Can Puig measure up to past LAD age 26 seasons?

Phil Gurnee ♦ February 24, 2017 ♦ 12 Comments

The LAD have quite a history of breakout age 26-year-old seasons for outfielders.  I remembered about Kemp and Mondesi but had forgotten about Pedro and Frank Howard until today. When I created this list, little did I expect to see the name of Kal Daniels. For some reason, I thought he was much older when we acquired him from the Reds.

Damn, so much talent, such bad knees.

Heck, even Willie Crawford had a great age 26-year-old season.

Puig is entering his age 26 season, can he crack this tough group? Unlike almost everyone on this list Puig was already brilliant but that was three years ago. In the roto world, Puig was a number one draft pick in the spring of 2014, now he’s being drafted from round 15 – round 22. Most have given up on him being an impact player. That is when I like a player most. When the majority have passed on and are looking at the shiny new toy, just as Puig had been three years ago.

Seems like just yesterday that Matt Kemp was the toast of Dodger fans after losing the MVP to the cheating Ryan Braun . They were begging the McCourt group to sign him to a long-term extension and Ned obliged. Now he’s regularly made sport of as having a horrible contract.  That wall in Colorado and that jog home changed the Kemp landscape forever.

Before Mike Piazza showed up, I always thought Pedro Guerrero hit the ball harder than any LAD I’d ever seen. I would have loved to have seen his exit velocity.

Kal Daniels had a swing of beauty. I can always remember Orel saying “I don’t care if he’s a statue in left field give me that bat in the lineup”. Or something close to that. But his knees ended his career by the age of 28. Crazy.

Never saw Frank Howard as a Dodgers but I sure saw Hondo in Washington where he became my favorite player.

Until Yasiel Puig showed up, Raul Mondesi owned the crown for most athletic right fielder the Dodgers ever grew on the farm.  Power/Speed/Arm, Mondesi had it all and at age 26 he put it all together.

Willie Crawford owns the distinction of playing for the Dodgers at the age of seventeen, and it only took him nine more years to have his greatest season.

Andre quietly had three straight great seasons starting with his age 26 season.

Stan Javier was a part time player but he made the most of his 321 plate appearances.

Ron Fairly put up a .738 OPS but back in 1965 that was good enough for an 115 OPS+

Milton Bradley had a solid inaugural season for the Dodgers as a 26-year-old.

 

Player               OPS+  PA Year HR BB   BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
Matt Kemp             172 689 2011 39 74 .324 .399 .586 .986
Pedro Guerrero        156 652 1982 32 65 .304 .378 .536 .914
Kal Daniels           155 526 1990 27 68 .296 .389 .531 .920
Frank Howard          150 459 1963 28 33 .273 .330 .518 .848
Raul Mondesi          140 670 1997 30 44 .310 .360 .541 .901
Willie Crawford       140 543 1973 14 78 .295 .396 .453 .849
Andre Ethier          132 596 2008 20 59 .305 .375 .510 .885
Stan Javier           119 321 1990  3 37 .304 .384 .399 .783
Ron Fairly            115 654 1965  9 76 .274 .361 .377 .738
Milton Bradley        108 597 2004 19 71 .267 .362 .424 .786
Mike Marshall         108 362 1986 19 27 .233 .298 .439 .738
Bill Buckner          105 680 1976  7 26 .301 .326 .389 .716
Todd Hollandsworth    104 287 1999  9 24 .284 .345 .448 .793
Willie Davis          102 653 1966 11 15 .284 .302 .405 .708

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/24/2017.