The youngest player in the major leagues right now is Texas Rangers rookie infielder Rougned Odor, born February 3rd, 1994. Let's take a moment and put that in context.
***Odor is younger than the following hitters (with their birthday and current level) from the most recent 2014 Baseball America Top 50 prospects list:
Odor is younger than Byron Buxton (12/18/93-High-A); Kris Bryant (1/4/92-AAA); Joey Gallo (11/19/93-AA); Addison Russell (1/23/94-AA); Francisco Lindor (11/14/93-AA); Javier Baez (12/1/92-AAA); Miguel Sano (5/11/93-AA), and Blake Swihart (4/3/92-AA).
He is younger than Austin Hedges (8/18/92-AA), Joc Pederson (4/21/92-AAA); Jesse Winker (8/17/93-AA), Arismendy Alcantara (10/29/91-NL), Josh Bell (8/14/92-High-A); Hunter Dozier (8/22/91-AA); Kevin Plawecki (2/26/91-AAA); Jorge Alfaro (6/11/93-High-A); D.J. Peterson (12/31/91-AA); Dalton Pompey (12/11/92-AA); Brandon Nimmo (3/27/93-AA); Stephen Piscotty (1/14/91-AAA) and Maikel Franco (8/26/92-AAA).
***There are six guys on the BA list who are younger than Odor, but note what levels they are playing: Corey Seager (4/27/94-High-A); Raul Mondesi (7/27/95-High-A) J.P. Crawford (1/11/95-Low-A); David Dahl (4/1/94-Low-A); Clint Frazier (9/6/94-Low-A) and Austin Meadows (5/3/95-R).
***Odor is younger than the following hitters taken in the first round of the 2014 MLB Draft: Kyle Schwarber (3/5/93); Michael Conforto (3/1/93); Max Pentecost (3/10/93); Trea Turner (6/30/93); Casey Gillaspie (1/25/93); Brad Zimmer (11/27/92); Matt Chapman (4/28/93); and Alex Blandino (11/6/92). A direct comparison with these guys is unfair, of course, since all of them were college guys and are just getting their career started. However, imagine if one of these guys would jump directly from college to the majors and play as well as Odor is playing. That would be damn impressive.
Or, put another way, Odor at his current age is the equivalent of a college sophomore who wouldn't even be drafted until 2015. Keep that in mind if you grow impatient with his ups-and-downs as he works his way through the league.
nvm
