ABL Mid Season Review: The Players To Watch

We know the stars. In fact, you can read about all of them in our Mid-Season All-Star article. We know where the playoff races lie (spoiler: Sydney way in front), and we know who the key characters are across the Australian professional baseball landscape.

We’ve done some numbers and are proud to present the most important player on each ABL team in 2025-26 using data from the first half.

But before we jump in, let’s catch you up. If you’re just joining us, here’s where we’re at.

The Sydney Blue Sox look like the team to beat. They sit at 14-5 and hold a 5.5 game buffer in the race for the top two and a spot in the Championship Series. They tied a franchise record with a nine game win streak, own the league’s top offence and the best pitching staff. Their 2.40 team ERA would be the best in ABL history if the season were to end today.

Brisbane are holding down the second playoff spot with a 9-10 record. Remarkably, they find themselves in second despite not having won a series yet this season. They just seem to do enough. They’ve been on the wrong end of some lopsided blowouts, but when they play their best, it’s genuinely championship-style baseball. Robbie Perkins has been the standout and is making a real case to be the league MVP.

Adelaide are 8-10 and in third. They have some serious talent but have struggled to win close games this season. They’ve often beaten themselves with untimely errors. But Adelaide are the best hitting team over the last three weeks and have some serious reinforcements coming after Christmas.

Perth have struggled but are still in the fight. They may be 6-12, but they are just two games back of second place and play the team they are chasing this weekend. They showed signs of life on the weekend in Sydney, earning a very difficult split in a ballpark the home side has dominated. Perth are missing Tim Kennelly due to injury but look like they are finally finding form.

Now you’re caught up. Let’s take a look at the most important players on each ABL team.

Sydney – Landen Bourassa

Landen Bourassa is a league above every other starting pitcher so far this season.

It might be a strange thing to say for someone who currently has four starts, 28.0 innings, a 2.57 ERA and a 1.143 WHIP. Great numbers, but nothing that really makes your eyeballs pop out, especially in comparison to Alex Wells and Ben Ferrer, his own teammates who currently have better ERAs, win records and WHIPs.

Until you start peeling back the layers.

For starters, pun intended, the obvious. Back-to-back complete games. If you recall in Week 5’s Fire Form, I wrote that Bourassa’s 99-pitch complete game was ever so close to a Maddux, as he allowed an earned run in the ninth inning.

He must have taken that personally, as he proceeded to pitch a complete game shutout in his very next outing, completing a full Maddux as he once again threw 99 pitches.

Secondly, as mentioned previously, availability is the best ability, and Bourassa has demonstrated that very clearly. He is currently third amongst all starting pitchers in innings pitched and batters faced, behind Alex Wells and Tucker Smith.

But what truly separates Bourassa from the rest of the league is his FIP.

Field Independent Pitching is a sabermetric stat that measures a pitcher’s effectiveness by only considering outcomes within their control: strikeouts, walks (including hit-by-pitches), and home runs. Otherwise known as the Three True Outcomes.

Essentially, it is meant to provide a more accurate picture of a pitcher’s ability by removing luck and defence. Similar to ERA, the lower the FIP, the better.

Ferrer and Wells, unsurprisingly, score extremely well here, with 3.09 and 3.47 FIPs respectively, which are 66% and 48% better than league average.

What about Bourassa?

How about a 2.41 FIP, which is 114% better than league average?

Not only is he the only starter this season with a FIP below 3.00, but he clears it by a wide margin.

If you take a look at how FIP is calculated, each of the Three True Outcomes is assigned a weighting value. Home runs are multiplied by 13, walks (and hit-by-pitches) are multiplied by 3, and strikeouts are multiplied by 2.

It makes sense. Giving up a home run is more punishing than getting a strikeout. Giving up a home run is more punishing than giving up a walk. Giving up a walk is more punishing than getting a strikeout.

Bourassa’s pitching reflects that. He doesn’t necessarily have the highest strikeout rate, but he hasn’t allowed a home run and has only issued a single walk all season.

Considering the league is currently on pace to record the second-highest runs per game in modern ABL history after the 2017-18 season, it makes what Landen Bourassa is doing even more impressive, earning him Sydney’s Fire Form for the first half.

Brisbane – Robbie Perkins

It must be the Year of the Catcher.

After “The Big Dumper” Cal Raleigh’s record-breaking season in the Major Leagues, it seems Robbie Perkins has decided to do the same in the Australian Baseball League, producing his best season yet in his 13th ABL campaign.

An eye-popping .343 batting average, .443 on-base percentage and .716 slugging percentage combine for a 1.159 OPS, by far the highest in the league. He is also leading the league in home runs with six, tied for second in RBIs with 15, and third in walks with 12.

All done by a catcher.

There is no hyperbole in calling this his best season yet. If you take the best batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage from his previous twelve years, you get the following:

.331 batting average (2016-17)
.396 on-base percentage (2024-25)
.565 slugging percentage (2020-21)
.961 OPS

Well short of 1.159.

Not to mention he has already tied his season high in home runs, and we’re only halfway through the season.

Of course, since he is a catcher, we also need to look at what great catchers are known for: controlling the running game.

His 38% caught-stealing rate this season is well above his career average of 30.2% from his time in Canberra. It is also higher than the combined average of Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane at 32.7%.

It might not be the best statistical season from the Team Australia backstop in terms of showcasing his arm, but the fact remains that he is still above league average defensively while carrying a massive portion of Brisbane’s offence. That is a major reason why the Bandits sit second in the league despite owning a 7.85 team ERA and the second-lowest team OPS.

Adelaide – Jack O’Loughlin

Jack O’Loughlin is currently having a subpar season, at least on the surface.

A 5.40 ERA across 20.0 innings with a 1.550 WHIP is, safe to say, unideal.

But if we peel back the layers and take a closer look, it becomes clear there is far more than meets the eye.

For starters, let’s look at K-BB%, or net strikeout rate. This statistic is calculated by subtracting a pitcher’s walk rate from their strikeout rate. The higher the number, the better.

Among all starting pitchers, the Adelaide native currently ranks second in the league at 22.0%, trailing only Alex Wells at 28.6%.

To put that into perspective, the league average K-BB% sits at 12.5%.

That means Jack O’Loughlin has been roughly 76% better than the average pitcher this season at striking hitters out without walking them. Based on the FIP weightings discussed earlier, that is exactly what you want to see.

So why is his ERA so high?

You might think FIP provides the answer, but it doesn’t fully. His 4.96 FIP is lower, as expected, given he has allowed four home runs and seven walks.

Instead, the key lies in BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play), which measures outcomes once the ball is put into play. Unlike FIP, BABIP often reflects luck, as pitchers have limited control after contact is made.

With a BABIP of .377, O’Loughlin sits 13.2% above the league average and ranks sixth highest among pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched.

Dig a little deeper and the major culprit becomes clear. His first start of the season against Perth, where he allowed seven earned runs in 3.0 innings, accounts for more than half of his earned runs in just 15% of his total innings.

Remove that outing and his ERA drops to 2.65.

At home, the numbers are even more eye-catching.

9.0 innings pitched, 0 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks, 14 strikeouts.

That translates to a 0.778 WHIP, a 35.29% K-BB%, and a 1.57 FIP.

Absolute dominance at West Beach.

With Conner Greene and Lachlan Wells no longer on the roster, the Adelaide Giants need a new ace to step up, and they are looking at Jack O’Loughlin to do just that. The talent is clearly there. The only missing piece is consistency, the trait that separates aces from regular starters. If O’Loughlin finds it, the rest of the league should be on notice.

Perth Heat – Alex Hall

The numbers might not match what he produced in 2022-23, but Alex Hall continues to show why he is one of the best players in the league.

A .333 batting average, .368 on-base percentage and .569 slugging percentage combine for a .938 OPS, which ranks 10th among qualified hitters.

He leads the league in doubles with seven and also tops the triples list with two.

Where Hall has impressed most, however, is his defensive versatility. Best known as a catcher, he has logged 58.2 innings behind the plate, while also contributing significant time at first base (35.1 innings) and in the outfield (52.2 innings). That kind of workload across three positions is no small task, especially given the physical and mental demands of catching.

Despite it all, he has committed just one error all season, coming at first base. He has been flawless in both the outfield and behind the plate.

While fielding percentage and error totals are far from perfect defensive metrics, especially compared to advanced measures like Outs Above Average or Defensive Runs Saved, committing just one error across three positions still says plenty.

It shows Hall isn’t being moved around simply out of necessity, but because the Heat coaching staff trusts him defensively. That versatility has been crucial, particularly with key players like Tim Kennelly sidelined.

Six catchers have caught at least 50.0 innings this season. Of those six, only one has also logged more than 50.0 combined innings in the infield and outfield. Alex Hall.

Lower the threshold to 40.0 innings caught and 40.0 innings fielded. Still just Hall.

30.0 and 30.0. Still Hall.

You need to drop as low as 10.0 innings caught and 10.0 innings fielded to find another name, with Alirio Ferrebus and Cameron Tilly joining him.

With seven of their nine primary bats from last season either unavailable or injured, Hall’s versatility and consistent production have been vital. There are major reasons Perth sits just 2.5 games behind Brisbane in the race for the second seed as the season heads into its second half.