If this were any other time, that is any time that weren't the time of Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, it would be the time of Manny Machado.
We would be writing paeans to Machado, who left the yard 32 times last season, swiped 20 bags, made the All-Star team, earned MVP votes, sucked up everything at the hot corner and turned all of 23 years old.
Of course, most of that wasn't new. He's been a vacuum cleaner at third for a trio of campaigns. He's made two All-Star squads, earned MVP votes after two seasons and led baseball in doubles his freshman year, at age 20.
He's contributed almost 18 WAR already, entering his fourth season. For perspective, that's the career WAR of Gorman Thomas, who slugged 30+ homers five times in his 13-year career. (Okay, no it's not. Thomas piled up another 1.7 WAR after his long stint with the Brewers, putting him two WAR ahead of Machado. So just wait an hour and come back so that Manny has time to catch up.)
Machado could become the greatest third baseman in Baltimore history, which is saying something when the incumbent in the position is not just a Hall of Famer, but generally regarded as the greatest defensive third baseman of all time.
The point is, we have this guy playing baseball right now who is a five-tool superstar just barely old enough to buy a beer. And we never talk about him because it's the time of Mike Trout and Bryce Harper.
After a breakout 2012 in which they won 29 of 35 one-run games, barely outscored their opponents, cobbled together a roster out of chewing gum, duct tape and their entire minor league system -- and won 93 times en route to the Wild Card, everyone paying attention predicted a hard fall for the Baltimore Orioles in 2013.
And so it has come to pass, minus the hard fall. As of the weekend, the O's are in second place in the brutal AL East, 10 games over .500. They have a better run differential than last year and a more normal one-run distribution (12-11) but they are still one of the AL's premier teams.
And they still don't have any starting pitching.
The O's have hit the most home runs in baseball . . . and surrendered the most as well.
They lead the league in runs scored, they're third in batting average, first in slugging percentage and third in OPS . . and they're next to last in runs allowed and ERA.
Seven of their nine starters have hit above average, with catcher Matt Wieters close enough for a catcher . . . and 36 of their 82 starts have been made by pitchers with ERAs above 5.00.
Led by Chris Davis's amazing season (201 OPS+) and Manny Machado's startling rookie season (record-breaking doubles pace), the O's are dancing with the Bostons and New Yorks by pounding the horsehide, defending it and squeezing the best pitching out of the key members of their relief corps. Absent a #1 starter (or even a #2 -- Wei-Yin Chen, anyone?) manager Buck Showalter has mixed and matched a sextet of bullpen arms into a 3.42 ERA, 23% better than league average.
The bad news going forward is that the Birds will find it difficult to pry a top starter from this year's also-rans. They lack the cash and the prospects it would take to secure even the middling roster of names purportedly on the trading block. The good news is that if anyone can coax competence out of the arms in their system, Showalter and GM Dan Duquette can.
Davis will almost certainly cool as the weather heats, but the return of injured second-sacker Brian Roberts and more production from outfielders Nick Markakis and Adam Jones (eight walks all season) will keep the offense in high gear. Their ability to solve or circumvent the pitching woes will determine whether last year's fluke becomes a habit.
The best shortstop in the National League so far this year is leading the circuit in batting average, hits and triples, sports a .945 OPS and entered the season with all of 44 games jammed into his MLB toolbelt. He's Milwaukee's Jean Segura, a 23-year-old Dominican and odds are you don't even know how to pronounce his name. (It's Gene.)
Segura is part of a wave of accomplished preemies in the Majors this year. Indeed, he's ranked just 22nd on Athlon Sports' list of the best players under 25 even though he's raking at the prime defensive position and posting three wins of value in just 52 games. Keep in mind that four wins over a full season is star level.
Amid the waning dominance of one-time stars Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and others (though not Miguel Cabrera or Mariano Rivera), it's nice to have new perennials like Strasburg, Trout and Harper to take their place.
You've heard of those three and will continue to for a decade, at least. They are likely to be transcendent even among the sport's celestial bodies. But a quick glance through the names listed ahead of Segura suggest we're in a Renaissance in the game.
Orioles hot cornerman Manny Machado is living up to his highbrow pedigree (.877 OPS) at age 20. Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo at short and first respectively, give Cubs fans hope for, say, 2015 and beyond. Rizzo, 23 sports an .813 OPS with 25 homers and 32 doubles in his 140 games with the Cubs. Castro, also 23 and in his fourth full season, boasts two All-Star berths and 10 wins of value. And big Cardinal hurler Shelby Miller has just 16 MLB starts, but he's already overpowering the best hitters in the world (7-3, 1.89, more Ks than innings.)
Miller shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, inasmuch as he's a Cardinal. The Redbirds have a long history of churning out fine moundsmen like ice cream. Indeed, recent St. Louis draftees now in the rotation, like Miller, Lance Lynn and Trevor Rosenthal, are a combined 16-4, 2.54 with nearly a strikeout-per-frame.
For the last few weeks we've been treated to another potential phenom as Rangers' middle infielder Jurickson Profar, just two years removed from high school, is hitting .333 in his first 10 games. Teaming in the Texas infield with Elvis Andrus, a worldly 24-year-old five-year veteran, this pair is demonstrating that youth will be served.
It's not the number of prodigies that feels unusual; it's their raw youth. Among the most promising of those named, Machado, Trout, Harper and Profar can't legally drain a postgame brew. Look for several of these names to get called again in a couple of decades -- five years after they retire.
Of course, most of that wasn't new. He's been a vacuum cleaner at third for a trio of campaigns. He's made two All-Star squads, earned MVP votes after two seasons and led baseball in doubles his freshman year, at age 20.
