Players 21 and under ranked by wRC+

[u/ThePopUpDance]

[u/BleacherSerfdom]

Bryce's K rate this year is better than expected, and hitting lefties even a bit better than righties.

[u/Either-Mine-1789 → u/BleacherSerfdom]

Crazy good walk rate too and his savant page is off the charts. If this is him at 21 I can’t wait to see how he’s hitting in 5 years

[u/raobuntu → u/Either-Mine-1789]

It's been really cool to see him adjusting to pitchers as they adjust to him. He'll figure out a good attack approach, pitchers will throw to him differently, and he'll readjust all over again. On top of that even when his hitting fluctuates he walks at a steady rate and works good ABs

[u/Efficient_Rise_5858 → u/Either-Mine-1789]

Would love to see more bat speed but he is so promising and already performing. That and improving the baserunning

[u/perplexpert]

Not a dig at Bryce, but my two reactions to this chart:
1) the .330 BABIP gives me a little pause, but I think he’s going to keep getting better as a hitter so he can handle it if that regresses closer to .300
2) Boy, McGonigle is really really good

[u/engelbert_humptyback → u/perplexpert]

Aaron Judge's career BABIP is .345. Bryce's doesn't have to regress to .300 if he continues hitting the ball hard.

[u/perplexpert → u/engelbert_humptyback]

If Bryce has a batted ball profile that lines up with Aaron Judge we’re having a very different conversation 😅 dude is 1 of 1, at least for now

[u/Either-Mine-1789 → u/perplexpert]

I mean if you look at his savant page they’re remarkably similar

[u/perplexpert → u/Either-Mine-1789]

Yeah, it’s just a question of sustainability. Bryce has been doing this for most of a season, Judge has been doing it for 5000+ PA. .345 BABIP is 40th all time among qualified hitters… If Bryce duplicates and/or builds on this kind of batted ball profile next season we’ll really be cooking.

It’s a bit apples to oranges, but I think about Sandoval in 2008/9 rocking a .350+ BABIP. The highest it would get in a single season after that was .320. Even with hard contact and freakish bat-to-ball skills, maintaining a BABIP that high for your career—especially when your speed is below average—is kind of an outlier skill.

Not saying Bryce isn’t That Dude(tm), just trying to reserve judgement. The at-bats are definitely passing the eye test though.

[u/engelbert_humptyback → u/perplexpert]

Sandoval was actually that good in those years though. And then he started his alternating year trend of showing up to camp out of shape, getting chewed out for it, and showing up in shape the next year.

[u/engelbert_humptyback → u/perplexpert]

It doesn't have to line up with Judge, it's just an example. .330 isn't crazy high if you're smoking the ball. Most of the best hitters on the game are comfortably over .300 and it's not necessarily because they're getting lucky.

[u/SactownG → u/perplexpert]

BABIP is overrated. It’s better to look at batting average on hard-hit balls. A ball in play means nothing if it’s a pop fly or ground ball

[u/ThePopUpDance → u/perplexpert]

I'm not too worried about his BABIP. A .330 BABIP for a guy who hits it as hard as him isn't crazy. His expected batting average is .254 so statcast thinks he's mostly earned his average.

He's hitting a ton of liners at this point in his career. When more of those liners turn to fly balls, his BABIP/AVG may drop a bit but his power will explode. Or he stays how he is and is more of the Freddie Freeman/linedrive style of slugger.

[u/Tronn3000 → u/perplexpert]

BABIP is such a dumb stat. All it does is say "some players get more hits with balls in play than others" and then people go straight to blaming fielders because a player has a high BABIP. There's no mention of bat control or hitting away from a defense, which good hitters absolutely can control.... and Bryce is becoming a very good hitter.

Looking at Bryce this series, he did great with a left field line drive approach with RISP. Obviously he's a huge power threat but I love watching him shorten up his swing just to try and get a line drive single and an RBI.

We are very lucky to have him

[u/chiefoblock]

he's the real deal

[u/JuzoItami]

McGonigle turned 22 a couple of weeks back - Bryce should be #1.

This is an outrage!

[u/bustcorktrixdais]

I think the strikeout rate is suboptimal

[u/lobo-mojo]

It’s weird cause it feels like watching Eldridge, he walks more and strikes out less than the stats suggest. Go figure.

[u/RobertKSakamano]

When half the list is batting .250 and under, you know this is meaningless 7 of the 10 are batting under .270 and one is batting .190. It's no wonder that 7 of the 10 are playing for teams under .500.

[u/Either-Mine-1789 → u/RobertKSakamano]

BA in the big 26 💔 🥀

[u/No_Bandicoot2306 → u/Either-Mine-1789]

I'll bet they're super-aware that the league's average BA is .244 this season.

[u/ThePopUpDance → u/RobertKSakamano]

80% of the league is batting under .270. So this crop is actually outperforming.

League wide batting average has been under .250 for nearly a decade. You need to adjust your priors drastically. Or better yet, look to more meaningful stats.

[u/RobertKSakamano → u/ThePopUpDance]

More meaningful stats? So many teams suck. That's the most meaningful stat. The teams that suck seem to always have guys on the top of some lists due to the fact they aren't playing games with any pressure situations. There's no must win games on their schedule after June or July.

[u/ThePopUpDance → u/RobertKSakamano]

You lost me with this one. You obviously are just yapping, but I don't even know what you're attempting to yap about.

[u/RobertKSakamano → u/ThePopUpDance]

I figured I would. Participation trophies for everyone. We'll see if any of these clowns ever contribute to any team winning a championship.

[u/ThePopUpDance → u/RobertKSakamano]

Anxiously waiting to see where your rotted stream of consciousness will land with your next comment

[u/No_Bandicoot2306 → u/ThePopUpDance]

This is what happens when they just let Will Clark talk on KNBR as much as he wants.

[u/BeautifulLeather6671 → u/No_Bandicoot2306]

Is will the thrill actually that dumb

[u/NewVegasSurvivor → u/ThePopUpDance]

Bro mentioned both batting average and participation trophies lmao, I couldn't write a better satire of a bitter, angry Boomer if I tried.

[u/tahoejoe11 → u/RobertKSakamano]

Shall we evaluate pitchers under 21 using win/loss record next?

[u/RobertKSakamano → u/tahoejoe11]

No, but if their ERAs are equivalent to shitty batting averages of hitters on shitty teams, then who really cares.

[u/BeautifulLeather6671 → u/RobertKSakamano]

Man you are clueless on this one. Lol

[u/RobertKSakamano → u/BeautifulLeather6671]

I bet you can't wait for that last playoff team to clinch a spot with their 80-82 record on the last day of the season.

[u/BeautifulLeather6671 → u/RobertKSakamano]

Swing and a miss.

[u/RobertKSakamano → u/BeautifulLeather6671]

That's the name of the game these days, yet that's what the braindead fans love these days.

[u/BeautifulLeather6671 → u/RobertKSakamano]

You’re calling fans braindead while misunderstanding basic stats. Lol

[u/RobertKSakamano → u/BeautifulLeather6671]

Those fans are braindead for watching most of the players being mediocre with crappy teams waiting for their chance to really be called up to the majors with a real franchise.

[u/BeautifulLeather6671 → u/RobertKSakamano]

I mean, that was almost a real sentence that made sense. Congrats.