It’s the offseason and in the offseason, a key thing that baseball fans watch is probably the free agent market. There are several great players on the market now. And a few days ago, I watched a video on YouTube. A host indicated that a player is certainly worthwhile to sign for some teams.
The host mentioned that player’s age, which is over 30. However, he can still hit very well. After watching the video, I was just wondering who are other players that also hit well in their 30’s.
To understand a little bit more, I decided to check on the statcast website.
First of all, let’s take a look at batting average. Jose Iglesias and the Mets agreed to a minor league deal last December. In May 2024, he was called up from AAA to join the Mets. He’s 34 years old and in 2024, he played 85 games for the Mets, hitting .337/.381/.448 with 4 home runs and 26 RBI.
Meanwhile, Aaron Judge is 32 years old and he had a fantastic 2024 season. Judge played 158 games for the Yankees in 2024 and led the majors with 58 home runs and 144 RBI. He finished the season with a .322 BA and a 1.159 OPS.
Unfortunately, Christian Yelich only played 73 games for the Brewers this year. However, he did hit well at age 32. Yelich slashed .315/.406/.504 with 11 home runs and 42 RBI.
Moreover, Marcell Ozuna is now 33 years old and he finished the season with a batting average over .300 as well. In 2024, Ozuna crushed 39 home runs and collected 104 RBI. At the same time, Trea Turner and Jose Altuve each owned a batting average of .295 in 2024.
Well, batting average might not be the best stat to evaluate if a player truly hits well. So, let’s take a look at xwOBA. Aaron Judge and Marcell Ozuna each finished the season with an xwOBA over .400. They truly made solid contact during the regular season. In the meantime, Ketel Marte just turned 31 in October. In 2024, he blasted 36 home runs. He did make solid contact this season with a .392 xwOBA. Furthermore, Corey Seager turned 30 in April. In 2024, he smashed 30 home runs. Seager had a .390 xwOBA and sure, he made solid contact. In the meantime, Francisco Lindor had a great season at age 30. He had 33 home runs this season and his xwOBA was .379. Kyle Schwarber had a .380 xwOBA and blasted 38 home runs in 2024. They did hit the ball hard.
Finally, Joc Pederson is now 32 years old. In 2024, he finished the season with an OPS over .900. His xwOBA was near .380. He did make quality contact during the regular season. That might tell us why he declined the mutual option with the D-backs and his stats might be convincing to attract other teams in the MLB.
Normally, players start showing decline at age 30. Age is certainly a factor in professional sports. Nonetheless, there are still players who can overcome and sustain their great performance. Aaron Judge, without doubt, is one of the best players in the majors and he’s over 30. Jose Iglesias and Joc Pederson are now free agents. But their performances in 2024 already showed that so far, they can still play well with an age over 30.
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