Jason Heyward is having an absolutely tremendous season. While I was reading some fanposts at Talking Chop earlier this morning, I came across this little blip.
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↵I did a search on b-ref's play index for players age 20 or younger (b-ref considers a player's age on June 30th his age for the season) who have posted an OBP of .375 or higher.
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↵- Mel Ott . .449
↵- Ted Williams .436
↵- Al Kaline .421
↵- Jimmie Foxx .416
↵- Alex Rodriguez .414
↵- Mel Ott .397
↵- Jason Heyward .394
↵- Mickey Mantle .394
↵- Ty Cobb .380
↵- Frank Robinson .375
↵- Arky Vaughan .375
↵You may recognize many of the names on this list: one of them is Alex Rodriguez and the others are all hall of famers.↵
That is pretty incredible, in my opinion. Being ranked around these players only means good things for Heyward's future, which should be as bright as any of us can imagine.
↵Here are a few other nuggets about Heyward:
↵↵↵He has a higher wOBA than Evan Longoria, Mark Teixeira, Carl Crawford, Hanley Ramirez, Joe Mauer, Ryan Braun, and Alex Rodriguez, to name a few.
↵He has the highest Fangraphs WAR for any right fielder in the N.L.
↵His .395 OBP ranks fourth in the N.L.
↵His 13.9% walk rate also ranks fourth in the N.L.
↵His 4.8 Speed Score is tied for fourth in the N.L. amongst right fielders.
↵His .871 OPS is the second highest for right fielders in the N.L.
↵He ranks first in Dewan's +/- at +20. This is one of the best fielding metrics around.
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Jason Heyward is having an incredible season and has gotten really hot lately. He is in a prime position in the batting order and is producing well, which includes his big home run last night. Here's to Heyward having a phenomenal career in a Braves uniform.
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