The future of Major League Baseball is here, and it is perhaps younger than it has ever been before.
With players like 22 year-old Mike Trout and 20 year-old Bryce Harper headlining the MLB youth movement, it seems like veteran players such as Derek Jeter and Joe Mauer have become a thing of the past.
Trout and Harper are not the only sub 24 year-olds taking the league by storm.
In fact, all you have to do is look at the 2013 All Star Rosters for proof of that.
A total of 11 players at the age of 24 or younger took the spotlight at Citi Field in Queens, representing the cream of the crop in the MLB.
These players included, for the American League, 21 year-old Manny Machado 22 year-old Trout 23 year-old Salvador Perez, and 24 year-olds Matt Moore and Chris Sale.
For the National League, 20 year-old Harper 21 year-old Jose Fernandez 23 year-olds Jean Segura and Freddie Freeman, and 24 year-olds Patrick Corbin and Madison Bumgarner.
To look more into the youth movement, in 2012 the averge MLB pitcher’s age was 28.4 years-old.
That is second to the average pitcher age of 28.3 in 2011 as the youngest average age since the 1995 and 1996 seasons.
As for the position players, the average age for hitters in 2012 was 28.5 years old.
That is the youngest it has been in the past 19 years.
One reason for this youth movement could be the approach teams seem to be taking towards assesing what type of player is more valuable to them.
With all the statistical backgrounds teams have access to in this day and age, they are able to find the right players through the draft and develop them through their systems and ultimatley have them cheaper than a proven verteran.
This approach has not failed many teams up until this point.
Once again we will go back to the statistics for proof of this.
In 2012 there were four players under 25 years-old that were among the 10 top players in the MLB in Wins Above Replacement. (WAR)
They included Trout Buster Posey Andrew McCutchen, and Jason Heyward.
There is more of the same in the 2013 season.
Among the top ten once again are Trout and McCutchen and now Machado comes in at No. 7 with 5.7 wins above his replacement.
With all these young superstars showing they are for real, it is no surprise that baseball fans all over the country are taking notice.
Out of the top 20 most popular MLB jersey according to jersey sales, seven of them belonged to players 25 year-old or younger.
In fact, this list only consisted of two players above the age of 30. (Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera)
There is no stopping this new age of baseball taking over the MLB.
And as much as no one wants to forget about what the great veterans of the league have done, it is time to embrace these new and fresh faces and showcase them for the world to see.
