“Everyone’s favorite player”

The other day an MLB pitcher described one of his teammates as “everyone’s favorite player.”  I don’t have anything against this player, but it hadn’t occurred to me that he might be “everyone’s favorite player.”  So that’s already one hint about who this universal favorite player might be.  

Here’s another hint: he’s on an EFL roster. And he’s not Junior Griffey, despite the photo introducing this piece.

So let’s go through our teams in the order I process them for the update (last place first).  For each team I’ll give you more clues.  If you happened to have read the same obscure item I did, and thus know the answer, please keep it to yourself. Otherwise, make your guess in the comments.

First: the updated standings:

 

 

Pittsburgh:  Let’s get this out of the way right now (MAJOR CLUE ALERT):  the player who was described as “everyone’s favorite player” is not my favorite player overall. That would be Edgar Martinez.  Nor is he my favorite currently active player.  I don’t know who that is, but it’s not the EFP (Everyone’s Favorite Player).  This does not rule out the possibility that he might be my favorite player on his particular team.

Who is the world’s favorite Allegheny? I have no idea.  Who is Mark Weinert’s favorite Allegheny?  He can tell us any time he feels like it.  Who is MY favorite Allegheny?  The only ex-Wolverine on the roster: Max Muncy. But he could be displaced by Ad Rutschman, if the grandson of Ad Rutschman the former Hillsboro High football coach lives up to his billing (and especially if he makes his way onto the Wolverine roster and carries the W’s to a championship).   Don’t look now, but Rutschman’s line so far this week is .375, .444, .625, one of only two Alleghenys OPSing over 1.000 so far in Week 11.

Here’s another hint:  the pronouncement that our EFP was “everyone’s favorite player” came after the EFP had a key hit in winning the game for his MLB team.  That eliminates Muncy who is off to a slow start offensively this week.  But Rutschman has hit very well so far, helping the Orioles to two straight wins.  Could he be “everyone’s favorite player” already?

 

Portland:  There are three ex-Wolverines on the Rosebud roster.  One of them is Nick Senzel, but he was a Wolverine  briefly, and has done so little for the Rosebuds, including going 0 for 8 this week.  He did drive in a run with a sac fly, so I suppose we can’t quite eliminate him from being the EFP. But really, he is more likely to be nobody’s favorite player than everybody’s. 

Another former Wolverine is Eric Lauer. He might be my favorite Rosebud, if by “favorite” you mean “the former Wolverine I’d most like to have back right now.” Lauer might fit, since a) he’s been good since the ‘Buds stole him from the ‘Rines in a Rule 5 draft, and  b) since Walker Buehler went on the MLB IL for the ominous “right forearm tightness.”  But they haven’t let Lauer hit this week, so he’s out.

Five Rosebuds are OPSing over 1.000 so far in Week 11. One of them is former Wolverine Luis Urias, with two RBI’s already this week. The Rosebuds acquired Urias (along with Senzel and Spencer Turnbull) in the trade that gave the W’s the first pick in the 2021 Rookie Draft, which the W’s used to get Ke’Bryan Hayes. I had the option of sending Urias or Gavin Lux to the Rosebuds in that deal. I dithered and dithered and finally decided to keep Lux.  Since then, naturally, Urias has generally been better than Lux.

So if you mean by “favorite” the player whom I most wish I hadn’t included in a deal, Urias has been that player on many days when Lauer wasn’t on my mind.  I don’t know who is Mark J’s favorite player on his team, but judging by how many times he has gently drawn my attention to their exploits, it’s either Urias or Lauer.  And since Lauer hasn’t hit this week, Urias is a Rosebud candidate for EFP.   

Although, I should point out, I never said the EFP was my favorite player in any sense, and Bobby Witt Jr.  (1.571 OPS) has been hitting better than Urias (1.229 OPS) in Week 11. And Witt is a Royal, the favorite team among the John Johnson branch of the Johnson clan. 

 

Peshastin:   Rounding out our three P’s at the bottom of the standings, we have the Pears, who perhaps perceive themselves as peculiarly persecuted this week.  The Yankees, their MLB foes, have started this week outscoring the Cubs 26 – 4. The Pears’ raw numbers are not good — 7.4 runs scored versus 16.3 runs allowed.  Combine the Pear’s expected winning percentage of .172 with the Yankees’ .977, and the Pears are projected to win .005 of their games with the Yankees this week. Over 100 games that would be a record of 0.5 – 99.5.

Clearly an EFP on the Pears would have to be a shining beacon of hope amid this utter disaster. Among former Wolverines, only Ryan Mountcastle has a case for being a favorite in a dark time, going 3 for 9 with a double and a homer for an OPS of a neat 1.111.  But Juan Soto is a Pear, still, and his OPS this week is 1.625. Of the candidates we’ve discussed so far, he is clearly the one with the most fans in real life.

 

Bellingham:  Bellingham is just across the border from the league’s P-zone of cellar dwellers.  Still, we should be cautious about picking a Bellingham player as the EFP .  The Cascades show an adjusted winning percentage this week of .722.  But that’s only because their opponents, the Mariners, are under .500.  The Cascades’ raw winning percentage this week is .666. 

The only ex-Wolverine among Bellingham’s hitters is Tyler Wade. We did not mourn the loss of Tyler Wade at the end of his debut season, and no one since then has ever mourned losing him.  He’s probably not a bad person. It’s just that he can’t carry his minor league successes with him to the majors.  He’s 1 for 4 this week, OPSing .500, right in line with his season OPS of .540.  

Randy Arozarena would be a natural suspect for EFP.  He burst into view in the 2020 postseason with his otherwordly 29 for 77 with three doubles, a triple, 8 walks and 10 home runs. Calculating in my head, that comes out to a  .377, .435, .831 slash line. He’s been down from his previous seasons so far this year, but this week is like old times: .426, .556, .571.   Unless this is the payoff for the Cascades accepting the mark of the Beast (divided by 1000), Arozarena might actually be, for some significant group, their most favorite player.

 

Kaline has an outstanding candidate for “everyone’s favorite EFL owner.”  Given the injury-riddled state of the Drive’s roster, it’s hard to see how the Wizard of Whidbey could be God’s favorite owner, unless this is a replay of King David’s troubled life. My favorite Drive is Daulton Varsho, the catcher / center fielder.  Varsho does have an RBI this week, but Arizona has lost 4 – 0 and won 13 – 1.  Neither of those games are likely settings for one of Varsho’s two hits this week to  be a key hit in winning a game for his team.  When your team scores 13 runs, no one hit is likely to be the key. 

Same for the Drive.  That soaring .976 winning percentage for the week is driven less by anything the Wizard has cooked up than is it by the happenstance that they are playing the Cubs — the same Cubs being thumped 26 – 4 by the Yankees. I’m stuck. I don’t know whom to nominate among the Drive for EFP.

 

Canberra:  There are potential EFP’s strewn all over the Kangaroo roster.  How about Vladito Guerrerro?  He has his OPS this week precisely tuned to 1.000, and has two RBIs to go along with his homer.  Juan Yepez? It seems a little quick for him to gain a universal following, but he is leading the Kangaroos this week with an OPS of 1.881.  And his name is the always positive “Yep”!  

But my favorite Kangaroo right now is probably Julio Rodriguez, the sunny, hope-carrying Mariner outfielder.  J-Rod has a homer already this week, and two RBI’s, so he qualifies. I am not confirming J-Rod as the EFP, but he is an awfully tempting candidate. Wouldn’t he look great in the same outfield with Byron Buxton and (someday) Eloy JImenez?  I mean, shouldn’t the Captain Kangaroo do his part to make such an outfield happen?

 

Flint Hill:  The Tornados were supposed to fall apart after mortgaging their future last season in a desperate attempt to win the EFL trophy two years in a row.  During the offseason they were scrambling just to get live bodies on the team.  They were not supposed to be able to put together such an impressive team so quickly.  But here they are, a mere  0.2 games and 0.004 percentage points behind the Paterfamilias Dragons!   

I can’t remember how they did it, but the Tornados somehow acquired ex-Wolverine Willson Contreras, who at the moment is the team’s 2022 leader in OPS at an even .900.  There’s a good candidate for EFP!  He doesn’t have an RBI this week, but he did get hit by a pitch… and he’s a trade candidate for the Cubs, which might bring the Tornados a haul in prospects. He’d be my personal most-favorite Tornado. 

Among those with RBI’s already this week, Ozzie Albies with 4 of them stands out as a potential EFP.  Keibert Ruiz is also a suspect, with an RBI amidst his 1.167 OPS this week.

 

Haviland: Let us take a moment to note the injustice being inflicted on the Dragons by our head-to-head set up.  Their adjusted winning percentage is .132 lower than their raw winning percentage.  They “should” be in first place. They are in 4th place, 7.2 games out, dogged by one of the Dragonmaster’s own offspring. Facing the Nationals this week has helped a little bit, but so far the Dragons aren’t getting the rocket-boost to their adjusted winning percentage other teams have gotten by playing the lowly Gnats. 

So far Dragon management has taken his ill-fated outcomes stoically, as far as I can tell.  Which feeds public sympathy for the Dragon’s unfair treatment, and makes all the Dragon players especially attractive for people to root them on despite the odds stacked against them. For example, Aaron Judge has two more homers already this week, to go with his 1.722 weekly OPS.  

But, of course, Aaron Judge is an extreme longshot for EFP, as he is a Yankee. There are three other Dragons with OPSes over 1.000 and a tell-tale RBI.  The first two are  the debutant phenoms Jeremy Pena and Alek Thomas. 

But they cannot hold a candle to ex-Wolverine, ex-Mariner giant teddy bear Daniel Vogelbach, who is having a .286, .375, .714 week so far, including another home run. Vogey is my favorite Dragon.  He’s probably your favorite Dragon.  He’s probably everyone’s favorite Dragon.  Does that make him our EFP?

 

Salem:  Vogelbach is going to be a very hard act to follow. But the Seraphim might have the one player who can match Daniel Vogelbach, coming from an entirely different direction. 

I don’t mean Khalil Lee, who at this point is OPSing 5.000 this week, having gone 1 for 1 with a home run. That was his second at-bat of the season, the 20th of his career. Could that suddenly thrust him to the forefront of public affection?  He’s not a Yankee, only a Met, so maybe…

But the Seraphim also have Ronald Acuna, Jr., who is the Ronald most likely to make it to the Hall of Fame since Ron Santo.  He has that sunny spirit we noted for Julio Rodriguez, plus an early-career heap of accomplishments. And a tell-tale RBI this week amid his 1.111 OPS performance.  He already has the fandom Khalil Lee can only dream of.

We shouldn’t ignore ex-Wolverine Adolis Garcia, wheedled away from the Wolverines last year in their desperation to respond to the Tornado’s pennant seeking trades.  Garcia plays great defense, and this week is putting up equally great offense (1.556 OPS) including a homer and three RBIs.  I’d love to have Adolis back, and his very name (Adolis) probably means “adored one” in some latin language. 

All that is very impressive and I’m not even mentioning debutant Oscar Gonzalez.  Because the Seraphim have the one player I am most willing to pay to see in person, the guy who is OPSing 2.550 this week, has hit 13 homers… and has struck out 71 batters in 54 innings pitched with a 3.64 ERA.  If anyone is more popular than Daniel Vogelbach, it’s probably Shohei Ohtani. 

Ok, but here’s another clue.  The supposed “everyone’s favorite player” is NOT Shohei Ohtani.  Which may say more about the credibility of the pitcher who made that claim than it does about the EFP.

 

DC:  We come now to the Balk.  I am a realist.  I realize that there are not very many EFL owners rooting for the Wolverines to win back-to-back championships.  The Balk have more fans than the W’s do in that regard, as do the Seraphim – and maybe even the Dragons and Tornados.  In fact, the Wolverines may be the least-favored team in the EFL to win the championship, outside of those still dwelling in Old Detroit. 

But that does NOT mean the “everyone’s favorite player” has to be a Balk, or can’t be a Wolverine. There are some very popular players on the DC roster, including stalwarts like Pete Alonso (1.569 OPS  this week) and Xander Bogaerts (1.071 OPS) this week.  Now there is nothing to say the EFP is OPSing over 1.000 this week.  His popularity may rest on other foundations…

… but, OK, time for another hint:  I will now say the EFP does have an OPS over 1.000 so far this week.  So that eliminates all the other Balk, including Bryce Harper (0.661 OPS) and Harrison Bader (removed from Saturday’s game after the 6th inning by Cardinal’s manager Oliver Marmol for “effort issues”).

The Balk are keeping pace with the Wolverines without the games EFP, but with the support of vast swathes of the EFL.  All the more intimidating. 

 

Wolverines:  

So, what do we know? We know the EFP is OPSing over 1.000 this week.  We know he is a batter with a key RBI. We know he’s not Shohei Ohtani, nor Harrison Bader, nor any other Balk. I’ll tell you one more thing:  according to my source article, he is third in MLB with 3.4 WAR amassed already.  (The source cites ESPN.  Fangraphs has a different  player, a Wolverine, at 3.4 WAR, fourth in the majors.  Fangraphs lists our EFP as 7th, right after Mike Trout.)

And I’ll tell you one MORE thing:  I’m shocked he could have so much WAR value. 

Is he a Wolverine? Well, I would notice obscure articles about Wolverines more than about other players.  On the other hand, I’ve looked at several obscure article for this write-up, and for no good reason, too. I noticed the note about Harrison Bader, who has gotten no closer to being a Wolverine than appearing on a list of players I was willing to bid on (and did bid on, although never came close to winning the bid).  So no, you can neither assume the EFP is a Wolverine, nor that he isn’t. 

I think I already told you he is not my favorite player. There are 7 Wolverines OPSing 1.000 or better this week, and I am not sure my favorite Wolverine is among those 7 — I don’t know if I have a clear favorite Wolverine. I have some I am especially smug about, like Ross Stripling, about whom I took some ridicule for grabbing him in the Rule 5 draft, and who just delivered 6 scoreless innings on the day I learned Buehler was going on the IL, possibly for the rest of his Wolverine career.  There is also a little bit of extra pleasure knowing I drafted Rafael  Devers late in the first round of the Rookie Draft after he had sailed past a bevy of Bosox fans. 

Anyway — if the EFP is a Wolverine, he’s going to have to keep it up for us to have a chance now that Buehler has joined our contingent in the rehab ward.  If the EFP isn’t a Wolverine, I probably should try to trade for him before you recognize this unsung stud for who he really is. 

Have fun figuring this out WITHOUT looking at Fangraphs. Assume that he may, or may not, be a Wolverine.

Put your guesses in the comments, unless you already read the article that alerted me to this gem in our midst.