As much as it must pain Goose Gossage to see, Major League Baseball is simply loaded with young, exciting talent on the eve of the 2016 season. Here are ten of the best major league players aged 24 or younger.
1. Bryce Harper
It’s truly a tough task picking between Harper and Mike Trout for the top spot, but we’ll give the edge to Harper on account of his later birthday and otherworldly 2015. The 23-year-old—who couldn’t have been more on point when he advocated for more fun and emotion in the sport in an ESPN The Magazine piece last week—put up a 1.109 OPS in 2015, which was the highest in a single season since Albert Pujols’ 1.114 in 2008.
2. Mike Trout
Although Harper edged him out last season, the 24-year-old Trout gets full marks for consistency, as the New Jersey product who 24 teams passed over in the 2009 draft has finished in the top-two of American League MVP voting for four straight seasons. Trout has accumulated 38.5 wins above replacement in his first 652 major league games, which is more than Hall of Famers Roy Campanella (1,215 games) and Pie Traynor (1,941 games) put up in their entire careers.
Always a tremendous defensive talent since he entered the league at the age of 19, Machado finally had his break out offensive year in 2015, jumping out to 35 homers and an .861 OPS in a remarkably durable 713 at-bats. But maybe what’s most impressive is that the 23-year-old dramatically improved his plate vision, lowering the amount of pitches outside the strike zone he swung at from 33.3 per cent in 2014 to 25.7 per cent last year.
Not only is Arenado an excellent defender at third base, he’s also one of the best young power hitters in the game, as evidenced by his monstrous .287 isolated power in 2015. The 24-year-old swatted 42 home runs last year, and more than half of them came in parks that aren’t Coors Field. If Arenado refines his approach as he ages and chases less pitches outside the strike zone, he could develop into one of the game’s premier sluggers.
The first pitcher on the list has been a consistent major leaguer since he was 21, but finally got the opportunity to start a near full-season’s worth of games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2015 and rewarded them with a 3.04 ERA and 9.3 K/9 as a starter. And the 24-year-old Martinez could have had an even better year if he didn’t run into unfortunate shoulder issues near the end of the season. Look for him to build on his break out campaign in 2016.
6. Kris Bryant
In his true rookie season, the 24-year-old Bryant was the second-best third baseman in the league offensively, trailing closely behind some guy named Josh Donaldson. With 26 home runs and 31 doubles in 2015, Bryant can certainly hit the ball very far. But his 11.8 per cent walk rate, second among qualified third basemen, proves he can work an at-bat as well.
Syndergaard brings some of the most overpowering stuff in the game with a fastball that averages 97-mph and a massive curveball that buckles the knees of batters, which is how he was able to put up a 3.24 ERA and strike out 166 in his first 150 big league innings last year. He’s said to be working on a cutter to add to his strong three-pitch mix (he often features a change-up to left-handers) which can only help the 23-year-old take the next step in his promising young career.
The youngest player on the list at just 21 years old, Correa didn’t get enough plate appearances in 2015 to qualify, but he still finished fifth among major league shortstops in WAR with 3.3. His .857 OPS seems like just a starting point as the rookie swatted 22 home runs in just 99 games and walked an impressive 9.3 per cent of the time. With a full season to show what he can do in 2016, the sky’s the limit.
Speaking of shortstops, the 23-year-old Bogaerts was no slouch himself for the dismal Red Sox last year, batting .320/.355/.421 in his second full season, showing vast improvement over the .240/.297/.362 line he managed in his first. He also dramatically cut down his strike outs and put the ball in play far more often, which may indicate that his .372 batting average on balls in play won’t correct itself too far in the opposite direction during 2016.
10. Marcus Stroman
It’s a Canadian website—what did you expect? Stroman obviously missed most of 2015 with a torn ACL, but when he capped his remarkable comeback with four starts in September, he showed Blue Jays fans something special. The 24-year-old allowed just five runs over 27 innings with an unbelievable 64.1 per cent groundball rate (the 2015 league average among starters was 45.2 per cent) and an encouraging 21.8 per cent hard contact percentage (2015 league average for starters: 29 per cent). Cry small sample and hometown bias all you’d like, any Blue Jay fan knows the frontline starter potential Stroman holds and they’ve been waiting a long time to watch him demonstrate it. Hopefully it was worth the wait.
