Never Would Have Paired These Two
Posted by Steve Lombardi on May 5, 2008
Ages and relative production are a pretty close comp for these two - over the first three years of their big league careers, huh?
Just some of the fun you have have playing around with B-R.com's PI.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Some of the numbers are impressively close, but the divergence in walks tells me these players aren't all that similar.
May 6th, 2008 at 5:41 am
Comparing middle infielders to left fielders is dangerous -- an impressive performance on offense by a middle infielder isn't nearly as fine when accomplished by a player all the way on the other end of the defensive spectrum. Checking for a comparable OPS+ and comparable career PAs through age 24, and sticking just to middle infielders, the closest comp I found on PI, and it was very close, was Rod Carew. Carew's SLG was lower, but he played in an era less conducive to sluggging.
May 6th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Eh. The slash lines are:
.314/.346/.489
.283/.373/.450
Some of the other stuff looks pretty similar, but considering the corner outfield/middle infield difference and the batting lines that don't look similar, I don't think I'll be comparing Cano to Kemp anytime soon.
May 7th, 2008 at 8:19 am
I don't mean to pile on, but I will echo that I don't think the players are similar at all. Finding guys with similar numbers of games played or at-bats is very easy.