Well, I figured I'd give this a write because it's always nice to compare yourself to the best. Certainly, someone HAS to be the best, but who? Being the best doesn't just mean putting up the best slugging percentage in the Pickup Clubhouse or batting .700 for your career. Part of being the best is showing up in tournaments and leagues and letting the opposing pitcher know who is number one. I pulled 3 players from the modern era of UBO/RBO. Now these players aren't ranked, but rather categorized. Don't cry or whine if you aren't on the list, my epeen hurt as well when I left myself off the list.
Top UBO Stud from Outside North America
This one was quite difficult for me, but I developed 3 criteria in pulling the top player for this category; PUG statistics, broken english, and the will to play in a league/tourney at crazy hours. The first "foreigner" that jumped into my head was Shane. A Korean android, Shane still has the most career experience even though he's only logged 97 games in the past 4 seasons. Though Shane and his 10,000+ career hits were a good candidate for the award, he missed out on my league/tourney criteria. Unfortunately, his english was actually decent, too. Part of my love for players outside the North American continent is their broken english. I'm sure at one time or another everyone has enjoyed yoyoman's faces or the good ol' "87 la".
So if Shane wasn't my choice...then who else is left?
My pick for the "Top UBO Stud from Outside North America" is ToyBoy. ToyBoy's managerial skills partly come into play for the award. He's the manager for Hybrids and has created a legit Elite League contender. ToyBoy hails from Gothenburg, Sweden and is joined on Hybrids by some his fellow drunken Swedes. His english is known for a good laugh (granted it is better than my swedish) and the alcohol never helps. ToyBoy fits all three of my criteria and is in my whole opinion, the "Top UBO Stud from Outside North America".
I Hit Homer's For Breakfast
This next category is for those guys who love the longball. Homeruns have played a huge role in recent times and some pitchers have nightmares of giving up those walkoff jacks. My criteria for this section was fairly simple...Pickup Clubhouse stats and Elite League performances.
This category really destroyed my criteria, but RedK is just too much of a standout in the PUG category. RedK's tournament and league trophy case is empty, but his PUG statistics aren't human. Probably the most telling statistics that RedK is the best candidate for this category are his homerun ratios. RedK has a career 1 HR/3.78 hit ratio and has belted over 2000 HR's in his career. To add onto his resume RedK has dealt out 1500 doubles and is a grade A outfielder.
I Can Actually Pitch in a Hitter's World
UBO/RBO has very rarely been a friendly place for a pitcher. Only a few pitcher's have hung tough and not converted to the offensive side of the game. This was another difficult player to choose because you have a small group of candidates that really stick out from the crowd.
KMAN, Boget, and ElDuque are all legit pitchers and deserving of the award but I eliminated two of them due to my criteria for this award. My first criteria was that the pitcher had to have won an Elite League All Aces Award. That easily eliminate ElDuque as Boget and KMAN are practically automatic for All Aces awards in competition. My second criteria that eliminated Boget was that the pitcher had to have a League Championship under his belt. Probably the only flaw for Boget is his lack to win the big dance in recent times.
The last man standing in the top pitcher debate is KMAN. He's notched over 800 career wins and has struck out over 5200 batters. Probably the most telling PUG statistic for KMAN is his K/9. KMAN has a career 10.43 strikeouts per 9 innings. Unlike most pitchers KMAN is still hanging strong today and will certainly give batters trouble for the next upcoming league.