Baseball is skewing younger. As pitch velocity increases and rule changes place more value on defensive range and baserunning, teams are trusting young players more and getting more out of them.
The traditional bias against inexperience has been replaced with trust in fast-twitch athleticism and better competition below the major league level as preparation. Guardians second baseman Travis Bazzana, 23, for instance, played just 135 minor league games after being drafted first overall two years ago out of Oregon State. In the minors the past two years he saw an average fastball velocity of 93.0 mph. In the majors, it’s only one tick above that, at 94 mph. He has flourished with a .841 OPS. Only three Cleveland U-25 rookies have ever posted an OPS that high, all at least 46 years ago: Joe Sewell (1921), Hal Trosky (1934) and “Super” Joe Charboneau (1980).
