betts	SAV	Cody Bellinger	SAT
C	Roberto Perez	FA	J.T. Realmuto	SAT
P	Mike Leake	BIS	Zack Greinke	BIS

 

Is your guy the ‘1’?

The Gold Glove awards are out, guaranteeing ‘1’ fielding ratings for at least the 18 players listed below. Who pulled in the most among I-75 League teams?

How about Destin, with a strong-armed catcher, a middle infielder who also led the league in batting average AND stolen bases, and a pair of corner outfielders with highly regarded throwing arms to boot? That would be Yadier Molina, Dee Gordon, Yeonis Cespedes and Kole Calhoun.

Springfield checks in with three — pitcher Dallas Keuchel, shortstop Brandon Crawford and left fielder Starling Marte. Hickory (1B Eric Hosmer, CF A.J. Pollock) and Bismarck (P Zack Greinke, RF Jason Heyward) landed two Gold Glovers each.

That leaves seven clubs (Boulder, South Grand Prairie, Satellite Beach, Michigan, Savannah, Applegate and Bushwood) with one player each and four clubs (Chatfield, Superior, Margaritaville and Wisconsin) who were shut out.

What does it all mean though? A year ago, Wisconsin and Bismarck led the way with three Gold Glove selections each. Bismarck made the playoffs. Wisconsin lost 94 games. Applegate, which won 97 games, had no Gold Glove winners, but five ‘1’ fielders, including four starters.

So it would seem that while valuable, Gold Glove winners make for just one component of a successful club.

Pos.	Player	I-75 team
P	Dallas Keuchel	Springfield
P	Zack Greinke	Bismarck
C	Salvador Perez	Boulder
C	Yadier Molina	Destin
1B	Eric Hosmer	Hickory
1B	Paul Goldschmidt	S. Grand Prairie
2B	Jose Altuve	Satellite Beach
2B	Dee Gordon	Destin
3B	Manny Machado	Michigan
3B	Nolan Arenado	Savannah
SS	Alcides Escobar	Applegate
SS	Brandon Crawford	Springfield
LF	Yeonis Cespedes	Destin
LF	Starling Marte	Springfield
CF	Kevin Kiermaier	Bushwood
CF	A.J. Pollock	Hickory
RF	Kole Calhoun	Destin
RF	Jason Heyward	Bismarck

Gold Glove winners spread evenly around league

The Bismarck Bombers will be able to boast a pair of Gold Glovers in their 2013 outfield in Andrew McCutchen and Jason Heyward, but they were just one of several I-75 League teams to land a pair of 2012 Gold Glovers from their end-of-season rosters.

English gets a middle infielder (J.J. Hardy) and a catcher (Yadier Molina), while Margaritaville gets a catcher (Matt Wieters) and an outfielder (Carlos Gonzalez).

Hickory landed a pitcher (Jeremy Hellickson) and a third baseman (Chase Headley, really?), while Wisconsin had a pitcher (Mark Buehrle) and a middle infielder (Robinson Cano).

South Grand Prairie nabbed second baseman Darwin Barney and outfielder Josh Reddick, both first-time winners.

Margaritaville can flash some golden leather

The Margaritaville Volcanoes are still playing for I-75 League hardware, but their players are leading the way when it comes to on-the-field honors for defensive excellence in 2011.

Three Volcanoes — Matt Wieters, Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips — earned Gold Gloves Tuesday night, and with them a treasured ‘1’ defensive rating on next year’s cards.

No other team was able to match that, although four players are free agents: Mark Buehrle, Erick Aybar, Alex Gordon and Gerardo Parra.

Four teams could claim two Gold Glovers. Springfield had Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp; English has already enlisted Nick Markakis and Yadier Molina; Hickory has Dustin Pedroia and Troy Tulowitzki, and Bismarck has Adrian Gonzalez and Placido Polanco, although to date Polanco has not been retained.

Applegate (Jacoby Ellsbury), Superior (Andre Ethier) and Michigan (Adrian Beltre) had one Gold Glover apiece.

Bombers can expect five ‘1’ fielders

The Bismarck Bombers lead the way with returning Gold Glove (and likely 1 fielders) for the 2010 season. Gold Glove winners for 2009 were announced by Rawlings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Springfield can boast three Gold Glovers, while three teams teams — Detroit, Savannah and Hickory — proudly own Gold Glovers apiece. (UPDATED FROM AN EARLIER INCORRECT COUNT.)

Michael Bourn is the only player awarded a Gold Glove who isn’t presently on a roster. Springfield’s Matt Kemp would be making the leap from a 3 to a 1 if Strat stays true to form.

Here’s the position-by-position recap and who presently owns the Gold Glovers:

P — Adam Wainwright (BIB) and Mark Buehrle (BIB)
C — Yadier Molina (DED) and Joe Mauer (SUT)
1B — Adrian Gonzalez (BIB) and Mark Teixeira (HIN)
2B — Orlando Hudson (SPI) and Placido Polanco (SAS)
SS — Jimmie Rollins (WIW) and Derek Jeter (BIB)
3B — Ryan Zimmerman (SAS) and Evan Longoria (TRH)
OF — Michael Bourn (FA), Matt Kemp (SPI), Shane Victorino (HIN)
OF — Torii Hunter (BIB), Ichiro Suzuki (DED), Adam Jones (SPI)