Me, Elsewhere: Second-Year Players

My latest article at Hardball Times focuses on eight guys who made their big-league debuts in 2009 more or less as full-time players. Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera is among them.

We’ve compared Cabrera to Rafael Furcal before, as has everyone else. While digging, I found a few more names worth pondering:

Player          Year Pos  PA   BA  OBP  SLG OPS+ BB  K
Everth Cabrera  2009  SS 438 .255 .342 .361  98  46 88
Rafael Furcal   2000  SS 542 .295 .394 .382  97  73 80
Pete Rose       1963  2B 695 .273 .334 .371 101  55 72
Chuck Knoblauch 1991  2B 634 .281 .351 .350  91  59 40
Steve Sax       1982  2B 699 .282 .335 .359  97  49 53

This stuff is like reading tea leaves, but it’s fun.

Incidentally, I have another comp for Cabrera in mind, although it’s not flattering. As much as I love him, it’s important to present the negative as well as the positive; otherwise, we are operating on belief.

I’ll write something up as soon as my notes start to make sense. Until then, enjoy…

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2 Responses »

  1. Can’t wait to check this out. I looked at Everth after someone else asked about what to expect from him going forward and Middle Infielders in general and Josh Barfield informing the question. I actually looked at guys who had no more than 4 seasons by age 24 and who played 70% at 2B or SS.

    I had some names come up which match yours, like Furcal and Knoblauch, but a comp I really liked and thought could be realistic was Delino DeShields. Good plate discipline, decent average, could draw a walk, no power and a very good base stealer.

    Very curious to see how Everth will develop and what you have to say at THT.