This post is for voting and discussion in the 122nd round of balloting for the Circle of Greats (COG). This is the first of three rounds adding to the list of candidates eligible to receive your votes those players born in 1972. Rules and lists are after the jump.
Followers of the game will be aware that baseball today is awash in young talent, including the group below, showing their career totals through their age 22 seasons.
| Rk | Player | Year | WAR/pos | From | To | Age | G | PA | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | Pos | Tm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlos Correa | 2016 | 10.1 | 2015 | 2016 | 20-21 | 252 | 1092 | 128 | 266 | 42 | 164 | 115 | 217 | .276 | .354 | .475 | .829 | *6/H | HOU |
| 2 | Francisco Lindor | 2016 | 10.3 | 2015 | 2016 | 21-22 | 257 | 1122 | 149 | 304 | 27 | 129 | 84 | 157 | .306 | .356 | .454 | .810 | *6/HD | CLE |
| 3 | Bryce Harper | 2015 | 19.8 | 2012 | 2015 | 19-22 | 510 | 2143 | 328 | 528 | 97 | 248 | 279 | 449 | .289 | .384 | .517 | .902 | 978/HD | WSN |
| 4 | Manny Machado | 2015 | 17.7 | 2012 | 2015 | 19-22 | 451 | 1979 | 252 | 511 | 68 | 215 | 128 | 330 | .281 | .330 | .458 | .787 | *5/6 | BAL |
| 5 | Mike Trout | 2014 | 28.6 | 2011 | 2014 | 19-22 | 493 | 2195 | 373 | 572 | 98 | 307 | 269 | 489 | .305 | .395 | .549 | .945 | *87/D9H | LAA |
| 6 | Jason Heyward | 2012 | 14.7 | 2010 | 2012 | 20-22 | 428 | 1730 | 226 | 392 | 59 | 196 | 200 | 373 | .261 | .352 | .447 | .799 | *9/H8 | ATL |
| 7 | Giancarlo Stanton | 2012 | 12.4 | 2010 | 2012 | 20-22 | 373 | 1498 | 199 | 358 | 93 | 232 | 150 | 432 | .270 | .350 | .553 | .903 | *9/HD8 | FLA-MIA |
In fact, the players above all compiled 10 or more WAR by age 22. What may surprise you to learn, though, is that these 7 players from just the current decade represent fully one-sixth of all such everyday players since 1901. But, will they continue to produce handsome WAR dividends for their teams as their careers progress? To answer in a few words, for most of them, it’s very, very likely.
After the jump, more on being very good when very young, and projecting that success over a career.
Greetings again, HHS-ers! Dr. Doom here, via Doug again.
You’re going to notice a pattern here: whenever a reliever wins an MVP, I’m going to give it the sideways eyes and have us re-examine, because… I’m just not sure I buy relievers being that valuable.
So that leads us to 1984. I feel like every time I look at one of these years, the BIG story in baseball is something going on in the other league. We looked at the AL in 1981, when the NL was the real mess. We looked at the NL in 1967, when the greatest pennant race in history was in the AL. Finally, with 1984, we rectify that trend.
As we await this month’s HoF balloting, here’s a little diversion in a bit different format from most of my quizzes. Here are the clues:
Congratulations to Jim! He knew that our mystery player was none other than Frank DiPino, (mostly) an NL reliever from the 1980s and early 1990s. More on DiPino after the jump.
In the spirit of the season, here’s a rundown of some of the more notable transactions occurring on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Possibly the most important Christmas signing occurred in 1964 when the woeful Kansas City A’s began putting together the pieces of a future dynasty, acquiring an undrafted 18 year-old pitcher with the unlikely name of Rollie Fingers. That 1964 season also saw the A’s debuts of Dave Duncan and Blue Moon Odom, two other teenagers who would figure prominently in the first of Oakland’s three 1970s championship seasons.
Dr. Doom here (via Doug), back for more MVP re-voting!
If your jam was 1970s baseball… well, I’m sorry that we were only there one year. It’s not that the ’70s didn’t have their share of interesting MVP races. They certainly did! What they didn’t necessarily have was the years I was looking for: the ones with multiple good candidates, any of whom could be called the MVP.
Thankfully, if you’re a fan of ’70s baseball, you’re probably also a fan of ’80s baseball. And if you are, boy oh boy are you in for a good few posts. This is the first of SEVEN posts in which we’ll be examining 1980s baseball.
Scanning baseball’s statistical leaderboards for the 2016 season will tell you the players who turned in the best or worst performances last year. But, for some context, I’ve looked at some of those leading players to consider the significance of their accomplishments over a longer period than just last season. For example, you probably weren’t aware that Bryce Harper‘s .243 batting average last year was the lowest by a player leading his league in IBB, breaking the old mark of .249 by White Sox catcher Ed Herrman in 1972.
More on last season’s statistical leaders after the jump.
On August 31 of this past season, the Rockies’ Stephen Cardullo homered in both ends of a doubleheader AND it was his birthday. He’s just the 4th guy to accomplish this feat since 1913, and there’s a good chance nobody else did it before then.
Players to HR in both ends of a double header on their birthday since 1913:
Stephen Cardullo 8/31/2016
Tony Perez 5/14/1972
Joe Rudi 9/7/1970
Eddie Joost 6/5/1949
Double headers are so rare right now (the Rockies/Dodgers one this year was likely because of a rainout on a Tuesday as both games were played on a Wednesday) that it seems pretty unlikely anybody will ever again achieve this–although I would have said the same before this season 🙂
Mookie Betts had a 2016 for the ages. Since 1901, here are the only guys to post 29+ fielding runs and 29+ batting runs. As with Mookie this year, most of these guys didn’t win their league MVP award.
Rk Player Year Rbat Rfield Age Tm Pos 1 Mookie Betts 2016 29.8 32.0 23 BOS *9/H 2 Chase Utley 2008 30.0 31.0 29 PHI *4/3 3 Albert Pujols 2007 51.3 31.0 27 STL *3/H 4 Scott Rolen 2004 40.2 30.0 29 STL *5 5 Ichiro Suzuki 2004 35.7 30.0 30 SEA *9/DH 6 Ken Griffey 1996 39.8 32.3 26 SEA *8/D 7 Al Kaline 1961 39.3 29.2 26 DET *98/H75
Go ahead, post a comment here just to prove that you can!
I’ve been quite busy with my day job and unable to pay any attention to things here. Doug has done a good job of keeping me apprised and nudging me periodically to get things fixed. It appears something got corrupted in the old theme, and so switching over to a different theme has resolved the issue. I’m going to make some minimal changes to this new theme to make it prettier but do as little as possible to help ensure that it stays running smoothly and quickly.
Apologies for all the downtime.