Texas Rangers Rougned Odor Joins Select Group of Young Sluggers
Giancarlo Stanton, Florida Marlins
34 home runs as a 21-year-old in 2011
37 home runs as a 22-year-old in 2012
Way back when he was still called Mike, Giancarlo Stanton came up in June of 2010 and hit 22 home runs in 100 games as a 20-year-old. He followed that up with his first 30-homer season when he hit 34 bombs as a 21-year-old, earning a spot on this list. He hit 37 home runs the next season, making him a two-time 30-homer guy at age 22 or younger. The 37 home runs in 2012 was particularly impressive because he did it in 123 games.
Of course, Stanton’s career has followed the pattern of that 2012 season. When he plays, he hits big flies at a prodigious pace, but he rarely plays a full season. In seven years, he’s had two seasons with 145 or more games played and five with fewer than 125 games played. True to form, he’s on the DL right now and it’s unknown if he can make it back by the end of the season.
Despite his current injury, Stanton is once again dominating the exit velocity leaderboard. Stanton has six of the seven highest exit velocities of the year (Jonathan Schoop has the other) and his average exit velocity is the highest in baseball, at 96.1 mph. Who can forget the 497-foot home run he hit at this year’s Home Run Derby?
Stanton is 26 years old and has 206 career home runs. That places him 16th in history in home runs through the age of 26. Imagine where he would be on the list if he didn’t miss about 35 games a year.
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