Some Random Baseball Thoughts (9/23/2015)

• Robinson Cano is going to be a Hall of Famer. His next hit will be his 2000th, becoming just the 25th second baseman to reach that plateau. He should be able to quickly move up both the lists for hits and RBI (he's closing in on 1000) among second basemen over the next few seasons. He's already 9th all time in home runs at the position, as well as 7th in OPS (3000+ PA). Lastly, his 55.2 career WAR already puts him in the company of other Hall of Fame second basemen, and I would expect he still has some good years left in him to add to that total.
• A.J. Pollock may be the most underrated player in the game right now. He currently ranks top 5 in the National League in WAR this season, and over the last three years is top-ten in WAR among all MLB outfielders.
• Jason Heyward has quietly had one hell of a start to his career. He's now surpassed the 30 WAR mark for his career, becoming the 31st player to do so through their age 25 season. Of the other 30, 21 are already in the Hall, and most of the others are recent players like Griffey who will be in soon (although there are some flameouts like Vada Pinson and Cesar Cedeno on the list as well.) Unfortunately for Heyward, he doesn't get the attention he deserves because most of his value comes from his defense, not his bat (which many actually consider a disappointment given how highly touted he was when he came up - remember the Hank Aaron comparisons?).
• Most years, the numbers that Jake Arrieta and Zack Greinke are putting up would win them the Cy Young without any question. However, only one can win in 2015. While other players with comparable seasons have lost the Cy Young in years past, like Kevin Brown in 1996 and Roger Clemens in 1990, those were instances in which a less deserving candidate with a much higher win total won. The last Cy Young race that seems comparable to this year is 1985, where Dwight Gooden beat out John Tudor by a wide margin, even though Tudor would have won almost any other year.