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Playing Dress Up In The Tools Of Ignorance

Posted by Steve Lombardi on December 18, 2009

How many catchers, since 1901, have posted seasons in the big leagues where they've had 200+ PA at age 20 or younger? Actually, it's not been that many...via Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Batting Season Finder...here's the list:

Rk Player OPS+ PA 6 Year Age Tm Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Butch Wynegar 109 622 1976 20 MIN AL 149 534 58 139 21 2 10 69 79 7 63 2 4 3 14 0 0 .260 .356 .363 .719 *2D
2 Johnny Bench 117 607 1968 20 CIN NL 154 564 67 155 40 2 15 82 31 8 96 2 2 8 14 1 5 .275 .311 .433 .743 *2
3 Ivan Rodriguez 87 454 1992 20 TEX AL 123 420 39 109 16 1 8 37 24 2 73 1 7 2 15 0 0 .260 .300 .360 .659 *2
4 Ray Schalk 80 445 1913 20 CHW AL 129 401 38 98 15 5 1 38 27 0 36 3 14 0 0 14 0 .244 .297 .314 .611 *2
5 Joe Torre 104 441 1961 20 MLN NL 113 406 40 113 21 4 10 42 28 4 60 4 2 1 10 3 5 .278 .330 .424 .754 *2
6 Bob Didier 77 397 1969 20 ATL NL 114 352 30 90 16 1 0 32 34 5 39 0 11 0 5 1 3 .256 .321 .307 .628 *2
7 Frank Snyder 70 355 1914 20 STL NL 100 326 19 75 15 4 1 25 13 0 28 1 15 0 0 1 0 .230 .262 .310 .572 *2
8 Mickey O'Neil 95 343 1920 20 BSN NL 112 304 19 86 5 4 0 28 21 0 20 5 13 0 0 4 4 .283 .339 .326 .665 *2/4
9 Ted Simmons 74 324 1970 20 STL NL 82 284 29 69 8 2 3 24 37 5 37 2 0 1 5 2 2 .243 .333 .317 .650 *2
10 Ivan Rodriguez 75 288 1991 19 TEX AL 88 280 24 74 16 0 3 27 5 0 42 0 2 1 10 0 1 .264 .276 .354 .630 *2
11 Del Crandall 52 274 1950 20 BSN NL 79 255 21 56 11 0 4 37 13 0 24 0 6 0 6 0 0 .220 .257 .310 .567 *2/3
12 Frankie Hayes 63 271 1934 19 PHA AL 92 248 24 56 10 0 6 30 20 0 44 1 2 0 0 2 1 .226 .286 .339 .625 *2
13 Del Crandall 80 239 1949 19 BSN NL 67 228 21 60 10 1 4 34 9 0 18 0 2 0 8 2 0 .263 .291 .368 .660 *2
14 Joe Garagiola 73 235 1946 20 STL NL 74 211 21 50 4 1 3 22 23 0 25 0 1 0 4 0 0 .237 .312 .308 .620 *2
15 Rene Lachemann 86 235 1965 20 KCA AL 92 216 20 49 7 1 9 29 12 3 57 0 4 3 4 0 0 .227 .264 .394 .658 *2
16 Steve O'Neill 47 233 1912 20 CLE AL 69 215 17 49 4 0 0 14 12 0 0 1 5 0 0 2 0 .228 .272 .247 .518 *2
17 Buck Martinez 63 214 1969 20 KCR AL 72 205 14 47 6 1 4 23 8 2 25 0 1 0 4 0 0 .229 .258 .327 .585 *2/9
18 Ed Sweeney 93 200 1909 20 NYY AL 67 176 19 47 3 0 0 21 16 0 0 0 8 0 0 3 0 .267 .328 .284 .612 *2/3
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/18/2009.

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It's an interesting list. The first thing that jumps out to me is how many of these "men" stayed in the game after their playing career albeit as a manager or coach in the big or minor leagues - or had some sort of career in the media covering baseball. The second thing that jumps out at me is that only two of these guys have done "this" since 1976 and we've seen no one do it since 1992. Pretty rare stuff these days...

Related posts:

    Site Features: Draft Tools, Part I
    Site Features: Draft Tools, Part II
    Site Features: Draft Tools, Part III
    Playing all 3 outfield positions
    Most Homeruns Playing for 5+ Franchises

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 8:28 am and is filed under Season Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Playing Dress Up In The Tools Of Ignorance”

  1. DoubleDiamond Says:
    December 18th, 2009 at 10:11 am

    Unless my aging eyes have missed something, it has indeed been done two times after 1976, but it was the same "man" who did it both times, Ivan Rodriguez.

    Teenage players and those that are only 20 have become rarer these days in all positions for various reasons. I believe that when Rodriguez was signed as an amateur, Puerto Ricans were not yet subject to the draft and thus could be signed at earlier ages than your standard U.S. high school player.

    Here are some reasons why teenagers and 20-year-olds in the majors have become less common. These are my own opinions, of course.

    1. More U.S. players choose to play collegiate ball and thus don't even get signed until they're past 20.

    2. U.S. high school new graduates, especially athletes, tend to be a little bit older due to earlier cut-off deadlines for kindergarten/1st grade entry (formerly needed to reach the magic age by December 31 or even January 31 of the following year, now often need to be that age by August 31 or even July 31), less social promotion that results in more kids repeating grades, and in the case of athletes, a tendency in some parts of the country to attend one of the lower grades (such as 6th or 7th) for two years, even if they are good students, in order to be more mature for their high school playing days. Johnny Bench turned 21 in December 1968. He was drafted in the June draft in 1965, the year in which he turned 18 in December. If he had started school a year later and thus gotten drafted in 1966 and then got his first season of 200+ PA in his 4th pro season, he would have been 21.

    3. More levels in the minor leagues, with more of a desire these days for teams to not rush a prospect through the system too fast.

    4. No more rules like the 1950s/early 1960s "bonus baby" rule that forces a team to keep a prospect at the major league level. Teenaged draftees don't need to be protected from the Rule 5 draft until they are past their 20s.

    5. With higher salaries, new techniques for treating injuries, and better conditioning/rehabilitation methods these days, teams can fill needs from veterans instead of needing to rush a prospect through the system.

  2. whiz Says:
    December 18th, 2009 at 12:27 pm

    Even fewer have done it when 40 and older -- the list has four people for a total of ten seasons. Two were somewhat recent and two were in the early 20th century.

    Nobody is on both the 20- and 40+ lists, although IRod has a shot at it if he can last through the 2012 season.

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