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Roster of the Month: All Pac-12 Team

By Daniel R. Epstein

Posted on July 13, 2018

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Congratulations to Oregon State for winning the 2018 College World Series. Led by 1st round picks Nick Madrigal, Trevor Larnach, and Cadyn Grenier, the Beavers overcame a 1-0 deficit to defeat Arkansas in the best-of-three series. Good for them. Well, most of them anyway. One of their top pitchers is a convicted child molester, but hey, why should morality stand in the way of a championship?

Many of their high draft picks may go on to storied major league careers. Perhaps 20 years from now, one of them might crack the PAC-12 Roster of the Month. In the meantime, here’s the best 25-man roster cobbled together from alumni of PAC-12 schools. First, a few ground rules:

• Anyone who played for a current PAC-12 school is eligible. Arizona State wasn’t part of the conference when Reggie Jackson was enrolled, but he’s on this team anyway.
• Baseball-Reference is wonderful and glorious. Nearly every baseball article on the internet used BRef in some part of the writing process. However, the site goes a little overboard listing colleges for players. For example, it lists Jim Palmer as an Arizona State alum even though he pitched a full minor league season at age 18 and reached the major leagues at 19. His Wikipedia page says he signed with the Orioles out of high school. Maybe he went back to college during or after his playing career, but it’s highly doubtful that he played baseball there. In cases such as this, the player is not eligible for this roster.
• The University of Colorado is not a part of this team. The school is a full member of the conference in most sports, but not baseball. That’s kind of a deal breaker.

Before we dig in, it’s worth noting that an insane amount of really good second basemen played for PAC-12 schools. This includes Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson (UCLA) and Joe Gordon (Oregon), as well as Chase Utley (UCLA), Dustin Pedroia (Arizona State), Jeff Kent (Cal), Ian Kinsler (Arizona State), and Jason Kipnis (Arizona State). Obviously, they can’t all make the team, but that’s a ton of keystone talent. Moving along…

Starting Lineup

Three Hall of Famers and ten MVP awards punctuate the starting lineup.

1. CF Kenny Lofton (Arizona): It’s a shame that Lofton got crowded off the Hall of Fame ballot in his first year of eligibility. He led the league in SB for five straight years and compiled a .372 OBP over his 17-year career.
2. 3B Jackie Robinson (UCLA): Jackie was a Hall of Famer as both a ballplayer and a human being, but few realize how defensively versatile he was. He played four seasons exclusively at second base, but he also spent significant time at first base, third base, and left field.
3. LF Barry Bonds (Arizona State): Not much to see here. Just your run-of-the-mill seven time MVP and all time leader in HR and BB.
4. 1B Mark McGwire (Southern California): In addition to his 583 career HR, Big Mac led the league in HR, SLG, and OPS+ four times each, as well BB and OBP twice.
5. RF Reggie Jackson (Arizona State): Let’s throw another Hall of Famer into the mix. Our 3-4-5 hitters combine for 1908 HR.
6. DH Joe Gordon (Oregon): Gordon won the 1942 AL MVP and earned five World Series rings. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2009.
7. 2B Chase Utley (UCLA): Utley’s 65.5 bWAR and 57.7 JAWS give him a good shot at reaching the Hall of Fame someday, if he ever retires from playing. The 39-year-old is the second oldest active player in the NL this season behind Peter Moylan.
8. SS Brandon Crawford (UCLA): No offense to Crawford, who’s in the midst of a fine career, but with all the phenomenal second basemen, you would think the PAC-12 could’ve produced a great shortstop somewhere along the way. Oh well, we’ll settle for Crawford, a three time Gold Glove recipient.
9. C Bob Boone (Stanford): Boone was a stellar defensive catcher who won seven Gold Gloves. He would’ve probably had a lot more if his career didn’t overlap with Johnny Bench.

Bench

Again, the PAC-12 is absolutely stacked with infielders. Notable players absent from this roster include John Olerud, Jeff Kent, and Ron Cey.

• 3B Sal Bando (Arizona): Third base is one of the most underrepresented positions in the Hall of Fame, as Jay Jaffe describes in The Cooperstown Casebook. Should the Hall ever decide to correct this, Bando would be a great candidate with 61.5 bWAR.
• OF Jacoby Ellsbury (Oregon State): OK, a lot of the infielders who didn’t make the team are better than Ellsbury, but this is supposed to be a functional roster, and for that we need outfielders. Besides, the Oregon State championship prompted this entire thing, so we should have at least one OSU player.
• OF Fred Lynn (Southern California): Lynn won the MVP and ROY in 1975. He probably should’ve won another MVP in 1979 when he led the league in AVG, OBP, SLG and bWAR.
• 2B Dustin Pedroia (Arizona State): Yet another MVP added to the group. Pedroia is sitting on an even .300 AVG as of this writing.
• C Don Slaught (UCLA): Slaught posted a 104 OPS+ over 16 seasons, all as a catcher.

Rotation

Jim Palmer and Don Sutton attended PAC-12 schools according to BRef, but it’s doubtful they actually played baseball there. We still do have a pair of Hall of Famers, as well as another starter who’ll likely join them in the Hall very soon.

1. LHP Randy Johnson (Southern California): The Big Unit won five Cy Young awards and struck out 4,875 batters- the most ever by a left-handed pitcher.
2. RHP Tom Seaver (Southern California): Another member of the 3,000 SO Club, Seaver has three Cy Youngs of his own. He has black ink in ERA, W, SO, WHIP, CG, SHO, K/BB, and other categories.
3. RHP Mike Mussina (Stanford): Mussina received 63.5% of the HOF vote last year, just short of the 75% required for induction. He has up to five more years on the ballot, so he’s a near lock to make it sooner or later. The only pitcher with more bWAR than him (83.0) who is not in the Hall is Roger Clemens. That’s a whole different story.
4. RHP Andy Messersmith (Cal): Messersmith was one of the top pitchers in baseball from 1968-76, before injuries derailed him.
5. RHP Tim Lincecum (Washington): Remember when Lincecum was on top of the world in 2008-09? Life comes at you fast, I suppose. The Rangers released him from AAA a few weeks ago.

Bullpen

For whatever reason, the University of Arizona is especially adept at producing relievers. Half our bullpen hails from that school.

• RHP Ken Forsch (Oregon State): The second OSU Beaver on the team, Forsch was a starter at the beginning and end of his career, but a reliever in the middle. He excelled in both roles. His brother Bob also attended Oregon State and had a long major league career as a starting pitcher, but not quite good enough to make this team’s rotation.
• RHP Dick Hall (Utah): Hall began his MLB career as a fringy backup outfielder, then moved to the mound and pitched until age 40.
• RHP Trevor Hoffman (Arizona): Hoffman is both 1) another converted position player, and 2) one of only six relievers in the Hall of Fame.
• LHP Bill Lee (Southern California): The Spaceman amassed 21.3 bWAR during his MLB career, but that only tells part of the story. Notoriously quotable, he was the subject of a documentary called “Spaceman” a few years ago. He continued to pitch in semi-pro leagues well into his 60s relying heavily on an eephus pitch, and even ran for governor of Vermont.
• LHP Craig Lefferts (Arizona): Lefferts had an above average 109 ERA+ in a 12 year career, mostly with the Padres and Giants.
• RHP Mark Melancon (Arizona): From 2013-16, Melancon posted a 1.80 ERA, 2.25 FIP, and 0.914 WHIP. He’s yet to allow a home run this year through eleven appearances.

-Daniel R. Epstein