I've been reading Bill James' Historical Baseball Abstract recently, and something that caught my eye...
He discusses, in the section on Ryne Sandberg, whether one should have been able to reasonably predict that Sandberg had a good chance of becoming a Hall of Famer based on his rookie season. James says that a 22 year old who puts up 14-18 win shares (the range Sandberg was in as a 22 year old rookie) should be expected to have around a 25% chance of making the Hall of Fame, given how rare it is for someone that young to perform that well in the majors.
Elvis Andrus, of course, wasn't 22 years old last year. He was 20 years old. And his win share total for 2009?
17.
You have to feel really good about what the future holds for Elvis Andrus...