3/19/08 St. Louis Press

St. Louis fans are up in arms over the Outstanding Batter award announcement.  The Storm followers were quite confident that superstar right fielder Oswaldo Badillo would win his second consecutive Outstanding Batter award in his young 3 year career.  Badillo, who was drafted 3rd overall in the 1973 draft  had been in a battle all year with 1973 1st overall draft pick, Cruz Benavides.  Benavides is known for his unmatchable plate disipline, drawing an amazing 119 walks this year, leading the league in OBP.  Badillo had an outstanding season, leading in many stat categories, even topping his previous season which was good enough to name him the best player in the Williams League for the year.  Badillo showed his relentless determination to be the best he could be for St. Louis.  He ended the season stronger than ever with a .454 AVG, and 10 HR.

Both players' teams made it to the playoffs where they can showcase their skills even more.  Both young guns have three years under their belt, Benevides at age 23, Badillo at age 22.  These two superstars look to be in competition with one another for a great deal of time.

1975 Stats
Benavides | Badillo
Hits - 183 | 227
Home Runs - 34 | 46
AVG - .323 | .370
OBP - .443 | .432
SLG - .564 | .648
OPS - 1.007 | 1.080
VORP - 96.2 | 108.6
RBI - 89 | 118
Runs - 120 | 125
BB - 119 | 66
SB - 8 | 18