|
Who are
the best young hitters in baseball?
John Dewan's Stat of the WeekTM
February 9, 2006
To answer this question, here's one
simple way that we use in the
Bill James Handbook. We take all players who were both under
age 25 and full-time players in 2005. To deteremine full-time
status we use batting title qualifiers (502 plate appearances for
the season). Add their on-base percentage and slugging percentage to
get OPS, on-base plus slugging, and rank them by league. Here are
the numbers:
|
American
League Under Age 25 |
|
|
OPS Rank in 2005 |
|
|
(minimum 502 plate appearances) |
|
|
Teixeira, Mark, Tex |
.954 |
|
Peralta, Jhonny, Cle |
.885 |
|
Sizemore, Grady, Cle |
.832 |
|
Crisp, Coco, Cle |
.810 |
|
Cantu, Jorge, TB |
.808 |
|
DeJesus, David, KC |
.804 |
|
Crawford, Carl, TB |
.800 |
|
Mauer, Joe, Min |
.783 |
|
Cano, Robinson, NYY |
.778 |
|
Swisher, Nick, Oak |
.768 |
|
|
|
|
National League Under Age 25 |
|
|
OPS Rank in 2005 |
|
|
(minimum 502 plate appearances) |
|
|
Pujols, Albert, StL |
1.039 |
|
Cabrera, Miguel, Fla |
.947 |
|
Dunn, Adam, Cin |
.927 |
|
Wright, David, NYM |
.912 |
|
Tracy, Chad, Ari |
.911 |
|
Holliday, Matt, Col |
.866 |
|
Lopez, Felipe, Cin |
.838 |
|
Hall, Bill, Mil |
.837 |
|
LaRoche, Adam, Atl |
.775 |
|
Atkins, Garrett, Col
|
.773 |
The two leaders are very interesting
because they are not only tremendous hitters at a young age, but
they are also great defensively at first base. Mark Teixeira won
his first Gold Glove in 2005. Albert Pujols wins a "Gold Glove That
Should Have Been" in 2005 as well, edging out the actual Gold Glove
Winner, Derrek Lee, based on defensive analysis in
The Fielding Bible.
|
