Stanton eclipses career strikeout record, breaks into top 10 career HRs

Giancarlo Stanton supplanted Alex Rodriguez in the record books, setting a new DMBL mark for career strikeouts.

Stanton crushes HR No. 400

Giancarlo Stanton's first home run of the season - and his first as member of the Merrill Creek Mudskippers - was the 400th of his DMBL career.

Sano swings for the fences

Hillsborough rookie Miguel Sano is having a sensational season and has an outside chance at matching a DMBL record, if not put himself in historic if dubious company.

A Look Back At 2012 Batting Leaders

Rowdy's Roddy Pipers dominated the league's batting categories, led by their first baseman slugger, Prince Fielder, who topped several key batting stats. Teammate Daniel Murphy had the longest hitting streak in the league at 26 games, ending in the season's final game while Hillsborough's Michael Morse ended the season on a 19-game hit streak.

Batting avg: .333, Michael Young, Rowdy
On-base %: .417, Prince Fielder, Rowdy
Slugging: .646, Fielder
Hits: 224, Young
Home runs: 53, Fielder
RBIs: 134, Fielder
Runs: 132, Fielder
Doubles: 58, Ben Zobrist, Blue Ridge
Triples: 21, Dexter Fowler, 21, Vancouver
Stolen Bases: 48, Michael Bourn, Sardine City
Stolen Base %: .917 (22/24), Jesus Guzman, Bridgewater
Walks: 127, Jose Bautista, Hoboken
Strikeouts: 235, Mark Reynolds, Livingston
Runs created: 163.1, Fielder
Runs created/27 outs: 10.2, Fielder
Total Bases: 385, Fielder
Longest Hit Streak: 26, Murphy
Giancarlo Stanton set what's believed to be a new league record for games played in season. He made 97 starts for Hoboken before being dealt to Philly for Roy Halladay and a draft pick, and made 66 starts for the End Zone Animals. That's a total of 164 games in a 162-game season!

Spring training superstars

Spring training is complete and the regular season awaits. Let's take a look at the stars of spring training, 30 games over two weeks to determine who makes your squad.

PITCHING

Five starting pitchers earned five victories but only Alexi Ogando of Bridgewater and Sardine City's Ubaldo Jimenez were unbeaten. Among five-win starters with just one loss were Marietta's Colby Lewis and the Blue Ridge odd couple of 38-year-old Bartolo Colon (thanks to 9.3/game in run support) and heralded rookie Jeremy Hellickson.

Lewis, a 7th-round pick by Marietta, was tops in ERA at 1.79, followed by Hopatcong's Josh Tomlin (2.11), Carolina's C.C. Sabathia (2.33) and Doug Fister of Bridgewater (2.42). Lewis and Fister also led the league in quality starts (5) along with Hellickson and Newark's Justin Masterson and Hellickson. Behind four complete games, Fister logged a league-high 48.1 innings, followed by Homer Bailey of Sardine City (47.1), Sabathia (46.1) and Lewis (45.1). Carolina's Tim Hudson tied Fister for the league lead in complete games.

Ogando tied for the league lead in strikeouts at 31, with Tommy Hanson of Las Vegas who had a league-best 8.1 K/9.
 
Philly's Joakim Soria, acquired in a mid-season deal from Arkansas last year, had the most saves, with 11, just better than Jonathan Papelbon of Hopatcong, who finished with 10. Both blew just one save. Daniel Bard of Sardine City was the only perfect closer, going 8-for-8.

BATTING

Blue Ridge's Hunter Pence overtook Nyjer Morgan of Marietta and Carolina's Prince Fielder in the final days to take the spring training batting crown with a .395 clip. Fielder also was second in the league in RBIs, with 31 (with Sardine City's Evan Longoria), behind only teammate Troy Tulowitzki, with 32. Fielder also led the league in OPS, at 1.038, ahead of Tulowitzki (1.003) and Philly's David Wright (.995).

Livingston's Mark Reynolds mashed 11 home runs in the spring to lead the league, ahead of Adrian Beltre of Marietta (9), and five others with 8. Beltre led the league in total bases, with 73, thanks to a league-high 12 doubles (tied with Guzman).

Pence also led the league in hits, with 51, a healthy lead over Bridgewater rookie Jesus Guzman (43). Emilio Bonifacio of Hillsborough's first-round pick, tied Matt Kemp of Bridgewater for the league lead in steals with 8, but was caught 5 times while Kemp was perfect in the spring.

Reigning Mitchell Award winner Joey Votto of Hopatcong showed no signs of slowing down, boasting the longest hitting streak (18 games) to end the spring.

Marietta and Philadelphia finished with the best spring training record, at 19-11 (.633), just slightly better than Amityville at 18-12 (.600) and Newark at 17-13 (.567). All but four squads finished with a record of .500 or better.