The Kids Play Now: Detroit's Valencia Leads
The first-year players worth watching.
The season's winding down and the rookie class is stepping into the light. Detroit's Eduardo Valencia is swinging like a man in a hurry, and a couple of Pittsburgh youngsters are staking claims too. Here's who's making the freshman year count.
The rookie class
Top first-year players, hitters by OPS (minimum real playing time).
Eduardo Valencia paces the rookie bats at a .964 OPS for the Tigers, though with just six homers he's doing it on line drives more than launch. Pittsburgh's Esmerlyn Valdez brings the power at 17 homers and an .855 mark, and Bryce Eldridge matches those 17 for San Francisco. On the mound, Arizona's Brandyn Garcia sits atop the young arms at a 1.94 ERA, with Atlanta's Didier Fuentes right behind at 2.27.
Eduardo Valencia
Detroit Tigers0.964OPS rookie›AVG .327 · HR 6 · OPS 0.96418 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.964elite
Esmerlyn Valdez
Pittsburgh Pirates0.855OPS rookie›AVG .232 · HR 17 · OPS 0.85547 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.855above avg
TJ Rumfield
Colorado Rockies0.845OPS rookie›AVG .300 · HR 15 · OPS 0.84569 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.845above avg
Rafael Flores Jr.Pittsburgh Pirates0.843OPS rookie›AVG .268 · HR 9 · OPS 0.84320 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.843above avg
Bryce Eldridge
San Francisco Giants0.825OPS rookie›AVG .269 · HR 17 · OPS 0.82557 RBI · 1 SBOPS0.825above avg
Brandyn Garcia
Arizona Diamondbacks1.94ERA rookie›ERA 1.94 · WHIP 0.76 · IP 46.1GS 0 · 0 W · 55 KFORM95elite
Didier Fuentes
Atlanta Braves2.27ERA rookie›ERA 2.27 · WHIP 1.07 · IP 71.1GS 1 · 7 W · 91 KFORM80elite
Bradgley Rodriguez
San Diego Padres2.38ERA rookie›ERA 2.38 · WHIP 1.09 · IP 68GS 4 · 3 W · 74 KFORM78elite
Rookies breaking out
Rookies with the biggest OPS jump this week.
Valencia is the one climbing fastest, up 67 points of OPS on the week to that .964. Pittsburgh's Rafael Flores Jr. is on the move too, adding 37 points to reach .843 and giving the Pirates a second rookie bat worth watching.
- Eduardo ValenciaDetroit TigersOPS 0.897→0.964 (+0.067) rookie›AVG .327 · HR 6 · OPS 0.96418 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.964elite
- Rafael Flores Jr.Pittsburgh PiratesOPS 0.806→0.843 (+0.037) rookie›AVG .268 · HR 9 · OPS 0.84320 RBI · 0 SBOPS0.843above avg
Stats via the MLB Stats API. Colors, form scores and power rankings are Baseball Lens's own.