When Francisco Lindor was traded to the New York Mets, that indicates a great shortstop is going to make an instant impact in the National League. With other great shortstops such as Trevor Story, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Trea Turner in the National League already, these great shortstops really make me think of the Mid-‘90s, there were several top shortstops in the American League such as Derek Jeter, Nomar Garciaparra, Cal Ripken Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.
Derek Jeter and Cal Ripken Jr. are Hall of Famers and they each played at least 20 years in the MLB. Despite being suspended for the entire 2014 season, Alex Rodriguez still played 22 years in the majors and he will be on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. Nomar Garciaparra played 14 seasons in the big league, but injuries restricted his career and cost his chance at the Hall of Fame.
Jeter, Ripken Jr., and A-Rod each entered the 3000th hit club. At the same time, in their careers, Jeter and Ripken Jr., each collected more than 1000 RBI and A-Rod had more than 2000 RBI. A-Rod’s 117.5 WAR is 16th highest for career WAR. Among these 4 shortstops, Jeter, Ripken Jr. and Garciparra each won the AL Rookie of Year. Additionally, Cal Ripken Jr. won the AL MVP award twice and A-Rod is a three-time MVP winner.
According to the MLB Network, the top 5 shortstops now are Trevor Story, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Francisco Lindor and Trea Turner. So 4 of 5 top shortstops are in the National League. So far in their careers, Story, Tatis Jr., Lindor and Turner posted an above .800 OPS respectively. Meanwhile, Story is a two-time All-Star and Lindor is a four-time All-Star. Also, Fernando Tatis Jr. just got his first Silver Slugger award last season and Story and Lindor were each awarded twice.
In addition, we shouldn’t ignore the other two-time All-Stars, Corey Seager and Javier Baez. Corey Seager was called up in September 2015 and won the 2016 NL Rookie of the Year. He slashed .295/.362/.500 so far in his career and he stayed really hot last postseason, winning the NLCS MVP and World Series MVP. Javier Baez made his MLB debut on August 5, 2014. Baez was hitting .264/.304/.473 from 2014 to 2020, in particular, he batted .290/.326/.554 in 2018 with 34 home runs and 111 RBI and finished 2nd in the MVP voting.
Last season, Javier Baez won the NL Gold Glove award at shortstop and Fernando Tatis Jr. won the Silver Slugger award. In the 2021 season, we might see different results. With Lindor in the New York Mets, we are going to see a great completion among these top shortstops. Fernando Tatis Jr. finished 4th in the 2020 NL MVP voting, will he receive more votes in 2021? Trevor Story, Corey Seager, Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor will be free agents after the 2021 season, what numbers will they have this year before hitting the free agent market? Or one of them might sign an extension before being a free agent?
No comments:
Post a Comment