The Next High-Upside MLB Hitters Who Will Ascend to Superstar Status in 2016
Kyle Schwarber and Mookie Betts are the kind of phenoms who just aren't playing around.
In 2015, the Chicago Cubs' masher and the Boston Red Sox's sparkplug demonstrated that they're the type of players who have the tools—and who have drawn the praise of coaches and execs—to be more than just your run-of-the-mill stars.
Schwarber and Betts are among the cavalry of young position players ready to launch directly into the superstar stratosphere—the realm occupied by the likes of Bryce Harper, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Andrew McCutchen and Josh Donaldson.
For the purpose of this exercise, players had to have accumulated less than two years of big league service time to be eligible, but there was room for one guy who narrowly eclipsed that threshold. As it turns out, that future superstar happens to be a teammate of Betts.
SS Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians
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2016 Opening Day Age: 22
The Book on the Ascending Superstar
Francisco Lindor is the first of four shortstops to hit this list, and there's no question he's a deserving recipient of this distinction.
The Puerto Rican landed at Progressive Field in the middle of June and logged an .835 OPS while slashing 38 extra-base hits in 99 games.
Thanks to that showing, the Cleveland Indians switch-hitter is now the big man on campus when he walks around town.
“People recognize me, it’s cool,” Lindor said, per Hayden Grove of Scout.com.
But Lindor isn't letting the fame get to his head.
“I’m still the same little kid, trying to play the game, smiling, going everywhere,” Lindor said. “[I’m the] same little kid enjoying the game, just being little Francisco.”
Little Francisco is a big problem for American League hurlers.
The way 2015 played out, that problem is only getting worse. In 73 games after the All-Star break, Lindor checked in with a .345 average and a .930 OPS.
The worst part for AL arms? He doesn't even turn 23 until November.
RF Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox
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2016 Opening Day Age: 23
The Book on the Ascending Superstar
Here's a good question: Just what exactly doesn't Mookie Betts do well?
Last season, the Boston Red Sox's table-setter hit for average (.291), showed major pop (42 doubles, eight triples and 18 homers) and swiped 21 bases.
Oh, and he did that while playing the season as a 22-year-old.
It was that performance that spurred ESPN's Buster Olney to predict superstar things for Betts in 2016: "This is a good sleeper MVP candidate behind the usual suspects of [Mike] Trout, [Miguel] Cabrera, [Josh] Donaldson: Mookie Betts, who had a .923 OPS after June 10."
With nine-time All-Star David Ortiz set to retire at the end of next season, Betts is a smart pick to take over as the face of the franchise for the AL East heavyweight. The complication is that one of his teammates joins him on this list and could end up sharing the mantle with the right fielder.
LF Kyle Schwarber, Chicago Cubs
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2016 Opening Day Age: 23
The Book on the Ascending Superstar
What Kyle Schwarber does to baseballs is downright stupid.
In 69 games for the Chicago Cubs, the lefty hitter crushed 16 homers—and "crushed" is the operative word.
Per the calculations of MLB.com, Schwarber's average launch speed was 94.25 mph, which is nearly five mph faster than the league norm.
The left fielder and sometimes catcher doesn't just bring the lumber—he also brings all the intangibles.
"Everyone has a different opinion on where they think he should be, for whatever reason," Cubs catching coach Mike Borzello said, per Carrie Muskat of MLB.com. "Selfishly, I think he's capable of being the leader of this team at some point. I think he has that kind of makeup. I think he has that kind of personality. He cares about the right things."
The scary part for the rest of the big leagues is that this emerging team leader is just one of two Cubs to earn the label of ascending superstar.
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SS Carlos Correa, Houston Astros
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2016 Opening Day Age: 21
The Book on the Ascending Superstar
Not even Mother Nature can stop Carlos Correa, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year.
While in New York City to collect his hardware, the Puerto Rican played ball in a snowstorm, as you can see in this video he posted to Twitter.
The top pick from the 2012 MLB draft flashed tremendous power in his first big league go-around, putting up a .512 slugging percentage and connecting on 22 long balls.
As the MLB Communications Twitter account noted, Correa set a club record for rookies with his 22 dingers. And he did that in just 99 games. Who knows what the shortstop, who doesn't turn 22 until the end of September, will do with a full slate of games.
SS Xander Bogaerts, Boston Red Sox
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2016 Opening Day Age: 23
The Book on the Ascending Superstar
Xander Bogaerts is the second Boston Red Sox player and the third shortstop to make the grade.
He's also the one guy who technically exceeded the two-year rule ever so slightly, as he enjoyed an 18-game cameo back in 2013.
As the right-handed hitter made abundantly apparent in 2015, Bogaerts can flat-out rake.
The native of Aruba clocked in with a .320 average, finishing second only to Miguel Cabrera in the race for the AL batting title. As new boss Dave Dombrowski—the president of baseball operations at Fenway Park—sees it, the knack for hitting for high average isn't the only similarity between Bogaerts and Miggy.
Per Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, Dombrowski shared his take on how Bogaerts can elevate his game:
"I used to say this about Miguel Cabrera watching. Miguel Cabrera has over 400 home runs and Gary Sheffield had over 500 home runs — they were good hitters and in cases great hitters who had power. They weren’t ever really described as just big power hitters, and look how many home runs they hit as time went on. To me, that’s how I hope Xander keeps going on, because I think that’s the type of hitter he can be over his career. He’ll hit a bunch of home runs — maybe not the number they hit — but he continues to be a good hitter that will have some power.
"
It's easy enough to see where that pop could come from. Last season, Bogaerts only left the yard seven times, but he tallied 35 doubles.
LF Michael Conforto, New York Mets
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2016 Opening Day Age: 23
The Book on the Ascending Superstar
As Kevin Kernan of the New York Post wrote, Michael Conforto enjoyed one heck of a rise last year.
"A refresher: Michael Conforto started the 2015 season in Class-A ball," Kernan wrote. "He finished the season with the second-highest World Series OPS, with 1.046, of any player who played in multiple games in the 2015 World Series."
As epic as his Fall Classic was, Conforto's regular-season run was also impressive.
In 56 games, the outfielder posted nine homers, a .506 slugging percentage and an .841 OPS after arriving in Queens at the end of July—just over a year after the New York Mets snagged him with the 10th pick in the 2014 draft.
Even with his breakthrough campaign, Conforto remains as hungry as ever.
“I don’t want to tell myself that I have the spot [on the roster]; I want to earn it," Conforto said, per Kernan. "Work hard, earn a spot on that team, there are so many great guys on that squad. This year I have to step it up.’’
The humility from the 22-year-old is a good look, but after his 2015 performance, there's no way Conforto will face-plant hard enough in the spring to miss the 25-man cut. Instead, Conforto could soon be challenging Yoenis Cespedes for the title of most important position player at Citi Field.
3B Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs
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2016 Opening Day Age: 24
The Book on the Ascending Superstar
You can't write this list without including Kris Bryant. After what he did in 2015, Bryant was a stone-cold lock.
The unanimous NL Rookie of the Year, Bryant has already slugged his way into the Chicago Cubs' record book. With 26 yard shots and 99 RBI, the third baseman set rookie franchise records in both of those departments during the season that was.
The one blemish on his season was all those punchouts—199 to be exact. Cutting down on the swings-and-misses isn't the only bullet point on Bryant's to-do list, even after his monster 2015.
“I need to improve everywhere,” Bryant said, per Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago and 670 The Score. “I need to be the best I can be. I will never settle for what I have done OK in the past. If that means working harder to make more contact, you can bet I will do it.”
As Bryant made clear, the word "complacent" isn't in his vocabulary. The right-handed hitter took a two-by-four to the Senior Circuit in 2015, and it sounds like he plans on doing even more damage in the upcoming season.
SS Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
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2016 Opening Day Age: 21
The Book on the Ascending Superstar
Corey Seager has so little major league experience—27 games in total—that he still qualifies as a prospect.
According to both MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus, the 21-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop is the top farmhand in baseball. But after his stint at Chavez Ravine at the conclusion of 2015, the farm is in the rear-view mirror for Seager.
Since he tallied just 98 at-bats, it qualifies as the proverbial small sample size. Still, his numbers were the kind of stuff that can't be ignored. In the process of casting incumbent shortstop Jimmy Rollins into the trash bin, Seager hit .337 with a .986 OPS and 13 extra-base hits.
With that showing, the left-handed hitter officially announced that the Corey Seager Era has begun in Southern California.
DH/OF Miguel Sano, Minnesota Twins
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2016 Opening Day Age: 22
The Book on the Ascending Superstar
The list of guys who hit the ball harder than Miguel Sano is short—really short: Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Cabrera.
That's it.
In 2015, MLB.com tabbed Sano's average launch speed at 94.9 mph, good for third-best in the majors. Thanks to that electric swing, Sano thumped 18 homers and posted a .530 slugging percentage in 80 games.
That's some serious production right there. And there's no mistake about it: It's Sano's bat that snagged him a spot in this prestigious group. During the upcoming campaign, it's with his glove that he'll be facing a new challenge.
After spending the vast majority of his debut season as a designated hitter, the Minnesota Twins are shifting the 6'4" basher to the outfield. Fortunately for the Dominican, his spring training tutor will be Torii Hunter. So, what will be the nine-time Gold Glove outfielder's first piece of advice for the 22-year-old?
“Don’t panic,” Hunter said, per Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press.
That's funny, because panicking is exactly what opposing pitchers do when Sano steps to the dish.
The Starting Lineup
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We'll leave it to whichever skipper has the good fortune of managing this loaded squad to figure out how to fit four shortstops onto one diamond, but here's a crack at how the batting order should shape up:
- Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox
- Kyle Schwarber, Chicago Cubs
- Kris Bryant, Cubs
- Miguel Sano, Minnesota Twins
- Carlos Correa, Houston Astros
- Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians
- Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
- Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox
- Michael Conforto, New York Mets
Note: All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MLB.com.
If you want to talk baseball, find me on Twitter @KarlBuscheck.
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