Thursday, October 1, 2015

Is Manny Machado The Best Young 3B Man Since Eddie Mathews?

Maybe. Here are all the seasons of 6+ WAR for 3B men through age 22 using the Baseball Reference Play Index:

Rk Player WAR Year Age
1Dick Allen 8.8 1964 22
2 Eddie Mathews 8.3 1953 21
3 Eddie Mathews 7.8 1954 22
4 Jimmy Williams 6.9 1899 22
5 Manny Machado 6.5 2015 22
6 Manny Machado 6.4 2013 20
7 Hank Blalock 6.4 2003 22
8 Aurelio Rodriguez 6.4 1970 22
9 Freddie Lindstrom 6.3 1928 22

The only two guys to have two such seasons are Machado and Mathews. If the age is raised to 23, here is the list, Mathews has three and then Machado still has two. Only Dick Allen joins the group.

Rk  Player WAR Year Age
1 Dick Allen 8.8 1964 22
2 Eddie Mathews 8.3 1953 21
3 Troy Glaus 7.8 2000 23
4 Eddie Mathews 7.8 1954 22
5 George Brett 7.5 1976 23
6 Eddie Mathews 7.3 1955 23
7 Evan Longoria 7.0 2009 23
8 Frankie Frisch 6.9 1921 23
9 Jimmy Williams 6.9 1899 22
10 Ron Santo 6.7 1963 23
11 Rogers Hornsby 6.7 1919 23
12 Scott Rolen 6.6 1998 23
13 Manny Machado 6.5 2015 22
14 Manny Machado 6.4 2013 20
15 Hank Blalock 6.4 2003 22
16 Aurelio Rodriguez 6.4 1970 22
17 Dick Allen 6.4 1965 23
18Freddie Lindstrom 6.3 1928 22
19 Edgardo Alfonzo 6.2 1997 23
20 Gary Sheffield 6.2 1992 23
21Eric Chavez 6.0 2001 23

Here is the top 10 in WAR through age 22:


Rk Player WAR From To Age
1 Eddie Mathews 18.4 1952 1954 20-22
2 Manny Machado 16.9 2012 2015 19-22
3 Buddy Lewis 12.6 1935 1939 18-22
4 Freddie Lindstrom 12.5 1924 1928 18-22
5 Buddy Bell 9.6 1972 1974 20-22
6 Bill Dahlen 9.0 1891 1892 21-22
7Bob Horner 8.9 1978 1980 20-22
8 Dick Allen 8.8 1963 1964 21-22
9 Denny Lyons 8.3 1885 1888 19-22
10 Adrian Beltre 8.2 1998 2001 19-22

If we raise the age to 23 we have


Rk Player WAR From To Age
1Eddie Mathews 25.7 1952 1955 20-23
2 George Davis 18.2 1890 1894 19-23
3 Manny Machado 16.9 2012 2015 19-22
4 Buddy Lewis 16.2 1935 1940 18-23
5Dick Allen 15.2 1963 1965 21-23
6 Freddie Lindstrom 15.0 1924 1929 18-23
7George Brett 14.5 1973 1976 20-23
8 Denny Lyons 13.8 1885 1889 19-23
9 Buddy Bell 12.5 1972 1975 20-23
10 Billy Nash 12.1 1884 1888 19-23

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aurelio Rodriguez posted a 6 WAR season at age 22? He ended up earning just 15 WAR during a 17-year career, so I wouldn't have guessed that he ever had a season that spectacular.

-- Detroit Michael

Cyril Morong said...

Thanks for reading and commenting. He had his best hitting season that year. Maybe having Ted Williams as his manager for just that one season helped. But he also had by far is best fielding season, too.