Emerging Young Hitters Since the ASG

Eight big league batters have posted a .450 On-Base Percentage since the 2013 all-star game. To little surprise we have Mike Trout, Yasiel Puig and Joey Votto among the elite hitters.

There are more interesting names among the leaders.  Of course this is a small sample size (3 weeks of games), but I want to give Astros, Mets and Cubs fans something to be happy about.

Rk		Tm	G	H	BB	BA	OBP ▾	SLG
1	Mike Trout	Los Angeles	21	26	22	.382	.543	.647
2	Wil Myers	Tampa Bay	16	25	10	.431	.507	.741
3	Jayson Werth	Washington	20	24	12	.393	.500	.705
4	Ike Davis	New York	20	17	17	.327	.493	.538
5	Yasiel Puig	Los Angeles	19	26	13	.356	.472	.575
6	Joey Votto	Cincinnati	20	25	15	.362	.471	.565
7	Welington Castillo	Chicago	17	16	12	.327	.468	.449
8	Robbie Grossman	Houston	11	17	4	.415	.467	.707

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/10/2013.

The Big Red “On-Base” Machine: Joey Votto

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto is having his 5th major league season with an On-Base Percentage over 41%.  This is very impressive considering Votto turns 30 in September.

Here are a few players who had four seasons with a 41% OBP before age 30:

• Barry Bonds
• Wade Boggs
• Rickey Henderson

Only a dozen players in MLB history had more than five seasons before age 30 with a 41% OBP.  The record is eight seasons by Jimmie Foxx and Ty Cobb.