Best Teenage Career

[dgarza]

Who had the best years as a teenager (years listed under 20)?


Cnt OPS+ G From To Ages PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions Teams
+----+-----------------+-----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+-----------+
1 John Ward 101 120 1878 1879 18-19 511 502 85 131 14 8 3 56 9 0 27 0 0 0 0 0 0 .261 .274 .339 .613 *1/579 PRO
2 Scott Stratton 107 129 1888 1889 18-19 512 478 65 130 15 6 5 63 25 0 36 9 0 0 0 20 0 .272 .320 .360 .680 /17938 LOU
3 Jimmy Sheckard 118 118 1897 1898 18-19 514 457 63 127 20 11 7 78 43 0 0 8 6 0 0 13 0 .278 .350 .416 .766 *7/6895 BRO
4 Joe Quinn 106 103 1884 1884 19-19 438 429 74 116 21 1 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .270 .285 .324 .609 *3/967 SLM
5 Mel Ott 125 241 1926 1928 17-19 740 658 99 209 35 7 19 100 66 0 54 2 14 0 0 6 0 .318 .382 .479 .861 9/7845 NYG
6 John McGraw 108 112 1891 1892 18-19 455 401 58 108 16 7 1 40 44 0 38 10 0 0 0 19 0 .269 .356 .352 .708 /469785 BAL-BLN
7 Johnny Lush 118 112 1904 1905 18-19 427 385 42 107 22 3 2 43 28 0 0 7 7 0 0 12 0 .278 .338 .366 .704 /*3918 PHI
8 Paul Hines 107 109 1872 1874 17-19 506 501 89 152 17 5 1 68 5 0 5 0 0 0 0 4 2 .303 .310 .363 .673 /8743625 NAT-WAS-CHI
9 Ken Griffey 108 127 1989 1989 19-19 506 455 61 120 23 0 16 61 44 8 83 2 1 4 4 16 7 .264 .329 .420 .749 *8 SEA
10 George Davis 112 136 1890 1890 19-19 583 526 98 139 22 9 6 73 53 0 34 4 0 0 0 22 0 .264 .336 .375 .711 *8/946 CLV
11 Tony Conigliaro 138 111 1964 1964 19-19 444 404 69 117 21 2 24 52 35 1 78 5 0 0 11 2 4 .290 .354 .530 .884 /*789 BOS
12 Ty Cobb 118 139 1905 1906 18-19 558 508 64 149 21 5 2 49 29 0 0 3 18 0 0 25 0 .293 .335 .366 .701 /*897 DET




Cnt ERA+ IP From To Ages G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV H R ER BB SO ERA HR BF IBB HBP BK WP Teams
+----+-----------------+-----+----+------+----+----+-----+----+---+---+---+---+---+---+-----+---+----+----+----+----+----+------+---+-----+---+---+---+---+-----------+
1 Joe Wood 113 183.1 1908 1909 18-19 30 21 14 5 6 12 8 .600 0 135 63 45 59 99 2.21 1 723 7 0 5 BOS
2 Perry Werden 151 141.1 1884 1884 18-18 16 16 12 1 0 12 1 .923 0 113 61 31 22 51 1.97 1 0 0 SLM
3 John Ward 121 921 1878 1879 18-19 107 97 95 8 10 69 32 .683 1 879 421 196 70 355 1.92 8 3790 0 55 PRO
4 Bill Vinton 132 182 1884 1884 19-19 21 21 20 0 0 10 10 .500 0 166 131 45 35 105 2.23 6 789 0 0 20 PHI
5 Elmer Smith 138 520 1886 1887 18-19 61 61 57 3 0 38 21 .644 0 457 286 176 170 216 3.05 6 2234 12 0 0 CIN
6 Pete Schneider 111 420 1914 1915 18-19 77 55 27 6 20 19 32 .373 3 397 181 121 160 170 2.59 5 1773 14 0 2 CIN
7 Will Sawyer 133 141 1883 1883 18-18 17 15 15 0 2 4 10 .286 0 119 79 37 47 76 2.36 1 596 0 13 CLV
8 Gary Nolan 147 226.2 1967 1967 19-19 33 32 8 5 1 14 8 .636 0 193 73 65 62 206 2.58 18 932 7 5 2 3 CIN
9 Bob Miller 112 131.1 1953 1955 17-19 52 5 1 0 32 4 4 .500 1 131 62 50 59 47 3.43 7 570 1 1 0 5 DET
10 Silver King 115 429 1886 1887 18-19 51 49 48 2 2 33 15 .688 1 444 266 185 118 151 3.88 5 1854 17 0 8 KCN-STL
11 Walter Johnson 129 110.1 1907 1907 19-19 14 12 11 2 2 5 9 .357 0 100 35 23 20 71 1.88 1 442 2 0 4 WSH
12 Dwight Gooden 137 218 1984 1984 19-19 31 31 7 3 0 17 9 .654 0 161 72 63 73 276 2.60 7 879 2 2 7 3 NYM
13 Brownie Foreman 141 139.2 1895 1895 19-19 19 16 12 0 3 8 6 .571 2 131 83 50 64 54 3.22 0 0 0 0 4 PIT
14 Bob Feller 123 488.1 1936 1938 17-19 79 63 34 2 12 31 21 .596 3 393 233 205 361 466 3.78 18 2178 13 6 18 CLE
15 Wally Bunker 124 218 1963 1964 18-19 30 30 12 1 0 19 6 .760 0 171 78 70 65 97 2.89 18 875 5 3 0 3 BAL
16 Rube Bressler 147 147.2 1914 1914 19-19 29 10 8 1 15 10 4 .714 2 112 37 29 56 96 1.77 1 569 4 0 3 PHA
17 Bert Blyleven 119 164 1970 1970 19-19 27 25 5 1 1 10 9 .526 0 143 66 58 47 135 3.18 17 675 6 2 3 2 MIN
18 Jack Bentley 130 136.1 1913 1914 18-19 33 12 3 2 15 6 7 .462 5 115 49 33 55 60 2.18 3 528 4 0 4 WSH

[KCGHOST]

Pitchers: Elmer Smith all-time or Bob Feller modern era.

Hitters: Mel Ott all-time and modern era.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

FYI. Here are the statistical all-time leaders thrugh age 19.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/leaders_19_bat.shtml

[BigRon]

I'm not qualified to talk about some of the 19th c. guys. So, from 1900 on, integrating prerformance and amount of play, I'd say Feller- pitcher and Ott- position player.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I think Ott is the default choice here. He played 241 games as a teenager and had the best rate stats.

[The Splendid Splinter]

Ott is the only choice for positional player.

As for pitchers... I think Gary Nolan and Dwight Gooden were better than Feller IMO. I think if they put each season Feller had or put his best season in his teenage years than it's different maybe. This is only going by a single season.

But this thread asks for best teenage career... so I think Feller had the best career, but not the best teenage year if that makes any sense.

[Paul Wendt]

Yes, Feller enjoyed the greatest teenage career.
He was a sensation, too, the Judy Garland of baseball, or the Shirley Temple.
I'm too young to know.

His strikeout rate did go down every year from its peak at age 17. That was a big part of the sensation, his "blinding speed" and "blowing away" major league batters.

Feller played 1937-1939 before his 20th birthday, Nolan 1967 plus April-May 1968, and Gooden 1984 only (his career high strikeout rate).

Elmer Smith pitched one month at 18 in Fall 1886, then one super season as a young 19-year old. He wasn't yet himself (the mature Elmer Smith) as a batter or he would have seemed like superman. Teenage pitchers were not unusual in the major leagues of the 1880s. Pro baseball burned out a lot of arms very young. Someone (Brock Hanke?) has called it a time of testing what the human frame can take. It wasn't only a matter of learning, I suppose, but also generating enough money to hire and travel with a staff of perhaps five pitchers. At the same time, I suppose, the worst of the burnouts moved down into the minors. There were not many 21 year olds in the major leagues by the end of the century.