Xander Bogaerts is in elite company. The 20-year-old Red Sox shortstop made his Major League debut last night hitting seventh against pitcher Ryan Vogelsong and the San Francisco Giants.

Between 1970 and 2013, 38 hitters’ rookie seasons came at the age of 20. Some of those names include Rickey Henderson (-0.7 WAR), Sammy Sosa (-0.4), Gary Sheffield (-0.4), Miguel Cabrera (1.0), Buddy Bell (1.5), Giancarlo Stanton (2.3), Alan Trammell (2.7), Andruw Jones (3.7), Roberto Alomar (3.9), Jason Heyward (4.7) and Mike Trout, who had the best debut season of any rookie with 10 WAR.

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The object of this article isn’t to compare Manuel Margot to Xander Bogaerts. That wouldn’t be fair. The latter is one of the top prospects in the game and just made his big-league debut. The former is playing short-season ball. There are other notable differences as well.

There are also notable similarities, which is why it is hard to write about Margot without mentioning Bogaerts. Each signed with the Red Sox as an international free agent at age 16 and excelled in the Dominican Summer League at age 17. Each proceeded to hold his own against older competition at age 18: Bogaerts in the South Atlantic League two years ago, Margot in the New York-Penn League this season.

Then there is the wow factor. The buzz surrounding Margot hasn’t reached Bogaerts proportions, but it’s definitely there. And it’s getting louder. Read the rest of this entry »

Ben and Sam answer listener emails about when every team will have won a World Series, the best baseball Kickstarters, rooting for draft picks, one-pitch pitchers, and more.

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Episode 373
Dave Cameron is both (a) the managing editor of FanGraphs and (b) the guest on this particular edition of FanGraphs Audio — during which edition he discusses notable ideas from the recent Saber Seminar (or SaberSeminar or Saberseminar) in Boston, MA.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @cistulli on Twitter.

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or other feeder things.

Audio after the jump. (Approximately 33 min play time.)

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Another day, another wrinkle in the Alex Rodriguez-Biogenesis-MLB-Yankees-Hip-Injury Saga. Some days, there are multiple wrinkles. It’s not easy to keep it all straight.

The main event, of course, is Rodriguez’s appeal of his 211-game suspension. MLB handed down that suspension on August 5. Rodriguez appealed the suspension two days later, and the matter is now pending before baseball’s arbitrator, Fredric Horowitz. Rodriguez may continue to play while the appeal is pending. No hearing date has been set. MLB is pressing for a hearing by the end of August; Rodriguez and the Major League Baseball Players’ Association — which is supporting A-Rod’s appeal — seem less interested in a quick resolution.

Five days after MLB suspended Rodriguez, the Yankees notified their $275 million third baseman that he would be disciplined for seeking a second medical opinion on an injury without permission. The nature of the discipline hasn’t been disclosed. You can be sure A-Rod will file a grievance.

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The Giants have not had a great year, to put it plainly. In first place as late as May 26, things went south in a hurry, and they have spent most of August in last place. The race for the bottom in the National League West remains tight — only two games separate the third-place Rockies and last-place Giants. Still, the team’s predicament begs the question of whether or not San Francisco will be the next member in the selective first-to-worst club.

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The Major League season ends in about five weeks, which means that voting members of the BBWAA will have to submit their awards ballots during that same time period. While there isn’t any award that is going to be as divisive as last year’s AL MVP — thankfully — race, there are some interesting decisions to be made this year. So, let’s do a quick rundown of where we stand now, and who the leading contenders are as we head down the stretch.

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We’ve heard different approaches from different players, and different levels of familiarity with the statistics so far this year, but it looks like Oakland’s Josh Reddick might be in a niche of his own. He knows about these things, and yet he shrugs — he is who he is, and he can’t change himself on a fundamental level. Doesn’t mean he can’t try to get most out of his skill set.

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