Atlanta Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson and second baseman Ozzie Albies were named to ESPN’s Keith Law’s list of the top 25 baseball players under 25.
Among players whose seasonal ages for the 2018 season are 24 or younger and who no longer have their rookie status, Swanson ranked No. 14 and Albies landed at No. 16.
“Swanson is striking out a lot more often this year but is doing more on contact, already matching his 2017 homer total in just 56 games,” Law said of Swanson’s improvement over last season. “Of greater concern is that he has become almost a hacker, with a walk rate below 4 percent when he's not batting eighth (and thus just ahead of the pitcher).”
Swanson is currently batting .245 with an OBP of .296.
As for Albies, Law pointed out the second baseman’s home run accumulation this season (17) compared to last year in his 244 major league plate appearances where he totaled six, but Law did have some concerns about Albies’ performance lately.
“Unfortunately Albies' overall performance hasn't been good since his huge April -- his OBP since June 1 is .291 -- and it's possible that in trying to hit the ball out of the park he's surrendering some of what made him a good prospect to begin with, his ability to make hard line-drive contact to all fields and hit for average,” Law said. “He's an above-average defender at second who played short in the minors and in theory could return there. At 21, he's among the youngest players on this list, so I'm still bullish on him long term.”
Law's entire ranking can be read here.
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