The Resurgence (Or Lack There Of) In Major League Baseball

The top 5 OPS at each position and their age (minimum 502 plate appearances. Stats according to Yahoo Sports) Pitching stats based on ERA (according to ESPN) with a minimum 180 innings pitched

Catcher

Wilson Ramos

.850

29

Buster Posey

.796

29

Yadier Molina

.787

34

J.T. Realmuto

.771

25

Russell Martin

.733

33

First Basemen

Joey Votto

.985

33

Freddie Freeman

.968

27

Miguel Cabrera

.956

33

Anthony Rizzo

.928

27

Paul Goldschmidt

.899

29

Second Basemen

Daniel Murphy

.985

31

Jose Altuve

.928

26

DJ LeMahieu

.911

28

Brian Dozier

.886

29

Matt Carpenter

.885

30

Third Basemen

Josh Donaldson 

.953

30

Kris Bryant

.939

24

Nolan Arenado

.932

25

Adrian Beltre

.879

37

Manny Machado

.876

24

Shortstop

Corey Seager

.877

22

Jean Segura

.867

26

Jonathan Villar

.826

25

Carlos Correa

.811

22

Asdrubal Cabrera

.810

30

Left Field

Charlie Blackmon

.933

30

Ryan Braun

.903

32

Yoenis Cespedes

.884

31

Christian Yelich

.859

24

Khris Davis

.831

28

Center Field

Mike Trout

.991

25

Dexter Fowler

.840

30

Jackie Bradley Jr. 

.836

26

Michael Saunders

.815

29

Adam Eaton

.790

27

Right Field

J.D. Martinez

.908

29

Mookie Betts

.897

24

Yasmany Tomas 

.820

25

Jose Bautista

.817

36

George Springer

.815

27

Designated Hitter

David Ortiz

1.021

40

Nelson Cruz

.915

36

Mark Trumbo 

.850

30

Carlos Beltran

.850

39

Victor Martinez

.826

37


RHP

Kyle Hendricks

2.13

26

Noah Syndegaard

2.60

24

Johnny Cueto

2.79

30

Tanner Roark

2.83

30

Jose Fernandez

2.86

24 at T.O.D.

LHP

Jon Lester

2.44

32

Madison Bumgarner

2.74

27

J.A. Happ

3.18

34

Jose Quintana

3.20

27

Cole Hamels

3.32

32

My Intent when I started writing this piece was to write about how there has been an insurgence of youth into Major League Baseball over the past couple of seasons. So I went to the always reliable numbers to decide if that was the case. To a little bit of my surprise, it really kind of depended on the position. The DH position was hardly surprising as that is used for guys that can still hit but are big liabilities in the field at their age, but to see the difference between the ages of the top catchers and shortstops was staggering. The amount of young talent at the shortstop position alone could produce 3 to 4 future MVP's (Seager, Correa, and Lindor). With all of the hype about young players, especially during this entire postseason and World Series, it is good to look at the stats to tell us what is true and what isn't.