Who could supplant Wander Franco as MLB's youngest player?

By Jordan Shusterman
FOX Sports MLB Writer

One of the most exciting things about the start of the 2022 season is the incredible group of tippy-top prospects who made Opening Day rosters, including Bobby Witt Jr., Julio Rodriguez, Spencer Torkelson and Hunter Greene.

However, this historic group has something else in common beyond being really good at baseball: Every one of them is older than Rays phenom Wander Franco.

Having just turned 21 last month, Franco remains the youngest player in MLB despite having already posted a 43-game on-base streak and having already signed a $182 million contract extension. He also leads MLB in hits through Tuesday’s games, with 11 — yes, even ahead of the great Steven Kwan (who is three-and-a-half years older than Franco).

They say you can’t predict baseball, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to try. Then again, I don’t particularly enjoy trying to predict who is going to win the World Series or the Cy Young Award. I’d rather forecast something far more niche.

As such, this Wander fun fact seemed especially ripe for further exploration.

Who is going to be the first player younger than Franco to reach the big leagues? Let’s try to figure it out!

Franco was born on March 1, 2001. When he debuted last season, he became the first player born in 2001 to reach the major leagues. He is still the only ‘01 baby in the bigs, as the next-youngest player on an active roster right now is the Mariners’ Rodriguez, who was born on Dec. 29, 2000.

Being the first player born in a year to reach MLB usually portends some level of stardom or at least indicates a successful career ahead. For example, take a look at the past decade:

2002: ???
2001: Wander Franco
2000: Elvis Luciano
1999: Fernando Tatis Jr.
1998: Juan Soto
1997: Ozzie Albies
1996: Julio Urias
1995: Roberto Osuna
1994: Rougned Odor
1993: Jurickson Profar
1992: Bryce Harper

(If you’ve never heard of Elvis Luciano, that’s OK. He was an extreme outlier case involving the Rule 5 Draft.)

As such, it seems likely that the first 2002 baby to reach MLB will have a great chance to be a star someday, too. But we don’t need a 2002 DOB to snatch the title from Franco. We just need a player born after March 1, 2001. I’ve broken down the candidates into a few groups:

(players within each group listed oldest to youngest; DOB in parentheses)

Younger than Franco and already on a 40-man roster:

Dodgers INF Jorbit Vivas (3/9/01)
Guardians SS Jose Tena (3/20/01)
Mets SS Ronny Mauricio (4/4/01)
Yankees OF Everson Pereira (4/10/01)
Blue Jays INF Leo Jimenez (5/17/01)
Guardians 3B Jhonkensy Noel (7/15/01)
Rockies SS Ezequiel Tovar (8/1/01)

The 40-man rosters seemed like a good first place to search for our mystery player. Being on a 40-man suggests two very important things about a player: 1) his organization believes he can be a major-leaguer; 2) an additional roster move to clear a spot on the 40-man would not be necessary in the event of any of these players being called up. 

Mauricio, Tena and Tovar are all in Double-A, but none seems all that close to debuting based on their track records and organizational depth charts. Mauricio is the best prospect of the bunch, with Tena a close second, but both Cleveland and New York are already plenty crowded with infielders at the levels above them. Vivas, Pereira, Jimenez and Noel are all fun prospects in their own right, but they're in High-A and still a ways away.

Not on a 40-man roster, but young prospects already in Double-A:

Braves OF Michael Harris (3/7/01)
Cardinals 1B Malcom Nunez (3/9/01)
Rays RHP Taj Bradley (3/20/01)
Yankees SS Anthony Volpe (4/28/01)
White Sox SS Jose Rodriguez (5/13/01)
Orioles SS Gunnar Henderson (6/29/01)
Mets C Francisco Alvarez (11/19/01)
Blue Jays SS Orelvis Martinez (11/19/01)
Cardinals 3B Jordan Walker (5/22/02)
Marlins RHP Eury Perez (4/15/03)

The next step would be to find players younger than Franco who are currently playing in Double-A. Why not Triple-A? Well, Franco is not only younger than every other player in the big leagues, but he's also younger than all the players in Triple-A. So one level down we go! 

Getting called up to MLB from Double-A is not impossible, but the more likely scenario is that any of these guys who puts up a huge first half would earn a promotion to Triple-A and put himself on the doorstep of a big-league call-up. 

Each of these players has different carrying traits (power, defense, speed) that could impact how quickly a team is willing to push him up the MiLB ladder. For example, players such as Harris or Rodriguez might be more likely to get an emergency call-up, considering their ability to defend at a high level, than a player who is more bat-first.

Astros pitchers you’ve probably never heard of:

LHP Julio Robaina (3/23/01)
RHP Jaime Melendez (9/26/01)

Look, I’ll be honest: I hadn’t heard of these gentlemen when I started this exercise. Unlike the names above, you won’t find them anywhere near any top-100 prospect lists. But they have to be mentioned, considering that they are two of the youngest players on Double-A rosters to start the season. 

The Astros have been as good as any organization at developing competent starting pitchers, and it sounds like both of these guys attack hitters with kitchen-sink arsenals designed to flummox rather than overwhelm hitters. That said, it would take a whole bunch of injuries to the Houston pitching staff to get either of these guys to Minute Maid Park anytime soon. But I’m doing my due diligence and mentioning them anyway.

Phenoms in High-A:

Giants LHP Kyle Harrison (8/12/01)
Padres OF Robert Hassell III (8/15/01)
Phillies RHP Mick Abel (8/18/01)
Rockies C Drew Romo (8/29/01)
Giants SS Marco Luciano (9/10/01)
Mariners SS Noelvi Marte (10/16/01)
Athletics C Tyler Soderstrom (11/24/01)
Rockies OF Zac Veen (12/12/01)
Reds SS Elly De La Cruz (1/11/02)
Giants OF Luis Matos (1/28/02)
Red Sox 2B Nick Yorke (4/2/02)
Rangers OF Evan Carter (8/29/02)

Offensively, Soderstrom and Hassell are the most advanced of this bunch and could hit their way to Double-A in a blink. Like Franco, Luciano and Marte have been highly touted since signing as 16-year-olds out of the Dominican Republic, but their respective organizations seem to be taking their time with their development. De La Cruz has been skyrocketing up prospect lists for the past year due to his all-around tools. Abel and Harrison are both supremely advanced pitchers. 

Any of these players reaching the big leagues in 2022 would be astonishing, but the pedigree and performance potential are there for almost all of them to experience a supersonic rise.

2021 first-round shortstops in Low-A:

D-backs SS Jordan Lawlar (7/17/02)
Red Sox SS Marcelo Mayer (12/12/02)
Marlins SS Kahlil Watson (4/16/03)
Nationals SS Brady House (6/4/03)

Watson and Mayer could be particularly quick movers, à la Bobby Witt Jr. But again, it’s so, so early to expect that much from players in the nascent stages of their professional development.

Other notable prospects in Low-A:

Dodgers C Diego Cartaya (9/7/01)
Cubs OF Pete Crow-Armstrong
Padres OF James Wood (9/17/02)
Cubs INF James Triantos (1/29/03)
Yankees OF Jasson Dominguez (2/7/03)

The same goes for these five players, each of whom has the talent to zoom through the minors but is starting at too low a level to imagine it happening quickly enough to beat the other candidates to the big leagues.

Remember: It is extraordinarily rare for a player to make his MLB debut before turning 20. Not even Franco did it. He was 20 years, 113 days old on June 22, 2021, when he went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs against the Red Sox in his MLB debut.

Since Mike Trout (he’s pretty good) did it in August 2011, only six players have debuted as teenagers: Harper, Profar, Dylan Bundy, Julio Urias, Juan Soto and Elvis Luciano. To become MLB's youngest, anyone on these lists born in September 2002 or later would have to not only jump several minor-league levels over the course of a single season but also get a call that only a select few have over the past decade.

After going through this exercise, the three names I’d pick as most likely to be our winning contender would be Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and Marlins pitcher Eury Perez.

Volpe’s sensational breakout in 2021 (.294/.423/.604 at two Class-A levels) seemed to be at least part of the calculus behind New York's preference to avoid committing long-term to any of the top free-agent shortstops in the winter. Volpe will need to join or surpass fellow infield prospect Oswald Peraza (older than Franco but currently in Triple-A) on his way to the Bronx. But Volpe's star seems as ascendant as that of any player in the minors right now, so he could certainly force his way to the big leagues sooner rather than later.

Alvarez is a bit tougher to imagine, considering how much extra time catchers usually need to develop, but he is about as highly touted on prospect lists as any other player mentioned in this search outside of Volpe. Even if Alvarez's defense behind the dish isn’t fully baked by the end of this season, his bat might be too overwhelming to ignore if the Mets need an offensive boost at some point this year.

Perez is the most intriguing player considered for this entire exercise. The Marlins have a ton of young pitchers zooming through their system, but Perez might be the crown jewel. If he can stay healthy and continue to dominate to the degree he did last season (1.96 ERA, 43 hits, 108 K's in 78 IPs at two Class-A levels), it’s not impossible to imagine him being one of Miami’s five best starters at some point in 2022.

The super long shot would be Hassell, based on the Padres’ lack of outfield depth and GM AJ Preller’s track record of being ultra-aggressive in pushing prospects, as he most recently demonstrated with CJ Abrams. If Hassell somehow destroys each level of the minors one month at a time, perhaps Preller would be aggressive enough to call up the sweet-swinging outfielder for a September playoff push. OK, maybe that’s a bit much.

Perhaps the best part of this whole guessing game? There’s a perfectly reasonable chance that Wander Franco will still be the youngest player in MLB on Opening Day 2023! And then we can do this all over again.

Jordan Shusterman is half of @CespedesBBQ and a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He lives in D.C. but is a huge Seattle Mariners fan and loves watching the KBO, which means he doesn't get a lot of sleep. You can follow him on Twitter @j_shusterman_.