BATTING: Reaching PA thresholds

Last year, BaseballHQ.com identified a new way to assess the potential of young batters by focusing on their early-career PAs rather than their ages.

The prevailing wisdom was (and remains) that we should be most interested in players who are entering seasons at “age 26 with experience,” but we found that age didn’t correlate as well with fantasy production as did total career PAs.

The reason for this seemed fairly obvious in hindsight. Most players reach MLB around age 24, so they naturally get to the 800-PA threshold in their age-26 seasons. We might have been mistaking age for PAs all along.

Why 800?

Batters reaching 800 or more PAs early in their careers are demonstrating enough ability that they convince the talent...

Almost!

You’re just a few clicks away from accessing this feature and hundreds more throughout the year that have a singular goal in mind: Winning your league. Subscribe to BaseballHQ.com here!

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

More From Batters

Alec Burleson's elite stats and skills against RHers and struggles vs. LHers suggest he hasn't maxed out his results yet.
Aug 24 2026 3:15am
Henry Bolte and Chandler Simpson are leading off for their respective teams, and were we too high on Max Clark?
Aug 21 2026 3:06am
Esmerlyn Valdez's elite batted ball quality at home confirms his significant untapped upside.
Aug 17 2026 3:15am
Royce Lewis looks like an elite bat in stretches, including during the heater he's been on since returning from the minors.
Aug 10 2026 3:07am
Lawrence Butler may be reclaiming the leadoff spot for the A's, and other hitters are benefiting from moving up in the batting order.
Aug 7 2026 3:06am

Tools