The best baseball players born on Aug. 13

Who are the best players born on each day of the year? We have a list for every day on the calendar.

Here’s a subjective ranking of the top five for Aug. 13:

1) Mudcat Grant (1935)
Grant -- whose real name was James Timothy -- is an important figure in MLB lore. He was the first Black pitcher to win 20 games in the AL in a single season, and also the first Black pitcher to win a World Series game for the AL. The 1965 season was by far the highlight of Grant's career, as the then-29-year-old led the AL in wins (21), shutouts (six) and win percentage (.750), earning league Pitcher of the Year accolades for his efforts. Not to be overlooked, he also won two World Series games with complete-game efforts that season, and smashed a three-run homer for the Twins in a Game 6 victory over the Dodgers.

2) Dallas Braden (1983)
Oh, what might have been for Braden had a series of injuries not ended his career after just five seasons. Even in that short time, Braden achieved something most Major Leaguers only dream of, twirling just the 19th perfect game in AL/NL history on May 9, 2010. Perhaps even more special, the then-A's hurler accomplished the feat on Mother's Day. His mother, Jodie Atwood, died of cancer when Braden was still in high school, and his grandmother, Peggy Lindsey -- who raised him after Atwood passed -- was in attendance at the game against the Rays.

3) Randal Grichuk (1991)
Grichuk's best season so far was with the Blue Jays in 2019, when he belted a career-best 31 homers and drove in 80 runs. He clubbed double-digit homers in each of his first nine full Major League seasons and had a career .465 slugging percentage entering the 2024 campaign. Taken 24th overall in the 2009 MLB Draft, Grichuk also owns the distinction of being taken by the Angels one pick ahead of a guy named Mike Trout.

4) Jarrod Washburn (1974)
Washburn fanned 100-plus hitters three times during a four-year stretch from 2001-04 and collected 50 wins during that time. The 2002 season was by far his best, when Washburn finished 18-6 with a 3.15 ERA, striking out a career-mark 139 batters winning a World Series with the Angels and finishing fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting.

5) Alex Fernandez (1969)
A member of the 1997 World Series-champion Marlins team, Fernandez also came within two outs of a no-hitter on April 10 that season. The right-hander collected 200 strikeouts in 1996, finishing with 1,252 across his 10-year career.

Others of note:
Dustin Garneau (1987)
Garneau appeared behind the dish for six teams in eight seasons, and it's there that he made the most impact, throwing out 33 percent of would-be basestealers for an above-average success rate. The journeyman proved himself a decent backup catcher in his career, appearing in a career-high 41 games between Oakland and Colorado in 2017. His best year was 2019, when he hit .244 with a .757 OPS in 35 games between the Angels and A’s.

Taijuan Walker (1992)
Walker's solid start to the 2021 season earned the veteran righty his first All-Star nod. From April 8-July 9, he went 7-3 with a 2.66 ERA for the Mets in 17 games (16 starts), fanning 95. Walker went on to sign a four-year deal with the Phillies before to start of the 2023 season, winning a career-best 15 games in 31 starts that year.

Mark Lemke (1965)
Lemke, a 1995 World Series champion with the Braves, holds the AL/NL record for consecutive at-bats without being hit by a pitch, having survived his entire 11-year career -- a span of 3,664 plate appearances -- without being struck a single time.

Want to see more baseball birthdays for Aug. 13? Find the complete list on Baseball Reference.