Baseball fans love speculating about who will be the next great talent to burst onto the scene. Every year we rank the top prospects in the league, talk endlessly about which young “assets” should be traded and which should be kept, and make bold predictions regarding who will put up huge numbers. In my case, the predictions are always wrong (Wily Mo Pena still hasn’t had that 40-homer season that we’re all waiting for), but that will never stop me from loudly proclaiming exactly who I think will be the next big star (Brock Holt for MVP). Our affinity for predicting superstardom makes perfect sense. Few things are more fun to watch than raw talent and nothing is more satisfying than knowing about something before it becomes a big deal. It’s like knowing a band before they hit it big, except in sports you don’t have to stop liking them once they’re popular (Kings of Leon just aren’t what they used to be). However, setting high expectations on a national level for young men in high school leaves room for significant error. Not every person who is touted as the next big thing becomes a thing at all. It seems as though right now an entire generation of young players are coming into their own and leading teams into the thick of division races.
First, I am obligated to mention the likes of Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton. The reigning MVP has already led his team to a division title and is back to work this year, while Giancarlo Stanton recently crushed a ball out of Dodger Stadium without breaking a sweat. These gentlemen are already on top of their games and are proven elites at the Major League level. But let’s take a look at a few youngsters who are just starting to show exactly what they are capable of.
Yes, we have been celebrating Harper for what feels like ages, putting him on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was in utero, but in the early going of 2015 he is looking like an absolute stud. He leads the Majors in WAR for position players and has been an on-base machine. With an on-base percentage of .444 and an OPS of 1.119, he has been a nightmare for opposing pitchers. If you get on base, you score runs. If you score runs, you win, and because of Harper (and their top-notch pitching staff) the Nationals have been winning a lot. The Nats have won 8 of their last 10 games and clawed their way back into the NL East, where the first-place Mets appear to be coming back to earth. Washington has been a popular World Series pick for two straight seasons because of the depth of their pitching and the star-potential in their lineup. Lately, the Nationals have been converting that talent into wins, with Harper not only leading the charge, but also coming up with the big hits. Last week he hit six home runs over a three-game stretch, including a walk-off shot. It is one thing to put up big numbers in a vacuum, piling up stats on a mediocre ball club. It’s quite another to come up with the clutch plays that keep a team’s hot streak alive. Lately, the Nationals’ 22-year-old right fielder is doing it all and living up to those expectations we have been throwing at him for years.
While on the subject of on-base monsters, we cannot forget two other young players who are rising to the top and taking their teams with them: Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs and Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros. While both are most likely cases of organizations getting their acts together just when their biggest talents are hitting their prime, the players have to hold up their ends of the bargain too. Rizzo leads the Majors in times on base (with Bryce Harper right behind him), posting an OBP of .470. There has been a significant amount of talk surrounding the Cubs’ highly touted prospects Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and Jorge Soler. But if the team is going to make a playoff push this season, it will not be the rookies who lead the way. Rizzo has been at the heart of that lineup for two full seasons now, and the 25-year-old knows how it feels to win and lose (mostly lose) throughout the course of a long season. The Cubs just might make a playoff push in 2015, and if they do, a significant catalyst for that will be the four-year veteran in the heart of their lineup who gets on base almost every other time he steps up to bat.
Meanwhile, in Houston, Jose Altuve also finds himself in the middle of a youth movement; one that two weeks ago ripped off ten straight wins and currently finds itself in first place in the AL West. While Altuve is not in the same power or RBI conversation as Rizzo or Harper, he is a man who gets hits—lot of hits. If you haven’t been paying particularly close attention to the Astros prior to last season, you may have been a bit surprised at the ridiculous 225 hits the 5’6’’ second baseman tallied in 2014. And while other young Astros like George Springer can go on hitting tears for weeks at a time, Altuve has proven that his ability to consistently get on base is no fluke. Posting a .326 average so far this year, Altuve is on his way to establishing himself as a premier second baseman in the American League.
With so much focus on prospects and future talent, it is refreshing to see long-talked about players like Harper, Rizzo, and Altuve getting their chance to hit the ball, play the field, and win baseball games. It is a pretty simple formula, but to see people be truly great at it is a special sight to behold.