Relive epic moments from top young stars

July 15th, 2020

Each Wednesday in July, MLB.com is featuring four hours of special content highlighting the game’s greatest stars to get fans ready for the start of the 2020 season.

This week’s edition, titled “Epic Moments: Dynamic Young Stars,” showcased must-see moments from some of the game's most exciting young players.

Among those featured this week were perhaps the two best position players under the age of 23 in the Majors today -- Juan Soto and Ronald Acuña Jr.

The debate rages -- which young star is better, and which has the brighter future? Soto had a sensational second season in the Major Leagues last year, and capped it by launching three home runs in the World Series to help the Nationals defeat the Astros and claim the first World Series title in franchise history. Meanwhile, Acuña smashed 41 homers and stole 37 bases, setting up a perennial 40-40 watch for the Braves phenom.

Also featured was a trio of rookies that took the baseball world by storm in 2019 -- Mets slugger Pete Alonso set a new rookie record for home runs in a single season when he smashed 53, Fernando Tatis Jr. made his much-anticipated MLB debut and had a tremendous season both at the plate and in the field for the Padres, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made a highly-anticipated debut of his own for the Blue Jays before launching some mammoth home runs to electrify fans in Toronto and around the game.

It might be easy to forget that Mike Trout, the game's greatest player, is only 28 years old. And Shohei Ohtani, the two-way sensation who has captivated the baseball world the last two years, just turned 26. We're in for another season of incredible feats from these two Angels, who now have superstar third baseman Anthony Rendon with them in the lineup.

Just up Interstate 5 from Angel Stadium is Dodger Stadium, where Cody Bellinger and Walker Buehler have established themselves as two of the game's greatest stars, regardless of age. Bellinger is the reigning NL MVP, and Buehler has posted a 2.98 ERA over his first two full seasons in the Majors.

Larger-than-life superstars with larger-than-life power at the plate remain on the younger side in the Majors -- lest we forget, Alex Bregman and Francisco Lindor are just 26 years old, Bryce Harper and Matt Chapman are 27, and Aaron Judge, Christian Yelich and Kris Bryant are 28.

On the mound, two of the game's best young pitchers finished as runners up in the Rookie of the Year Award voting last year, with the Orioles' John Means finishing second in the AL, and the Braves' Mike Soroka finishing second in the NL.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg -- Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty had a second half for the ages in 2019, posting a 0.91 ERA over 15 starts after the All-Star break, and José Berríos continued his maturation into one of the game's best hurlers, posting a career-best 3.68 ERA over 32 starts for the Twins last season.

These were just some of the big names featured in Wednesday's Epic Moments programming on MLB.com. Be sure to tune in next week for four hours packed with highlights of baseball's brightest stars.