Mike Stanton went deep twice yesterday, giving the Marlins rookie 20 homers in 81 games (or exactly half a season) as a major leaguer. He also homered 21 times at Double-A before being called up in June, so Stanton has 41 long balls in 134 total games this season. Not bad for a 20-year-old.
In fact, very few 20-year-olds in baseball history have shown this much pop. Isolated Power is a stat that subtracts batting average from slugging percentage to show someone’s power removed from everything else, and right now Stanton is at .278.
Here are the all-time leaders among 20-year-olds with at least 300 plate appearances:
YEAR ISOP Mel Ott 1929 .306 Ted Williams 1939 .281 MIKE STANTON 2010 .278 Alex Rodriguez 1996 .273 Bob Horner 1978 .272 Frank Robinson 1956 .267 Tony Conigliaro 1965 .244 Jimmie Foxx 1928 .220 Mickey Mantle 1952 .219
Stanton is hitting just .251 with a .318 on-base percentage and has struck out 100 times in 81 games, so he certainly has some sizable flaws, but that’s one hell of a list to be on after making the jump from Double-A as a 20-year-old rookie.
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- Steve C - Sep 13, 2010 at 11:57 AM
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It still pains me to see Conigliaro’s name on lists like these.
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- Tony A - Sep 13, 2010 at 3:44 PM
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As a So Fla resident, I have been fortunate to have Stanton’s talents on display on my TV most nights. When he’s not in that monstrosity of a stadium, his power is eye-popping, pure and simple. Not just the homers, but he must scare NL 3Bs to death with the screamers he hits down the line. I saw three of the debut seasons you’ve listed, and Stanton’s is more impressive than 2 of them in my view. Don’t expect him to put up Frank Robinson like career numbers, but who knows…
