Rising Stars

[Islandboagie]

Of the 3 Championships, in my opinion 2014 was probably the most exciting to watch.

Nothing will ever top the feeling of 2010, since it was the first time after waiting so long. But 2014, game by game, was more exciting.

One thing that really stuck out to me was the overwhelming amount of good young players on every team we faced during October.

We've already discussed Bryce Harper recently, I assume he's #1 amongst the young players, but if you had to pick one young player to add on the Giants, who would it be? Is Bryce a no-brainer? If so, who would be your second pick?

I like Harper a lot, but the one that impressed me the most was probably that Ventura kid. He's going to develop into something very special.

[Rog]

Mike Trout. You're probably thinking of him as a veteran, since he has now played four seasons, but he's still just 23. He's just 14 months older than Bryce.

Mike Trout is off to one of the best starts to a career ever. If he had enough plate appearances to qualify (he has only 2195), he would rank 10th all-time in OPS+. He's already cut back on his stolen bases, but he has stolen 102 out of 116 over his career.

We were comparing Nori Aoki and Gregor Blanco, both of whom are pretty good base stealers. Each of them gets thrown out twice as frequently as Trout. Last season Aoki stole 17 bases and was caught 8. Blanco stole the same 16 as Trout -- and was caught 5 times.

Trout is equally as good in his overall base running. Who knows where his career will go from here, but it's off to a fabulous start.

Put Trout in left field for the Giants, and they might well be the NL West favorites. He's that good.

I don't know what it is, but this morning on MLB they teased about something between Trout and Buster Posey. I told my fiance that Buster has a chance to be one of the top catchers ever but that Trout has a chance to be one of the best PLAYERS ever.

And if you're saying, well duh, you're right on.

[rxmeister]

They're having a "face of MLB" contest and they do it round by round and right now it's Buster Posey vs. Mike Trout. I believe last year's winner was David Wright, so it's a popularity contest, not an actual vote on which player you think is better.

[Islandboagie]

Age-wise, Trout is a good answer. But I didn't really figure Trout into the conversation because he's already crossed the threshold into proven superstar.

Bryce Harper is also a known talent, but he was a known player before he even took an at-bat at the big league level. He hasn't yet crossed that threshold from young talent into proven star.

We know what Trout can do. We know what kind of numbers he will compile throughout a season barring injury.

Harper could hit 40 homeruns next season or he could hit 15, neither would be a huge shocker.

[Islandboagie]

They're having a "face of MLB" contest and they do it round by round and right now it's Buster Posey vs. Mike Trout. I believe last year's winner was David Wright, so it's a popularity contest, not an actual vote on which player you think is better.

Boagie- Surprising that Posey is a finalist, considering all the "experts" talk about the Giants as a team with no superstars.

[klaiggeb]

I agree with Boagie; 2010 WAS special! It was the first!

But 2014 was MORE exciting for me, because 1- we shouldn't have been there, I mean logically, and 2... some of the special plays!

The Morse PH HR!

Belt's 18th inning smash!

Panik and Crawfords incredible double play!

Yusmerio's pitching in that 18 inning marathon!

Bumgarner coming out of the fickin' pen!

There were many more, but those are my favorites.

boly

[sfgdood]

You left out Pablo's hitting, especially in the WS

[Rog]

Boagie -- Surprising that Posey is a finalist, considering all the "experts" talk about the Giants as a team with no superstars.

Rog -- Man, I certainly consider him to be a superstar. And I think most do. As you already know, Buster was just chosen the #1 catcher by the MLB Network.

There are too many variables to say he is a certain Hall of Famer, but his OPS+ over his first five seasons have been 133, 116, 171, 134 and 143. The first two seasons are partial. Those are very, very good numbers. I chose Yogi Berra for comparison. Yogi's OPS+ were 114, 120, 111, 135 and 130.

Offensively, at least, Buster is off to a better start than Yogi. I figured he would at least be close.

I didn't think he got off to a better start than Johnny Bench though. But offensively, he did. Johnny's first five OPS+ were 116, 129, 141, 107 and 166. Those are pretty close, but the advantage would be to Buster.

I think Mike Piazza is the best-hitting catcher ever. He killed Buster in his first five seasons, going 153, 140, 172, 166 and 185. Now THAT'S hitting.

I haven't heard that talk about the Giants' not having any superstars, but if that is what someone says, he is incorrect.

Interestingly, Buster's career OPS+ is 142, or just one percent below Piazza's career 143. But Buster hasn't gone through his decline period, so it's extremely unlikely that he'll catch Piazza. The next highest career OPS+ for a catcher that I can find is Bench's 126. Buster might have a shot at that figure.

It's pretty hard to argue that Buster ISN'T a superstar, although I have mentioned that he might not be considered one if he weren't primarily a catcher.

Madison Bumgarner might become a superstar. Tim Lincecum was one before he fell out of the sky.

Right now the Giants have but one superstar. But most teams don't have any.

Read more: sfgiantsmessageboard.proboards.com/thread/2713/rising-stars#ixzz3S44NecHU

[Rog]

Boly -- Yusmerio's pitching in that 18 inning marathon!

Rog -- Perhaps because it came from a somewhat unexpected source and because the game went so long and thus had so much tension, I think this was my favorite "moment."

[Rog]

Boly -- Panik and Crawfords incredible double play!

Rog -- That one ranks right up there for me. Probably #2. Drama all the way down to the replay review.