Jose Iglesias comps @MikeSilvermanBB

Just in case Jose Iglesias does become the Red Sox’s starting shortstop this year, here are the most recent guys to play sat least 100 games at SS in their Age 22 season:

Rk Player Year OPS+ Tm G PA AB 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
1 Elvis Andrus 2011 87 TEX 150 665 587 27 3 5 60 56 74 .279 .347 .361 .708
2 Everth Cabrera 2009 95 SDP 103 438 377 18 8 2 31 46 88 .255 .342 .361 .703
3 Troy Tulowitzki 2007 109 COL 155 682 609 33 5 24 99 57 130 .291 .359 .479 .838
4 Hanley Ramirez 2006 116 FLA 158 700 633 46 11 17 59 56 128 .292 .353 .480 .833
5 J.J. Hardy 2005 86 MIL 124 427 372 22 1 9 50 44 48 .247 .327 .384 .711
6 Jose Reyes 2005 81 NYM 161 733 696 24 17 7 58 27 78 .273 .300 .386 .687
7 Cesar Izturis 2002 51 LAD 135 468 439 24 2 1 31 14 39 .232 .253 .303 .556
8 Juan Uribe 2002 55 COL 155 618 566 25 7 6 49 34 120 .240 .286 .341 .627
9 Jimmy Rollins 2001 92 PHI 158 720 656 29 12 14 54 48 108 .274 .323 .419 .743
10 Cristian Guzman 2000 70 MIN 156 690 631 25 20 8 54 46 101 .247 .299 .388 .687
11 Rafael Furcal 2000 97 ATL 131 542 455 20 4 4 37 73 80 .295 .394 .382 .776
12 Alex Gonzalez 1999 91 FLA 136 591 560 28 8 14 59 15 113 .277 .308 .430 .739
13 Mike Caruso 1999 47 CHW 136 564 529 11 4 2 35 20 36 .250 .280 .297 .577
14 Edgar Renteria 1999 84 STL 154 653 585 36 2 11 63 53 82 .275 .334 .400 .734
15 Alex Rodriguez 1998 136 SEA 161 748 686 35 5 42 124 45 121 .310 .360 .560 .919
16 Derek Jeter 1996 101 NYY 157 654 582 25 6 10 78 48 102 .314 .370 .430 .800
17 Benji Gil 1995 57 TEX 130 454 415 20 3 9 46 26 147 .219 .266 .347 .613
18 Wil Cordero 1994 119 MON 110 467 415 30 3 15 63 41 62 .294 .363 .489 .853
19 Mark Lewis 1992 86 CLE 122 446 413 21 0 5 30 25 69 .264 .308 .351 .659
20 Omar Vizquel 1989 50 SEA 143 431 387 7 3 1 20 28 40 .220 .273 .261 .534
21 Ozzie Guillen 1986 54 CHW 159 577 547 19 4 2 47 12 52 .250 .265 .311 .576
22 Dick Schofield 1985 69 CAL 147 496 438 19 3 8 41 35 70 .219 .287 .331 .618
23 Mariano Duncan 1985 79 LAD 142 620 562 24 6 6 39 38 113 .244 .293 .340 .633
24 Cal Ripken 1983 144 BAL 162 726 663 47 2 27 102 58 97 .318 .371 .517 .888
25 Alfredo Griffin 1980 69 TOR 155 696 653 26 15 2 41 24 58 .254 .283 .349 .632
26 Alan Trammell 1980 113 DET 146 652 560 21 5 9 65 69 63 .300 .376 .404 .779
27 Garry Templeton 1978 91 STL 155 675 647 31 13 2 47 22 87 .280 .303 .377 .680
28 Robin Yount 1978 110 MIL 127 545 502 23 9 9 71 24 43 .293 .323 .428 .752
29 Tom Veryzer 1975 74 DET 128 439 404 13 1 5 48 23 76 .252 .297 .327 .624
30 Bucky Dent 1974 89 CHW 154 552 496 15 3 5 45 28 48 .274 .316 .347 .662
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/10/2012.

Some really good players on there, and a few not-so-good ones.

Iglesias has struggled badly with the bat, but so did a few others guys on here (such as Omar Vizquel and Ozzie Guillen) who put together great careers.

For you Sox fans, I carried the list all the way back to Bucky “Bleepin'” Dent.

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Doug
Editor
12 years ago

Caruso had -2.1 WAR in that age 22 season, after placing 3rd in RoY the year before. Had only 12 more MLB games after his sophomore swoon.

Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
12 years ago

The last and third-from-last people on this are connected due to one of the most infamous All-Star votes in history, which I actually didn’t know about until last year, so I’ll share in case others don’t know. As most people know, Robin Yount won the AL MVP in 1982. In the process, he posted one of the greatest seasons ever by a shortstop – perhaps the best season by someone not named “Honus.” Anyway, at the halfway point of the season, Yount was not chosen by the fans to start the All-Star game. He was hitting .327/.363/.585 at this point,… Read more »

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago
Reply to  Dr. Doom

I blame Brewers fans. Seriously, it wasn’t just Yankees fans who weren’t voting for him in 1982; it appears that all fans weren’t voting for him at any point during his career. Yount only appeared in three All-Star teams over 20 seasons. He didn’t even make the team the second time he won the MVP as an OFer. Strange for someone of his stature who created a bit of splash from the start of his career, making the majors as a starting SS at 18.

Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom
12 years ago
Reply to  MikeD

Some truth to that, although there were clearly fans in other cities voting for Dent, as well. But also, it’s part of the whole Zeitgeist of the pre-internet era. I don’t doubt that, good as the Brewers were in 1981 and 1982, the Yankees still drew more fans (albeit narrowly). My guess is that it’s mostly that Dent was, at the time, probably the more recognizable player (and had the more colorful “middle name”), and thus got the lion’s share of the votes. But access to data was more limited, the number of voters was more limited: everything was more… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
12 years ago
Reply to  Dr. Doom

Yount won the MVP in 1989 without making the All-Star team. He did have a monster second half (.964 ops), but was sitting at a very nice .299 .369 .468 .837 going into the break. Starting outfielders were 1. Kirby (.336 .381 .474 .855) 2. Ruben (.330 .372 .581 .953) and, the cult of personality known as 3. Vincent Jackson (.263 .307 .522 .829) (21 homers and 96 K) Bo led off the game with a 450 foot moonball off of 66.3 WAR Big Daddy, and went on to win the MVP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR-8GRmbY8w __________ Okay, makes sense. But surely Yount… Read more »

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

The year before Yount, Kirk Gibson won the MVP while not making the All-Star team. In fact, Gibson never made the all-star team at any point in his career. The two seasons were similar in that there were no dominant offensive performances, at least in terms of the traditional batting categories. Not sure if any other MVPs have failed to make the All-Star team.

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

I’m less surprised by Gibson not making an All-Star team than Yount. A very talented athlete, it took him several years to hit his peak, and then when he did he was pretty injury prone. Prior to that MVP season, he only had two seasons where he played in more than 140 games, so I don’t think most fans viewed him as an elite player. There wasn’t one amazing standout player that year in the NL, but I do remember thinking Strawberry was the clear choice for MVP that season. I wonder if Straw’s problems were known by some in… Read more »

Ed
Ed
12 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

I agree with what you wrote re: Gibson. At the same time, it is a bit surprising that a guy with 1st, 6th, 12th and 18th place finishes in the MVP balloting never made an All-Star team. As for the 1988 balloting, I suspect that Kevin McRoynolds (who finished 3rd) “stole” a lot of votes from Strawberry. That being said, Gibson did lead the league in WAR barely edging out Brett Butler and Will Clark (Straw was 6th).

Doug
Editor
12 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

@14, Ed.

I didn’t check them all, but Terry Pendleton and Juan Gonzalez also missed the ASG in years they won MVP.

bstar
12 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Chipper Jones didn’t make the All-Star game in ’99 despite winning the MVP, even though he had a +1.000 OPS at the break. Matt Williams was in ahead of him, and somebody else made it as a reserve that year but I can’t remember who.

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago

One take away for the future is if we see a young SS come up who can score an OPS+ or 100 or better in his age-22 season, then we are watching a likely HOFer. Out of the 30 seasons, eight meet the qualification: Yount — HOFer Ripken — HOFer A-Rod — Future HOFer Jeter — Future HOFer Trammell — Should be a HOFer Tulowitzki — Too early to say, but HOF-caliber talent. Ramirez — Too early to say, but HOF-caliber talent. Cordero — Okay, there’s always one to mess up the narrative, but he’s only one! Seven of the… Read more »

Darien
12 years ago

Possibly worth noting is that Starlin Castro has appeared in 125 and 158 games the last two years, and is not yet 22 years old (with OPS+ of 100 and 111, respectively). There is, of course, some question of Castro’s ability to remain at short, since he’s been a regular butcher of Blaviken in the field, but there he remains for now.

Wine Curmudgeon
12 years ago
Reply to  Darien

Castro adds to the legend of Cubs’ shortstops who can’t play shortstop, such as Roy Smalley the elder and his 51 errors in 1950. It’s good to be a Cubs fan.

Dr. Remulak
Dr. Remulak
12 years ago

Iglesias’ .554 OPS at AAA last year does not bode well for him as major league ready. As a Yankee fan, I say: pleeeeeze start him this year!

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
12 years ago

Is Iglesias really a possibility?
Here’s his slash from a full year at AAA in ’11:

.235 .285 .269 .554

Other SS in camp for Boston:

William Middlebrooks
Nick Punto
Moises Oscar Tejeda
Pedro Ciriaco

Voomo Zanzibar
Voomo Zanzibar
12 years ago
Reply to  Andy

Right, somehow I omitted him.
Seems like too good a utility man to plug into the same spot every day.
But, really, the problem for Boston with Aviles is that he went to college in Bronxville, NY (Division II Player of the Year).

Lawrence Azrin
Lawrence Azrin
12 years ago
Reply to  Andy

There’s been a lot of talk lately amongst Red Sox fans if Iglesias should be the Opening Day shortstop, over Punto and Aviles, or if he should be on the Red Sox roster . I don’t see it, he’s just not hitting enough yet to play regularly. He’d be much better off playing regularly in Pawtucket, working at improving his batting skills. An Avilas/ Punto platoon is probably better right now for total value, offense+defense. Anectodal evidense from spring training so far is that he’s hitting the ball hard (a couple nice long shots to the OF), but doesn’t have… Read more »

MikeD
MikeD
12 years ago
Reply to  Voomo Zanzibar

Wow, those numbers are pretty bad. The .235 BA is liveable if he was delivering stronger secondary numbers, which he’s not.

Question is, can he hit much worse on the MLB level? .210/.250/.240? That’s in the general range of what Ozzie Smith did in his second season (1979) in MLB. Smith, most likely the greatest defensive SS ever, barely produced positive rWARs and fWARs that year (.06 and .08), and that was during a lower offensive time. Based on that, it’s hard to see Iglesias being a regular in 2012 since he projects to a negative WAR.

bstar
12 years ago

I’m not sure why we’re not talking about Tyler Pastornicky, who we KNOW is going to be the Braves’ full-time SS at age 22. Here’s his stats from AA/AAA last year:

.314/.359/.414/.773 27 steals

He does have some speed, very little power, an average glove, and it will be interesting to see where his batting average ends up for the Braves.