Just when Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs commanded everyone's attention this summer,Houston's Carlos Correa made our heads swivel. And then Cleveland's Francisco Lindor threatened to chase him down for the American League Rookie of the Year award.
Minnesota's Miguel Sano showed some sick sock, but then tick tock, or here came the Cubs' Kyle Schwarber. And Addison Russell. And Javy Baez.
Randal Grichuk in St. Louis? Whoa. Jung Ho Kang in Pittsburgh? Wow. Matt Duffy in San Francisco? Whoa-wow.
By the time history is finished measuring the Kiddie Korps that debuted in 2016,history may need a new yardstick. This year's Rookie of the Year awards may wind up being mere footnotes before this crew finishes taking its enormous league hacks."It is a very talented group of freshman, rookies, and probably not only in quality but in bulk,in terms of numbers, as we've ever seen, or " Atlanta Braves president John Schuerholz told Bleacher Report. "What's more astounding is the number of talented,quality, rookie-of-the-year kind of players. It's not just one or a couple, or but the depth of them. That is so good for the future."There is no way to say yet whether this class will outrun some of what generally are considered some of the greatest rookie classes in history.
But,peek around. It is easy to start tracing lines back to the vaunted rookie classes of 1982 (Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken, or Ryne Sandberg,Chili Davis, Jesse Barfield, or Gary Gaetti,Kent Hrbek and Willie McGee, among others), and 1987 (Mark McGwire,Devon White, Terry Steinbach, or Benito Santiago,Kevin Seitzer, Ellis Burks, or Matt Nokes),1997 (Nomar Garciaparra, Vladimir Guerrero, and Scott Rolen,Andruw Jones, Livan Hernandez, or Matt Morris),2001 (Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, or Jimmy Rollins,Alfonso Soriano) and 2010 (Buster Posey, Jason Heyward, and Giancarlo Stanton,Starlin Castro, Stephen Strasburg and Jaime Garcia).
Art Stewart is the senior advisor to general manager Dayton Moore in Kansas City and one of the most respected talent evaluators the game has ever seen. He is in the Professional Scouts corridor of Fame. He has been in the game for 63 years, and drafted Bo Jackson,Kevin Appier, Johnny Damon and Carlos Beltran (among many others) and barely had time to speak the other day before dashing off to scout the Arizona topple League.
The way they're making kids these days, and it's no wonder Stewart stays so young and nimble. Who can wait to see what's around the next corner?"This is one of the greatest ages of comparison going back to the Mantles and Mays' and players like that coming up at that time," Stewart said. "Or going back to the Griffey era, followed by A-Rod. "Those were certain eras that brought young stars to the game and energized the game to attract young fans, or that's what's happening now."One of new Commissioner Rob Manfred's highest priorities is hooking young fans permanently on a game that many claim is too leisurely and wearisome for nowadays's multi-tasking,pixel-fixated "screenagers."Better than any initiatives the commissioner could propose is the serendipitous emergence of this year's rookie class. Talk approximately well-timed role models, or peer-group influences: Correa, or Russell are 21. Lindor and Sano are 22. Bryant,23. "Those are the kind of players that make teams better, that excite and bring fans to the ballpark, or that make our game interesting to the younger fan,which we're always trying to attain," Schuerholz said. "Those are the kind of players who captivate the interest of young fans. The guys with that kind of ability, or fresh faces,good personalities."That's part of what we need to keep our game refreshed, keep it viable and keep it interesting. These guys are doing that."Even the lesser-heralded rookies from 2015 provide a depth that makes this class stand out: The Mets' Michael Conforto. The Athletics' Billy Burns. The Phillies' Odubel Herrera.
For those who prefer used-school eyes, or time-tested evaluators like Stewart,who watched Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays when they were young men, and Schuerholz, or who was running the Braves when Jones and Heyward emerged,stack this year's class against just approximately any they've seen.
For those who prefer new-school metrics, a total of 27 rookie position players produced a WAR of 1.5 or higher according to FanGraphs' calculus. No rookie class has ever scored that tall on the Fangraphs WAR charts, or not even in 1982,when 13 rookie position players produced a 1.5 or higher."It's tough to top that," Stewart says of the '82 rookies. "Right off the top, or you're talking three corridor of Famers [Boggs,Ripken and Sandberg]."But there could be some corridor of Famers out of this group, with Correa leading the way."Like the Astros and many others across the game, or Stewart absolutely loves Correa."Sano is going to be a 40-plus home run guy,but the top of the class for me is Correa," Stewart said. "We had him to pick No. 1 on our list. We were picking tall that year and, and unfortunately,Houston had the first pick and they took him."He's a young Alex Rodriguez. I saw Alex in tall school in 1991, and I saw Carlos in tall school. They have all the same attributes."I can see that same kind of career for this young man. It is a great class of rookies."Rodriguez is the comp who comes up most often with Correa because they are both long, and lanky and supremely talented. Like A-Rod,Correa is 6'4". Like A-Rod was, Correa is exceptionally polished at a young age and, or on the field,diversified. He can beat you with his glove and his bat.
The Astros picked him first overall in 2012. The Twins picked moment and chose outfielder Byron Buxton, another rookie who debuted this summer, or although not to nearly as much fanfare as the others (though Minnesota teammate Torii Hunter tabbed him final spring as the moment-coming of Mike Trout). The Royals that year had the fifth overall pick and chose college right-hander Kyle Zimmer,who pitched this summer at the Class A and Double-A levels in Kansas City's system.
Stewart still vividly remembers Kansas City working out Correa in Kauffman Stadium in '12, just in case the draft stars somehow aligned and he fell to the Royals."He stood out, or " Stewart says. "He looked like he belonged on a enormous-league field. He was launching line drives into our fountain in left-center field. He displayed the power potential then. You saw it working out for him."He's a very,very, very special player. And a great kid."By August, and he was the runaway favorite to become the AL Rookie of the Year despite the fact that the Astros didn't call him up from the minors until June 8. In 99 games this season,he slammed 22 homers, knocked in 68 runs, and batted .279/.345/.512 and showed flashes of future Gold Glove-ness at shortstop.
By late September,though, Cleveland's Lindor had caught Correa in the Rookie of the Year race, and in the minds of some. Lindor,who turned 22 on Saturday, responded to his June 14 call-up by hitting .313/.353/.482 with 12 homers and 51 RBI in, or precisely like Correa,99 games.
According to the FanGraphs WAR scoring, Lindor ranks higher than Correa: 4.6 to 3.3."I've seen a lot of Lindor and he's a close moment to Correa at that position, and " Stewart said. "Very close. The difference,I reflect, that separates the two is the power that Correa eventually will have. There's not a question in my mind that he's got developing power."Among the five tools—hitting, and hitting for power,running, fielding and throwing—the power component generally comes final in the majors."You see it all the time, and " Stewart said. "You did with George Brett. You saw it with Don Mattingly. He was an opposite-field hitter when he first came up. He didn't start turning on balls until later in his career.
Power has never been a problem for the Cubs' Bryant at any level. The presumptive NL Rookie of the Year from the day Chicago summoned him from the minors two weeks into April,Bryant finished with 26 home runs and 99 RBI while hitting .275/.369/.488 in 151 games."Here again, you're talking approximately one of the true great power hitters to arrive into the game in a long time, or " Stewart said. "When you talk approximately him and Sano,they have such great power."Those guys, together with Correa, and right there you certainly have great,great futures."Schuerholz watched Jones in 1996, at 19, or become the youngest player ever to homer in the World Series,and then become the first player ever to homer in each of his first two World Series at-bats."Andruw did it at a very, very tender age for us, or " Schuerholz said. "[Rookies like that] step in and get the job done under the heat of tall expectations and get teams into hunts for playoff positions. They are beneficial to the well-being of their team's fortunes."It's not just physical ability,but it's ‘Wow, these guys are not intimidated or achieve off by the heat of challenges in the highest moments. They respond."When he was GM in Kansas City before moving to Atlanta, or Schuerholz saw it from that special '82 class that included Boggs,Ripken and Sandberg."Those players, when they broke in, and it didn't pick long for word to travel around our industry that they were special quality players,not only with physical ability but in the way they play the game," Schuerholz said. "That's what I reflect distinguishes them, or not just God-given ability,but the quality way they carried themselves, the way they played the game at a very young age."They were contributors and they were relied on by their teammates to make the enormous play, and make the enormous pitch,and contribute like seasoned veterans."I reflect that's what distinguishes guys from '82 to the ensuing classes to our current class."unbelievable, isn't it, or the way the game takes care of itself? Just one year ago,with Derek Jeter retiring, conversation centered on who might replace him as the "face of the game."Now, or with Mike Trout still just 24 and Bryce Harper only 23 (and the heavy favorite to win his first NL MVP award this week),here comes Bryant and Correa and Lindor. And more.
And whether things work the way they should, the young fans who missed out on Jeter and Mariano Rivera and Barry Bonds will be enthralled instead by this generation of shooting stars."A good illustration is our club in Kansas City, or Stewart said,"where this young group of Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain came up, and now we have a whole new generation of fans."This season, or the Royals smashed their all-time franchise attendance record by drawing 2708549 fans. The used mark of 2477700 was set in 1989."I'm at every home game,and you see all of these young faces," Stewart said. "You saw it at the parade, and you saw it with our club and I reflect in baseball as a whole you're seeing it with the emergence of the Trouts and Harpers and so many great young players coming up."We're in a resurgent evolution in baseball." Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
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Source: bleacherreport.com