Knuckle Curve » cal_ripken http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve Major League Baseball News from Spring Training to the World Series Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:55:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Upton or Cano? http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/upton-or-cano/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/upton-or-cano/#comments Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:59:34 +0000 Geoff Young http://www.knucklecurve.com/upton-or-cano/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> Eric at Rays Anatomy has a fun post up debating the relative merits of B.J. Upton and Robinson Cano. I’m pretty squarely in the Upton camp on this one. Cano is a terrific young player, but much of his value is tied into batting average, and second basemen don’t always age well.

Upton, meanwhile, just posted a 136 OPS+ as a 22-year-old, which is ridiculous. In the history of baseball, 48 players have been that productive at that age. Only 11 of those seasons have come in the last 30 years:

  • Jack Clark, 1978, 152 OPS+
  • Eddie Murray, 1978, 140
  • Rickey Henderson, 1981, 150
  • Cal Ripken, 1983, 144
  • Ken Griffey Jr., 1992, 149
  • Vladimir Guerrero, 1998, 150
  • Alex Rodriguez, 1998, 136
  • Albert Pujols, 2002, 151
  • David Wright, 2005, 139
  • Miguel Cabrera, 2005, 151
  • B.J. Upton, 2007, 136

Basically Upton had A-Rod’s age-22 season. Works for me…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/upton-or-cano/feed/ 7 Not Your Father’s Shortstops http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/not-your-fathers-shortstops/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/not-your-fathers-shortstops/#comments Tue, 22 May 2007 17:37:12 +0000 Geoff Young http://www.knucklecurve.com/not-your-fathers-shortstops/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> Have you noticed the National League shortstops this season? These are not the players I remember watching as a kid — Bill Russell, Davy Concepcion, Rafael Ramirez, Rafael Santana, Larry Bowa, Tim Foli, et al. Sure, Adam Everett is around, but most of the other guys manning the position now wield a potent bat.

Cal Ripken created a big stir when he first came into the big leagues. Redefined the position, they said. Alan Trammell. Robin Yount. And later, of course, the big three of Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Nomar Garciaparra.

Those guys all called the American League home. What did the NL have? Barry Larkin (who hopefully will have better luck than Trammell did when it comes time for the Hall of Fame folks to hand out keys to the executive washroom), and that’s about it.

Young NL Shortstops
Player Age AB BA OBP SLG
Stats courtesy of ESPN, through May 21, 2007.
J.J. Hardy 24 186 .312 .355 .602
Hanley Ramirez 23 170 .335 .411 .541
Jose Reyes 24 182 .324 .394 .505
Troy Tulowitzki 22 155 .258 .348 .361
Stephen Drew 24 158 .234 .302 .310

Now, though, we’ve got J.J. Hardy, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, Edgar Renteria, and Jimmy Rollins tearing up the league. Renteria and Rollins have been around a while, but those other three might have untapped upside, which is a scary thought.

Troy Tulowitzki and Stephen Drew aren’t there yet, but they will be. Remember that Reyes hit .273/.300/.386 in his first full season.

Hardy leads the league in home runs. He now has 28 for his career, or three more than Foli knocked over 16 seasons. Yeah, I think the game has changed a little in 30 years…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

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