Age relative to level is a key component of our prospect ranking program. And though there's a lot more to analyzing prospects than just looking at their age relative to their level, it's a solid starting point.
Homer Bailey, Billy Butler, Yovani Gallardo, and Daric Barton were the youngest Triple-A players in Sean's age article last June. It's already looking likely that at least two of them will go on to become above-average big leaguers. Fernando Martinez, Justin Upton, Bryan Anderson, and Andrew McCutchen were the four youngest players in Double-A last June. A couple of them could go on to become above-average big leaguers.
Sean put together lists for each level as of last weekend that he's given me permission to publish an annotate. Here it goes:
| Major Leagues | |||||||||
| Rk. | Name | Pos | Bat | Thw | Ht | Wt | Age | DOB | Org |
| 1 | Justin Upton | RF | R | R | 6' 3" | 205 | 20.6 | 8/25/1987 | ARI |
| 2 | Phil Hughes | P | R | R | 6' 5" | 230 | 21.7 | 6/24/1986 | NYY |
| 3 | Billy Butler | 1B | R | R | 6' 1" | 240 | 21.9 | 4/18/1986 | KC |
| 4 | Felix Hernandez | P | R | R | 6' 3" | 230 | 22.0 | 4/8/1986 | SEA |
| 5 | Yovani Gallardo | P | R | R | 6' 2" | 220 | 22.1 | 2/27/1986 | MIL |
| 6 | Johnny Cueto | P | R | R | 5' 10" | 185 | 22.1 | 2/15/1986 | CIN |
| 7 | Jair Jurrjens | P | R | R | 6' 1" | 200 | 22.1 | 1/29/1986 | ATL |
| 8 | Franklin Morales | P | L | L | 6' 0" | 170 | 22.2 | 1/24/1986 | COL |
| 9 | Carlos Gomez | CF | R | R | 6' 4" | 195 | 22.3 | 12/4/1985 | MIN |
| 10 | Asdrubal Cabrera | 2B | S | R | 6' 0" | 170 | 22.4 | 11/13/1985 | CLE |
When Phil Hughes sat atop this list last June, he was less than three months older than Felix Hernandez, the next youngest player on the list. Upton is more than a year younger than any other player in the big leagues right now. He'd also be the youngest player in Triple-A if he was in Tuscon instead of Phoenix, which means he could very well open 2009 again as the youngest player in the big leagues.
| Triple-A | |||||||||
| Rk. | Name | Pos | Bat | Thw | Ht | Wt | Age | DOB | Org |
| 1 | Jay Bruce | OF | L | L | 6' 3" | 205 | 21.0 | 4/3/1987 | CIN |
| 2 | Andrew McCutchen | OF | R | R | 5' 11" | 175 | 21.4 | 10/10/1986 | PIT |
| 3 | Nick Adenhart | P | R | R | 6' 3" | 185 | 21.6 | 8/24/1986 | LAA |
| 4 | Colby Rasmus | OF | L | L | 6' 2" | 195 | 21.6 | 8/11/1986 | STL |
| 5 | Collin Balester | P | R | R | 6' 5" | 190 | 21.8 | 6/6/1986 | WAS |
| 6 | Gaby Hernandez | P | R | R | 6' 3" | 215 | 21.8 | 5/21/1986 | FLA |
| 7 | Matt Tuiasosopo | 3B | R | R | 6' 2" | 223 | 21.9 | 5/10/1986 | SEA |
| 8 | Homer Bailey | P | R | R | 6' 4" | 205 | 21.9 | 5/3/1986 | CIN |
| 9 | Reid Brignac | SS | L | R | 6' 3" | 180 | 22.2 | 1/16/1986 | TB |
| 10 | Sean Gallagher | P | R | R | 6' 2" | 225 | 22.2 | 12/30/1985 | CHC |
Just because Upton is younger than any player on this list doesn't mean we're looking at a bunch of "veterans" here. Clay Davenport found the average Triple-A age to be 27.4 in July of 2006. So the players above are somewhat like high school sophomores and juniors competing against college seniors. If Bruce, McCutchen, Adenhart, and Rasmus are able to find success in Triple-A this season, there will be little holding them back from becoming impact big leaguers.
| Double-A | |||||||||
| Rk. | Name | Pos | Bat | Thw | Ht | Wt | Age | DOB | Org |
| 1 | Fernando Martinez | CF | L | R | 6' 1" | 190 | 19.4 | 10/10/1988 | NYM |
| 2 | Elvis Andrus | SS | R | R | 6' 0" | 185 | 19.6 | 8/26/1988 | TEX |
| 3 | Jose Tabata | OF | R | R | 5' 11" | 160 | 19.6 | 8/12/1988 | NYY |
| 4 | Chris Tillman | P | R | R | 6' 5" | 195 | 19.9 | 4/15/1988 | BAL |
| 5 | Clayton Kershaw | P | L | L | 6' 3" | 220 | 20.0 | 3/19/1988 | LAD |
| 6 | Michael Brantley | LF | L | L | 6' 2" | 180 | 20.9 | 5/15/1987 | MIL |
| 7 | Ivan De Jesus | SS | R | R | 5' 11" | 182 | 20.9 | 5/1/1987 | LAD |
| 8 | Cameron Maybin | OF | R | R | 6' 4" | 205 | 21.0 | 4/4/1987 | FLA |
| 9 | Shairon Martis | P | R | R | 6' 1" | 175 | 21.0 | 3/30/1987 | WAS |
| 10 | Carlos Carrasco | P | R | R | 6' 3" | 215 | 21.0 | 3/21/1987 | PHI |
| 11 | Daniel Cortes | P | R | R | 6' 5" | 205 | 21.0 | 3/4/1987 | KC |
| 12 | Aaron Thompson | P | L | L | 6' 3" | 195 | 21.1 | 2/28/1987 | FLA |
| 13 | William Inman | P | R | R | 6' 0" | 200 | 21.1 | 2/6/1987 | SD |
| 14 | Austin Jackson | OF | R | R | 6' 1" | 185 | 21.1 | 2/1/1987 | NYY |
Remember when Martinez, Andrus, and Tabata were 17-year-olds in Low-A? Well, two years later they're in Double-A together -- right on schedule. Martinez opened 2007 in Double-A before losing most of his season to a broken hamate bone. There's a chance that he could be sent to Triple-A before long if he gets off to a hot start. Clay Davenport's article (linked above) had the average age in Double-A as 25.0. So we're not seeing quite as big of an age gap here as we did in the Triple-A list, but it's pretty close.
| High-A | |||||||||
| Rk. | Name | Pos | Bat | Thw | Ht | Wt | Age | DOB | Org |
| 1 | Carlos Triunfel | SS | R | R | 5' 11" | 175 | 18.1 | 2/27/1990 | SEA |
| 2 | Ruben Tejada | SS | R | R | 5' 11" | 165 | 18.6 | 9/1/1989 | MIN |
| 3 | Deolis Guerra | P | R | R | 6' 5" | 200 | 18.9 | 4/17/1989 | NYM |
| 4 | Rick Porcello | P | R | R | 6' 5" | 200 | 19.2 | 12/27/1988 | DET |
| 5 | Tim Alderson | P | R | R | 6' 6" | 217 | 19.4 | 11/3/1988 | SF |
| 6 | Jeanmar Gomez | P | R | R | 6' 3" | 168 | 19.5 | 10/2/1988 | CLE |
| 7 | Billy Rowell | 3B | L | R | 6' 5" | 205 | 19.5 | 9/10/1988 | BAL |
| 8 | Arnold Leon | P | R | R | 5' 11" | 190 | 19.5 | 9/6/1988 | OAK |
| 9 | Christopher Marrero | OF | R | R | 6' 3" | 210 | 19.7 | 7/2/1988 | WAS |
| 10 | Marcus Lemon | SS | L | R | 5' 11" | 173 | 19.8 | 6/3/1988 | TEX |
| 11 | Carlos Rivero | SS | R | R | 6' 3" | 198 | 19.8 | 5/20/1988 | CLE |
| 12 | Jason Place | OF | R | R | 6' 3" | 205 | 19.9 | 5/8/1988 | BOS |
Sean's 2007 list had seven teenagers who opened the season in High-A, the youngest of which was Guerra. Place is the last of the 12 teenagers who opened 2008 in High-A -- Cedric Hunter (3/10/88) is the next youngest. While this could mean that a wealth of young talent is rising through the minors, Tejada, Gomez, Leon, and Lemon have yet to really break out in full-season ball. So we're not confident that they'll all be ready to produce in Double-A at this time next year.
| Low-A | |||||||||
| Rk. | Name | Pos | Bat | Thw | Ht | Wt | Age | DOB | Org |
| 1 | Angel Villalona | 3B | R | R | 6' 3" | 200 | 17.6 | 8/13/1990 | SF |
| 2 | Jesus Montero | C | R | R | 6' 4" | 225 | 18.3 | 11/28/1989 | NYY |
| 3 | Freddy Galvis | SS | S | R | 5' 10" | 154 | 18.3 | 11/14/1989 | PHI |
| 4 | Michael Stanton | OF | R | R | 6' 5" | 205 | 18.4 | 11/8/1989 | FLA |
| 5 | Engel Beltre | OF | L | L | 6' 1" | 169 | 18.4 | 11/1/1989 | TEX |
| 6 | Francisco Pena | C | R | R | 6' 2" | 230 | 18.4 | 10/12/1989 | NYM |
| 7 | Jairo Heredia | P | R | R | 6' 1" | 190 | 18.5 | 10/8/1989 | NYY |
| 8 | Frederick Freeman | 1B | L | R | 6' 5" | 220 | 18.5 | 9/12/1989 | ATL |
| 9 | Matt Dominguez | 3B | R | R | 6' 2" | 180 | 18.6 | 8/28/1989 | FLA |
| 10 | Jason Heyward | OF | L | L | 6' 4" | 220 | 18.6 | 8/9/1989 | ATL |
| 11 | Anthony Rizzo | 1B | L | L | 6' 3" | 220 | 18.6 | 8/8/1989 | BOS |
| 12 | Madison Bumgarner | P | R | L | 6' 4" | 215 | 18.6 | 8/1/1989 | SF |
You don't have to go back very far to find a time when the Giants wouldn't have had any players on this list -- I'd imagine the same would hold true for the Yankees. This list is composed of a mix of recent top international signees and young 2007 Draft picks. It's still really difficult to tell which of these players will ascend to stardom -- if any -- but Villalona, Montero, Beltre, and Heyward are certainly good names to keep a close watch on.
Overall Analysis
All but three organizations are represented on at least one the lists above: the Astros, Blue Jays, and White Sox. Travis Snider is the 19th youngest player in High-A. He'd be the 6th youngest player in Double-A if he was there instead. The White Sox have John Danks, the 19th youngest player in the big leagues
The Yankees have five players listed above -- and Joba Chamberlain, who isn't listed, is the 11th youngest player in the majors. The Marlins also have five. And Mets are a close third with four. Six teams are tied with three players.
Sean Halloran can be reached via spiritual channeling during lunar eclipses. Adam Foster can be reached at adamf@projectprospect.com.