Micro Conference: Third base

It's another horse race for the starting 3B in the Micro Conference. Unlike the Diamond Conference, where there's a clear front-runner, in the Micro, it's a neck-and-neck race, or heavyweight slug fest, depending what your sports metaphor you prefer.

The 10 teams in the Micro Conference are Allentown, Blue Ridge, El Paso, Erie, Hillsborough, Livingston, Marietta, Philly, Poovey Farms, Rockland.

Philly's Jose Ramirez has been among the best batters in the DMBL in recent years. The same could be said of Manny Machado, who started last year for the Micro Conference. Ramirez leads the conference's best offense, averaging 5 runs a game, and almost certainly headed for the playoffs. Meanwhile, Machado and the Mules are fading and their lineup ranks toward the bottom of the league.

Still, the pair lead Micro 3B in most batting categories. They're tied with 92 hits each. Machado (.271) edges Ramirez (.270) in batting as well as slugging (.497 v. 484), and total bases (169 v. 165), and has a healthy 69-53 advantage in RBI. Ramirez, makes his case with 25 doubles to Machado's 15, and 58 runs to Machado's 47. Neither leads Micro 3B in HR (we'll get to that in a bit) but Machado has 20 to Ramirez's 14. Ramirez beats out Machado in RC/27 (5.8 v. 5.7) and RC (56.6 v. 54.1). So, it's a real horse race. There's a bit of a drop-off to some extent after those two.

A 30-year-old rookie, Patrick Wisdom actually leads Micro 3B in HR, ranking 3rd in the DMBL with 25 dongs, along with 56 RBI, and ranks 3rd behind Machado and Ramirez with 150 TB. Not bad, right? But it's the .190/.255/.430 slash line that might be hard to swallow for some voters, in addition to a league-high 157 strikeouts -- which could very well challenge the modern single-season league record of 283 set by Joey Gallo of Hillsborough in 2020. His RC (38.2) and RC/27 (3.7) trail veterans Josh Donaldson (40.0, 4.3) of Poovey Farms and Justin Turner (39.5, 4.3) of Livingston. Still, if you like homers, Wisdom's your guy.