MLB’s Best Under 25 Team
Here’s the best of the best in the MLB under 25 years old. Eligibility is based upon players being under 25 as of September 1st, 2007. Got anybody to add or subtract from the list?
C – Joe Mauer
A no-brainier, Mauer is the total package behind the plate. I’d personally like to see a bit more power & his ever changing height could become a concern, yet it’s hard to argue with a .300+ catcher that throws out over 50% of would be base stealer’s.
1B – Prince Fielder
Prince is the man, no doubt about that one. His slugging is over .600 & he’s only 23 years old! Right now Fielder is sitting at 70 career HR. It’s way to early to start making predictions, although 500 career dingers could be in the cards if he can avoid the injury bug & hitting up the buffets with his old man.
2B – Howie Kendrick
Easily the toughest slot to fill, we’ll go with potential and choose Howie Kendrick & his .321 batting average. Just missing out on the 25 cutoff were Kinsler, Hill, Johnson, & Uggla.
SS – Jose Reyes
Not as easy a pick as it may appear, with Rameriz eligible and all. That said, we’ll still go with Reyes & his mix of speed, power, and energy, plus his defense is much better than Hanley’s.
3B – Miguel Cabrera
It seems like Cabrera has been around forever, as he debuted as a young punk back in 2003. His weight could become a concern, although I have a hard time sweeting any player that’s on pace for his fourth consecutive 100 RBI season. As pure of a hitter as there is, Miguel should have over 1000 hits by the time he’s 26.
OF – Nick Markakis
A complete player in every sense, Nick Markakis is a joy to watch at the plate and in the field. He’s been Mr. Consistent in his first two seasons, with OPS numbers within .25 of each other. Nick isn’t your typical power hitter, as his abilities lead to more gap power than anything else. A solid month of September could land him in the 20-20 club, which would be quite a feat, seeing as he had only 2 SB in 147 games in 2006.
OF – Delmon Young
He’s never meet a pitch that he hasn’t liked, especially with men on base. His 106/25 SO/BB ratio is somewhat frightening, although he’s still managing to hit .296. The potential for Delmon is scary when one considers he’s only going to improve upon his plate approach & selection. Right now he basically goes up and rips, having success based purely upon talent alone. His arm is already feared amongst AL runners, as his 15 outfield assists are near the top of MLB rankings.
OF – Hunter Pence
The sample size has been pretty small for Pence, and (beating a dead horse here), the SO/BB ratio could should some improvement (72/20). I like the 14 bombs in 85 games, and the .322 average doesn’t hurt either. If he can take a cab instead of driving himself, Hunter could have a nice little career ahead of him.
Starting Pitcher – Scott Kazmir
Pitching in Tampa certainly hurts Kazmir’s fanfare throughout the league. Despite this, his stats are tough to deny. Scott will most likely sport a high WHIP during his upcoming playing days due to his walk or strikeout pitching style. The Rays are trying to get Kazmir to pitch to contact more this season and he’s nearly doubled past GIDP numbers, with 17 in 2007. This season he’s 11-8, while surrendering less than a hit per inning (172 in 175.1 IP), and is continuing to bring the strikeouts (194). During his Tampa career, Kaz has a 33- 28 record. That’s extremely impressive when considering the ballclubs that he’s worked for. Workload could become a problem in the future, although the Rays do protect Scott every Septmember with extra rest and lower pitch counts.
Matt Cain certainly gained consideration, yet he doesn’t have the track record that Kazmir does, along with the fact that he pitches in a bigger ballpark (Petco) & an easier hitting division (NL West – AL East).
Relief Pitcher – Jonathan Bronxton
Rob Dibble lite anyone? Bronxton brings the nasty on consistently for the Dodgers & is a strikeout machine. This season his overall K/9 is down (still 10.83 or 85 K in 70.2 IP), but he’s improved upon his overall WHIP. Always difficult to get a hit off of, this season opponents have a .566 OPS off of Jonathan. How low is this? All world pitcher Johan Santana has a .674 mark and a career .641 OPS against. It’s just a matter of time until Bronxton is closing, although he may present as much or more value in an 85+ IP set-up role than he would in a 60 IP closing role.
Justin Upton may make it over Markakis in a year or two…otherwise, great list.
First of all is Broxton not Bronxton….
I know you got Miggy at third, it’s a no brainer, but you have to get Ryan Braun in there somewhere. As a utility player or something. I agree with Cabrera, he’s the best 3B in the league, but DH Braun or something.
I disagree with Jose Reyes. Big time.
Ramirez is hitting .333/.388/.563 with 24 HR and 67 RBI. HIs fielding percentage is .960, he has 43 stolen bases but has been caught 12 times.
Reyes is hitting .295/.369/.437 with 10 HR and 49 RBI. He’s stolen 74 bases but been caught 17 times. .983 fielding percentage.
Ramirez .333 BA is the second best in the national league and best among all players under 25. He has also created 121 runs to Reyes 101. Ramirez also has 303 Total bases to Reyes 250, So i think that I would take Ramirez, because he would help you so much more offensively than Reyes. Over a course of season he might give up about four more runs than Reyes on defense, but offensively he destroys him as the numbers show and compensates for his defense.
At pitcher Kazmir isn’t a bad choice, just not mine. I would probably go with Oliver Perez,Cole Hamels, Justin Verlander or Fausto Carmona. Matt Capps deserves a mention as a relief pitcher. Chad Billingsly should get a mention as a starter. Felix Hernandez might eclipse them all by the time he’s 24. I would have named a five man rotation, there is too much talent to simply say Kazmir. Jesse Litsch Too much talent,
Starters
Jesse Litsch
Perez
Hamels
Carmona
Verlander
Cain
Tom Gorzelanny
Kazmir
Hernandez
Billingsly
TIm Lincecum
Short Relief
Broxton
Closer
Matt Capps
What of Francisco Liriano?
Yeah I agree about Liriano, I meant to put him under the DL list. The guy was a monster, I don’t want to be rude but Scott Kazmir….?????? It’s a little, eughh, to just mention him and Cain
and to mention Dan Uggla, isn’t he hitting .249 this year? I would imagine its hard to fill though, you had robinson cano, dustin pedroia and kelly johnson to choose from. AND NO GRADY SIZEMORE IN THE OUTFIELD? Let alone Corey Hart or Jeff Francouer…. Man, oh man…
Dustin Pedroia seems like a good choice for second base.
or Robinson Cano
Thanks for the comments guys.
The cut-off date for under 25 was Sept 1, so thats the reason why players such as Sizemore, Perez & others weren’t listed.
I agree with a majority of the pitchers on the rotation list, although I still stand by my decision to give Kazmir the nod & cain the mention, otherwise the article might have turned into a novel.
I’m personally a sucker for solid D at SS, and I’m willing to sacrifice some O for the D. Sabermetric D run stats don’t really float my boat, as I’m much more inclined to go to RF & Zone Rating. Reyes Zone Rating is #2 in baseball, at .885. Rameriz is 2nd last with a .785 mark. Hanley also has 21 errors to Reyes league leading (tie) 8.
I stand by Kendrick over Cano, although the sample is small. I just see more upside to Kendrick as soon as next season. Pedroia seems, to me at least, to be playing over his head. And Johnson is great from a sabermetical standpoint, although I’m not sure how much the Braves think of him after the whole Escobar ordeal from a month or so back.
Matt Capps was #2 for relief pitchers.
Justin’s brother BJ was in the top 10 for outfielders, as he’s just killing the ball this season.
A fair argument for Hart, Francouer and BJ Upton in the outfield could easily be made. I probably just wanted to get my bad cab joke in…
Ryan Braun is a stud but I can’t create a position for him. I’d like to see more of a sample at the MLB level before I’d even consider giving him the nod over a proven all-star in Cabrera.
Thanks again for the comments, keep’em coming!
so your saying that you would really take kazmir over cole hamels or oliver perez this season? really? carmona? i was unaware that sizemore turned 25 on august 2. I don’t think Pedroia is playing over his head… how do i know, these two numbers 43 walks to 36 stirkeouts. want more? .324 BA .393 OBP
oh again, perez is older than the cutoff now…. you should have made it 25 at the beginning of the season to avoid the confusion…. or i guess im the only that is confused or was inspired by this enough to do research. honestly man im not trying to bust balls, i love these types of discussions…
It’s all good.
Pedroia has his SO/BB ratio down but his minor league and major league numbers show, to me at least, a very low power ceiling. With that said, its not like Kendrick is a power hitter, but I think he’ll be able to slug more in the coming years.
I love Carmona & Hamels. Back to the stats though, their sample sizes are far less than Kaz’s. In-fact, Kaz has more career starts than those two combined.
I understand that, but at the same time that would be like saying Felix Hernandez was a better choice last year because he had more time than Francisco Liriano… Come on man, talent is talent
True, but at the same point, if I had chosen Francisco it would have ended up being a pretty lousy pick, due to the injury and all.
When it came down to pitchers, there are so many quality arms out available that one of the main factors was staying healthy & producing year in and year out. Many of the pitchers on the list just don’t have the track record to be the one and only starter on the under 25 team.
I would probably put Jeff Francoeur on the list in OF. I know he doesn’t walk much, but still he’s on pace to have his second straight 100 RBI season. And to be honest, Pence and Young don’t walk much either. At second, Cano is much more accomplished than Kendrick. At pitcher, I think you have to go with Verlander. Also, I don’t know if Cabrera is that clear cut at third, what about David Wright?
Instead of picking apart your list I made my own. Check it out http://www.imwritingsports.com/?p=158
Of course I gave credit and a link back to you for inspiring it, drop your thoughts if you want