Antonio BacaA highly reputable publication out of Madison, USA, recently named the already much-acclaimed player as the #6 UMEBA third baseman of all time, based on Bill James’ Hall of Fame standards. If you asked Baca, he’d say he should be higher.
Baca leads the Pharaohs in home runs with 7, and his .320 wOBA is second only to Seinosuke Muto. But with every swing, he’s climbing up the historical leaderboards as well.
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Let’s take a quick look at where Baca sits all-time in UMEBA history in a few statistical categories.
Home runs — He currently sits ninth with 158, but is only three away from passing another Cairo legend, Aubrey ’Suds’ Anderson, who played for the Chariot Archers BBC from 2038–43.
Games — Fifth all-time, with 784 games played. The record is 892, held by Jin-guo Long, and Baca has an outside shot to pass it this year if he plays in nearly all of the Pharaohs’ remaining games.
RBI — Currently fifth, with 536. In fourth place is Mauro García, with 546, but Jerusalem’s Adam Backhouse is also hot on Baca’s tail. Backhouse will probably own the top spot on all these lists one day, but hopefully Baca can climb up a few more spots before he does.
Wins Above Replacement — This category is a bit trickier, since players can rise and fall on this list, but Baca currently stands at 15.1 career WAR, good enough for eighth place all-time. Manama’s Joshua Koka owns the record, and at only age 26, won’t be caught for a while.
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Could Baca have foreseen making this run at history? Not if you had asked him back in April.
You might not remember seeing Baca working out with the team in Spring Training. That’s because he was still unsigned, at home, waiting for the phone to ring.
“It was starting to look like I wouldn’t be playing,” Baca told NileSports’ Amira Fahmy, in an exclusive interview during the team’s last homestand. “I got no calls from BBA teams. Zero. It’s tough, once you make the move to the UMEBA, the BBA don’t see you at their level anymore.”
“I always said I wanted to go back to the BBA later in my career,” Baca said. “I’m from California, so I wouldn’t mind being a little closer to home. But they didn’t call. Apparently they didn’t have a need for a 5-time All-Star.”
Baca signed a contract with Cairo during the first week of the regular season. It is a two-year contract, but he holds a player option for next season. How likely is he to stick around in Cairo for another year?
“We’ve got a good thing going here,” said Baca. “It may not show it in the wins column, but there’s a good work ethic and a good atmosphere. Right now, I feel like this is where I want to be. The BBA can wait.”
