Happy Birthday Manny Machado
By clavejones
Happy birthday to the future of third base.
Manny Machado turns 21 today. In honor of his birthday I’ll share 21 factoids about Machado in the hope of convincing you that – although Machado lacks the exposure of Mike Trout or Bryce Harper – he will be the fantasy baseball star of the next 10 years, in part because he plays at the premium position.
- He was selected by the Orioles out of a private Miami high school in the 1st round of the 2012 draft with the 3rd overall pick.
- Machado had his MLB debut on August 9, 2012. He was 20 years and 34 days old.
- Among American League players, only Jurickson Profar is currently younger than Machado.
- It took an ejection arguing balls and strikes for Manny Machado to miss his first MLB inning. He had played all 137 games (1233.1 innings) since his debut.
- Despite playing just two games at 3B in the minors before his call up, Machado is now considered a Gold Glove calibre defender at the position on the Major League level.
- Machado has 38 doubles, 38% more than the next highest Major Leaguer, and more than both Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio at his age.
- He is one pace to break baseball’s record for the number of doubles in a season, a record I’m assuming is only half as exciting as the record for number of home runs in a season.
- Machado is second on the hits leader board with 115, trailing only Miguel Cabrera.
- Miguel Cabrera will go down as one of the best right handed hitters of all time. The numbers through a similar poit in the careers:
Name PA BB% K% ISO BABIP AVG OBP SLG wOBA wRC+ Manny Machado 331 5% 18% 0.187 0.318 0.281 0.315 0.468 0.337 109 Miguel Cabrera 346 7% 24% 0.201 0.329 0.268 0.325 0.468 0.338 107 - Currently, Machado is on pace for 220 H, 100 R, 72 2B, 10 HR, 78 RBI, 12 SB, and a .321 AVG.
- The righty Machado is slugging .500 against righties, but also a solid .421 against lefties, showing he doesn’t have any pronounced platoon splits. He also hits equal at home versus the road, or by day or by night, and is particularly lethal with runners on base.
- Per Baseball Prospectus scouting guru Jason Parks, Machado is the reason that babies are made.
- He’s widely known to be humble, with a herculean work ethic and rock solid mental approach.
- He likes to fashionably sport denim.
- His O-Swing% (pitches swung at outside the zone), Z-Swing% (pitches swung at inside the zone) and Contact% (percentage of pitches he hits) fall right around league average.
- Machado’s LD% (percentage of balls hit which are line drives) is above league average while his FB% (fly balls) is below league average. Line drives lead to doubles.
- Listed at 6’2″, 180 lbs, he is sure to add muscle as the calendar flips to his next couple of birthdays.
- He is engaged to Yainee Alonso, sister of San Diego Padres first baseman Yonder Alonso.
- He is currently striking out in just 15.6% of his at bats, well below league average.
- I’ve written about him before, and I stand behind it.
- He has the tools to be an MVP in his prime, with 25+ homers while hitting .320.