The New (Baby) Faces of Major League Baseball


For 20 years, Derek Jeter was the face of the game. Baseball’s golden child played his entire career for the world’s most storied and successful franchise and boasted a storybook tenure from start to finish. Jeter had all the tools to be a successful shortstop on the field, but the way he handled himself off of the field is what put him over the top.

In this picture, its clear how much Jeter loved baseball, and how much baseball loved him back

Jeter played in one of the darker eras of Major League Baseball, flush with steroid allegations and court proceedings. However, Jeter was able to keep a clean record. He was respected by the media and fans around the country, and the worst hit to his reputation came when murmurs began surfacing that he gave out gift baskets of autographed memorabilia to his lady friends. For two decades, Derek Jeter was baseball.

At the conclusion of the 2014 season, Jeter was finished. In 2015, the MLB would be without its face, its star, and its golden child for the first time in over twenty years. The NFL still had Brady. The NBA had LeBron. So what did the MLB have? Luckily, there is more young talent in the league right now than ever before. So who will take over the role as the face of Major League Baseball? It seems as though the MLB won’t be searching too hard for too long since twenty of the guys playing in the MLB All-Star Game are under the age of twenty-five.

Wins Above Replacement is a sabermetric stat used to quantify a player’s overall contributions to his team. In 2015, the WAR numbers for players under 25 is at an all time high; meanwhile, the WAR numbers for players over 30 is at an all time low. This indicates the transition of baseball going from an old man’s game where experience and veteran wisdom played a huge role, into a faster paced, youthful sport centered around speed, power, and precision.

WAR is a sabermetric statistic that attempts to summarize a player’s overall contribution to his team in one number

This chart from FiveThirtyEight shows that the average age of baseball’s most impactful players has decreased dramatically since 2000. Not only are these young guys great ball-players, but for the most part, they are EXTREMELY marketable. Mike Trout, Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, Joc Pederson, Jose Altuve, Anthony Rizzo, and Giancarlo Stanton are all currently the face’s of their respective franchises after only a handful of years playing in the league. These young guys are taking the MLB by storm and are proving that baseball is no longer just a veteran’s game.

For baseball as a whole, this influx of young talent could not have come at a better time. For years, the MLB has had serious concerns about whether the league could appeal to the millennial demographic and be able to maintain its identity as America’s past time. With attention span’s getting shorter and the craving for action, intensity and entertainment getting higher, baseball needed a spark to gain the interest of these young sports fans.

Enter the huge crop of young talent that is sweeping the nation and taking over Major League Baseball. What stands out in these guys, other than their youth and skill, is their character and charisma. These newcomers are playing not just for a nice paycheck, but for the pure love of the game, which radiates from each of these guys every time they take the field. Their lively personalities and refreshing youth are what sets them up for opportunities off of the field.

Big and Lil Papi

Bryce Harper, 22, is already the star of several Gatorade ads. Mike Trout has over 700,000 followers on Twitter and is appearing in Subway commercials. Joc Pederson hit twenty home runs before the All Star break and finished as the runner up in this year’s Home Run Derby…as a 23 year old rookie. Carlos Correa is only 20 and has the second most home runs out of all American League shortstops…in half the at bats. And finally, Jose Altuve is probably the best second baseman in the major leagues and is only 5'5", which isn’t necessarily relevant but it’s awesome! Look at him, he’s adorable!

If we as fans have learned anything from this season, it’s that young players no longer need time to ease into the league, progress into their roles and eventually mature into superstars and team leaders. When these guys get to The Show, they’re here to stay, and often times, they’re a force to be reckoned with. I’ll repeat something I touched on earlier, TWENTY of this year’s All Star Game selections are under 25 year old, something that has happened exactly ZERO times in the previous 85 Mid-Summer Classics.

Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant will be the face of the Chicago Cubs for years to come, something the Cubbies haven’t had in years

The emergence of the Mike Trouts, Bryce Harpers, Kris Bryants, Anthony Rizzos, and Manny Machados is a wonderful, welcomed sign for Major League Baseball. ANY one of these guys could be the league’s next Jeter, which will go a long way towards revitalizing baseball in America and proving that while baseball has been weakening in the past, the future is bright, and baseball can no longer be called “a dying game”.