Currently, however, there exist 42 BBA hitters who are 22 years old or younger. Three of those hitters, however, are in their third seasons of continuous service, which means they came up as 20-year-olds and have stuck. This raises eyebrows.
Who are these guys, and are they future Hall of Famers?
Here’s the list, in order of service time:
Much has been made of JJ McQuade’s spark plug of a personality, but the fact is that the guy can play a little bit. The Nine drafted him #10 overall in 2028, and a year later he was on the opening day roster as a utility infielder, hitting an uninspiring-but-not-totally-embarrassing .253/.303/.339 as a 20-year-old. He raised all those numbers in a similar role in 2030, and is now splitting time with Earl Jackson, another youngster, at third base, as well as playing around the field. He’s a plus-plus defender at all positions, but with Lucas McNeill and Angel De Castillo around, it looks like third base would be the natural place for him. He’s on pace to drop about 2.4WAR this year, meaning the progression would be .1 > .9 > 2.4. He also just signed a 1-season extension for $2.9M to avoid an arbitration number that could possibly rise.
McQuade doesn’t really exude a HoF kind of a vibe, especially if he’s not getting 70-75% of the playing time available to him. But stranger things have happened, and he’s only 22.
Cummins made a splash as the first overall pick in 2028. He raced through AA to AAA that season, then played 10 games at AAA in 2009 before coming to the Surfers. He posted 5.0 WAR that year, clubbing 34 homers. The league made some adjustments since then, and Cummins seems to have been slow to catch up to them, though it’s coming. His 1.9 WAR in 2039 was a step backward, but he’s dropping a .843 OPS on the league, which would be considered a huge success if that rookie season hadn’t been a .948. He’s a sure-handed, if not spectacular defender.
The jury is still out as to whether Cummins will be a true HoF candidate, but he’s the kind of player that the rule of longevity might have been made for. If he avoids injury, and maintains that above average bat for two decades, those career numbers could be amazing.
Sweetworld is a first round pick in 2028 who showed up a year later and posted 3.7 WAR—proof you can get a great player at the end of the first round, even at #27. He’s one of the more electric center fielders in the game today, a guy with range that never quits. He’s a free swinger who’s hard to strike out (69 Ks in 427 at bats last season is solid), but who probably needs to learn the strike zone a little better (23 walks last season is not good enough). He can, of course, run. He's already stolen 52 bases on his career. After struggling a bit with the Sophomore Jinx, he’s currently hitting .307/.365/.585, and on pace to finish the season with something shy of 6 WAR.
At present, we call Sweetworld the most likely HoF candidate of the three, especially if he can improve his plate discipline just a little.
