The Rookies Worth Knowing Before October
The first-year players worth watching.
The new kids don't have the loudest numbers on the board, but a few are quietly playing like they belong. Detroit's Eduardo Valencia leads the class at the plate, and a couple of names hopped up a level this week. Here's the freshman check-in.
The rookie class
Top first-year players, hitters by OPS (minimum real playing time).
Eduardo Valencia tops the rookie bats at a .897 OPS for the Tigers, a step ahead of Joshua Báez (.893) in St. Louis, though Esmerlyn Valdez leads the group in power with 17 homers for Pittsburgh. On the mound, Bradgley Rodriguez owns the lowest ERA at 1.90 for San Diego, with Brandyn Garcia (2.08) and Logan Henderson (2.34) not far behind.
Eduardo Valencia
Detroit Tigers0.897OPS rookie›AVG .301 · HR 6 · OPS 0.89718 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.897above avg
Joshua Báez
St. Louis Cardinals0.893OPS rookie›AVG .261 · HR 7 · OPS 0.89318 RBI · 2 SBOPS0.893above avg
Esmerlyn Valdez
Pittsburgh Pirates0.855OPS rookie›AVG .232 · HR 17 · OPS 0.85547 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.855above avg
TJ Rumfield
Colorado Rockies0.841OPS rookie›AVG .295 · HR 15 · OPS 0.84167 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.841above avg
Brett Bateman
Toronto Blue Jays0.826OPS rookie›AVG .339 · HR 1 · OPS 0.8269 RBI · 3 SBOPS0.826above avg
Brandyn Garcia
Arizona Diamondbacks2.08ERA rookie›ERA 2.08 · WHIP 0.78 · IP 43.1GS 0 · 0 W · 53 KFORM94elite
Logan Henderson
Milwaukee Brewers2.34ERA rookie›ERA 2.34 · WHIP 0.78 · IP 88.1GS 16 · 10 W · 99 KFORM91elite
Bradgley Rodriguez
San Diego Padres1.90ERA rookie›ERA 1.90 · WHIP 1.04 · IP 66.1GS 4 · 3 W · 74 KFORM86elite
Rookies breaking out
Rookies with the biggest OPS jump this week.
Brett Bateman made the biggest jump, up .042 to a .826 OPS for Toronto and now among the better rookie bats going. The Yankees' Spencer Jones (up .038 to .789) and Pittsburgh's Rafael Flores Jr. (up .031 to .806) are trending the same direction.
- Brett BatemanToronto Blue JaysOPS 0.784→0.826 (+0.042) rookie›AVG .339 · HR 1 · OPS 0.8269 RBI · 3 SBOPS0.826above avg
Spencer Jones
New York YankeesOPS 0.751→0.789 (+0.038) rookie›AVG .259 · HR 9 · OPS 0.78934 RBI · 9 SBOPS0.789above avg
Rafael Flores Jr.Pittsburgh PiratesOPS 0.775→0.806 (+0.031) rookie›AVG .243 · HR 8 · OPS 0.80619 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.806above avg
Stats via the MLB Stats API. Colors, form scores and power rankings are Baseball Lens's own.