Manny Machado’s stats put him in discussion for best young player

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“He’s just polished. I see all the guys that are compared in baseball, and his name is never really mentioned in there and I like that. Just let him continue to fly under the radar and do what he does. The kid is special.” – Adam Jones told media members this season

Since Manny Machado’s major league debut on Aug. 9, 2012, the Baltimore Orioles have won more games than any other team in the American League. He’s 11 months younger than Mike Trout and three months older than Bryce Harper but is often left out of the conversation when it comes to discussing the game’s best young player.

If the season ended today, the American League MVP would almost surely go to the 23-year-old on a first-place team that ranks first or second in the league in hits, doubles, extra-base hits, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS.

Machado is the 10th player in the last 100 years to record 25 extra-base hits within his team’s first 31 games. Of the previous nine, four went on to win the MVP: Lou Gehrig in 1927, Stan Musial in 1948, Willie Mays in 1965 and Kevin Mitchell in 1989. Six of those nine players are in the Hall of Fame (Gehrig, Musial, Mays, …

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