MLB: All-Time Olympic Team of Major Leaguers
Who would make up the roster of the best MLB players to have ever played in an Olympics?
With the 2016 Olympics officially underway and the announcement that baseball will be back in the 2020 Olympics that came out this week, we at CTTP thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the best major leaguers to ever represent the USA in the Olympic games. We’ll start with the infield. This is based on their performance in the major leagues, not their performance in the Olympics, just so that’s entirely clear!
Catcher
Two teammates on the 1992 team ended up as neck and neck for this spot. Jason Varitek barely edges out Charles Johnson as the selection for catcher. Varitek was the leader of the Boston teams that won multiple World Series titles, hitting with a 99 OPS+ for his career and 193 home runs. He was selected to 3 All Star games and earned a Gold Glove in his career as well. Johnson was the better defender, having won 4 Gold Gloves to prove it, but he had a shorter career and lesser offense to go along with that defense.
First Base
There were three viable options here, and two of them were teammates on the loaded 1984 team. I’m going to go against bWAR and career achievements and choose Will Clark over Mark McGwire as Clark was the star of that ’84 team. The other option I considered was Jason Giambi, a member of the 1992 team. Clark had a 56.2 bWAR over his career as he hit .303/.384/.497 with excellent defense. He was selected to 6 All Star games over his career and won 2 Silver Slugger awards.
Second Base
Due to nearly no viable second basemen, I’m going to go with the guy who would have been my #2 SS instead. Nomar Garciaparra was part of the 1992 team before going onto a 14-year major league career that could have been much, much more without nagging injuries that really ended his career while he was still productive. Over his career, Garciaparra hit .313/.361/.521 with 229 home runs and a 124 OPS+. He was selected to 6 All Star games along with a Silver Slugger after starting off his major league career as the Rookie of the Year. The best 2B by bWAR was Mickey Morandini, a member of the 1988 team who over his 11-year career amassed 9.7 total bWAR, which is essentially one Mike Trout season.
Third Base
After an incredible college career where he set the D-1 hitting streak record (that still stands) at 58 games, Robin Ventura was part of the 1988 squad. He then went on to have a very solid big league career to be the choice here with 1996’s Troy Glaus a distant 2nd. Ventura went .267/.362/.444 over his career with 294 home runs and a 114 OPS+. Ventura was selected to two All Star games, but his calling card was his excellent defense at the hot corner, and he was recognized with 6 Gold Gloves over his career.
Shortstop
The only Hall of Famer that has played on an Olympic team (so far), Barry Larkin wasn’t even considered one of the future stars from his 1984 roster. However, after a 19 year career with the Reds, he had 198 home runs, 379 stolen bases, and a .295/.371/.444 line. Larkin was selected to 12 All Star games, won an MVP, won 3 Gold Gloves, and was selected for Silver Slugger 9 times in his career. He has been the truly elite player to come through the Olympic teams thus far.
Next: Outfield