yeah McGwire too, wasn't his rookie season his best til he started juicin?
― ruingin (rip van wanko), Friday, 6 May 2011 03:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Dontrelle Willis. . .
― it's time for the fish in the perculator (Steve Shasta), Friday, 6 May 2011 03:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Hinske is trying very hard to get off of this list in 2011.
― got electrolytes (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 14 May 2011 19:16 (twelve years ago) link
haven't looked it up, but Fred Lynn?
― resistance does not require a firearm (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 14 May 2011 20:40 (twelve years ago) link
nah, looks like his '79 was better than '75
― resistance does not require a firearm (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 14 May 2011 20:49 (twelve years ago) link
I want to say a lot of the Dodgers ROYs from the '90s? But maybe I am biased.
― NoShoutsNoCalls (Leee), Saturday, 14 May 2011 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
kevin maas
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 14 May 2011 22:37 (twelve years ago) link
whoops didnt see andy k already listed him
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 14 May 2011 22:38 (twelve years ago) link
Matt Nokes
Glad to see he's listed here. Nokes had a terrific rookie season.
― last updated 2 minutes ago by 1 minute ago (van smack), Sunday, 15 May 2011 04:41 (twelve years ago) link
Garry Templeton
― buzza, Sunday, 15 May 2011 05:02 (twelve years ago) link
Kerry Wood, arguably--it's close.
― clemenza, Sunday, 15 May 2011 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
These are free (and about baseball, not politics or music or anything else):
The 25 Most Disappointing Rookies of All Time
25 Players Who Turned Out to Be Far better Than It Looked Like They Could Be as Rookies
― clemenza, Friday, 26 October 2018 22:05 (five years ago) link
jason heyward fits into this category, at least on the offensive side of things. it's kind of tough to imagine him ever putting up a 131 OPS+ ever again. but his 2015 year with the cardinals was just slightly his best overall year, taking into account his fielding.
― Karl Malone, Friday, 26 October 2018 22:18 (five years ago) link
probably can add Hellickson and maybe Jose Abreu to the list
― omar little, Friday, 26 October 2018 22:34 (five years ago) link
looking back i remember ol Rick Wilkins, part-time Cubs catcher pressed into full-time duty in 1993 at age 26 and he responded w/30 HR and a .303/.376./561 slash line. he never even slugged .400 again.
he wasn't quite a rookie though, he just didn't play quite as much in his first two seasons.
― omar little, Friday, 26 October 2018 22:47 (five years ago) link
One guy who comes to mind for the Jays is Juan Guzman. He was 10-3/2.99 as a 24-year-old rookie (3.2 WAR), 16-5/2.64 as a sophomore (5.5). He had one great season after that where he won an ERA title, but he was finished the next year and out of the league at 33. His IP weren't noticeably high his first few years, so I don't think he was mishandled.
― clemenza, Friday, 26 October 2018 23:04 (five years ago) link
what i remember about Juan Guzman (who was exceptional for those couple seasons) was that his sophomore season coincided w/Greg Maddux's first Cy Young season, after which the Cubs let him walk because...
After Maddux filed for free agency, he fielded offers from the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves. After he received his offer from the Braves, he contacted Himes to see if Himes would match the offer. Himes declined, stating that he spent Maddux's money on Randy Myers, José Guzmán, Dan Plesac and Candy Maldonado.
...uh anyway i was 18, not following eligibility as readily, and i thought initially when they announced the Guzman signing that they signed Juan Guzman.
I will hate Larry Himes forever.
― omar little, Friday, 26 October 2018 23:36 (five years ago) link
to this day whenever i see a player named maldonado i think of candy
― mookieproof, Saturday, 27 October 2018 00:02 (five years ago) link
whenever i see an unrelated thread revive during the World Series, i know it's someone who missed the first 2 games
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 27 October 2018 00:06 (five years ago) link
did you watch the 2009 series?
― mookieproof, Saturday, 27 October 2018 00:10 (five years ago) link
first game, i think
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 27 October 2018 00:14 (five years ago) link
I was figuring that Fred Lynn's best year for WAR might been his rookie season when he won the MVP, but man he had a 8.9 WAR year in '79 according to Baseball Reference. His WAR total for his MVP year was 7.4.
― earlnash, Saturday, 27 October 2018 00:19 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrQtYheE0No
― Andy K, Saturday, 27 October 2018 01:59 (five years ago) link