The Baseball Scholar

Sabermetrics took hold of nearly every front office and changed forever the way the game is both managed on the field and operated by General Managers during the 2010s. With GMs armed with metrics that tell them young talented players are the more economically prudent roster choices over costly veterans, we have seen some tremendously talented young players. But the veterans still have plenty to teach the young guns. Ichiro, Alex Rodriguez, Adrian Beltre, and Albert Pujols all got their 3,000 hit during the decade. David Ortiz crossed the 500 homer threshold. Pujols hit both his 500th and 600th homers during the decade and Jim Thome and Alex Rodriguez both hit number 600. On the rubber, C.C Sabathia and Justin Verlander both eclipsed the 3,000 career strikeout mark. And five different pitchers struck out 300 batters or more in a season: Clayton Kershaw (301, 2015), Chris Sale (308, 2017), Max Scherzer (300, 2018), Justin Verlander (300, 2019), and Gerrit Cole (326, 2019). The 2010s may be remembered for more than just the rise of sabermetrics, home runs, and strikeouts. Playing in just 8 full seasons (2012 – 2019) and 40 games of another (2011) Mike Trout accumulated 13 more wins above replacement than the second-highest total of the decade, Clayton Kershaw’s 59.3. And Kershaw had one of the most remarkable decades by a pitcher ever. Sit back enjoy this list and get ready to see the young budding stars take our game to new heights.