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cjedmonton
Well-known member
The results of my little project suggests it was!
Now that the offseason is here, I like to roll up my sleeves and tinker with stats.
My question is this: since 2000, which MLB eligible rookie class (on the field, not cards) do you think was the deepest/best? Instinct would have us immediately think of 2001 with Pujols and Ichiro. However, if you peel back that proverbial first layer of the onion, you'd see just how weak that class was in general, once you got past those two slam dunk HOFers.
In an effort to compile some evidence for other rookie crops, I'm starting a pretty simple (but occasionally tedious) task of looking at the top 25 rookie hitters and pitchers from each of the past 10 years.
From there, I looked at the average totals in 8 key pitching categories and 10 key hitting categories. I then ranked the 10 years from best to worst, and assigned a reverse weighted value for each (1st place = 10 marks, 2nd place = 9 marks, etc...). The highest cumulative total would be, by my estimate, the best rookie pitching/hitting class.
The pitchers were up first, and are now complete. For rate stats, I used the top 25 innings totals as qualifiers. Wins, Starts, and Strikeouts were ranked as is.
Not surprisingly (to me,anyway)...the 2006 rookie pitching class outpaced all others for the past decade. I'm sure the 2006 rookie hitters will also fare quite well. That year was one for the ages, no question.
Again, the figures you see are the average totals for a top 25 rookie in each of the categories listed.
Pitchers
Moving on to the hitters, and the numbers show that 2007 was slightly more productive, on average, than the 2006 group:
Hitters
However, when you put them both together (pitching + hitting), you can see that 2006 outpaces all other years by a comfortable margin:
Overall
Discuss!
Now that the offseason is here, I like to roll up my sleeves and tinker with stats.
My question is this: since 2000, which MLB eligible rookie class (on the field, not cards) do you think was the deepest/best? Instinct would have us immediately think of 2001 with Pujols and Ichiro. However, if you peel back that proverbial first layer of the onion, you'd see just how weak that class was in general, once you got past those two slam dunk HOFers.
In an effort to compile some evidence for other rookie crops, I'm starting a pretty simple (but occasionally tedious) task of looking at the top 25 rookie hitters and pitchers from each of the past 10 years.
From there, I looked at the average totals in 8 key pitching categories and 10 key hitting categories. I then ranked the 10 years from best to worst, and assigned a reverse weighted value for each (1st place = 10 marks, 2nd place = 9 marks, etc...). The highest cumulative total would be, by my estimate, the best rookie pitching/hitting class.
The pitchers were up first, and are now complete. For rate stats, I used the top 25 innings totals as qualifiers. Wins, Starts, and Strikeouts were ranked as is.
Not surprisingly (to me,anyway)...the 2006 rookie pitching class outpaced all others for the past decade. I'm sure the 2006 rookie hitters will also fare quite well. That year was one for the ages, no question.
Again, the figures you see are the average totals for a top 25 rookie in each of the categories listed.
Pitchers
Moving on to the hitters, and the numbers show that 2007 was slightly more productive, on average, than the 2006 group:
Hitters
However, when you put them both together (pitching + hitting), you can see that 2006 outpaces all other years by a comfortable margin:
Overall
Discuss!
