The Young Phenoms

Think on this.

A young 21 year old in his first full year in the majors; he's illiterate, fresh out of the South Carolina mills, thrust onto the scene of not just the 1911 pennant race facing Walter Johnson, Smoky Joe Wood, and Big Ed Walsh, but thrust into a bizzaro world facing those historic peers along with future greats such as Pedro Martinez and olde tyme legends like Cy Young.

He's Shoeless Joe Jackson circa 1911, the youngest batter in ATB, is off to a hot start under these formidable circumstances. For the first place Helena Handbasket's he's batting .312 with 16 doubles, and is on pace for a 100 R / 95 RBI season.

Elsewhere, a 22 year old Californian with the weight of the world on his shoulders thanks to a triple crown trophy in the minors and a 145 RBI rookie campaign, is batting third for a first place team. Ted Williams (1941), after a slow start, is batting .294 / .422 / .447 for the high flying Hathsin Survivors.

More impressive is the story of 1875 Pud Galvin. An 18 year old rookie from the pre-light bulb era, recently purchased from a local town team, is mowing down the greatest batters baseball has ever seen. In 26 games, Galvin now has a 1.29 ERA and holding opponents to a .175 batting average for the DC Chips.

It's the league of the young as pitchers aged 18-22 have the best ERA in the game. Along with Galvin, Scott Stratton, Cannonball Titcomb, Pete Conway, Bert Dorr, and Fernando Valenzuela (among others) have dominated the first two months of the season.

On offense,taking into consideration the general late start batters enjoy, the 21-24 year old's are also averaging better stats in general. Jimmie Foxx, Ed Swartwood, Reggie Jackson, Ken Griffey Jr, and Fred Carroll are all leaders at their positions.

Overall, here is the breakdown:

Batter OPS
.764: 21-24 year olds
.748: 25-29 year olds
.736: 30-34 year olds

Pitcher ERA
3.81: 18-22 year olds
4.07: 23-26 year olds
4.04: 24-30 year olds
4.16: 31-35 year olds