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2018 Rookie Class - Where would you rank them?

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WCTYSON

Well-known member
Nov 3, 2014
7,364
171
Here is a quick glance of the 2018 rookie class in their sophomore seasons, only noting top 50 in WAR for 2019 currently.

Per Fangraphs:

Acuna - 5.5
Devers - 5.5
Soto - 4.8
Albies - 4.7
Meadows - 4.1
Torres - 3.7

Bieber - 5.6
Buehler - 4.8
Flaherty - 4.5
Soroka - 3.9
Woodruff - 3.3
Fried - 2.9
Yarbrough - 2.8

Feel free to add any names, if I overlooked any.
 

WCTYSON

Well-known member
Nov 3, 2014
7,364
171
Now there you go...if his 2019 season is any indication of how he'll perform in the future I'd definitely rank him as a tier 2 rookie.

Here is a quick glance of the 2018 rookie class in their sophomore seasons, only noting top 50 in WAR for 2019 currently.

Per Fangraphs:

Acuna - 5.5
Devers - 5.5
Soto - 4.8
Albies - 4.7
Meadows - 4.1
Torres - 3.7

Bieber - 5.6
Buehler - 4.8
Flaherty - 4.5
Soroka - 3.9
Woodruff - 3.3
Fried - 2.9
Yarbrough - 2.8

Feel free to add any names, if I overlooked any.

I don't have much Meadows personally but I'm looking into it.

Here is an updated list (wRC+ & FIP in bold), Per Fangraphs:

Acuna - 5.5 - 127
Devers - 5.5 - 132
Soto - 4.8 - 143
Albies - 4.7 - 120
Meadows - 4.1 - 143
Torres - 3.7 - 125

Bieber - 5.6 - 3.33
Buehler - 4.8 - 3.03
Flaherty - 4.5 - 3.53
Soroka - 3.9 - 3.44
Woodruff - 3.3 - 3.02
Fried - 2.9 - 3.78
Yarbrough - 2.8 - 3.46

And as a side note, most of these young guys will be playing into October.
 
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WCTYSON

Well-known member
Nov 3, 2014
7,364
171
The 2017 rookie class among position players could be more impactful than the 2018 class but I think the 2017 class is lacking on top end pitching.

Judge
Bellinger
Chapman
Bregman
Olson
Benintendi
Moncada
Bell


German
Marquez?
Castillo?
Williams?
Freeland?
 
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death2redemptions

New member
Feb 4, 2016
12,488
0
The Carolina on the Southern side
I think so and deservedly so, but I will caution that there is a lot price manipulation going on with his cards IMO.

Are they going for insanely high prices at the moment? It's been a hot minute since I've went to see what he's going for on the market.

The 2017 rookie class among position players could be more impactful than the 2018 class but I think the 2017 class is lacking on top end pitching.

Judge
Bellinger
Chapman
Bregman
Olson
Benintendi
Moncada
Bell


German
Marquez?
Castillo?
Williams?
Freeland?

Hmmmm, I'm not so sure on that. When talking potential impact (2017 rookies have had a couple years to show off their stuff so I'd like to project what the 2018 class could do in 2020 in order to be fair), I believe the tier 1-3 position players from the 2018 class are quite similar to those of the 2017 class. Give Acuna/Soto another year or two and it's possible they'll live up to Judge/Bellinger. After all, Bellinger is a few years older than Soto and Acuna is like six years younger than Judge so if we are also including potential impact here I think the two pairs of players could have similar floors. As for the rest of the names, I think Torres has similar potential to Bregman & when there has been a two year gap for the 2018 rookies Albies, Devers, Meadows, Hoskins, Ohtani and Robles would be just as, or possibly a little more, impactful as Moncada, Benny, Bell, Olson and Chapman.

Right now both classes are just as deep, possibly more so for the 2018 class while the 2017 class may have an ever so slightly more impactful front end. Also, by 2020 there may be even more names from the 2018 class that reach top tier 1-3 status.

Overall I still get what you're saying...that 2017 class of position players is looking very stellar too but it greatly lacks pitching depth.
 

walt_altmen

Member
Aug 1, 2019
168
2
In no particular order, this is my only tier:

Soto
Torres
Albies
Soroka
Acuna
Robles

or maybe it is in a particular order. was gonna just keep it to top 5 but robles is amazing defensively. just needs help at the plate.

acuna gets all the hobby love, but his current style of play is very lackadaisical and borderline selfish.

from base running, to his chains hitting him in the face and missing a home run robbing catch, to letting that double happen tonight , trying to be flashy while trying to rob kingery of a home run only to allow an inside the park one to several other instances. he’s already been yanked outta games, benched, scorned in the dugout and nothing seems to be working. not only that, since the 40/40 *personal* record has come into play he’s been striking out left and right and currently leads the mlb because of it. the flash and flare were cute at first but it’s starting to get old real quick. not only with the coaches but with a few of the more rounded players on the team as well. if it continues he could very easily go from being seen as a contributing factor to being a toxic one. and if the tide does turn on him, with some of the attitude that he’s displayed thus far, i could see it getting real ugly from a pr stance.

the person at the top of my list is batting in the 4 spot vs lead off and the exact opposite in every way with one less year of maturity at that. the kid loves the game. lives across the street from the stadium, signs all the time (acuna rarely does) and just seems to respect the game and team more than himself.


if you just saw the box score of the braves game tonight, you’d think acuna killed it.

if you actually watched the game, you know the only thing acuna killed was their chances of winning. easily left one run on the board in the 1st and a quite possibly a second run by watching his single that he thought was a homer...again.

was called out from everybody from the tbs announcers, freeman, martinez and even best bud albies.

people are getting sick of it.
 

JVHaste

Well-known member
Jun 22, 2015
4,751
270
Vancouver WA
If I had the pick of the litter it would be very tempting to take Flaherty above all others. (just a projection, not based on what they have done thus far)


Agreed with Walt, lack of playoff hustle is a long term concern.
 

walt_altmen

Member
Aug 1, 2019
168
2
i’m getting on the flaherty train too.

in all honestly, if pitchers had their own seperate division in this 2018 rookie class discussion, soroka and flaherty would top my list followed by the beebs rounding out third.
 

WCTYSON

Well-known member
Nov 3, 2014
7,364
171
i’m getting on the flaherty train too.

in all honestly, if pitchers had their own seperate division in this 2018 rookie class discussion, soroka and flaherty would top my list followed by the beebs rounding out third.

You'd place all three of them above Buehler?
 

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