Entering 2022, no hitter in the Roger Dorn Baseball could surpass Mike Trout’s 625.5 point performance from 2013, the league’s inaugural season. It took a record-breaking home run season from Aaron Judge in 2022 to set the new benchmark for the league, reaching a mark of 652.5 points that looked to be virtually untouchable.
12 months later, we are staring at a new record holder as Lunatic Fringe outfielder Ronald Acuna, Jr. reached heights not seen before in Major League Baseball History. The first member of the 40 home run, 70 steal club, Acuna finished the full RDBL Season with 696.5 points, breaking Judge’s mark by 44.0 points.
The outfielder never let up, setting a RDBL Regular Season Record with 541.0 points, breaking Trout and Charlie Blackmon’s mark of 513.5 set in 2019 and 2017. His 59 Regular Season steals and 72 Full Season steals were the most in RDBL Regular Season History, taking full advantage of MLB’s rule changes to favor the base runner.
Acuna hardly let up when the calendar flipped to the RDBL Playoffs, slashing .368/.429/.736, leading all hitters in scoring with 155.5 points, the second most in League History.
After a down season in 2022 while coming off knee surgery, Fringe GM Tony Guglielmi certainly hit the nail on the head with their $66 investment in Acuna, the 7th highest contract in RDBL History. He’ll be under team control through 2026, but it will be hard pressed for him, or any other player, to match his 2023 production in future seasons.
Acuna joins Judge (2022), Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. (2021), Christian Yelich (2019), Mookie Betts (2018), Charlie Blackmon (2017), Jose Altuve (2016), Bryce Harper (2015), Michael Brantley (2014) and Mike Trout (2013) as Roger Dorn Baseball League Hitter of the Year Award winners.
It was a historic season for hitters in 2023 as Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman finished with the second and third most productive RDBL Regular Seasons in League History, making them each candidates for the award.