By Grant Brisbee, Chad Jennings and Levi Weaver
Every week, we ask a selected group of our baseball writers — local and national — to rank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results.
My kids are getting into baseball cards, and I (Chad) randomly bought them a couple of packs of Donruss the other day. The boys ripped open the packs and discovered two words I remember from my own childhood: “Rated Rookie,” a baseball card staple since the 1980s.
Generally speaking, this season hasn’t been a great one for rookies. Not compared to the Paul Skenes/Jackson Merrill double dip last year, or the Gunnar Henderson/Corbin Carroll combo the year before.
But there’s been an uptick in rookie attention since Nick Kurtz started mashing baseballs in Sacramento and the Red Sox finally brought Roman Anthony to Boston. Last week, the Nationals activated outfielder Dylan Crews from the IL, the Mets called up starter Nolan McLean from the minors and Marlins outfielder Jakob Marsee had a two-homer game to punctuate an incredible first two weeks in the majors (he added a game-winning homer on Sunday). The Brewers have been the hottest team in baseball with key rookies in the lineup and the rotation.
