Every August, when the Valley League playoffs have finished up, I’ll spend some time updating my league record book.

But it’s really only a partial record book, because I’m working with only the seasons from 2004 to 2016. While this is a rather large sample, it’s certainly not the entire history of the league. If you would like to see a more complete history- like, back to the beginning- check out Chaz Weaver’s The Valley Baseball League: A History of Baseball in the Shenandoah Valley.

So please keep that in mind- my record book covers the last 13 years only. And by the way, it also includes playoff totals- that’s important. So, let’s get started with batting average!

1 Brad Zebedis Strasburg 2011 0.420
2 Julian Ridings Waynesboro 2012 0.419
3 Luke Greinke Winchester 2007 0.417
4 Gunnar McNeill Staunton 2014 0.414
5 Shane Billings Harrisonburg 2015 0.406
6 Jordan Tarsovich Strasburg 2013 0.404
7 Cory Spangenberg Winchester 2010 0.399
8 Joe Kemp Harrisonburg 2004 0.396
9 Blake Sipe Staunton 2012 0.396
10 Mike Garza Woodstock 2010 0.388

As you can see, brilliant reader, no hitters from 2016 have cracked this list. Woodstock’s Nick Ward finished with a .387 average, so he was obviously pretty close.

One major leaguer on this list: Cory Spangenberg. Ridings, Greinke, Kemp, and Garza have played pro ball in the minors, but do not any longer. Billings and Tarsovich are still playing in the minors.

Next up will be on-base percentage!