First impressions can be misleading. A generation ago, as a rookie with his hometown Philadelphia Phillies, Rub\u00e9n Amaro Jr. doubled twice and homered in his first start of the season. After a week he was hitting .304 with three home runs \u2013 and for the rest of April, he was 2 for 42.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was insane for about a minute, and people thought I was going to be good,\u201d Amaro said on Monday, laughing over the phone from Philadelphia. \u201cThen reality struck \u2013 \u2018Mom, they started throwing me breaking balls!\u2019 \u2013 and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far this season, major-league pitchers have found nothing to solve rookie hitters, who are asserting their presence like never before. Through the first weekend (three or four games for every team), rookies were batting .309, compared to .226 for non-rookies.<\/p>\n
Rookies had also bashed 15 homers with a .622 slugging percentage and a 1.008 OPS; according to the Elias Sports Bureau, those are all records since 1900 through every team\u2019s first three games.<\/p>\n
The hitters responsible include Chase DeLauter of the Cleveland Guardians, Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers, Owen Caissie of the Miami Marlins, JJ Wetherholt of the St. Louis Cardinals, Carson Benge of the New York Mets, Sal Stewart of the Cincinnati Reds, Justin Crawford of the Phillies \u2013 and more.<\/p>\n
Add in a couple of veterans from Japan \u2013 Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox and Kazuma Okamoto of the Toronto Blue Jays \u2013 and this could be one of the deepest rookie classes in recent history. And that is without the consensus No. 1 prospect, 19-year-old shortstop Konnor Griffin, who struggled in spring training with the Pittsburgh Pirates but has started 5 for 10 in Triple A.<\/p>\n
To Amaro, who settled into a utility role and eventually became Phillies general manager for seven years, the immediate impact is a natural outgrowth of how players train as amateurs. Teams have more reason to trust their rookies.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuys train differently in this day and age, so athletically, they\u2019re better-suited and more prepared to be able to make adjustments,\u201d Amaro said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they\u2019ll make them, but they\u2019re seeing velocities and overall stuff (as amateurs) that\u2019s different than it once was. They\u2019re seeing a 95- to 97-mph fastball a lot more often than you would have when I played in college, or even 10 or 15 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeLauter was named American League Player of the Week after hitting four homers in Seattle, and Stewart won the National League honor after going 7 for 10 against Boston. It\u2019s the first time in a decade that rookies had won both awards for the opening week.<\/p>\n
One of those 2016 honorees, Trevor Story, then with the Colorado Rockies, is still a star. The other, Tyler White, then with the Houston Astros, played only four seasons. White, though, was an overachiever as a 33rd-round draft pick. Story, as a first rounder, was more like this year\u2019s group.<\/p>\n
Benge, Crawford, DeLauter, McGonigle, Stewart and Wetherholt were all drafted in the first round, and Cassie in the second. Benge (Oklahoma State), DeLauter (James Madison) and Wetherholt (West Virginia) came from Division I baseball programs, Stewart played for a prestigious high school program (Westminster Christian School, near Miami) and Crawford\u2019s father was a four-time All-Star.<\/p>\n
Each of them also earned their lineup spots with strong performances in the minors last year. Of the seven, DeLauter (who missed most of the season with injuries) had the lowest OPS, at .852, and McGonigle had the highest, at .991.<\/p>\n
In other words, these guys could have staying power. They\u2019ve already posted some indelible highlights, like McGonigle\u2019s four-hit debut on Thursday, Wetherholt\u2019s game-winning single on Saturday and Caissie\u2019s walk-off homer to finish a sweep on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not going to make much of any situation, and I love that about him,\u201d Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol told reporters about Wetherholt, who also homered in debut on Thursday. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t scare, and his personality really lends itself well to do this for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rebuilding Cardinals signed no major free agents, so it was natural to give the second base job to a rookie with no major-league experience. The Phillies, though, have a high payroll and high expectations. But Crawford had a full season in Triple A \u2013 hitting .334 with 46 steals \u2013 and fits the dynamic they need.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to rely on the young players, even a team like the Phillies,\u201d said Amaro, now an analyst on Phillies\u2019 telecasts. \u201cThey\u2019re a team that\u2019s aging a little bit, so it makes some sense for them to give those young players an opportunity to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at what Crawford did last year at Triple A \u2013 the man made contact, puts the ball in play, he\u2019s got game-changing speed and he brings a different element to the team. It\u2019s not necessarily power, but speed plays, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the rookie surge traces to a rule from the 2022 collective bargaining agreement designed to discourage service-time manipulation. It\u2019s been a refreshing change from the old sham of starting a top prospect in the minors for some vague reason \u2013 working on his defense, say \u2013 only to call him up as soon as he could not accrue a year of service (effectively giving the team an extra year of control before free agency).<\/p>\n
Now, if a player finishes first or second in Rookie of the Year voting, he gets a full year of service time, no matter how much time he spends on the roster. And teams are incentivized to call up top prospects for opening day (or within two weeks, technically) by the lure of high draft picks tied to the major awards.<\/p>\n