Keith Law's Top 25 players under age 25
It is a premium piece, but I will at least list the Braves on the list and the writeups. No prospects or player with rookie eligibility were considered
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4. Andrelton Simmons
AGE: 24DOB: 9/4/89HT: 6-2WT: 170POS: SS
AVG .248OBP .296OPS .692HR 17SB 6WAR 6.7
Current: The best defensive player in baseball, Simmons rates at the top of the 20-80 scouting scale in both his glove and his arm, and has continued to exceed everyone's expectations, including Atlanta's, at the plate, thanks to high contact rates that have reached absurd proportions this year. Simmons has yet to strike out through 45 plate appearances, which has helped balance out his low walk rates because he's fast enough to create a few extra hits a year.
Future: Simmons' career to date at the plate looks a lot like some other well-regarded shortstops, including Ozzie Smith, Barry Larkin, and Omar Vizquel, none of whom was much to write home about with the stick early in his career, but all of whom posted high contact rates from their rookie years. Simmons is a better defender than Vizquel and has more pop than Omar or Ozzie, but he does have to develop the patience that Ozzie and Larkin both found by their mid-20s. The downside here is a better-fielding Shawon Dunston, but the upside is a Hall of Fame-caliber shortstop who sparks debates over whether he or the Wizard is the best defensive shortstop of all time.
8. Freddie Freeman
AGE: 24DOB: 9/12/89HT: 6-5WT: 225POS: 1B
AVG .319OBP .396OPS .897HR 23SB 1WAR 5.5
Current: Freeman seems to have established himself as an elite hitter for average, with high contact and line-drive rates, thanks to a smooth, repeatable swing and a great eye for recognizing pitches, especially changeups, so despite modest walk rates he's been extremely valuable as a hitter -- on top of above-average defense at first. Among position players eligible for this list, only Trout has produced more offensive value (per FanGraphs) since the start of 2013.
Future: Freeman's .371 BABIP last year looked like a fluke, given his previous career high of .339 (in 2011), but he's maintained it through the first two weeks; only two hitters managed a .350 combined BABIP over the combined 2012-13 period, Trout and Andrew McCutchen, so Freeman would be in very select territory if he can even come close to his 2013 figure. He doesn't otherwise offer projection, and it's not a 30-homer swing, but perhaps he'll find another level as a potential batting-average leader who does more on contact than most hitters in baseball.
11. Jason Heyward
AGE: 24DOB: 8/9/89HT: 6-5WT: 245POS: RF
AVG .254OBP .349OPS .776HR 14SB 2WAR 3.6
Current: Heyward can be maddening, as he has all-world talent but hasn't put everything together for a full season ... although he's also still 24 years old, and has been on every iteration of this list that I've done. Heyward is a plus-plus defender in right with outstanding patience at the plate, and he shows plus power when his swing is right (not often) and his shoulder isn't barking. The reference point of his rookie season has colored everyone's impressions of Heyward's performance since then, but FanGraphs had him at 3.4 WAR last year in just 104 games, when only 10 players in the entire National League reached 5.0 WAR for the whole season.
Future: It's all here -- the power, the patience, the swing, the athleticism, the aptitude -- and one of these years he'll stay healthy for 150 games and do all of these things at once and win an MVP award and produce cold fusion and solve the Riemann Hypothesis, too.
15. Julio Teheran
AGE: 23DOB: 1/27/91HT: 6-2WT: 200POS: RHP
IP 185.2K 170BB 45HR 22ERA 3.20WAR 3.2
Current: Teheran made significant strides in 2013 toward his No. 1 starter ceiling, mixing in more curveballs after a very fastball/changeup heavy start to the season that saw him struggle to keep the ball down. He's still too slider-focused -- he gave up nine of his 22 home runs allowed in 2013 on the slider -- and his arm slot seems better suited to the curveball, but the slider gets more swings and misses for him, and he's a little bit caught between the two pitches. His fastball is plus already, up in the zone a little too often, but the velocity is very easy and he throws plenty of strikes with it. The changeup is his best pitch and his main weapon for keeping guys off the fastball, even though the change doesn't directly generate a lot of swings and misses.
Future: The development of either breaking ball into an above-average pitch is the next step for him, taking him from an above-average starter to an ace. Teheran was so effective at a young age that he reached the majors before he was a finished product, but is still good enough to help Atlanta while he continues to mature as a pitcher, and in another year or two he'll be at the top of the rotation.
Full List:
1. Mike Trout
2. Bryce Harper
3. Jose Fernandez
4. Andrelton Simmons
5. Manny Machado
6. Gincarlo Stanton
7. Madison Bumgarner
8. Freddie Freeman
9. Will Myers
10. Michael Wacha
11. Jason Heyward
12. Sonny Gray
13. Gerrit Cole
14. Yasiel Puig
15. Julio Teheran
16. Christian Yellich
17. Erick Hosmer
18. Zach Wheeler
19. Martin Perez
20. Salvador Perez
21. Jean Segura
22. Danny Salazar
23. Anthony Rizzo
24. Trevor Rosenthal
25. Jurickson Profar
