All 25 And Under Team

If you have been watching baseball this year, you probably have noticed the number of young stars in the game.  But do you realize how many there are?  I am naming my all 25 and younger all star teams.

First Team:
C:   Salvador Perez (25 years old)  KC Royals
1B:  Eric Hosmer (25) KC Royals
2B:  Jose Altuve (25) Houston Astros
3B:  Manny Machado (23)  Baltimore Orioles
SS:  Carlos Correa (21) Houston Astros
OF:  Mike Trout (24) Los Angeles Angels
        Bryce Harper (22) Washington Nationals
        Giancarlo Stanton (25) Miami Marlins
SP:  Gerrit Cole (25) Pittsburgh Pirates
       Michael Wacha (24) St. Louis Cardinals
       Jose Fernandez (23) Miami Marlins
       Danny Salazar (25) Cleveland Indians
       Carlos Martinez (24) St. Louis Cardinals
       Sonny Gray (25) Oakland Athletics
Closer:  Jeurys Familia (25) New York Mets

2nd Team:
C:    James McCann (25) Detroit Tigers
1B:  Wil Myers (24) San Diego Padres
2B:  Kolten Wong (24) St Louis Cardinals
3B:  Nolan Arenado (25) Colorado Rockies
SS:  Jose Iglesias (25) Detroit Tigers
OF:  Yasiel Puig (24) Los Angeles Dodgers
       Mookie Betts (22) Boston Red Sox
       Gregory Polanco (24) Pittsburgh Pirates
SP:  Taijuan Walker (23) Seattle Mariners
       Marcus Stroman (24) Toronto Blue Jays
      Yordano Ventura (24) KC Royals
       Jake Odorizzi (25) Tampa Bay Rays
Closer: Roberto Osuna (20) Toronto Blue Jays

Honorable Mention
C:  Kyle Schwarber (22- CHiC) Blake Swihart (23-Bos) and JT Realmuto (24-Miami)
1B: Travis Shaw (25-Bos) Greg Bird (22- NYY)
2B: Roughned Odor (21-Tex) Jonathan Schoop (24-Balt)
SS: Francisco Lindor (21-Clev) Xander Bogaerts (22-Bos) Corey Seager (21-LA D) Addison Russell (21-CHI C)
3B: Kris Bryant (23-CHI C) Miguel Sano (22 - Minn) Maikel Franco (23- Phi)
OF:  Jackie Bradley Jr (25-Bos) Yasmany Tomas (24- Ari) Michael Conforto (22-NYM) Byron Buxton (21-Minn) Eddie Rosario (23-Minn) Billy Hamilton (25 - Cinn) Stephen Piscotty (24- StL) Christain Yelich (23-Mia) Joc Pederson (23-LAD) Marcell Ozuna (24- Miami) Jorge Soler (23-ChiC)
SP:  Carlos Rodon (22 -CHiW) Aaron Nola (22- Phi) Steven Matz (24- NYM) Noah Syndergaard (23- NYM) Daniel Norris (22-Det) Luis Severino (21-NYY) Nathan Eovaldi (25-NYY) Julio Teheran (24-Atl) Lance McCullers Jr (21-Hous)

A few players who may have crossed your mind and think I ommited. Paul Goldschmidt and Anthony Rizzo are both 26. Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom of New York Mets are both north of 25 also

You can have quite the All Star game just between the young stars of the game.  Did you also notice how many young shortstops there are? This list doesn't include Andrelton Simmons, Brandon Crawford and Adeiny Hechavarria or Philadelphia top prospect JP Crawford.  In a few years, we may call this the era of the great shortstops.

Yes, baseball is in very good hands for the next decade with these players.

In Memoriam: Yogi Berra

One of the game's greatest characters and winners passed away on Tuesday at the age of 90 - Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra.   Coincidently, he passed away exactly 69 years to the day of his MLB debut.

1954 Topps

Instead of going through all of his accomplishments, there are many.  I will honor Mr. Berra with his Yogi-isms.  He was a very bright man, but couldn't quite say what was on his mind in a very eloquent way.  Yes, Berra said all of the following:

-A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore.

-Baseball is ninety percent mental, the other half is physical

-Bill Dickey is learning me his experience

-I always thought a record would stand until it was broken

-So I am ugly, I never saw anyone hit with their face

-It gets late early out there

-It's deja vu all over again

-Nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded

-You can observe a lot just from watching

-The game isn't over until it's over

-We made too many wrong mistakes

-You should go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours

-You've got to be careful if don't know where you are going because you might not get there

-When you come to a fork in the road, take it

-If people don't want to come out to the ballpark, how are you going to stop them?

-I never said most of the things I said


RIP Yogi You will be greatly missed.