Notice: Trying to get property 'display_name' of non-object in /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-seo/src/generators/schema/article.php on line 52
keyboard_arrow_uptop

Earlier this week, the folks at Beloit College released their annual MindsetList, a document designed to explain the cultural differences between the incoming class of college freshmen and the older faculty hired to teach them. The idea is to highlight the small and large ways the world has changed in the last 20 years by mentioning things that were true during the life span of oldsters that were never true for those under 20, e.g., the existence of things like a telephone cord, a country called Czechoslovakia, and a baseball commissioner not named Bud. For me, a man who fervently hopes Jamie Moyer comes back next spring to ensure I won’t have to face being older than every major-league ballplayer, this is always a time to reflect on youth and age, both in life and in baseball—especially so this year, since the current Mindset List includes a reference to the term Annus Horribilus, which I happened to use in last year’s BP Annual, but which I now know dates me almost as much as saying “23 Skidoo.”

In that vein, this week I’m taking a quick look at baseball’s version of the freshman class: major-league rookies. The 2010 crop, highlighted by Stephen Strasburg, Jason Heyward, Mike Stanton, and Buster Posey, seems especially good to me, but I was curious to see how they stack up against freshmen of the recent past, and how well other impressive rookie cohorts maintained their value later in their careers. To compare, I decided to look at WARP—our measure of total player value provided on offense and defense—to see how much of the league’s total production in a given season was produced by each “class” of player, as measured by years since they exhausted their rookie eligibility. The higher percentage of the league’s total WARP a given “class” of player produces, the better that group was that year when compared to their contemporaries.

The chart below shows what percentage of the total WARP-3 (the all-time version) earned by the entire league was scored by each player class in a given year:

Percentage of WARP Produced By Player Class

Year

Rookie

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10+

1986

10.9%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1987

13.0%

11.6%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1988

7.9%

11.9%

14.8%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1989

7.2%

7.6%

11.6%

14.3%

 

 

 

 

 

 

1990

8.4%

10.0%

7.8%

14.2%

11.4%

 

 

 

 

 

1991

8.8%

9.6%

9.0%

8.6%

12.1%

12.3%

 

 

 

 

1992

6.5%

10.0%

13.0%

11.5%

7.5%

10.8%

11.4%

 

 

 

1993

8.3%

6.0%

10.8%

13.1%

11.9%

7.9%

10.6%

10.0%

 

 

1994

6.6%

6.7%

7.1%

13.0%

12.2%

8.8%

6.5%

13.3%

7.8%

17.9%

1995

8.5%

4.7%

7.5%

10.3%

15.0%

9.7%

11.3%

6.0%

11.3%

15.7%

1996

5.9%

8.7%

6.4%

6.5%

10.2%

13.3%

8.3%

10.5%

7.3%

22.7%

1997

7.5%

7.4%

10.8%

7.2%

7.8%

8.9%

10.7%

9.0%

8.9%

21.8%

1998

3.8%

9.1%

8.6%

10.6%

6.3%

7.3%

7.8%

11.8%

6.9%

27.8%

1999

7.3%

5.0%

10.8%

11.1%

11.4%

7.5%

6.9%

6.6%

8.7%

24.7%

2000

3.3%

6.4%

9.4%

12.9%

9.0%

13.0%

8.0%

7.1%

6.1%

24.9%

2001

5.0%

7.9%

13.3%

11.1%

9.7%

5.8%

10.9%

5.7%

5.7%

24.9%

2002

6.4%

7.0%

9.0%

11.8%

8.9%

10.8%

6.9%

8.9%

5.7%

24.5%

2003

5.9%

6.0%

8.5%

9.6%

8.9%

10.7%

12.1%

5.4%

7.7%

25.2%

2004

5.7%

8.2%

7.4%

9.9%

9.9%

9.0%

9.6%

9.0%

5.5%

25.8%

2005

8.5%

6.8%

12.8%

7.6%

9.4%

9.8%

7.3%

8.5%

7.0%

22.4%

2006

14.4%

9.5%

8.7%

12.3%

6.2%

7.8%

6.6%

6.6%

5.1%

22.9%

2007

10.6%

14.6%

11.0%

9.1%

8.4%

7.3%

8.3%

5.1%

5.3%

20.4%

2008

7.6%

9.5%

15.1%

9.4%

10.3%

10.7%

3.9%

7.6%

5.8%

20.2%

2009

10.5%

7.3%

10.6%

16.2%

10.5%

7.7%

7.6%

3.5%

6.4%

19.7%

2010

7.6%

9.8%

7.1%

10.9%

16.3%

7.9%

6.5%

9.8%

3.4%

20.7%

Since the dataset I’m working with starts in 1986 (Moyer’s rookie year) and lists whether a player is a rookie that year but not otherwise how many years they’ve been in the league, I can’t properly place everyone in a class until 1994, when anyone who hadn’t been a rookie in the sample must be at least 10-year veterans. The final column is an aggregate of all 10+ year veterans to save horizontal space, but rest assured that each individual class included in that number makes up a small percentage of the total major-league WARP.

By looking diagonally down and to the right, you can use this chart to follow every rookie class from 1986 forward as they progress through their careers (“leaving the bay to move on to the ocean” is how my own high school commencement speaker, Dr. Dave, tweely described it). Note how each class tends to quickly increase their percentage of a full league’s value, peaking in Seasons 3-6, before gradually fading away. 

By this measure, the 7.6 percent figure compiled by this year’s rookie class isn’t anything special, but take a look at the rookie class of 2006. In their rookie season, those players made up 14.4 percent of the entire league’s WARP—the highest of any class cohort that year, the highest of any rookie class in our sample, and the only rookie class in our sample to combine for a higher percentage of the league’s WARP than any other class that year.

When you follow the 2006 rookies through their careers, this group has continued to dominate the league each season, peaking at a full 16.3 percent of WARP so far this year. No other single rookie class in the last quarter century has been this successful compared to their contemporaries. The closest perhaps were the powerhouse rookie classes of 1986 (featuring Barry Bonds, Barry Larkin, Will Clark, Bobby Bonilla, Jose Canseco, and Moyer) and 1987 (with Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Fred McGriff, and Matt Williams), who collectively rocked their frosted jean jackets while scoring a full 20-25 percent of WARP each year for the next decade. Even those groups, however, weren’t individually able to match the 15 percent of league WARP that the 2006 rookies have achieved each of the last three years (though admittedly since the 1986 and 1987 groups were contemporaries they perhaps drove each other’s individual percentages down).

Does the rookie class of 2006 include as many great players as those late-'80s cohorts?

Recent Graduates – 2006 Rookies

Rookie Year WARP Leaders

Career WARP Leaders

Player

2006

Career

Player

2006

Career

Jonathan Papelbon

7.7

23.4

Hanley Ramirez*

5.1

32.3

Dan Uggla

5.3

21.2

Russell Martin

4.8

25.5

Hanley Ramirez*

5.1

32.3

Adam Wainwright

1.7

24.5

Takashi Saito

5.0

17.5

Jonathan Papelbon

7.7

23.4

Francisco Liriano

4.9

9.3

Matt Cain

2.8

21.3

Russell Martin

4.8

25.5

Dan Uggla

5.3

21.2

Jered Weaver

3.8

18.4

Ryan Zimmerman

2.4

21.0

Josh Willingham

3.8

16.0

Prince Fielder

0.6

20.9

Josh Johnson

3.7

16.7

Ian Kinsler

3.3

20.5

Chris Ray

3.6

5.8

Nick Markakis

2.9

19.4

Chris Duncan

3.6

4.7

Jered Weaver

3.8

18.4

Kenji Johjima

3.4

10.9

Jon Lester

1.0

18.2

Ian Kinsler

3.3

20.5

Justin Verlander*

3.3

18.0

Justin Verlander*

3.3

18.0

Cole Hamels

2.4

17.9

Anibal Sanchez

3.3

8.0

Takashi Saito

5.0

17.5

Cla Meredith

3.2

5.9

Andre Ethier

2.2

16.9

Joel Zumaya

3.0

5.0

Josh Johnson

3.7

16.7

Nick Markakis

2.9

19.4

Josh Willingham

3.8

16.0

Matt Cain

2.8

21.3

Matt Kemp

-0.8

15.2

Mike Napoli

2.8

11.8

Shane Victorino

2.1

15.0

*Rookie of the Year

The columns on the left show the top 20 rookies by WARP in 2006, while the columns on the right show the top 20 career WARP counts of players from the 2006 rookie class. Jonathan Papelbon, a topic of some recent discussion, led rookies in WARP in 2006 and is fourth overall in his class, while Hanley Ramirez is the career leader. Some of baseball’s best starting pitchers are on this list—Justin Verlander and Adam Wainwright are already perennial Cy Young candidates, while Josh Johnson, Jon Lester, Jered Weaver, and Matt Cain are all among the 20 or so best starters in baseball. On the offensive side, an infield of Ramirez, Dan Uggla, Prince Fielder and Ryan Zimmerman can slug with the best of them, though at first glance it seems to me that the 2006 rookie class may be deeper than their late-'80s counterparts, but with perhaps fewer truly exceptional players. 

What if we add in the next set of rookies, those from 2007, to make a two-year comparison?

Seniors – 2007 Rookies

Rookie Year WARP Leaders

Career WARP Leaders

Player

2007

Career

Player

2007

Career

Troy Tulowitzki

8.7

21.6

Troy Tulowitzki

8.7

21.6

Dustin Pedroia*

4.6

21.3

Dustin Pedroia*

4.6

21.3

Hunter Pence

4.0

12.0

Ryan Braun*

2.0

18.5

Manuel Corpas

3.9

6.4

Tim Lincecum

1.6

18.5

Brian Bannister

3.9

5.3

Joakim Soria

3.3

18.0

Josh Hamilton

3.8

17.5

Yunel Escobar

2.7

17.9

Joakim Soria

3.3

18.0

Josh Hamilton

3.8

17.5

Lee Gardner

3.3

3.1

Ubaldo Jimenez

0.8

17.2

Daisuke Matsuzaka

3.2

10.3

John Danks

0.5

16.4

Carlos Ruiz

3.2

9.9

Jeremy Guthrie

3.1

13.3

Kevin Kouzmanoff

3.2

8.0

Yovani Gallardo

3.0

12.1

Micah Owings

3.2

3.6

Hunter Pence

4.0

12.0

Jeremy Guthrie

3.1

13.3

Kurt Suzuki

2.0

10.7

Norris Hopper

3.1

2.2

Asdrubal Cabrera

2.0

10.3

Yovani Gallardo

3.0

12.1

Daisuke Matsuzaka

3.2

10.3

Peter Moylan

2.9

6.2

Carlos Ruiz

3.2

9.9

James Loney

2.8

6.8

Brendan Ryan

1.8

9.3

Yunel Escobar

2.7

17.9

Mark Reynolds

1.8

8.8

Travis Buck

2.7

3.3

Justin Upton

-1.0

8.6

Kyle Kendrick

2.6

3.3

Chris Iannetta

0.7

8.2

Now we’re getting somewhere. The 2007 rookie class has earned around or above 10 percent of league WARP each year, which combines with the 2006 class for a combined 25 percent of WARP each of the last four years. This compares favorably with the 1986-87 cohorts, and allows us to add in names like Troy Tulowitzki, Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Braun, Tim Lincecum, Josh Hamilton, and Yovani Gallardo, who bring with them two Cy Young awards and an MVP. That surpasses the major award count of the 1986-87 rookies, who by this point in their careers had only two (MVPs for Canseco in 1988 and Kevin Mitchell in 1989). It will be a challenge for the 2006-07 rookies to keep up with their elders, however, as the next six NL Cy Young Awards (Doug Drabek, then Glavine, then four in a row for Maddux) and four of the next six NL MVP awards (three for Bonds and one for Larkin) were awarded to the late-'80s group.  Nevertheless, the 2006-07 group might very well continue to dominate baseball for years to come.

Since I have the data handy, here are the rookie year and career WARP leaders for the 2008-10 rookies—MLB’s freshman, sophomore, and junior classes—for comparison:

Juniors – 2008 Rookies

Rookie Year WARP Leaders

Career WARP Leaders

Player

2008

Career

Player

2008

Career

Geovany Soto*

5.9

11.2

Evan Longoria*

5.0

19.7

Evan Longoria*

5.0

19.7

Joey Votto

3.6

13.8

Mike Aviles

4.3

4.4

Geovany Soto*

5.9

11.2

Jacoby Ellsbury

3.9

5.9

Martin Prado

2.2

10.7

Denard Span

3.8

10.2

Jair Jurrjens

2.8

10.6

Joey Votto

3.6

13.8

Denard Span

3.8

10.2

Jose Arredondo

3.6

3.7

Alexei Ramirez

2.0

9.5

Armando Galarraga

3.4

4.2

Carlos Gonzalez

1.2

8.6

Brad Ziegler

3.3

6.8

Clayton Kershaw

1.0

8.2

Joba Chamberlain

3.0

4.7

Pablo Sandoval

1.1

7.9

Carlos Gomez

3.0

3.9

Kosuke Fukudome

1.6

7.7

Joey Devine

2.9

2.9

Ryan Sweeney

2.7

7.3

Jair Jurrjens

2.8

10.6

Brad Ziegler

3.3

6.8

Ryan Sweeney

2.7

7.3

Chase Headley

1.7

6.6

John Lannan

2.7

5.3

Ian Stewart

1.6

6.5

Jesse Carlson

2.7

3.5

Michael Bourn

-0.1

6.2

Jim Johnson

2.6

4.5

David Murphy

2.5

6.0

David Murphy

2.5

6

Jacoby Ellsbury

3.9

5.9

Hiroki Kuroda

2.5

4.2

Nyjer Morgan

1.2

5.7

Justin Masterson

2.5

4

Johnny Cueto

1.4

5.5

*Rookie of the Year

The junior class has been comparatively weak as a whole, posting under eight percent of league WARP each year, and is especially short on starting pitching. The upper tier of Evan Longoria, Joey Votto, and Carlos Gonzalez, followed by Geovany Soto, Martin Prado, and Alexei Ramirez, gives this list a classic “stars and scrubs” feel.

Sophomores – 2009 Rookies

Rookie Year WARP Leaders

Career WARP Leaders

Player

2009

Career

Player

2009

Career

Andrew Bailey*

6.2

9.6

Andrew Bailey*

6.2

9.6

Andrew McCutchen

4.9

9.1

Andrew McCutchen

4.9

9.1

J.A. Happ

4.6

5.1

Trevor Cahill

1.8

7.1

Brad Bergesen

3.9

4.1

Ricky Romero

2.8

6.8

Tommy Hanson

3.8

6.1

Elvis Andrus

2.4

6.5

Randy Wells

3.8

5.8

Tommy Hanson

3.8

6.1

Garrett Jones

3.4

4.1

Randy Wells

3.8

5.8

Seth Smith

3.2

4.6

Cliff Pennington

1.3

5.8

Rick Porcello

3.1

2.6

Jeff Niemann

2.7

5.6

Chris Coghlan*

2.9

4.3

J.A. Happ

4.6

5.1

Ricky Romero

2.8

6.8

David Price

1.0

5.0

Jeff Niemann

2.7

5.6

Casey McGehee

2.4

4.9

Elvis Andrus

2.4

6.5

Mat Latos

-0.5

4.9

Casey McGehee

2.4

4.9

Seth Smith

3.2

4.6

Kenshin Kawakami

2.3

2.1

Brian Duensing

1.7

4.6

Everth Cabrera

2.3

2.0

Wade LeBlanc

0.8

4.5

Alfredo Aceves

2.2

2.6

Colby Rasmus

1.9

4.4

Matt Palmer

2.2

2.0

Chris Coghlan*

2.9

4.3

Brett Anderson

2.1

3.8

Tyler Clippard

1.7

4.3

Gordon Beckham

2.1

2.6

Darren O'Day

2

4.2

*Rookie of the Year

Of this class, I’d expect Trevor Cahill, David Price, Mat Latos, Andrew McCutchen and Colby Rasmus to have the most career articles containing the adjective “superstar” during their careers, though there is nowhere near the depth of star players here that can be seen on earlier lists.

And finally, this year’s rookie class:

Freshmen – 2010 Rookies

Player

2010

Buster Posey

3.6

Brennan Boesch

3.3

Jaime Garcia

3.3

Michael Stanton

2.9

Jason Heyward

2.8

John Jaso

2.8

John Axford

2.7

Carlos Santana

2.6

Jonathon Niese

2.6

Mike Leake

2.6

Neftali Feliz

2.5

Chris Johnson

2.2

David Freese

2.2

Gaby Sanchez

2.2

Jonny Venters

2.1

Starlin Castro

2.1

Austin Jackson

2.0

Chris Heisey

2.0

Barry Enright

1.9

Ian Desmond

1.9

Posey, Stanton, Heyward and Strasburg are obviously a fantastic top tier, but as a whole this group hasn’t been more productive than most of the other classes listed above—though it’s obviously way too early to know how deep this group will be in the years to come.

Thank you for reading

This is a free article. If you enjoyed it, consider subscribing to Baseball Prospectus. Subscriptions support ongoing public baseball research and analysis in an increasingly proprietary environment.

Subscribe now
You need to be logged in to comment. Login or Subscribe
saigonsam
8/19
I am shocked the 2001 class with Ichiro and Pujols never cracked 10%. I guess the rest of that class really stunk.
kenfunck
8/19
You're exactly right: the rookie class of 2001 was pretty shallow. The top 11 players by career WARP from that class are Pujols, Suzuki, Oswalt, Sabathia, Soriano, Rollins, Dunn, Br. Roberts, M. Young, Wells, and Pierzynski. The entire career WARP so far of that class from 2001-2010 is 816.9, and there are 26 players with double-digit career WARP; the WARP from 2006-2010 for the class of 2006 is already 906, and there are already 34 players with double-digit career WARP.
JoshC77
8/19
Good stuff Ken.

Just a thought, teams are now holding out their top prospects until mid-season to avoid super-2 status (moreso than they did even a few years ago...). I would imagine why the numbers of the last couple of classes look less than stellar. If you look at Ryan Braun's numbers his rookie year, they are superb...but having played only 113 games, he accumulated far less WARP.

With that said, there is little doubt that the key topic of this article (the 2006 class) is dead on the money. They have to be considered one of the best rookie crops in recent history.
kdierman
8/19
Ken looks like there was a typo ... Yuni Escobar was listed above with the 6th rated WARP from the 2007 class right behind Lincicum and ahead of Hamilton ....
bmd838
8/19
This kinda plays into what JoshC77 said, but in comparing this year's class to 2006 there is a lot of value being generated by players who are very young even for rookies. Even though they're all first year players, my guess is that stanton, heyward, strasburg, castro, etc. have more growth ahead than guys like uggla, papelbon, or martin. It's not hard to see the gap in % of WARP generated narrowing over the next few years.
kenfunck
8/19
True, this year's class (especially among the "name" players) is a little younger -- though perhaps by not as much as you think. Adam Jones was the only 20-year-old in the 2006 class, but there was an avalanche of 21-year-olds (Zimmerman, Kemp, Billingsley, Cain) and 22-year-olds (Hanley, Prince, Markakis, Lester, Hamels, Josh Johnson, Broxton, Kendrick, Liriano, Anibal Sanchez, Capps, Garza) -- moreso than this season.
dkirchg
8/19
2009 Rookies, Matt Weiters?????
kenfunck
8/19
A whopping 3.0 WARP for his career so far. Don't remind me -- he's my Strat-league catcher, and I guess I expected maybe just a tad more from him.
StatFreak101
8/20
But he was supposed to be Joe Mauer with power.

kenfunck
8/19
Strange but true stories of the WARP Patrol. A good chunk of his value comes from defense, but Yuni was a 7 win player by WARP in 2009 -- best in his class that year. Like I wrote in "42 Things", you have to be careful to understand the uncertainty when using a metric like WARP, so I'm not about to claim that Escobar has clearly been more valuable than, say, Josh Hamilton or Ubaldo Jimenez because his career WARP is a little higher. But he's certainly a valuable player.
jdouglass
8/19
I'd be very interested in seeing a follow-up piece when the 2011 PECOTA projections are released.

I'd be especially interested in seeing the WARP for the 2006 Rookies in their freshman season plus what PECOTA projected for them in winter 2007 for the next four years, versus the actual WARP for this year's class after a full season + what PECOTA projects for them from 2011-2014.
mgolden
8/19
Horribilis, not horribilus.
mhmckay
8/19
your final list on the 2010 class appears to be missing Strasburg
kenfunck
8/19
Strasburg's current 1.2 WARP doesn't put him in the rookie top 20.
arfdolph
8/19
There are no New York Yankee picks anywhere to be found in this article. They have been dreadful drafters for the most part--the Curse of Brien Taylor? No wonder they grab all the Dominican/South American/Central American they can get their hands on, or buy the best other teams' draft picks when their original team can't afford them anymore.
WaldoInSC
8/21
At the risk of defending the Evil Empire, perhaps their rookies pale because it's especially tough to crack a $200 mil lineup.