Who is Baseball's Best Teenage Position Player of All-Time?
Rates & Barrels: A show about Baseball
The Athletic
4.7 • 873 Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville joins Eno and DVR to explore a big question in the wake of Konnor Griffin's recent promotion -- who is the baseball teenage position player in baseball history?
Plus, they share huge show news -- Starkville returns and joins Rates & Barrels on Saturday, April 18th!
They also discuss early reactions to ABS, and potential improvements to the system that could be implemented in the future depending on how the early-season trends play out over the course of the entire season.
Rundown
0:49 Starkville Returns Saturday, April 18th! Right Here on Rates & Barrels
2:02 Baseball’s Best Teenage Position Players: How Do You Approach a ‘Greatest Of’ Question?
8:00 Entering with Massive Expectations: Is It ‘Easier’ on an Already Good Team?
10:45 Does Having a Recently Hyped Arrival Help? Paul Skenes’ Fast Track, High Expectations in Pittsburgh
14:25 Bright Spotlights From Day 1: How Ken Griffey Jr. and Bryce Harper Faced Added Pressure
17:05 The No. 1 Pick in Hypothetical Draft: Whose Big League Resumé as a Teenager is the Strongest?
19:54 Phil Cavaretta’s Impressive Early Arrival: Baseball’s Leader in Plate Appearances as a Teenager
22:39 Bryce Harper vs. Juan Soto: Did the Nats Actually Have the Top-2 Teenagers in MLB History?
27:05 Tony Conigliaro: A Promising Career Derailed by Tragedy
28:52 Learning From the Search: Jim Gilliam, John Montgomery Ward & Edgar Renteria?!
30:14 Stardom From Day 1: Al Kaline Was Destined to Become “Mr. Tiger”
32:10 An Old “Friend” of the Show is Back! Oyster Burns’ Unique Place in Baseball History
35:34 Late Game Challenges: Jayson’s Idea to Mimic the NFL’s Rule Under Two Minutes
38:38 Second Order Effects: Will Team Increase Aggressiveness with Challenges?
41:50 The Buffer Zone: Could Max Scherzer’s Idea to Have ‘Inconclusive’ Close Calls Stand?
46:04 How Many Strike Zones Are There?
49:49 Early Numbers: Walks *and* Strikeouts Are Up — Not Great, Bob!
54:25 Future Changes: Tweaks to the Strike Zone If Needed
1:00:21 The Margin for Error: Overturning Calls That Are Closer than Margin of Error?
1:03:20 Check Out Starkville Starting April 18th!
Follow Jayson on Bluesky: @jaysonst.bsky.social
Follow Doug on Bluesky: @dougglanville.bsky.social
Follow DVR on Bluesky: @DVR.bsky.social
Follow Eno on Bluesky: @enosarris.bsky.social
e-mail: ratesandbarrels@gmail.com
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/FyBa9f3wFe
Subscribe to The Athletic: theathletic.com/ratesandbarrels
Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris
With: Jayson Stark & Doug Glanville
Editor: Jason Potere
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today on Rates and Barrels, we take a trip to Starkville. |
| 0:03.1 | Jason Stark and Doug Glanville join us as we discuss the best teenage position players in baseball history |
| 0:09.3 | and a tweak that Jason believes could improve the ABS system. |
| 0:13.8 | Let's go. |
| 0:37.9 | Welcome to rates and barrels. It's Tuesday, April 7th. Derek Van Riper, Inoceris here with two special guests joining us. Jason Stark and Doug Glanville are here as we dig into a pressing question. Who are the best teenagers we've ever seen in baseball history? |
| 0:42.9 | And not just the four of us, but the collective we, like of all time. |
| 0:46.9 | We're going to focus on some position players. |
| 0:49.6 | Jason, Doug, first and foremost, thank you both for joining us today. |
| 0:53.2 | Hey, thank you. |
| 0:54.0 | You know, the great thing is we're not just joining you. |
| 0:56.5 | We're literally joining rates and barrels, right? |
| 0:59.6 | We're really excited to be part of this show. |
| 1:02.1 | Yeah, no, it's great to be here. |
| 1:04.0 | I don't know if you're officially a town or if you've been annexed at some point, but, you know, |
| 1:09.3 | we always think of geography when you think of our run with |
| 1:13.9 | Starkville. So it's great to be part of the show and looking forward to all the conversations |
| 1:19.3 | for sure. So would rates and barrels be like a subdivision or like a housing, suburban housing |
| 1:25.8 | development in Starkville? What do you think? we're now spanning the u.s at least |
| 1:30.5 | you know we have the Midwest and i've got the west you know down so now we're now we span the |
| 1:35.7 | us yeah good northeast coverage now i'd say we're we're a neighborhood within starkville i think |
| 1:41.6 | that's the right way to think about it the The return of Starkville Saturday, April 18th, |
| 1:47.1 | will be the first full episode back, |
... |
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