What makes baseball unique from other sports such as basketball and football is the rich tradition that dates back over a century. That’s why numbers are so important; they allow baseball fans to put achievements into context.
It’s for that very reason that baseball fans will never come to peace with the steroid era, while in football a measly four-game suspension is the only penalty for an athlete who resorted to performance-enhancing drugs to increase his speed and strength.
After a nasty black eye, Major League Baseball has come out of the steroid era with some fascinating competition. The majority of teams are competing and once again it has become a pitcher-dominated sport.
With statistics once again consistent with past eras, we can compare some of our favourite current stars to past players.
Yunel Escobar is Luke Appling
This may be the only time that you’ll see Yunel Escobar compared to a Hall of Famer, but with a .290 average through his first five seasons, the 28-year-old is on a fine career-path. Luke Appling is best known for his 20-year career with the White Sox as a remarkably consistent talent. He never blasted more than eight home runs, and only recorded one season of 20-plus steals.
What made Appling a Hall of Famer was his 14 seasons with a .300-plus average including a MLB-best .388 batting clip in 1936. Escobar boasts one such season with an average north of .300, but with 629 hits under his belt before his 29th birthday, Escobar is actually ahead of Appling’s pace. The hard part will be posting another 14 years of continued success.
Jose Bautista is Mack Jones
Jose Bautista’s closest peer is probably Roy Hobbs, from the motion picture The Natural. After all, no batter comes to mind who so late in his career, went from being a utility player to suddenly the best slugger in baseball. However, searching through the archives, another player did come up with a high similarity score. The name should be familiar to the original Montreal Expos fans: Mack Jones.
In his first three seasons with the Milwaukee Braves, Jones was a part-time player who combined for 13 home runs in 212 games. However, the next season at the age of 26, Jones broke out with 31 home runs and seven triples. Jones blasted another 23 home runs the next season, and then in 1969, the Expos inaugural season, Jones blasted 22 home runs with 79 RBI. Only Rusty Staub had a better season for the last place franchise.
Bautista is certainly more Hobbs than Jones. After all, Bautista didn’t just breakout to have a good season in 2009. He broke out to lead the entire Major Leagues in home runs, and it looks like he’s going to do it again this season. Furthermore, Bautista is not a one-dimensional power hitter. He fields well, has incredible plate discipline, and this season is even offering a .330 average. In other words, Bautista’s success is unprecedented and one day a film character may even be based on him.
Adam Lind is Lee May
The 27-year-old Adam Lind is still defining himself as a player, but for now the best comparison is former slugger Lee May. One of the top sluggers of his time, May put together some stellar seasons. He made three All-Star teams and earned votes for the MVP award in six different seasons.
May was very much a power hitter with three straight seasons of 30-plus home runs, and three seasons of 100-plus RBI. Similar to Lind, May was not great on the base paths, and he struck out a bit too often. However, one thing that Lind has done that May never accomplished in his 18-year career was bat over .300 in a season. Lind accomplished that feat in 2009 (.305), and he is currently batting .300.
Aaron Hill is Davey Johnson
While Jose Bautista came out of nowhere to reach success, his teammate Aaron Hill has had the opposite plight, enjoying early success then struggling. On that note, Hill will remind some old-timers of current Nationals manager Davey Johnson. Just like Hill, Johnson manned second base and in 1973 he had one of the finest seasons ever for the position. After hitting just five home runs the previous season, Johnson went batty, blasting 43 home runs with 99 RBI. In total, Johnson made four All-Star teams, but he would never hit as many as half that total of home runs in a single season again.
Hill, of course, has a similar career so far. He went from hitting two home runs in 2008 to blasting 36 taters the following season. He then followed with 26 last season, but the average tanked 81 points, and this season Hill boasts just four home runs. At 29 years old, Hill is young enough to recover from the ugly trend, but if he doesn’t, we have seen a similar tale before.
Ricky Romero is Freddy Garcia
Ricky Romero is off to a sensational start in the Majors. The 26-year old southpaw boasts 34 wins with a 3.77 ERA. While the young hurler is often compared to the previous Toronto ace Roy Halladay, a more reasonable comparison is Yankees veteran Freddy Garcia.
As a rookie, the hard-throwing Garcia was electric. He finished in second place behind Carlos Beltran for the American League Rookie of the Year award and even garnered some Cy Young votes thanks to a 17-8 record with 170 strikeouts. After three seasons Garcia was 45-19, and appeared on the fast track to a long and productive career as a front of the rotation starter. Unfortunately, injuries slowed Garcia down a bit, and now at 34-years old is a back-end starter for the Yankees.
While some may consider Garcia’s career disappointing, the truth is that with a 140-93 career record, the Venezuela native has been very productive. Romero, the sixth pick of the 2005 draft, has the potential to be even better. He also has been eased into the role of Blue Jays ace with pitch counts and innings limits, so there’s a chance he’ll be able to remain healthy and surpass Garcia’s numbers.