Top 20 Greatest Bats Players Unveiled

Fan Vote Determined Elite Class of Bats Alum

The fans have spoken.

As part of this year's 20 for 20 "Year of the Fan" promotion, the Bats asked fans to vote for the 20 Greatest Players to ever play at Louisville Slugger Field. After casting hundreds of votes over a month-long voting period, Bats fans have officially named the Top 20 list.

The Bats will honor each of these 20 selections with a banner displayed at the ballpark during the upcoming 2020 season.

1. Joey Votto

Best Bats Season (2007): 133 games, .294 average, 22 HR, 92 RBI, .859 OPS
MLB Career Highlights: 2010 NL MVP, 6x All-Star, 2011 Gold Glove Winner

Votto was the runaway favorite as the greatest player of Louisville Slugger Field. The now-perennial National League All-Star dominated with the Bats in 2007, taking home honors as the International League’s Rookie of the Year, Baseball America Triple-A All-Star, IL Mid and Postseason All-Star and his second consecutive selection to the Futures Game. To cap it all off, Votto was also voted the Bats’ MVP for his standout 2007.

2. Jay Bruce

Best Bats Season (2008): 49 games, .364 average, 10 HR, 37 RBI, 1.023 OPS
MLB Career Highlights: 2x Silver Slugger, 3x All-Star, 2013 Wilson Team Defensive Player of the Year

Bruce turned in a decorated campaign alongside Votto in 2007 and even edged his former teammate for Baseball America’s 2007 Minor League Player of the Year award. He slugged his way across three levels of the Reds system that season, finishing the year with 80 extra-base hits and a .319 average in 133 games.

3. Todd Frazier

Best Bats Season (2011): 90 games, .260 average, 15 HR, 46 RBI, .806 OPS
MLB Career Highlights: 2x All-Star, 2015 Home Run Derby Winner, 2012 NL Rookie of the Month (August)

Frazier spent parts of four seasons with Louisville, including suiting up for 130 games with the Bats in 2010. He launched 15+ homers in back-to-back seasons in 2010 and 2011 en route to earning his first big-league promotion during the 2011 campaign.

4. Adam Dunn

Best Bats Season (2001): 55 games, .329 average, 20 HR, 53 RBI, 1.117 OPS
MLB Career Highlights: 2x All-Star, 2005 NL Player of the Month (July)

Dunn needed just 55 games with the Bats to earn his first promotion to the Majors during the 2001 season. The first baseman capped his meteoric rise through the minors by reaching base safely in nearly half of his trips to the plate with Louisville with a .441 on-base percentage.

5. Aroldis Chapman

Best Bats Season (2010): 39 games (13 starts), 9-6, 3.57 ERA, 8 SV, 125 SO
MLB Career Highlights: 2016 World Series Champion, 6x All-Star, 2019 AL Reliever of the Year

The flamethrower Chapman made his professional debut with Triple-A Louisville in 2010 and carved through opposing batters to the tune of 125 strikeouts over 95.2 innings pitched. He finished the season ranked fifth among all IL pitchers and first among relievers in punchouts for the year and stole headlines when his fastball topped out at 105 MPH on the radar gun – the fastest pitch to be recorded to that point in time.

6. Corky Miller

Best Bats Season (2001): 44 games, .347 average, 7 HR, 28 RBI, 1.001 OPS
MLB Career Highlights: Played in 200 career games across 12 MLB seasons

Fan-favorite Miller was known for his presence around the ballpark and his unmistakable mustache during his 10 seasons with the Bats. He is currently the only Bats player to have his jersey number retired by the team.

7. Billy Hamilton

Best Bats Season (2013): 123 games, .256 average, 28 XBH, 41 RBI, 75 SB
MLB Career Highlights: 2014 NL Rookie of the Month (June), 2014 Baseball America Major League All-Rookie Team

Speedster Hamilton stole a Minor League Baseball record-setting 155 bases in 2012 prior to his full season with the Bats in 2013. He continued his impressive pace with 75 additional steals for Louisville in 2013, which finished as nearly double the next-closest amount by any International League player that year. Hamilton ultimately earned both Mid and Postseason All-Star selections with the Bats and was named a Futures Game selection for the second straight year.

8. Johnny Cueto

Best Bats Season (2007): 4 starts, 2-1, 2.05 ERA, 21 SO
MLB Career Highlights: 2015 World Series champion, 2x All-Star, 2014 Wilson Defensive Player of the Year

Cueto scattered a handful of appearances over two seasons with the Bats but was locked in during each of his four starts during the 2007 campaign. The nifty right-hander worked at least 5.0 innings while striking out at least four batters each start. He never gave up more than two earned runs and pitched a gem in his final outing of the year with six strikeouts and one earned run over 6.0 frames of action against Norfolk.

9. Deion Sanders

Best Bats Season (2001): 19 games, .459 average, 10 XBH, 6 SB, .494 OBP
MLB Career Highlights: 4x finished 2nd in NL in stolen bases, led NL in triples in 1992

Sanders, better known as “Prime Time,” starred in both the National Football League and Major League Baseball during his pro career. The former Bats outfielder scored the franchise’s first ever run at Louisville Slugger Field during the 2000 season and went on to hit at an impressive .459 clip during the 2001 campaign.

10. Edwin Encarnacion

Best Bats Season (2005): 78 games, .314 average, 15 HR, 54 RBI, .936 OPS
MLB Career Highlights: 3x All-Star, 2x AL Player of the Month, 2x TOR MVP

Encarnacion rounds out the top 10 All-Time Greatest Players of Louisville Slugger Field. The heavy-hitting first baseman teased his prodigious power of his Major League career during his time with the Bats, rapping 38 extra-base hits with 15 home runs in 78 games during the 2005 campaign. He earned both Mid and Postseason All-Star selections with Louisville in 2005, was the Top Star of the Triple-A All-Star Game and was named a Baseball American Triple-A All-Star following the season.

11. Zack Cozart

Best Bats Season (2011): 77 games, .310 average, 100 hits, 35 XBH, .825 OPS
MLB Career Highlights: 2017 NL All-Star, 2012 Baseball America Major League All-Rookie Team, 2016 Reds Heart and Hustle Award Winner

Former team MVP Cozart reach rarefied air during his tenure with the Bats, becoming the first – and still the only – player in team history with 30 doubles and 30 stolen bases in a single season during his tear through the league in 2010. He returned to the club for half of the 2011 season, picking up right where he left off to knock 26 doubles and swipe nine more bags in just 77 games with Louisville.

12. Homer Bailey

Best Bats Season (2009): 14 starts, 8-5, 2.71 ERA, 82 SO, 2 CG, 1 SHO
MLB Career Highlights: 2x NL Player of the Week, 1,000+ innings pitched, 1,000+ strikeouts

Bailey has been a true workhorse during his career, logging more than 1,600 innings between the Major and Minor Leagues and tossing two no-hitters in the big leagues. The right-hander has taken the mound for the Bats for parts of nine different seasons, most notably winning eight of his 14 starts in 2009 en route to earning IL Pitcher of the Week honors twice that year. Overall, Bailey pitched 390.1 innings with 330 strikeouts during his Louisville tenure.

13. Eugenio Suarez

Best Bats Season (2015): 57 games, .256 average, 30 runs, 19 XBH, 25 RBI
MLB Career Highlights: 2018 NL All-Star, 2019 NL Player of the Month (August), 2x Reds MVP

Before demonstrating his enormous power at the plate with the Reds, Suarez belted 20 of his 53 hits with the Bats for extra bases during stints in Louisville in 2015 and 2018. The corner infielder burst onto the scene following his Bats debut in 2015 to hit safely in 14 of his first 19 games with the club.

14. Austin Kearns

Best Bats Season (2005): 28 games, .342 average, 24 runs, 33 XBH, 1.091 OPS
MLB Career Highlights: Played in 1,000+ games, hit 100+ HR, career OBP of .351

Kearns became the first player to homer three times in one game for the Bats during the Louisville Slugger Field era (since 2000) when he launched a trio of long balls on July 5, 2005 at Indianapolis. The hometown hero from Lexington, Kentucky excelled in the Derby City to reach base safely at better than a .400 mark during each of his three stints with Louisville.

15. Tucker Barnhart

Best Bats Season (2014): 78 games, .246 average, 13 XBH, 29 RBI, .319 OBP, 35% CS
MLB Career Highlights: 2017 NL Gold Glove, 500+ games, 136 XBH, 32.5% CS

A graduate of Brownsburg High School in Indiana, just 130 miles north of Louisville, Barnhart has established himself as an elite defensive catcher by owning the basepaths throughout his time in both the Major and Minor Leagues. Barnhart threw out 35 percent of runners attempting to steal in 2014 with Louisville and later went on to lead the National League in throwing out runners stealing in back-to-back seasons in 2016-17. He was rewarded for his standout efforts behind the plate with a 2017 Rawlings Gold Glove award.

16. Didi Gregorius

Best Bats Season (2012): 48 games, .243 average, 25 runs, 19 XBH, .981 FPCT
MLB Career Highlights: 2018 AL Player of the Month (April), AL Player of the Week (2018), 2016 Yankees Heart and Hustle Award

The slick-fielding Gregorius converted 209 of his 2013 chances in the field between shortstop and second base with the Bats in 2012, registering a solid .981 fielding percentage while holding down the middle infield for Louisville. He went on to fill the huge shoes of Hall of Famer Derek Jeter at shortstop for the New York Yankees and was rewarded with the team’s Heart and Hustle Award for the 2016 campaign.

17. Devin Mesoraco

Best Bats Season (2011): 120 games, .289 average, 60 runs, 53 XBH, 71 RBI, .371 OBP
MLB Career Highlights: 2014 NL All-Star, 450+ games, 25 2B/25 HR in 2014

Mesoraco was a threat anytime he stepped into the box, which is not a regular occurrence from the catching position. The backstop produced 126 hits in 120 games for the Bats in 2011, including slugging 15 homers and 36 doubles, to lead all IL catchers in base knocks, doubles, runs (60) and RBI (71).

18. Nick Senzel

Best Bats Season (2018): 44 games, .310 average, 53 hits, 20 XBH, 25 RBI, .378 OBP
MLB Career Highlights: Made MLB debut in 2019, 12 HR, 14 SB

The highest-ranked prospect for the Bats since Billy Hamilton in 2013, Baseball American’s No. 10 rated farmhand hit at a blistering .310 average through 44 games as a Triple-A rookie during the 2018 campaign. Senzel earned a promotion to Cincinnati in 2019 and proceeded to hit double-digit homers and swipe double-digit bags during his first taste of MLB action.

19. Aristides Aquino

Best Bats Season (2019): 78 games, .299 average, 56 runs, 13 2B, 28 HR, .992 OPS
MLB Career Highlights: 2019 NL Player of the Month (August), 2019 NL Rookie of the Month (August), 2019 NL Player of the Week (August)

Aquino proved his nickname, “The Punisher,” by absolutely demolishing pitches during his stint with Louisville, setting a Reds-affiliation record of 28 home runs, homering in a Reds-affiliation record of four straight games and notching the franchise’s second-longest hitting streak with base knocks in 22 consecutive games. The slugger was named both a Mid and Postseason International League All-Star and became just the second Louisville player (also Joey Votto) to win the IL’s Rookie of the Year award.

20. Hernan Iribarren

Best Bats Season (2016): 101 games, .327 average, 122 hits, 24 XBH, .380 OBP
MLB Career Highlights: Made MLB debut in 2008, 3 triples, 48 games

The long-time Bats infielder suited up in 484 games over five seasons and was just as valuable on the field as he was mentoring his younger teammates off the diamond. Among his many contributions, Iribarren’s two standout performances were winning the International League batting title with a .327 average over 101 games during the 2016 season and playing all nine positions in a single game during the 2018 season finale.