Over the last few years we have been spoiled. It seems like every top prospect lately has come up, and proven themselves to be among the best in the game immediately. Bryce Harper started bashing from almost his very first pitch it, and only a midsummer slump last year slowed him down. Mike Trout looks like he might end up being the greatest player of all time, all the while finding a cure for cancer, and feeding the hungry. For 2/3s of this season Manny Machado was making a serious run at one of the oldest records in American sports, the single season doubles record. It does not usually work out this way. For every Alex Rodriguez, who came up and put together MVP quality seasons consistently in his early 20’s, there are 10 guys that need to adjust to Major League pitching.

On the other end of the spectrum we have a player like Raul Ibanez. Although he has cooled off lately, Ibanez still has a shot at setting the homerun record for any player of his age. These type of statistics have always fascinated me. I love watching an 18 year old hold his own, in the same league that  somebody literally 2 and a half times his age is also surviving in. I thought an interesting project would be to find the greatest hitting season ever for every age. This is purely from an offensive perspective. I did this because quite frankly I do not trust defensive metrics that over 20 years old. I do not want to exclude an old time player just because of my personal bias. This exercise is from a wide range of factors, not purely OPS+, or wRC+. I factored in playing time, quality of play, and impact on the game. All ages are based on the Baseball Reference definition, their age on June 30th. Today’s edition will have ages 18-29, while tomorrow I will have ages 30-40.

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In many years there are no exciting award races. The MVP will be clear cut in both leagues. The Cy Young awards will be preordained. The Rookie of the Year winners will be decided by the time the Opening Day rosters are announced. Gladly 2013 is not one of those years. I would venture to say that none of the major awards have a guy whom should clearly take home the crown. Maybe you could make a case Kershaw has separated himself, but Harvey is right on his tail. Perhaps the voters will love Cabrera’s run at a second triple crown, but Trout is probably going to defeat him in WAR again. There are many great races, but my personal favorite this year is for the AL Cy Young, if only because there are so many fantastic choices. There is a good chance that many voters will be lazy, and just vote for Max Scherzer because of his record, but they will be doing themselves a disservice. This race deserves an advanced breakdown.

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There has been a lot of excitement the past couple days over one of the most hyped and promising prospects in baseball being called up to the Majors. For those of you haven’t heard Boston Red Sox 20 year old shortstop Xander Bogaerts is making his MLB debut tonight. While perusing baseball reference yesterday I noticed that there had never been a Xander, nor a Bogaerts in history. This led me to ask who some other players of note there have been, where both their first and last names were specific to them in the annals of Major League history. Many great people chimed in with helpful answers, notably Andy on this very site, and Bill Parker, who does wonderful work at the Platoon Advantage. I have compiled my own personal list of the All-Time team of players who fit this criteria. Somethings to note before we begin, to qualify a players birth name must be unique, no nicknames. Also the player had to play a sizable portion of their career at said position, not just a couple of appearances. Lastly this list is not the greatest in terms of WAR, or any other measure, it is my list. Feel free to leave yours in the comments. Who knows, maybe Xander Bogaerts himself will earn a spot someday.

The Infield:
Catcher- Harry “Muddy” Ruel- Compiled a career OBP of .365
First Base- Ferris Fain- Farris was a 2 time batting champ with the Philadelphia Athletics
Second Base- Placido Polanco- Polanco has over 1000 career runs scored.
Third Base- Harmon Killebrew- 11th all-time in homeruns.
Shortstop- Nomar Garciaparra- 882 OPS, the 2nd best among shortstops with 1000 games.
The Outfield:
Left Field- Yoenis Cespedes- Career 121 OPS+
Center Field- Tristram “Tris” Speaker-His 792 doubles are the most all-time
Right Field- Vada Pinson- One of only 22 players ever with 250 steals and 250 homeruns.
The Pitchers:
Number 1 Starter- Sanford “Sandy” Koufax-Was the youngest man ever inducted into HOF
Number 2 Starter- Rik “Bert” Blyleven- 5th most strikeouts ever.
Number 3 Starter- Orel Hershiser- MLB record 59 inning scoreless streak
Number 4 Starter- Carsten “CC” Sabathia- Tied for the 2nd in Pitchers WAR since 2000
Number 5 Starter- Sefat “Yu” Darvish- Has the highest career K% of any starter ever.
Closer: Ugueth Urbina- Had 9 straight seasons with more than a K an inning

As many of you may have noticed there has been a wealth of elite pitching talent in the league this year. Many wonderful starters are having seasons that will go down as historic. Only 3 qualified pitchers have had a higher strikeout per 9 higher than Yu Darvish is currently having this year(11.96). Max Scherzer has a sparkling 18-1 record. Felix is building upon his Hall of Fame career, with personal bests in strikeout percentage and walk percentage. Clayton Kershaw’s 1.80 ERA is the lowest by any starting pitcher since Pedro Martinez in 2000. Jose Fernandez is dominating like no pitcher his age since Doc Gooden’s heyday. Many others, including Chris Sale, Matt Harvey, Hiroki Kuroda, and Anibal Sanchez are having marvelous seasons. All together 8 qualified starters have an ERA+ of at least 150, tied for the 4th most of any season in history. In Arizona there is a man on that list that I am not sure many people are talking about, Patrick Corbin.

As I write this I am watching the Diamondbacks celebrating a victory over one of the best offenses in baseball, the Cincinnati Reds. Patrick Corbin started this game, and ended up with a complete game, allowing 2 runs with 10 strikeouts and no walks. It is only the 3rd time in the past 3 calender years that a pitcher has had double digit K’s against Cincinnati and not allowed a walk, Zack Greinke and Chris Carpenter being the other two. That is pretty good company to be in. This outing lowered his full season ERA to 2.45, all the while pitching his home games in the bandbox that is Chase Field. He has not been getting extremely lucky either. His FIP is now 3.08, the 7th lowest number in the National League. His walk rate has been kept at a well below average 2.19 per nine, while he is only allowing 0.61 home runs per 9.

Corbin has specialized in attacking the zone this year. He has thrown a first pitch strike to 70% of the batters he has faced this year, the highest percentage in the National League. This has allowed him to reduce the number of pitches he throws in an an-bat. He currently only uses 3.60 pitches per plate appearances, placing him 13th in baseball. Since he has been so efficient, as well as productive, he has been able to complete 6 innings in all but 1 of his 25 starts this year. There are obvious flaws in his game that many will say keep from being anything more than an above average starter. He doesn’t strikeout a large number of batters, only 7.83 per 9 this year. Also he is not among the elite at keeping the ball on the ground, at 46.7% compared to a league average of 44.6%. However, there is no denying that he has been able to assuage these flaws, and been among the most valuable pitchers baseball in 2013. At only 23 years old he is well ahead of the curve. As long as he keeps getting ahead of batters, and keeps throwing a two-seamer that PITCHf/x says has been the most valuable in baseball, then he will be a very good pitcher for a very long time.