Late Bloomers & Imports: The Best Players To Debut At 28 Or Older

by Jacob Peterson on Nov 20, 2011 10:00 AM EST in Visuals Above Replacement

Whatever you think of the Twins' signing of Jamey Carroll (I like it), you have to admit that he's had a remarkable career. He was 28 when he made his MLB debut and 29 before he played semi-regularly. He's played really well since then, though, earning over 15 Baseball-Reference WAR.

The two graphs below show the best players, ranked by brWAR, who did not debut in MLB until at least age 28. Part 2 (after the jump) focuses on players who first appeared in a top-level professional league other than MLB. This includes the leagues in Cuba, Japan, and the pre-integration Negro Leagues. These players were kept from debuting for non-talent reasons, so I separated them into another group.

Part 1 features players (like Carroll) who played only in the minor leagues before reaching MLB. These players were generally kept out of MLB for talent or organizational reasons, though discrimination played a role in some cases (notably for Ed Charles). Here are the top 8 pitchers and position players:

Carroll ranks fairly highly by position-player standards. He could easily end up number 1 on this list before all is said and done.

Clearly, being a late bloomer is a bit more common among pitchers. Not only do the pitchers have more WAR, but many of them also debuted later.

Next up, the players from Japan, Cuba, and the Negro Leagues, ranked by their MLB WAR:

Jackie Robinson basically blows away the field. What a remarkable player (and person). He had 3 times as much WAR as anyone else on this list, and 22 WAR more than any other player to debut at 28 or later. He's one of only 2 players to make the Hall of Fame as a player after debuting at that age or later (Hoyt Wilhelm is the other).

There are many incredible careers on these lists, which makes sense, because you have to be a special kind of player to have a productive career starting at a late age. There are too many great stories to relay here, so I'll just recommend that you search them out on SABR's Bio Project or Baseball-Reference's Bullpen.

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Comments

Older players get the shaft

When an older player has a bad year, it is often their final year. When a younger player has a bad year, it is just an off year, and they’re given more chances. It makes sense that this would be the case, but I’m sure a lot of older players were released too early because of this bias. For example, take a look at Wilhelm He pitched really well for many years in a row, but then at age 49 had an off year in very limited playing time.

Very interesting article.

by hotwater2 on Nov 20, 2011 12:29 PM EST reply actions

I should say "released or quit" rather than just "released"

As players would apply the same bias to themselves.

by hotwater2 on Nov 20, 2011 12:33 PM EST up reply actions

off-topic but

were teh results of ball on a budget ever posted?

by ColeStevens on Nov 20, 2011 1:00 PM EST reply actions

Good work

To my memory, I know Jack Cust was an old rookie, but looking back, he wasn’t all that good, just good to me as an A’s fan.

by David Fung on Nov 20, 2011 1:46 PM EST reply actions

Cust was 22 when he made his major league debut

And has a career bWar of 7.9.

by hotwater2 on Nov 20, 2011 4:35 PM EST up reply actions

Richard (Dick) Hughes

is a friend of mine. He was a SP for the 1967 Cardinals who made his debut at 28. He’s within shouting distance of the list (5.6 bWAR) based mostly on one season. I only met him a little over a year ago, but having looked at his career on b-ref, I marvel at how he didn’t get a shot until he was 29 (really) and that he was so good for the year he stayed healthy. He’s has no sense of bitterness about his career, but he has to wonder what his career would have been like if he had gotten to the big leagues earlier and/or had modern medicine for his shoulder problems. His story is interesting, and I bet a good book could be written about guys like the guys on this list.

by Stephen Suffron on Nov 21, 2011 12:07 PM EST reply actions