First $Billion$ Player....Elly de la Cruz?

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by packs

Soto is not just a young guy hitting free agency though. Not just anyone is going to get a billion dollars. I think if Soto were 5 years younger and starting his career now he would be the billion dollar guy. He’s a generational talent but there are only so many who achieve that status so young.

All that to say being a free agent in 2030 isn’t going to get you a billion dollars. You have to be as good or better than a Soto or A-Rod.

This is my problem. I don't see him as a generational talent. To me a generational talent is a model of production AND consistency. The most recent 26 year old I would call a "generational talent" was Trout. Not one guy since Trout hits that descriptor for me.

Lots of great players, Betts, Harper, Judge etc. but to be a "generational talent" you have to be pretty much unique to your era.

[packs]

I think Trout is the better player but their stats through age 25 are not that far apart. What I think makes Soto special is his ability to get on base and score runs without striking out. He has scored 655 career runs to 696 strike outs. Soto is extremely disciplined and especially for his age.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by packs

I think Trout is the better player but their stats through age 25 are not that far apart. What I think makes Soto special is his ability to get on base and score runs without striking out. He has scored 655 career runs to 696 strike outs. Soto is extremely disciplined and especially for his age.

It's an opinion thing to be sure, but Trout was, by WAR, the best player in the league 5 of his first 7 seasons and missed out on one of the other two seasons despite putting up a 9.9 WAR.

Soto has done so once with a less than stellar 7.1, a total Trout only failed to better one time (he had a 6.9)

I also don't understand the hatred of strikeouts. While they can't ever advance a runner it's pretty rare for them to result in losing a runner.

Trout grounded into 48 Double plays his first 7 full seasons. (I am not counting his cup of coffee age 19 call up which would raise the total to 50) Soto has hit into 84 in his first 7 and one of those was a VERY short Covid season. That's more than Trout has in his entire career by a decent margin.

Since they have a similar OBP (and Trout was actually ahead of Soto at the end of 7 seasons) where's the advantage in not striking out? I would argue that making bad contact and grounding into a much higher rate of double plays but avoiding a strikeout is a productivity negative.

None of this is to say that Soto isn't a stud, but like the other guys I mentioned, he doesn't live up to my definition of a generational talent.