A few games ago Francisco Lindor passed Carlos Correa for the WAR lead among all AL rookies, hitters and pitchers, and he still owns that lead. After that occurrence, a ? came about how Lindor's defense could trump the apparent large gap between his and Correa's offense, and is his defense that much more valuable than Correa's offense.
Well, ladies and germs, those offensive stats, and that supposed large gap, keep getting closer and closer to each other.
Lindor: .309/.347/.458, 122 wRC+
Correa: .273/.339/.500, 131 wRC+
Is that slight gap that currently exists in their most meaningful advanced offensive stats enough to overcome Lindor's superior, and I mean really superior, defense compared to Correa? I don't think it is...SS is one of the premier defensive positions in the game, along with CF and C.
Now, how did Lindor catch up to Correa at the dish? Well, lets take a look at how special he has been on offense recently.
Since the 2nd half of the season started, 50 GP for Lindor and 45 for Correa, their offensive stats look like this:
Lindor: .347/.387/.508, 147 wRC+ (not sure today's game is included in these stats, so these #s could be higher believe it or not)
Correa: .278/.364/.506, 140 wRC+
If he keeps this up I see no reason why he won't make the race for AL ROY extremely tight, between him, Correa, and Miguel Sano as well, unless they decide team success is a factor, which is a bit unfair considering how much better we have been as a team since Lindor has been brought up. Still, regardless of the outcome, we have a special, special talent on our hands...maybe the first legit "face of the franchise" guy we've had since Grady in mid 2000s.