Which team has the youngest lineup in baseball?
You could call the 2018 MLB season "The Year of" a lot of things. The Year of the Dinger, the Year of the Opener, The Year of the Rain Delay … so why not The Year of the Youth Revolution?
The Braves' Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies are just 20 and 21 years old, respectively. Gleyber Torres, manning the infield at Yankee Stadium, born Dec. 13, 1996, has never lived in a world without the internet. Nationals outfielder Juan Soto is 19. He's a teenager who plays baseball like this:
But which team is fielding the youngest starting lineup, overall? To answer that question, we calculated the average age of each team's starting lineup, using their ages as of Sept. 10.
These numbers do not include a team's entire roster. Starting DHs are included for AL teams, and utility players for NL teams. Each lineup also includes a team's ace pitcher.
Surprisingly, the youngest starting lineup in baseball right now does not belong to the Nationals, Braves or Yankees, though the latter two appear in the youngest 10. MLB's youngest starting nine is none other than the Padres.
Without a single starting player over the age of 28, San Diego has far and away the youngest team in baseball. On average, the Padres are just 25.6 years old. Their youth movement is led by 21-year-old second baseman and recent September callup Luis Urias, and his future in baseball could be an exciting one:
It's not all fresh-faced kids, though -- trusty veterans like
The White Sox, 26.1 years old on average, are chock-full of sluggers in their mid-20s trying to prove they belong on the next competitive South Side team. The Yankees and Marlins both average 26.5 years, but the Yankees have a wider spread in age -- the oldest member of their starting lineup is
Earlier this year, the Braves fielded the three youngest players in baseball, though that changed after pitcher
The Rays, also 26.6 years old on average, may have two 30-year-olds (Jesus Sucre and
The Twins, Angels and Royals all hover at or around 27 years on average, thanks to a mix of team icons and young up-and-comers. In the Angels' case, their team icon is keeping their average low -- even though
The Phillies are starting three players over 30 in their lineup (Wilson Ramos,