Major League Baseball is becoming the Ivy League:
Second-generation prospects are not limited to the Toronto system, either. ESPN’s Keith Law has San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr., another legacy, as the game’s No. 1 prospect, while Pittsburgh’s Ke’Bryan Hayes — son of Charlie — is also a top 20 prospect. And numerous legacy prospects are or will soon be contributing to their big-league clubs: Adalberto Mondesi (son of Raul) is expected to be in the Royals’ starting lineup, Lance McCullers Jr. is a fixture in the Astros’ rotation when healthy, and slugger Cody Bellinger (son of Clay) has already earned an All-Star nod for the Dodgers.
If it seems like the kids of former big leaguers are taking over the sport this spring, it’s because they kind of are — they’re making the majors at rates far greater than the general population.FiveThirtyEight.com
Whether it’s Guerrero, Bichette, Biggio or another prospect, the next child of a major leaguer to reach the majors will set a record for legacy debuts in a single decade. Entering 2019, the 2010s (44 debuts) are tied with the 1990s for most such debuts, according to Baseball-Reference.com data analyzed by FiveThirtyEight. The share of debuts by sons of major leaguers this decade is the second-highest on record (2.1 percent), and could perhaps challenge the 1990s record (2.3 percent) by the close of the season.
The article discusses how the sons of major league players get exposed to the game early, get to practice at big league facilities, have money to join travel squads, etc. I do disagree with the closing paragraph, however:
While they are the sons of former professional athletes, there are more talented natural athletes that never reach the major leaguers. Their advantages go beyond genetics, and for a variety of reasons, the advantage of being the son of a major leaguer is growing.
Everything is genetics. If I were adopted by a major league player, I would never be good at baseball, no matter how much I hung out with players or practiced swinging and throwing. That’s not where my genetics takes me. All of these players have the genetic advantage, and they then have the ability to bring that to fruition. If you watched the home run derby in 2018 and saw Bryce Harper‘s dad, you know Harper had good genetics behind him and a family that was willing to spend the money so their son could realize his talent. I suspect if you studied MLB athletes, almost all of them had a parent who was a physically gifted person.
Children are like their parents. They can’t help it. DNA is the greatest software ever invented.
from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2JI6PXd
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