The span between 2010 and 2019 proved to be a great decade of baseball. It produced dozens of new stars, five World Series game 7's, a baseball dynasty from the Bay Area, and a tortured franchise finally breaking through and shattering a 108-year curse. The 2010s were good to baseball fans.
As we reach the end of one decade and prepare to turnover to the next, it's time to assemble the All-Decade team for the 2010s. I have carefully put together a team of players that I think best reflects excellence on the baseball field between the years 2010-2019, but not without one guiding rule.
If your best stretch of play came between the years 2005-2013, caught in between two decades, sorry — you're out of luck. In order to appear on the All-Decade team, you need to have played at least seven seasons between 2010-2019. That disqualifies storied veterans like Derek Jeter, who retired in the middle of the decade. That also disqualifies young stars that debuted midway through the decade. Oh well.
Here are my selections for the 2010s All-Decade Team.
Perfectly fitting to start the All-Decade Team, Posey's first full season in the big leagues came in 2010, when he won Rookie of the Year and helped the Giants win their first World Series in 56 years. Since, he's made six All-Star appearances, won an MVP, four Silver Sluggers, a Gold Glove, a batting title, and was the best position player on two other championship teams. In addition to the MVP that he won in 2012, Posey received MVP votes five other times. Despite his injury-shortened, mediocre 2019 campaign, he still boasts of a batting average of .302 on the decade. With my apologies to Yadier Molina, the best player on the team of the decade deserves a place on this roster.
Honorable mention: Yadier Molina
First Base: Joey Votto
In his third full season in the bigs in 2010, Votto took home the National League MVP hardware with an excellent campaign where he batted .324, logged a .424 OBP, 1.024 OPS, 37 homers and 113 RBI's. Since, the veteran has quietly continued to put up numbers in an often overlooked market in Cincinnati. Votto has finished top 3 in MVP voting three other times and top 7 in the award's voting six times. His 2017 campaign in my opinion should have warranted a second MVP. Nonetheless, Votto's six All-Star honors, 2011 Gold Glove and cumulative OBP of .428* (between 2010-19) make him a lock for the All-Decade team. At the start of the 2010s, this Canadian's career was just beginning to take off. A decade later, Votto's put together a resume worthy of the Hall of Fame.
*To put this into perspective, Christian Yelich's .429 OBP led the National League in the category in 2019. Votto essentially averaged Yelich's MVP-caliber OBP every year for a decade!
Honorable mentions: Paul Goldschmidt, Freddie Freeman
Robinson Cano had just as much a case for this position as Altuve does. However, Cano got caught juicing, and juicers shouldn't make these kinds of lists (sorry; my list, my rules!). One of the great things about this sport is how its stars come in all shapes and sizes. Altuve is listed at 5-foot-6, which means he's really closer to 5-foot-4 or 5-3. Since his 2011 mid-season call-up, Altuve has brought home three batting titles, an MVP, six All-Star appearances, five Silver Sluggers and a Gold Glove. Altuve's also a lifetime .315 hitter. Even with a dark cloud hanging over the Houston Astros' organization, this Muggsy Bogues-sized star's remarkable start to his career deserves recognition.
Honorable mentions: Dustin Pedroia, DJ LeMahieu, Daniel Murphy
Dishonorable mention: Robinson Cano
At a crowded position where many stars have blossomed at (Josh Donaldson, Kris Bryant, Nolan Arenado, Manny Machado, etc.) in the 2010s, it was the eternally underrated Beltre whose resume shined brightest. After a disappointing stint in Seattle, Boston took a flyer on the former budding star that the Mariners had previously thrown $64 million at, offering him a one-year deal in 2010. Beltre returned to All-Star form, hitting .321 and finding himself in the MVP conversation once again.
Beltre's career is best comparable to that of future NBA Hall of Famer Steve Nash. Neither started to play their very best ball until they got into their early 30's, playing on the third team of their respective careers. That is when the late bloomers entered their prime and helped their teams become championship contenders. Following his resurgent 2010 campaign, Beltre signed with the Texas Rangers, where he became a staple of consistency for the organization. He batted .307, made five All-Star appearances, finished top 7 in MVP voting on four separate occasions, won three Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers all in his 30's between 2010-2018.
Honorable Mentions: Donaldson, Arenado, Machado
Picking a shortstop for this list was perhaps my greatest challenge. The shortstop position has evolved so much since the beginning of the new millennium. Traditionally the position has been populated by mediocre hitters better known for their defense and ability to create 'web gems' on a nightly basis. But gone are the days of Baseball Tonight on ESPN (R.I.P. 1990-2017) and Major League Baseball teams expecting minimal offensive production from this position.
In addition to the position changing, the timeline for the league's shortstops just doesn't coincide as nicely with the 2010-2019 theme we have going as well as it does for other positions. The old guard of top-tier shortstops passed over to the new guard in the middle of the decade. The likes of Derek Jeter, Rafael Furcal, Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco were all out of baseball by the end of 2016. However, conveniently, that group has been replaced by a fresh batch of young stars at the position. There are eleven shortstops that have been brought up to the show no earlier than 2014, that have already played in an All-Star game.
As much as I wanted to pull the trigger and pick Franky Lindor, Trevor Story or Xander Boegarts, they just simply didn't have enough years logged in the 2010s to meet the proper criteria.
This left with me only a few viable options. After sifting through the numbers and weighing defense, I ultimately sided with Brandon Crawford. Crawford made two All-Star games, won three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger. His excellent defense and solid bat helped the Giants win the World Series in 2012 and 2014. I was tempted to pick Elvis Andrus, but ultimately sided with Crawford's championship defense.
Honorable mentions: Elvis Andrus, Andrelton Simmons
Since his 2013 call-up, Christian Yelich hasn't wasted any time in the bigs. Even before transforming into the National League's version of Mike Trout in Milwaukee, Yeli was quietly putting up consistent numbers down in Miami. On the decade, he's hit .301 with a .383 OBP, posed as a great threat on the basepaths, won a Gold Glove, two batting titles, three Silver Sluggers, made two All-Star appearances, won an MVP in 2018, and was criminally robbed of an MVP in 2019.
Yelich ended the decade with more momentum than anyone, putting together a historically great two-year stretch between 2018-19, leading the National League in batting average, slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+ for two years straight.
He's Mike Trout; the player of the decade. Need I say more?
Right Field: Andrew McCutchen
Cutch started the decade as a Gold Glove center fielder and ended it as a full-time right fielder, so he qualifies for this spot.
Were you expecting Bryce Harper? While Harper may have emerged as the most recognizable brand name from the 2010s and the game's highest paid player, his track record doesn't quite measure up to that of others', such as Cutch's.
From 2012-2014, Cutch placed top three in MVP voting three years straight (2012-2014), winning the award in 2012 and finishing fifth in the voting again in 2015. By contrast, Harper has only finished top 10 in MVP voting once – the year he won it in 2015. Harper has only batted better than .275 twice in his career and has only hit more than 35 homers in a season twice. Harper has put together two fantastic years (2015 and 2017), but until he puts does it more frequently, he won't show up on lists like this one. He's displayed elite talent in the past, so maybe he will show up on my 2020s list ten years from now?
McCuthchen's a 5x All-Star, 4x Silver Slugger, Gold Glover and MVP.
Outfield honorable mention: Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Bautista
Outfield dishonorable mention: Ryan Braun
Tricked ya, didn't I? You thought I had forgotten about Miggy. Would you blame if I did? You would, but it seems Miggy's excellent career hasn't been talked about in recent years with his Tigers in no man's land, at the bottom of the atrocious AL Central.
Let me remind you real quick. Miggy took home two MVPs, four batting titles and a freaking Triple Crown(!) in the 2010s. He finished top 11 in MVP voting the first seven years of the decade! And despite a couple "down years" towards the end of the decade, he posted a cumulative .317 BA, .399 OBP and .943 OPS between 2010-2019. Miggy's played several positions over the course of his 17-year career, but has transitioned over to DH, where he looks to spend most of his time for the remainder of his career, qualifying him for this spot.
This pitching staff wasn't too difficult to assemble. Kershaw easily posted the best regular season resume of any pitcher (8x All-Star, 2014 MVP, 3x Cy Young, 2013 pitching Triple Crown, 2013 Gold Glove) from the decade. He finished top 3 in Cy Young voting every year from 2011-2017, excluding 2016 - when he finished 5th. That season he had a 1.69 ERA. For some weird reason, everyone has seemed to have written him off, making claims that he's "over the hill" at the age of 31. He posted his highest career ERA of the decade in 2019 at 3.03 – it was the only season of the decade where he didn't post a sub-3.00 ERA. The pitcher of the decade logged a cumulative 2.31 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in the 2010s.
Kershaw's postseason struggles have been somewhat overstated (remember when he shutdown the Cubs' at Wrigley in the 2016 NLCS?), but Madison Bumgarner's postseason success hasn't been. If Kershaw was the regular season pitcher of the decade, Mad-Bum was far and away the postseason pitcher of the decade. This southpaw beasted the Giants to their third championship in five years to the tune of a 0.43 ERA and 0.48 WHIP through 53.2 innings in the 2014 postseason. He hasn't received enough recognition for his regular season success, however. Bumgarner logged a sub-3.40 ERA for the first nine years of the decade (with a sub-3.00 four times) before hitting a career high 3.90 in 2019.
Max Scherzer's 2015 $210 million deal with the Nationals is on-pace to go down as the best $200+ million contract of all-time. Scherzer has somehow pitched his best in his 30s, after he left the Tigers midway through the decade. Dating back to his days in Detroit, he's finished top 5 in AL or NL Cy Young for the last eight years and counting. He's won the award three times, made seven All-Star appearances, and helped the Nationals win their first ever World Series.
Zack Greinke excelled in all six uniforms that he wore in the 2010, hopping from team-to-team and collecting five All-Star bids, six Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and an ERA title. Cumulative ERA from 2010-2019: 3.18.
Verlander appeared to be past his peak in 2014 (4.54 ERA) before finding the fountain of youth in Houston a couple years later. He finished the decade off with his second Cy Young, adding to the 2011 MVP in his trophy case, right next to his trophy wife.
Honorable Mentions: Chris Sale, Corey Kluber
For the bullpen, I picked the three lights-out closers that sustained the most success over the course of the 2010s. Relievers have been known to come and go on a yearly basis, but Aroldis Chapman (6x All-Star), Kenley Jansen (3x All-Star) Craig Kimbrel (7x All-Star) have stood the test of time. Sure, Kimbrel didn't close out the decade as strong as he started it, but that doesn't take away from his excellence. Chapman was even able to shake off Joe Maddon's attempt to kill his arm forever in the 2016 playoffs. The flamethrower has pitched in the last two All-Star games donning the pinstripes.
No other manager came close to achieving what Bochy did in the 2010s. Though the Giants' dynasty came to an abrupt ending following their 2016 NLDS exit (very similar to the Chicago Blackhawks' abrupt drop-off after their 2017 first round exit in the Stanley Cup playoffs), they left their mark as the team of the decade. The only other organization to win more than one World Series this decade was the Red Sox, and they did so using two different managers and front offices. Take a look at the Giants' rosters between 2010 and 2014. Neither team was the proverbial "super-team". No, the Giants (past Posey, Crawford and Bumgarner) for the most part, were a scrappy, wily group of veterans that understood timely hitting and not making costly mistakes. And they were led by the right man.
Honorable mention: Joe Girardi
While the NL West team from the Bay achieved the most postseason success in the 2010s, the NL West team from LA achieved more regular season success than any other team during this decade. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has put together a juggernaut in southern California since coming over from Tampa. The Dodgers will be entering 2020 with seven straight NL West division titles, a run reminiscent of the the Atlanta Braves, who took 11 straight NL East pennants from 1995-2005.
The key to the Dodgers' sustained success has been holding on to prospects (instead of using them as chips to go all-in) and plugging them into their system when the time is right. This has extended their championship window and put them in the mix every single year. The downside? The Dodgers have yet to strike gold and have no championships to show for it. We'll see what the next decade holds for them.
Honorable mention: Tampa Bay Rays
Dishonorable mention: Houston Astros
And with that, we have our 2010s All-Decade Team. Perhaps ten years from now, I'll be creating the 2020s All-Decade team, writing about the likes of Fernando Tatis Jr., Ronald Acuna Jr., and Juan Soto etching their names in baseball history. Whatever the new decade has in store for us on the baseball diamond, I'll be here for it.
Follow me on Twitter @JackVitaShow.
