Expanded League Record Book: Slugging Percentage

While the OBP list was very “recent heavy,” this list has some older guys on it. Take a gander- the best slugging percentages in the Valley League from 1994 to 2019:

1	Andrew Eyster	New Market	2018	0.762
2	Zach Sterry	Waynesboro	2016	0.745
3	Tyler Townsend	Winchester	2008	0.739
4	Jon Love	Front Royal	2004	0.731
5	Aidan Nagle	Woodstock	2019	0.711
6	Aubrey Huff	Staunton	1997	0.710
7	Mac Williamson	Harrisonburg	2011	0.706
	Joseph Odom	Winchester	2012	0.706
9	Jeff Van Houten	Harrisonburg	2003	0.688
10	Kirk Asche	New Market	1998	0.687
11	Jimmy Yezzo	Winchester	2012	0.679
12	Ryan Sullivan	Covington	2012	0.676
13	Steve McQuail	Front Royal	2009	0.669
	JD Mundy	Covington	2018	0.669
15	Caleb Ward	Woodstock	2019	0.667
16	Collin Cowgill	Covington	2005	0.659
17	Bradley Picha	Winchester	2012	0.657
	Julian Ridings	Waynesboro	2012	0.657
19	Trevin Esquerra	Purcellville	2017	0.655
20	Jason Michaels	Staunton	1995	0.649
	Marcus Nidiffer	Covington	2008	0.649

Notes

• Eight of these guys were league MVPs (Eyster, Sterry, Townsend, Love, Nagle, Van Houten, Ridings, Michaels)
• Again, nine current VBL franchises have representatives here- the two missing are Charlottesville and Strasburg (weirdly). Winchester and Covington have four each, New Market, Waynesboro, Front Royal, Woodstock, Staunton, and Harrisonburg have two, and Purcellville has one.
• “Era” doesn’t seem to matter as much on this one. We have guys as far back as Jason Michaels in 1995, to the most recent, Caleb Ward and Aidan Nagle from 2019 (they were teammates, too). Five players made this list from 2012, widely considered as the summer of incredible offenses… although the league ERA was actually worse in 2019 than 2012 (5.12 to 5.08), but the league slugging was higher in 2012 (.413 to .396). The year of 2012 is the only season that the league slugging topped .400. (Soooo much more will be made of the team stats from these years. Give me some time, ok?)
• Five of these guys actually reached the highest level of baseball- Huff, Williamson, Odom, Cowgill, and Michaels.
• Eight more played in the minors- Sterry, Townsend, Van Houten, Asche, Yezzo, McQuail, Ridings, Nidiffer, and two more probably will- Mundy and Esquerra have been signed by major league teams, but haven’t made their debuts yet.
• Next up will be runs scored, a list that will have very different players!