Off To A Great Start: Austin Jackson

Most of the attention surrounding the Detroit Tigers this year has revolved around the trio of Cabrera, Fielder, and Verlander. However, perhaps no player has been more important to the team than Austin Jackson. He is truly having a remarkable breakout season at age 25, hitting at a .314/.397/.514 clip and leading the AL in triples with 8. Although he spent some time on the DL earlier in the year, he has still managed to put up 4.2 WAR according to b-r.com, and is on pace for about 5.9 at season's end. Somewhat surprisingly, he had already put up 4.8 WAR in each of his first two seasons, primarily due to his center field defense. This gives him three seasons at the start of his career with 4+ WAR, something only ten other players have ever done. Read on to see the list:

Rk		Yrs	From	To	Age
1	Austin Jackson	3	2010	2012	23-25
2	Evan Longoria	3	2008	2010	22-24
3	Albert Pujols	3	2001	2003	21-23
4	Jeff Bagwell	3	1991	1993	23-25
5	Frank Robinson	3	1956	1958	20-22
6	Ted Williams	3	1939	1941	20-22
7	Charlie Keller	3	1939	1941	22-24
8	Johnny Mize	3	1936	1938	23-25
9	Joe DiMaggio	3	1936	1938	21-23
10	Paul Waner	3	1926	1928	23-25
11	Elmer Flick	3	1898	1900	22-24

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/14/2012.

As you can see, Jackson is in a pretty elite group: six hall of famers (Flick, Waner, DiMaggio, Mize, Williams, and Robinson) and two future hall of famers (Bagwell and Pujols). What does the future hold for Austin? Only time will tell.