Over the last few years we have been spoiled. It seems like every top prospect lately has come up, and proven themselves to be among the best in the game immediately. Bryce Harper started bashing from almost his very first pitch it, and only a midsummer slump last year slowed him down. Mike Trout looks like he might end up being the greatest player of all time, all the while finding a cure for cancer, and feeding the hungry. For 2/3s of this season Manny Machado was making a serious run at one of the oldest records in American sports, the single season doubles record. It does not usually work out this way. For every Alex Rodriguez, who came up and put together MVP quality seasons consistently in his early 20’s, there are 10 guys that need to adjust to Major League pitching.
On the other end of the spectrum we have a player like Raul Ibanez. Although he has cooled off lately, Ibanez still has a shot at setting the homerun record for any player of his age. These type of statistics have always fascinated me. I love watching an 18 year old hold his own, in the same league that somebody literally 2 and a half times his age is also surviving in. I thought an interesting project would be to find the greatest hitting season ever for every age. This is purely from an offensive perspective. I did this because quite frankly I do not trust defensive metrics that over 20 years old. I do not want to exclude an old time player just because of my personal bias. This exercise is from a wide range of factors, not purely OPS+, or wRC+. I factored in playing time, quality of play, and impact on the game. All ages are based on the Baseball Reference definition, their age on June 30th. Today’s edition will have ages 18-29, while tomorrow I will have ages 30-40.
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