Coming off an exciting 2013 Major League Baseball season and heading into what’s sure to be another fun year of baseball, things are beginning to heat up again. Spring Training camps have seen all their respective pitchers and catchers report, with the remaining players reporting over the course of this week.
With the arrival of baseball comes the annual rankings of teams and subsequent predictions of how they will perform. While my predictions for each team, and numerous players from around the league, won’t be posted until sometime next month, I wanted to take the time to post a “top players” list, of sorts.
But instead of making my own version of a top 10 list as many are doing, I decided, as I did last year, to make a list of the top player for each year of age throughout Major League Baseball. Meaning, of the 20 year olds in Major League Baseball, I’ll list the player I feel is the best of them all; with the same holding true for the players age 21, 22, 23, 24, and so on.
The range of ages this season runs from 20 years old, with Jose Fernandez, among others, all the way up to age 43, with Jason Giambi — excluding age 42, which has no players this season. Just so you know, before I reveal my list, I’m going by the age each player will be to start the season. Therefore, a few players will be listed a year older than they currently are, due to them having a birthday between now and March 22nd.
Also, with there being SO many names, I’m not going to be listing my reasoning behind each pick. I’m just giving a general list of the player (either a hitter or a pitcher) I feel is the best for their age category:
20 years old: Jose Fernandez
21 years old: Manny Machado
22 years old: Mike Trout
23 years old: Yasiel Puig
24 years old: Giancarlo Stanton
25 years old: Craig Kimbrel
26 years old: Clayton Kershaw
27 years old: Andrew McCutchen
28 years old: Evan Longoria
29 years old: Max Scherzer
30 years old: Miguel Cabrera
31 years old: Robinson Cano
32 years old: Brandon Phillips
33 years old: C.C. Sabathia
34 years old: Albert Pujols
35 years old: Cliff Lee
36 years old: Carlos Beltran
37 years old: A.J. Burnett
38 years old: David Ortiz
39 years old: Derek Jeter
40 years old: Ichiro Suzuki
41 years old: LaTroy Hawkins
42 years old: No Players
43 years old: Jason Giambi
So, there you have it. The best players by age, in my opinion, from 20 through 43, going into the 2014 season. Do you agree with my picks? If not, who would you pick to replace the name(s) you disagree with? Let me know in the comments section below.
The Unbiased MLB Fan 