How good would George Brett be today?

[MassNole]

Growing up George Brett was my hero and IMHO but biased opinion, the greatest 3B of all time. I haven't followed MLB the way I used to, so I ask those who do, how good would George Brett be today?

My guess would be he would be one of the most dominant hitters in the game and his power numbers would increase substantially with a juiced ball and thinned out pitching staffs.

Thoughts?

[Sportsforever]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

Growing up George Brett was my hero and IMHO but biased opinion, the greatest 3B of all time. I haven't followed MLB the way I used to, so I ask those who do, how good would George Brett be today?

My guess would be he would be one of the most dominant hitters in the game and his power numbers would increase substantially with a juiced ball and thinned out pitching staffs.

Thoughts?

I know the numbers show otherwise, but I have always preferred Brett to Schmidt as well. I love Brett's all around game (hit for avg, doubles, triples, great glove). I think if Brett played today he'd be at about the same level with maybe a bit more pop (people forget that that park he played in was NOT home run friendly at all).

[SPTO]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

I think Brett would have similar numbers and indeed have more power. The only thing that might slow him down today is all the exotic type of pitches like the slurve, backdoor breaking ball, high riding fastball, sinker and such. He didn't really start seeing pitches like that til the latter part of his career and we all know how tough some of those pitches are to hit.

I do think that he'd work around that and be one of the better OBP guys in baseball and would most likely be a darling among the sabermetrics crowd.

[snepp]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

He'd be excellent, no doubt about it.

He and Joe Mauer are very similar hitters.

[MassNole]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

Look at the number of doubles he hit in that park, today a lot of those would clear the fence. I don't think he'd really have trouble adjusting to new types of pitches, I believe it was Ted Williams who once said when he died Brett would take over the thrown as the Greatest Living Hitter. It also would be interesting to see what sort of numbers Brett could have put up even not for the turf in KC destroying his body. I think by the time him and Robin Yount were fighting to see who could get to 3,000 hits first, Brett had missed something like 2.5 seasons to injuries.

[Speedy]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

He and Joe Mauer are very similar hitters.

I say Michael Young w/a little more power.

[snepp]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

I was referring to the type of hitters they are, decent walk rate, very few strikeouts, hits the ball everywhere.


Brett would certainly put up superior numbers to Young.

[Speedy]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

He is a HOF so certianly. Looking over his career numbers, it's very rare now-a-days to see a hitter have more BBs than Ks.

[jake44np]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

Well for one thing he probably would not have been a Royal for long.
They would have traded him for prospects to the Red Sox or Yankees as soon as he was close to being a FA. In today's game the Royals just would not have been able to keep him.

[rspencer86]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

Well for one thing he probably would not have been a Royal for long.
They would have traded him for prospects to the Red Sox or Yankees as soon as he was close to being a FA. In today's game the Royals just would not have been able to keep him.

Man, that's a sad thought. Although I was pretty young during his final years I still have a ton of Brett photos and memorabilia up on display. When I played baseball in HS I always wore #5.

He would still be an excellent hitter. It would be fun to watch him and Mauer battle it out for the AL batting title.

[ryan36]

Re: How good would George Brett be today?

At least 2 .400 seasons.

And he played 3b? When? I remember him , F. White, S. Jeltz, K. Seitzer in the IF