Watson: 2015 rookie class was the best in 100 years
From SABR member Owen Watson at FanGraphs on November 13, 2015:
Toward the end of July, something had become apparent in the 2015 season: it was an unquestionably great year for talented positional rookies. That was easy to see by the first half introduction of All-Star caliber players in Kris Bryant, Carlos Correa, and Joc Pederson. Many others added to the top-heavy, strong class. As it turns out, that excellence was also borne out in the data: the first half of the 2015 season had the most rookies with 1.0+ WAR and the most combined rookie WAR since 2005.
Digging a little deeper, it turned out that only two seasons in the last 40 years compared to the playing-time adjusted WAR the 2015 rookies put up in the first half. Take a look at this interactive chart that compares the first half of this past season with those from the past 40 years.
Read the full article here: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-2015-rookie-class-was-the-best-in-100-years/
Originally published: November 13, 2015. Last Updated: November 13, 2015.