The best seasons by NC State alums in the Major Leagues

The best season of Trea Turner’s young career is still going, thanks in part to his 2-for-5 performance Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants in the National League Divisional Series. It could end tonight in a potentially epic Game 5 or be extended into the NL Championship Series and/or World Series.

Where, though, does Turner’s Most Valuable Player-worthy season rank among all Major League Baseball players with NC State ties? Probably at the top, with only a few that can even be in the discussion.

No former Wolfpack player has ever won an MVP, though pitcher Mike Caldwell was second in the voting for the pitcher’s equivalent Cy Young Award in 1978, losing out to near-perfect Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees.

St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Jimmy Brown of Jamesville, N.C., was fourth in the voting for the 1942 MVP at a time when many of the game’s biggest stars were being drafted into military service for World War II. Brown batted leadoff for the National League in the 1942 All-Star Game and helped the Cardinals win the World Series that year, before being drafted into the U.S. Army midway through the 1943 season.

So Turner — who led the National league in batting average (.328), hits (195), stolen bases (32) and (319) total bases — should be at the top of the list, regardless of where he finishes in the MVP voting.

He also led all major league batters in hits and batting average. Current projections have him in the MVP mix with Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper, Padres infielder Fernando Tatis Jr., Dodgers infielder Max Muncy and Nationals outfielder Juan Soto, Turner’s former teammate and apparently biggest fan.

Turner finished the regular season strong, belting two grand slams in the final weekend to end with a career-high 28 home runs.

Bouncing back from 2019 Tommy John surgery, Chicago White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon also had the best season of his career, including an April 14 no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians en route to a 13-5 record, a 2.37 earned run average and 185 strikeouts, all career bests.

Turner and Rodon, both taken in the first round of the 2014 draft, were both All-Stars this season, career firsts for each.

Here, spanning more than a century, are the best single-season performances among former NC State products in the major leagues:

The former college football, baseball and basketball player from Norfolk, Virginia, finished out baseball’s dead-ball era with the two best seasons of his nine-year baseball career, leading the National League twice in home runs with 12 in both seasons.

Of the two, Robertson was more successful in 1916, when he posted a .307 batting average and .426 slugging percentage, with a career-high 180 hits in 150 games. He also had 69 RBI in 1916, compared to 55 in 1917 and a career-high 75 in 1920.

But 1917 will always define Robertson’s career because he helped the Giants advance to the World Series against the Chicago White Sox and “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. The Giants lost in six games, but Robertson had 11 hits in 22 at bats, including a double and a triple.

After missing the 1918 season due to military service during World War I, Robertson played four more seasons in the majors and hit for the cycle while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1921. He even received votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame when he was first eligible.

The only Outer Banks native to ever play in the majors, Burrus was both the son and son-in-law of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse keepers. He came to NC State in 1916 to play football and baseball, had his career interrupted by World War I and returned to play both sports afterwards.

After he graduated, Burrus quickly advanced to play for the Boston Braves, though he had notable defensive deficiencies that required a return trip to the minors.

In 1925, however, he recorded one of the greatest seasons ever posted by a North Carolina native. Playing all 152 games, Burrus belted out 200 hits in 588 at-bats, recording a .340 average and 41 doubles, and ranked in the top 10 of most offensive categories. He had 50 extra-base hits, including five home runs, and drove in a career-high 87 runs.

Even with his notable defensive issues, Burrus led the National League with a .990 fielding percentage and 85 assists. He was also second with 1,416 putouts and 15 errors committed at first.

Incredibly, Burrus’ average that year ranked only ninth in the National League. Among those ahead of him, however, were Hall of Famers Rogers Hornsby (.403), Jim Bottomley (.367), Zack Wheat (.359), Kiki Cuyler (.357) and Max Carey (.343).

His 200 hits remain the most ever in a single-season by a former Red Terror/Wolfpack player in the majors.

A native of tiny Jamesville east of Interstate 95, Brown is the guy Turner is chasing for the most successful all-round offensive player ever produced at NC State.

In 890 career games, Brown had more at bats, notched more hits, scored more runs and had more doubles than any NC State alum in the major leagues. Like Turner, he was a versatile infielder who started at shortstop, second base and third base during his decade with the Cardinals.

He began late as a 27-year-old switch-hitting rookie in 1937, but within two years he was a solid starter in the post-Gashouse Gang era, leading the National League in at bats and was sixth in MVP voting. He finished fourth in MVP voting in 1941, but the next season was the highlight of his career.

He was the leadoff hitter for the National League in the 10th annual All-Star Game and helped the Cardinals — featuring a young Stan Musial and North Carolina-native Enos Slaughter — reach and win the 1942 World Series, beating the New York Yankees in five games. Brown had six hits in 20 at bats (.300) with three walks in the series.

Brown played only 34 games in 1943 before being drafted into the U.S. Army for World War II service and missed the next two seasons. He played briefly for the Pirates after the war.

After three consecutive seasons in which bone chips in his elbow slowed his upward trajectory, the former ACC Pitcher of the Year and native of Tarboro, N.C., broke through with by far the best season of his standout career in 1978 with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Fully recovered, Caldwell threw a major-league leading 23 complete games on his way to a 22-9 record for the Brewers. He had a remarkable 2.36 earned run average and 1.06 walk/hit ratio in 293 1/3 innings with 131 strikeouts, all career bests.

Unfortunately for the lefthander, New York Yankees pitcher Ron Guidry had the greatest season of his career as well, posting a 25-3 record and earning an unanimous vote for the Cy Young Award.

Caldwell finished second in Cy Young voting, though he did out-pitch Guidry to hand the Yankees a loss that season and beat the lefthander again in a pitcher’s showdown on Opening Day 1979. Caldwell also finished 12th in MVP voting and was named the 1978 Comeback Player of the Year.

Throughout his NC State and minor league career, Plesac was a hard-throwing starting pitcher. That changed during his rookie season of 1986, when he inherited the role of Brewers’ closer from veteran Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers, thanks to a strong performance in spring training.

The lefthander from Crown Point, Indiana, performed remarkably well in the role, becoming one of the few pitchers of the last 40 years to record double-digit wins (10) and saves (14) in the same season. He had a 2.97 ERA in 91 innings, with remarkably low 29 walks and four wild pitches. It was the launching pad for a record-setting career.

Plesac had at least 20 saves the next four seasons, with a career high of 33 in 1989, earning spots on the American League All-Star team in 1987, ’88 and ’89. He’s the only former NC State player to earn multiple appearances in the Mid-Summer Classic.

Plesac’s career spanned 18 seasons with the Brewers, Cubs, Pirates, Blue Jays (twice), Diamondbacks and Phillies before his retirement in 2003.

A durable pitcher who never spent time on the disabled list, Plesac finished in the top five for appearances five times and still ranks seventh all-time in games played with 1,064 in his career.

Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu.