All-Time Top Ten: Dominican Republic

By Efraín Ruiz Pantin

“Dominicans are born wherever the hell they want.” So said Yankees reliever Dellin Betances famously on the eve of this year’s World Baseball Classic. The perfect phrase to justify the No. 1 pick for this All-Time Top 10 from the Dominican Republic. Do you want to be the person to tell the New York-born Álex Rodríguez that he isn’t 100 percent #PlátanoPower? To A-Rod, Betances and thousands others like them who as fate would have it were born in the States to immigrant parents who left looking for better lives up north?

Go ahead and try telling them. That’s not what we’re about at La Vida Baseball. A Latino is defined by much more than his country of origin. A-Rod, who switched from Team USA to play for the Dominican Republic in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, is also quisqueyano. Did he take steroids? Yes, he did, and missed all of the 2014 season as penalty. While our All-Time Top 10 of Dominicans who played Major League Baseball is based an aggregate of WAR and the Hall of Fame Monitor, for this particular list we deducted 50 points from any player suspended for PED consumption. But A-Rod was so good at shortstop and later at third base, that he still finishes on top.

1. Álex Rodríguez

.295/.380/.550 — 117.7 WAR — 390 HOF Monitor

Where do you want to start? Three-time MVP. Fourteen All-Star selections. Ten Silver Sluggers. Two Gold Gloves. One World Series title. Only two players have totaled 3,000 hits along with 2,000 RBI and 2,000 runs. Henry “Hank” Aaron and A-Rod. In fact, Rodriguez played 22 seasons and finished third all-time with 2,086 RBI, fourth with 696 home runs and eighth with 2,021 runs. He rarely dropped bunts, but otherwise did everything, including stealing 329 bases. And if you think that he shrunk in the postseason, look up his 2009 numbers: six home runs and 18 RBI in 15 games. ’Nuff said.

2. Albert Pujols

.305/.387/.562 — 99.5 WAR — 314 HOF Monitor

A pure hitting machine with few equals from the right side. From 2001 to 2012, Pujols hit 505 doubles and 475 home runs, more than anyone else in their first 12 seasons. This summer he joined Lou Gehrig as the only batters to surpass 1,900 RBI in their first 17 seasons. By the way, Pujols also entered the 600-Home Run Club. While injuries have robbed him of his power, throughout his career Pujols has treasured consistency. Only Aaron, Willie Mays and Pujols have hit 20 home runs or more in 16 of their first 17 campaigns. He’s a machine, all right.

3. Pedro Martínez

219-100/2.93/3,154 K — 84.0 WAR — 206 HOF Monitor

If my team is playing Game Seven in the World Series, I’m starting Pedro. Over anyone. I don’t care if you have Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Roger Clemens, or Greg Maddux. From 1997 to 2003, at the height of his career — and of the steroid era — Martínez won three Cy Young Awards while going 118-36 with a 2.20 ERA. There was no one like him. Fastball, changeup and curve, throwing with Randy Johnson’s power and Maddux’s pinpoint control. His 154 ERA+ — metric adjusted for the player’s ballpark and period — is the highest in history for any pitcher over 2,500 innings. If you rooted for the other team, Pedro certainly made you mad. But he had the last laugh as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

4. Vladimir Guerrero

.318/.379/.553 — 59.3 WAR — 209 HOF Monitor

In a country full of great hitters, Vlad takes high honors, sporting the best average among Dominicans with a minimum of 1,000 at-bats in the major leagues. A bad ball hitter extraordinaire, he also blasted 449 home runs, 477 doubles and 46 triples. Vlad played with élan and abandon, earning a MVP award and nine All-Star selections over 16 seasons. And he could throw you out from the far reaches of the moon. Only 10 players in history managed 950 extra-base hits while striking out less than 1,000 times, and from this group, only Vlad debuted after 1941. How he did it while swinging at pitches three feet off the plate, I still don’t know.

5. Sammy Sosa

.273/.344/.534 — 58.4 WAR — 202 HOF Monitor

For much of his 18 seasons, Sammy was larger than life. Livery drivers in New York City would keep track of his dingers by writing the number of home runs on the rear windshields of their vehicles with white shoe polish. When Sammy retired at the end of 2007, he was one of only five players to hit 600 home runs in their career. He’s still the only one to blast 60 in three different seasons. And together with Mark McGwire, he’ll always have the Summer of ’98, the year when both sluggers chased the ghost of Roger Maris. Sammy was the original #PlátanoPower.

6. Adrián Beltré

.287/.340/.482 — 93.8 WAR — 163 HOF Monitor

Partly by being dogged and determined, Beltré became this summer the first Dominican to 3,000 hits. Over 20 seasons, he’s aged like fine rum at the hot corner. It doesn’t matter that he’s never been voted MVP. I love his consistency and all-around game. He’s earned five Gold Gloves and four All-Star selections. The fourth third baseman to 400 home runs and 1,500 RBI, Beltré also ranks in the top 10 all-time at his position in games, assists, putouts and double plays. Just don’t touch his head; he hates it. Every time an irreverent teammate insists, it makes for memorable GIF moments.

7. Manny Ramírez

.312/.411/.585 — 69.2 WAR — 226 HOF Monitor

A 12-time All-Star and nine-time Silver Slugger, we dropped Manny down despite his high score because of PEDs. But if you ask folks back home who they like more between Sammy, Manny and Vladdy — and Albert — the popular vote favors Manny. He hit for average, power and fun. Whether Manny delighted you or drove you crazy, he was one of the best right-handed hitters in history. He ranks 19th all-time with 1,831 RBI and retired with a 154 OPS+ — metric adjusted for the player’s ballpark and period. Among the stars who debuted in the past 50 years, only Hall of Famer Frank Thomas hit better. How good was, err, is Manny? At age 45, he’s still playing in Japan.

8. David Ortiz

.286/.380/.552 — 55.4 WAR — 171 HOF Monitor

If I want Pedro pitching Game Seven, then I want Big Papi at bat in the bottom of the ninth. He carried the Red Sox to three World Series titles from 2004 to 2103, averaging .455/.576/.795 with 14 RBI and 14 walks in those Fall Classics. No one else with at least 40 plate appearances in the World Series is close. But don’t be mistaken; Big Papi rose to the occasion at any time of the year. A 10-time All-Star, he hit 632 doubles and 541 home runs, earning his seat in the very select 600-400 club. Like in Aaron, Barry Bonds and Pujols. Now, that’s big company.

9. Juan Marichal

243-141/2.89 ERA/2,303 K — 63.1 WAR — 159 HOF Monitor

After all these years, the Dominican Dandy is still the second-winningest Latino pitcher in history, after Nicaragua’s Dennis Martínez. He never won a Cy Young primarily because someone always had a better season, but he led all pitchers in the 60s with 191 wins, 197 complete games and 45 shutouts and was second to Sandy Koufax with a 2.57 ERA. Starting with his leg kick, Marichal threw high and tight with precise control, once beating Hall of Famer Warren Spahn, 1-0, in a 16-inning complete game. His career 1.82 BB/9 is second only to Maddux’s 1.80 for pitchers who debuted after 1950 and threw 3,000 innings. His 1.10 WHIP is among the best in history. If such things are possible, he is one underrated Hall of Famer.

10. Robinson Canó

.305/.354/.494 — 65.7 WAR — 155 HOF Monitor

To make an All-Time Top 10 after only 13 seasons is impressive. Especially since at age 34, Canó is certainly is not ready to hang up his spikes. He hit a home run in the 10th inning to win the 2017 All-Star Game and earn the MVP Award. And he just blasted his 300th home run, making him the 16th player in history to reach 300 dingers, 2,000 hits, 500 doubles, 1,000 RBI and 1,000 runs. How many in the group are second basemen? Roger Hornsby and Jeff Kent. Canó now makes it three aces.

Featured Image: Billie Weiss / Boston Red Sox / Getty Images Sport

Inset Images: TOPPS