Trout and Harper 1 and 2 in Keith Law's TOP 25 under 25 rankings

[theLgndKllr35]

In other news, water is wet.

[northsider]

Define stud.

He doesn't walk enough. His hitting needs to improve a lot if he's going to be a stud. His defense doesn't look too promising. He may have to move off of SS later in his career at which point he better hope hes a much better hitter. IMO how good he is will be tied to the power he develops and how much he can get on base, because his defense won't be a strong point at short.

Reading far into too many reports from yesteryear. Ask anyone who watched him play a significant amount of the field last year and they'd tell you how many strides he made and he is without a doubt a SS.

He got a bad rap cause of an incident and had a live arm. He fixed a great deal of his footwork and stopped trying to do too much. I was extremely impressed with his play as SS from 2011 to 2012.

[Jeffy25]

Reading far into too many reports from yesteryear. Ask anyone who watched him play a significant amount of the field last year and they'd tell you how many strides he made and he is without a doubt a SS.

He got a bad rap cause of an incident and had a live arm. He fixed a great deal of his footwork and stopped trying to do too much. I was extremely impressed with his play as SS from 2011 to 2012.

Yup. Significant improvement in 2012 vs 2011.

Both from the times I watched him this year, and the metrics agree. He just made too many mental errors. The talent was there in 11, but he was mentally not completing and staying in the game. In 2012, he vastly improved defensively. He should be at or near that good throughout his 20's defensively and should be able to remain at the position unless the Cubs bring up someone superior defensively. But Castro isn't someone who would move to say third. He is more of a second base/shortstop. So his offensive value won't have to be significant even if he was a second basemen.

[Nomar]

I'd probably deal him for Machado, but yeah, it's a select few.

Personally I can't buy into the Machado hype yet. I get that he is a tools guy. Hard to go by his numbers in the minors considering how fast he moved and his age at each level. He can be a 5+ WAR player if his defense is great, and if not he'll be more like Asdrubal Cabrera.

[MELO 15]

Sale is real low and Heyward is way too high. Until he hits more idk how he can be above Stanton at all.

Heyward has the makings of being national league MVP, this guy is a beast.

[VRP723]

Personally I can't buy into the Machado hype yet. I get that he is a tools guy. Hard to go by his numbers in the minors considering how fast he moved and his age at each level. He can be a 5+ WAR player if his defense is great, and if not he'll be more like Asdrubal Cabrera.

He put up an OPS 30 points below Asdrubal's career line at 19 after being extremely rushed. Don't buy that comp at all.

[Il Mago50]

Machado is so overrated jesus

[VRP723]

Machado is so overrated jesus

A 19 year old SS who had a .740 OPS in the majors after spending only slightly more than 100 games in the high minors? Yeah I don't know how he sleeps at night.

[Nomar]

He put up an OPS 30 points below Asdrubal's career line at 19 after being extremely rushed. Don't buy that comp at all.

I meant the Asdrubal Cabrera we've seen in the last couple years, not that Machado would follow his career path. He is better than Asdrubal was at his age by far.

By the way though: Cabrera's career wRC+ is 107, Machado's was 96 this September.

[VRP723]

I meant the Asdrubal Cabrera we've seen in the last couple years, not that Machado would follow his career path. He is better than Asdrubal was at his age by far.

By the way though: Cabrera's career wRC+ is 107, Machado's was 96 this September.

I understand that. And still I think it's a bad comparison. This is a guy who drew A-Rod comps for a long time. He's obviously not as good as A-Rod, but he's got the potential to be much better than Asdrubal Cabrera IMO. Which is also why he's 6th on this list.

[85BearsDefense]

That's exactly why i laugh, there's no way he is going to be a better player than Heyward.

Castro has had the better career thus far...

Since you know there is no way he is going to be a better player, what else can you tell me about the future?

[Nomar]

I understand that. And still I think it's a bad comparison. This is a guy who drew A-Rod comps for a long time. He's obviously not as good as A-Rod, but he's got the potential to be much better than Asdrubal Cabrera IMO. Which is also why he's 6th on this list.

Do you also understand that i used Cabrera as a floor? Doesn't seem like you do.

[85BearsDefense]

Wait a 22 year old shortstop who is a career .300 hitter and had 200 hits at age 21 is just going to be an average hitter... seriously if you've ever watched him you can tell right off the back hes a pure hitter. Also contract negotiations really effected Starlin's hitting last season.

He negotiated his contract in June July and August

April 333
May 304
June 264
July 235
August 252
September 324

[SenorGato]

Starlin should be 7, but no issues with that top 6.

Trout vs. Harper should be interesting for years. I'm all in on Harper being the boss when it's all said and done.

Machado is so overrated jesus

The ARod comparisons are so hack. He's tall, American with Dominican roots, plays SS, and was drafted high...ARod!

Sick talent but no way he should be above Castro. I can't wait for the day Castro makes that leap from massively underrated to massively overrated because he would have earned every single inch of that. All anybody wants to focus on is the walks with that guy.

[beldugo]

Castro has had the better career thus far...

Since you know there is no way he is going to be a better player, what else can you tell me about the future?

Hahaha, damn that make me laugh.

Castro's career stats (1912 PA): .297/.336/.425 .330 wOBA 103 wRC+
-11.9 UZR 9.1 WAR

Heyward's career stats (1730 PA): .261/.352/.447. .368 wOBA 118 wRC+
34.3 UZR 13.7 WAR

Try again...