YOUNG TALENT TAKING OVER
Trout, Harper, Bryant among wave of polished players starring in the big leagues
CINCINNATI By the time Nolan Arenado was 12 years old, he’d already made it to Cooperstown — as part of a travel baseball team.
Kris Bryant still remembers the year-round schedule he played as a 9-year-old youth player in Nevada — 172 games, from January to December.
And when Manny Machado was a mere 6-year-old in Miami, he idolized not Ken Griffey Jr. or Barry Bonds but rather Alex Rodriguez, who in 1998 set the bar for performance by a 20-year-old that seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime proposition.
Arenado, Bryant, Machado and 17 young men of their generation converged Monday on Cincinnati, turning baseball’s 86th All- Star Game into a coronation for the youths who seem bent on taking over the sport. There are 20 players 25 or younger in this game. Eight of them are repeat honorees. And an unprecedented six players in that group are making their third All-Star appearance.
It might be cyclical. It could be an offshoot of stronger drug or amphetamine testing or aging stars vacating the stage.
And it just might be simple evolution, superior coaching and, for many of these youngsters, total baseball immersion that makes them better and faster.
“Maybe the big leagues isn’t as big of a jump now because of all these travel teams, facing the best of the best, facing velocity that you only saw in the big leagues before,” says Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, making his fifth All- Star appearance at 30. “There’s something to be said about it.”
Tulowitzki took a special interest in honing the skills of his teammate, Arenado, who made his debut at 22 and at 24 is one of the finest two-way players in the game. “Hard work is his story,” Tulowitzki says of Arenado.
But Arenado’s foundation was there. He grew up in Orange County, in the California hotbed of year-round baseball, and by 10 was traveling as far away as Houston for tournaments. By 12, his team went to Cooperstown, N.Y.
And in his senior year in high school, he was taking part in an MLB-sanctioned pre-draft workout at its Los Angeles academy when he was blown away by the youngest participant.
“I said, there’s no way this guy is a sophomore in high school,” Arenado said.
He was speaking of Bryce Harper, who in 2010 would be the No. 1 pick in the draft. An All-Star at 20, Harper and his 2012 rookie running mate Mike Trout seemed aberrations.
Now, it’s clear they were harbingers of the forthcoming wave.
“This whole game is getting very young,” Harper said Monday. “The next couple of years, you’ll see even more guys coming up who are that young. I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Harper’s true breakout season — he has 26 homers and a 1.168 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) for the Washington Nationals — might make him the midseason favorite for National League MVP. Naturally, a Rookie of the Year front-runner has strong Harper ties, too.
That would be Bryant, who played youth ball with Harper, opted to play three years of college ball and now, at 23, has produced 12 home runs and a .848 OPS in his first 78 games for the Chicago Cubs.
Bryant easily remembers the number of games played that 9year-old year — 172! — and says the grind was a key part of his development.
“I played baseball. That’s all I played. I think that’s a big reason why I’m here today,” he said. “We played a whole lot — January to December. It might have been a little too much, but I wasn’t tired at all. I enjoyed it.
“I never got burned out. It’s hard to get burned out when you have so much fun playing the game. You realize it’s just a game, and you should have fun with it.”
They’re redefining the meaning of phenom. No longer does one debut, shuttle to the minors once or twice before easing into peak-production seasons and All-Star accolades in the late 20s.
Justin Upton was the No. 1 overall pick a decade ago and has been a rousing success, debuting at 19 and making his third All-Star appearance at 27. Yet even Upton didn’t so much as play more than 133 games a season until he was 23.
These days, finishing school is an antiquated notion — or perhaps it just happens sooner.
“They’re polished, man,” Upton says. “Polished out of high school, polished out of college. And most are ready for the big leagues in one or two years.
“I don’t know if I ever played 100-some games a year (as a youth). The more reps you get, the more you play the game, the better you get.”
And perhaps it’s as simple as evolution, as Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones, 29, notes. He says young players nowadays swing wood bats before they’re teenagers; he didn’t start that practice until he was 16.
“I’ve been hearing about Bryce Harper since he was 12,” Jones says. “Ten years later, he’s here.”
Or perhaps this run of youth is a passing phase, an aberration of transcendent, precocious talent.
“There’s a lot of people swinging wood bats earlier,” Texas Rangers All-Star designated hitter Prince Fielder says, “but they don’t turn into Mike Trout.”
There’s enough Trouts now that guys such as Upton and Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt need to remind others that they’re not over the hill.
“I’m still young,” says Goldschmidt, a three-time All-Star at 27. “They’re not that younger than me. Just trying to stay young as long as I can.”
That gets a little more challenging every season.