Jorge Polanco Entering Rod Carew Territory

He certainly could. He has been a truly great hitter with the exception of the first half of of the year his grandfather died.

You cannot be serious. I love Jorge but to compare him to Carew? You need to seriously slow the roll

Heading into his age 25 season, Polanco has a career best 110 OPS+. Heading into his age 25 season, Carew had a 134 and a (injury shortened) 152 under his belt. And Carew posted the 157 at age 29.

But, it’s worth pointing out that Carew and all of the others on your honorable mention list were second basemen. Short is more demanding...and playing at his current standard defensively, Polanco would not need to OPS as high as these others to be more valuable. So, for now, maybe we ponder whether 2019 Polanco can have the best year ever for a Twins shortstop? Seems like that could be realistic, as long as he remains healthy throughout the year.

Some notes. To me Polanco is a second baseman playing SS. With the shifting the import of defense at that position has been diminished, and the hitting aspect becomes even more important. You can't compare today's shortstops to those of ten years ago, defensively. Even I have the range to play the position with three guys spaced in 90'. I have always liked Polanco as a hitter, and think he will only get better. But to compare him to Sir Rodney at this stage for his career seems a little premature. Rod Carew was one of the best hitters in the history of MLB. I don't think Polanco even has a batting title tacked to his name yet?

I agree with the criticism if the point of this post is to compare Polanco to Rod Carew but I think the main point is to look at a quarter season OPS and compare it to the greatest OPS's in Twins middle infield history. If Polanco can carry this all the way to the end of the season then we can start comparing him to other great hitters but for now I think this post is only about OPS and examining further on the question of "what do we have here?"

Should have saved this one in the drafts folder...

Lord knows we can't tolerate any diversity of opinion or thought round here. 

However you slice it he is playing very solid ball...here is to Jorge keeping it up as best he can!  He is certainly on a red hot pace.  Twins have themselves a very good player under contract for years to come!  Win Twins.  

After 40 games he might be entering it, so all he has to do now is sustain through the next 122 games, plus the next 4 years remaining on his contract after that. Only then is when we can start comparing him to Carew.

The article is about a 1-year comparison. If Rod Carew holds the 1-year OPS+ record for Twins middle infielders and Polanco is possibly challenging that record, seems like you have to compare him to Carew, don't you?

Comparing Polanco to Carew career wise is another question for another day. Was just thinking, anyone remember the 1969 infield of 1B-Killebrew, 2B-Carew, SS-Cardenas, 3B-Graig Nettles? Nice infield. Wish we would have kept Nettles.

I'm sure the author's intention wasn't to enter the preposterous statement tournament... But when you compare a current player to a hall of famer, arguably the best player in franchise history, that's where it's going.

Well written article stating that Polanco is statistically entering territory rarely explored by a Twins infielder since Mr Carew.  Hardly a preposterous statement. 

Guzman was injured.

Polanco has a 166 wRC+ through 168 PA this season.

 

But he himself also had a 172 wRC+ over a 170 PA stretch in August/September 2017.

 

Which is encouraging, that he's been capable of this before. But should also give us pause to consider how likely he is to sustain this level for a whole season. His .293 ISO so far in 2019 would have been like Trout/Betts level in 2018 -- a power spike at age 25/26 wouldn't be unexpected, but spiking that much probably would be!

Yep. And also agree with the "encouraging" comment. What we are seeing is exciting, and it's not unrealistic to think that Polanco is in the process of taking his offensive game to a new level. Not Trout-like or even Carew-like, but still something that could be very, very good. Carew himself took a significant step at his age 27 season.

Premature

I am not an analytical savant! (I know, a shock to some of you) So, when analyzing the defensive contributions of, say, a SS, how does the fact that he is already deep in the hole during a shift, affect the analysis of his ability to go deep into the hole and make a play? Is it analyzed by the amount of feet he travels from start to gloving the ball? Or is it the slot the ball is hit into? It just seems to me that either way, any positive, or negative, aspects of range that the SS displays is muted by the restricted lack of open range. If the club sends the 3B to the right of second on a left handed shift, then his range comes into play moreso.

Just when you think some records will last forever, everything goes digital. Jorge Polanco does just about everything the way you want a baseball player to do it. If the Twins don't win the Series this year, I won't blame Polanco.

Who will I blame? Hmmm, I'll think it over. Maybe one of the moderators...

100 is a league average OPS+.

It doesn’t matter if is one year or a career. To compare Polonco (who I like) to Carew is ridiculous. He would have to perform at his career all time level for the rest of this year for an annual comparison and another 10 years for a career comparison.

Rod Carew was always one of my favorite players of all time. And it doesn't bother me in the least that Jorge is compared to him. Carew's swing was more for contact and Jorge tries to go yard much more, so I expect him to hit under .300 by season's end. But with 20 + homers. 

There is a reason the Twins wanted to lock up Jorge for an extension. He is a young and very talented player on the come. I wish they's extend Eddie and Buck too. It would be nice to have that OF intact for five years.

BTW, did anyone notice that they clocked Buck's throw to the plate last night at 98 MPH?