MLB.com partook in an interesting thought exercise Wednesday morning: Who is the best player in the game at every age? Mike Trout turns 28 on Wednesday (Happy Birthday, Mike!), which is the impetus for the discussion. But there are some tougher choices than you might think.
Before we begin and you click the link, take a moment to see how many you can name. (Hint: Trout is the guy for age 28.) But we’re picking one player for every age from 19 to 42. It’s not as easy as you think.
There’s no comparison when it comes to Trout.
Happy birthday, @MikeTrout! pic.twitter.com/bVzHRakWvJ
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 7, 2019
The obvious choices
OK, here’s the link to MLB.com’s ranking. But don’t click until you’re ready if you want to play along.
Some of the choices are obvious. The Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr. is one of the best five or six players in the game, and he’s only 21 years old. Write his name down in pen.
Trout is obvious at 28, and the spot he vacated is now obvious, too. The best 27-year-old in the game is the Major League home run leader and reigning NL MVP, Christian Yelich of the Brewers.
There’s stiffer competition at age 24, but we’re going to say the Dodgers’ Cody Bellinger is the right choice at this point over Shohei Ohtani and Carlos Correa, among others.
Other easy choices: Red Sox ace Chris Sale at age 30 (Anthony Rizzo turns that age next week for some competition), Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon at age 33, Nationals ace Max Scherzer at 35 (apologies to Zack Greinke, but Scherzer is clearly the choice), fellow future Hall of Fame ace Justin Verlander at age 36.
For the 11th time this season, @ChristianYelich & @Cody_Bellinger have homered on the same day …
Who is your #MVP? pic.twitter.com/eB1BXUkPHQ
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) August 6, 2019
Not many choices
A few ages don’t have many players to choose from. Age 19 is uncontested for Blue Jays rookie Elvis Luciano, who is injured but did make it into 20 games this season. Age 42 belongs to Fernando Rodney and Fernando Rodney alone. There are no 40- or 41-year-olds in Major League baseball currently.
There isn’t much competition, but even there was, the Twins’ Nelson Cruz laps the field at age 39.
At age 38, Curtis Granderson and Pat Neshek are your only options, and as Neshek has been on the shelf all season, Granderson is the guy.
Bellinger just turned 24, which leaves something of a hole at age 23. MLB.com went with promising Padres pitcher Chris Paddack ahead of Alex Verdugo and Jack Flaherty.
Nelson Cruz has hit 16 home runs in 23 games since the All-Star break 🤯 pic.twitter.com/UJXEvwzwEt
— Baseball Bros (@BaseballBros) August 7, 2019
The tough ones
There are some good two- and three-man races on the board: Rafael Devers vs. Gleyber Torres at 22, Jose Altuve vs. George Springer vs. Freddie Freeman at age 29, Alex Bregman vs. Francisco Lindor at 25.
But the hardest choices on the board? There are three where it’s hard to even narrow down the candidates.
Age 20: You’d think this would be easy, but how do you decide between the Nationals’ Juan Soto, the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. and the Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr.?
26: Mookie Betts won the AL MVP last year, but he faces competition here from Javier Baez, Matt Chapman and Manny Machado.
31: Clayton Kershaw is one of the greatest of all time, but has he slipped behind one of these other great candidates? J.D. Martinez, Stephen Strasburg, Kenley Jansen, Aroldis Chapman and Paul Goldschmidt are all 31, too.
Best active player at every age, from 19 to 42 https://t.co/v1YXNYH2GG vía @MLB
Ronald, keep going.
— Gerardo A. Santelíz C. (@4GASC) August 7, 2019
