RANK 'EM: Power Hitters

[Clay]

The Best Power Hitters in BLB History.....

GO!!!

[Lintyfresh85]

Keppel >>>>>>>>> All.

[Jake]

Mel Woodbury.





It surprised me too.

[Sully]

I'm going Dani Alvarez at this point. 7 straight seasons of 34 or more homeruns. Four years younger than Woodbury, and only 70 career homers behind. I think he retires with the BLB career HR record.

I was actually surprised to see Keppel is only 34. Over 400 career homers already. Alvarez has 3 years on him, so it's possible he can catch Keppel.

[Z]

I'm going Dani Alvarez at this point. 7 straight seasons of 34 or more homeruns. Four years younger than Woodbury, and only 70 career homers behind. I think he retires with the BLB career HR record.

I was actually surprised to see Keppel is only 34. Over 400 career homers already. Alvarez has 3 years on him, so it's possible he can catch Keppel.

Agreed. Alvarez is the kind of guy you'll trade anything to get, and try to keep for the rest of his career.

[Lintyfresh85]

A name I'll throw out there... and he's not that well known, is Don McGuire on Maine.

1987 - 32
1988 - 23 (374 AB)
1989 - 38
1990 - 24 (483 AB)
1991 - 42

His only problem is he can't stay healthy... but for me, if I have to have a home run, I'd turn to McGuire.

McGuire also holds the all-time career record for PA/HR at 18.4 PA's per HR.
McGuire is also tied for the all-time career record for AB/HR with Woodbury at 16.5 AB's per HR.

[Z]

McGuire might be the most underrated guy in the game. He's an excellent hitter when healthy and a fantastic fielder as well.

[Jake]

I was about to say, I think Alvarez is certainly in the discussion, but if you bring him into it based off of what he could do because he is a little younger, then I think you have to bring McGuire into the conversation, and to a lesser extent Kinsley.

If I'm ranking them... a rough draft is something like

Woodbury
Alvarez
Keppel
Lumar
etc

[Jake]

FWIW, some numbers:

Career PA/HR:
Alvarez and Woodbury, 19.3 (T2nd)
McGuire 18.4 (1st, albeit smaller sample size)
Kinsey 22.1
Keppel 23.7 (15th all time)

Isolated power:
McGuire .257 (1st)
Woodbury .255 (2nd)
Alvarez .251 (3rd)
Kinsey .227
Keppel .225 (8th)

Slugging
Kinsey .557
Woodbury .552
Alvarez .548
Keppel .542
McGuire .536
Not a coincidence that all five of these guys are exactly top 5 in career slugging percentage. Plus, I think a power hitter means more than HR, so I think this stat carries some weight in this discussion.

Overall... I was blown away by Woodbury being near the top of all of those lists.

[Z]

You're all wrong, by the way. The answer is Finley Kinsey. He has a ridiculous career .563 slugging percentage. No one else is close right now.

[Jake]

And some guys (yes, a couple of these are Slammers) you might not think about who kept showing up on the lists...

Hector Carbajal (6th all time slugging, 4th all time ISO, 12 PA/HR)
Joe Rojas (with a small sample size, just over 2000 ABs... 4th PA/HR, 12th ISO, 7th SLG)
Dave Robbins (7th PA/HR, 10th ISO, 28th SLG)

The one who surprised me is Clint Underwood, who's really fallen off since 1990 and is having a rough 92, which makes these numbers show how much power he had early on:
8th all time SLG
14th PA/HR
ISO was way down the list, around 30th.

[Clay]

I think Keppel & Woodbury are current 1a/b as the most consistent Power Hitters of All-Time... However, as I've said before, Alvarez is likely the guy who retires with HR crown.

I think McGuire is the best young power hitter.

The one name I'd like to put out there as perhaps the best PURE POWER guy of all-time... Pedro Eires. Dude hit a lot of bombs in bunches.

[Pat]

MAP

[Lintyfresh85]

MAP

What happened to him? Has he already reached the end of the line?

[Carlos]

Agreed. Alvarez is the kind of guy you'll trade anything to get, and try to keep for the rest of his career.

I know most ignored this because it was a sad attempt at a joke, but I'm gonna let you shine a little bit here.