Jose Abreu is the best young hitter in the game

[navamind]

Mike Trout 2 years ago hit 30 HR and 83 RBI while striking out 139 times and only walking 67 times. Granted that was his first year playing. His best hitting stat was he hit 326.

Abreu is on pace to beat every one of those numbers except average.

What makes Mike Trout so valuable is that he is good at everything (the perfect 5 tool player). But there are a good 10-15 players who are just as good if not better at batting alone.

I was (like people in the Sox organization) are comparing the 2 at hitting alone. Obviously a lot of people are going to disagree with it. It is a bold statement. And Abreu has only played almost a month so far. But people within the organization who have seen him hit for years in lower levels say he has the potential to be a sensational hitter. One of the best in the game. They don't make this shit up. It has a fair chance at happening.

a couple things:

Trout batted primarily leadoff in 2012. 138 games batting leadoff. 1 game batting 5th. 83 RBI's for a leadoff guy is actually kind of a lot. Care to tell me how guys ever knocked in 100+ runs batting leadoff? And Trout led the entire league in runs scored (129) by a wide margin (Miggy had the 2nd most at 109).

Trout had a .399 OBP in his rookie year. Abreu's currently sits at .324. 75 points of OBP is huge. Trout led the AL in OPS+ his rookie year (168). Only Posey had a higher OPS+ in 2012 (171). He was 2nd in the entire league last year (179) behind only Miggy (187).

Saying there are at least 10-15 guys better at batting alone than Trout is ridiculous, especially when Trout's easily been a top 5 hitter over the last two years. Please name them so I can laugh at you. Chicago sports fans, lol.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

a couple things:

Trout batted primarily leadoff in 2012. 138 games batting leadoff. 1 game batting 5th. 83 RBI's for a leadoff guy is actually kind of a lot. Care to tell me how guys ever knocked in 100+ runs batting leadoff? And Trout led the entire league in runs scored (129) by a wide margin (Miggy had the 2nd most at 109).

Trout had a .399 OBP in his rookie year. Abreu's currently sits at .324. 75 points of OBP is huge. Trout led the AL in OPS+ his rookie year (168). Only Posey had a higher OPS+ in 2012 (171). He was 2nd in the entire league last year (179) behind only Miggy (187).

Saying there are at least 10-15 guys better at batting alone than Trout is ridiculous, especially when Trout's easily been a top 5 hitter over the last two years. Please name them so I can laugh at you. Chicago sports fans, lol.

Thank you. And as I said before. Trout missed a month. Compare him to Ichiro(great player) and it is comical

 

[HammerDown]

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Best slugger in his prime may be more accurate given his age.

 

[broncosmitty]

Rudy York, how about that...

 

[navamind]

Trout, age 22: .313/.406/.616, 188 OPS+ (leads AL)
Abreu, age 27: .280/.333/.629, 159 OPS+ (5th)

Abreu's having a fine year. But he isn't even in the same stratosphere as Trout. And when you consider that Trout actually has a track record of success in the majors...

 

[HammerDown]

 

[Darkstone42]

Context is important if we are to compare Trout's and Abreu's rookie seasons, so let's distill everything down into one fairly comprehensive statistic which rates a player's offensive output relative to the league in a given year, wRC+. 100 is average, anything higher is above average, anything lower is below average.

2012 Trout: 167
2014 Abreu: 170

So, actually, Jose Abreu, so far, is having a better rookie campaign than did Mike Trout, which is tremendously impressive, since Trout's rookie campaign was almost MVP-worthy. Of course, there is a lot of season left, so let's see where the numbers fall at the end.

However, since the thread title is "best young hitter," and since Trout is both younger than Abreu and outhitting him, clearly Trout is the better young hitter, and yes, that's just hitting.

For those of you who are interested, by the comprehensive and comparative wRC+ metric, the top five hitters in all of baseball are, in order of top to fifth, Trout, Tulowitzki, Puig, Abreu, McCutchen.

 

[DoobeeDoobeeDoo]

Best rookie, not best young player.

 

[StanMarsh51]

I had no idea that Abreu raised his average to .310....just a few weeks ago he was in the .260s (hitting .385 in his last 33 games).

 

[navamind]

I had no idea that Abreu raised his average to .310....just a few weeks ago he was in the .260s (hitting .385 in his last 33 games).

I knew he was batting around .280 a few weeks ago and was still hitting home runs, but yeah, the average has caught me by surprise.

 

[Lord Scalious]

Let's see how he does once pitchers get a book on him.

He seems to just get better and better. Looks like he's go the book on the pitchers..

 

[cezero]

He's 27 which is ancient for a rookie. Only a dilettante would refer to him as a young hitter.

There are quite a few better than him who are significantly younger.

 

[cezero]

Mike Trout 2 years ago hit 30 HR and 83 RBI while striking out 139 times and only walking 67 times. Granted that was his first year playing. His best hitting stat was he hit 326.

Abreu is on pace to beat every one of those numbers except average.

What makes Mike Trout so valuable is that he is good at everything (the perfect 5 tool player). But there are a good 10-15 players who are just as good if not better at batting alone.

I was (like people in the Sox organization) are comparing the 2 at hitting alone. Obviously a lot of people are going to disagree with it. It is a bold statement. And Abreu has only played almost a month so far. But people within the organization who have seen him hit for years in lower levels say he has the potential to be a sensational hitter. One of the best in the game. They don't make this shit up. It has a fair chance at happening.

my god you're stupid

 

[gandydancer]

my god you're stupid

 

[navamind]

my god you're stupid

I don't know why, but this made me LOL.

 

[da55bums]

"But people within the organization who have seen him hit for years in lower levels say he has the potential to be a sensational hitter. One of the best in the game. They don't make this shit up. It has a fair chance at happening."

They don't make it up, they say it every other year about the next big thing

 

[broncosmitty]

He's 27 which is ancient for a rookie. Only a dilettante would refer to him as a young hitter.

There are quite a few better than him who are significantly younger.

I can think of three for sure, maybe four, who are younger that Id definitely want to take in my lineup before Abreu. (Just hitting wise.)

But contrary to the OP, he never was eligible for best young hitter. He's in the running for most awesome hitter of 2014 though. And that counts for something. (If the SouthSiders pull off a miracle and make the PS, he's the only thing that could stop Trout from winning his first MVP, IMO. Cruz' avg and OBP are unimpressive. And he's a known roider.)

 

[podsox]

I can think of three for sure, maybe four, who are younger that Id definitely want to take in my lineup before Abreu. (Just hitting wise.)

But contrary to the OP, he never was eligible for best young hitter. He's in the running for most awesome hitter of 2014 though. And that counts for something. (If the SouthSiders pull off a miracle and make the PS, he's the only thing that could stop Trout from winning his first MVP, IMO. Cruz' avg and OBP are unimpressive. And he's a known roider.)

if they had a manager with half of brain the sox would be at least a couple games over 500 and at least fighting for the second wild card spot. sadly he continues to throw bellasario in games late with 1-2 run leads and bellasario continues to give them away.

Abreu is a stud but he is hitting the prime of his career. OP should just own up and admit he didn't know Abreu was 27 when he started this thread

 

[navamind]

if they had a manager with half of brain the sox would be at least a couple games over 500 and at least fighting for the second wild card spot. sadly he continues to throw bellasario in games late with 1-2 run leads and bellasario continues to give them away.

Abreu is a stud but he is hitting the prime of his career. OP should just own up and admit he didn't know Abreu was 27 when he started this thread

At what point do they stop trotting Viciedo, Beckham and De Aza out there? I find it hard to believe they don't have better options. I still like Semien a lot.