best seasons by Cards position players before age 25

[Gagliano]

With Walker, Wetherholt, and Winn off to good starts, I got curious about the best seasons by bWAR for Cards position players before the age of 25. As best I can tell, only 5 position players had bWAR seasons of 6 or better before they hit 25: Musial, Hornsby, Pujols, Medwick, and Mize. I know the odds they’ll get there are slim, but if the can keep this rate, Winn hits 6.48, 7.36 for Wetherholt, and 10.1 for Jordan. Maybe one of the three manages it? That player would be joining some awfully nice company.

I’m not the best Cards historian. I’d welcome thoughts. Probably the most important thought is we are not yet a quarter of the way through the season and I should learn to be patient….

[bicyclemike]

Five Hall of Famers there – elite company. Well Pujols will be a first ballot Famer.

In one of the more prominent “what if” stories in Cardinal lore, we had a phenom put up a 5.1 bWAR at age 25; a player by the name of Austin McHenry. He looked to be a future star, but died only a couple of years later of a brain tumor.

In 1921 McHeney hit .350 and drove in 102 runs in his big year. He was considered one of the best outfielders in baseball, but suffered vision problems after that remarkable season
and died soon after.

[Albert de Morcerf]

While not a rookie, Walker is putting together an age 23 season which rivals 21 year-old Albert Pujols’ rookie season.

I can’t remember a turnaround by a young player quite like this. Maybe Jose Cruz after he was traded or Van Slyke after he was traded. It’s been incredible!

[KeepComingBack]

I can’t remember a turnaround by a young player quite like this

It’s like he looks the same just standing around but his baseball movements are that of a different guy.

[stlcard25]

While not a rookie, Walker is putting together an age 23 season which rivals 21 year-old Albert Pujols’ rookie season.

I can’t remember a turnaround by a young player quite like this. Maybe Jose Cruz after he was traded or Van Slyke after he was traded. It’s been incredible!

I’m super glad for Walker to get some positive momentum going here. It’s crazy that at 2.9 bWAR as of now, that only gets his career total to 0.3. If there had been a least valuable player award last year, Walker probably would have won it. He’s in the running for the MVP if he continues to play like he has all season.

[Gagliano]

I must have jinxed them. Winn has fallen off the pace. Wetherholt (6.62) and Walker (7.73) are still on pace, but less margin of error.

Bikemike-

Thanks for that (tragic) story! That’s not someone I had heard of before.

Stl-

By fWAR, Walker was indeed the least valuable, at -1.2. I wonder if that move from worst to first has happened before?

[bicyclemike]

You don’t usually see players abruptly turn things around, but it happens now and then. The guy that comes to mind for me is Lou Brock. He was a sub-100 OPS+ guy with subpar defense at 24 years old with some 1200 plate appearances under his belt. Still young, but you figure at that point he had plenty of opportunities and was just a .260 hitter who stuck out a lot and struggled in the outfield.

But the Cardinals saw the athleticism and potential and he just started finding his mark around the time of the trade. Walker is looking similar, thankfully not after a trade.

[Gagliano]

Molina’s improvement wasn’t as quick, but….His wRC+ was 77, 71, and 54 his first three years, but he later got up to a string of 126, 138, and 133 2011-2013.

[Author]

Posts