Five Aging Stars Who Are Defying Father Time 

Santana has been a remarkably consistent player throughout his career. He owns a career slash line of .242/.354/.439, good for a 113 OPS+ in over 9,000 plate appearances. Santana leads all active players in walks with 1,310, and has struck out just 1,493 times in comparison.

Over his 16-year career, Santana has produced an OPS+ over 100 in all but two full seasons. Amazingly, he’s only received an All-Star nod just once in his career.

Now in his age-39 season, Santana is continuing to exemplify the value of consistency in MLB. He owns a .251/.350/.388 slash line, putting up a 109 OPS+ and 1.4 bWAR in 257 plate appearances.

Santana hit .316/.450/.544 in the month of May, demonstrating that he certainly still has the capacity to make a sustained impact. Not to mention, Santana continues to be an elite fielder with an 83nd-percentile fielding run value and 92nd-percentile range.

There are some disagreements between his actual and expected stats, so regression could be a factor as the season carries on. Regardless, his power potential still remains and the numbers he has put up remain impressive.

Jacob deGrom

deGrom is a very interesting case. His career numbers are absurd to look at, with his 2.50 ERA, 157 ERA+, 2.63 FIP, and 0.99 WHIP leading all active players.

While deGrom has struggled with injuries throughout his career, he has been utterly dominant when healthy. A two-time Cy Young winner, deGrom has accrued 44.8 bWAR in 1,443.1 innings, striking out 1,740 batters while walking just 325.

While his 10.8 K/9 rate is impressive, his 5.35 K/BB ratio would be an all-time career record.

This season marks deGrom’s first full-season since he tore his UCL in 2023. After a rocky start, deGrom has settled in and looks sensational yet again.

After posting a 4.30 ERA and 1.30 WHIP in his first three starts, deGrom bounced back and put up a 1.61 ERA over his next 61.2 innings. He allowed two runs or fewer in every start over this span while throwing a minimum of five innings.

deGrom is now maintaining a 2.12 ERA with a 178 ERA+, striking out 74 batters while walking just 17. He has allowed a barrel rate of 7.5%, which would be the lowest mark for him since 2021.

Though the past few years have been tumultuous for deGrom, he has certainly put his resilience and precision on display in his age-37 season.

Paul Goldschmidt

Another pillar of consistency in MLB, Goldschmidt has continued to produce at a high level as well. Over his career, he’s hit .290/.381/.509 with a 139 OPS+ while producing 64.1 bWAR across 8,563 plate appearances. 

In that span, he’s been an All-Star seven times, won five Silver Sluggers and four Gold Glove Awards, and finished top six in MVP voting six times. 

This includes his MVP season in 2022 where he led the National League with an OPS+ of 177 while hitting .317/.404/.578. He also put up 7.7 bWAR and hit 35 home runs.

While his performance took a step backward in 2024, Goldschmidt has adjusted well in New York. He’s hitting .312/.367/.457 this year, with his 131 OPS+ far surpassing his 98 OPS+ mark from the year prior.

After struggling with whiffs and strikeouts a bit in recent years, Goldschmidt has made improvements in both categories. This also coincides with a reduction in hard-hit rate, signaling that he may be prioritizing contact over power production.

Goldschmidt has looked particularly effective against left-handed pitching. So far, he is hitting .441/.539/.746 in 76 plate appearances against southpaws with 11 extra-base hits.

While he has slowed down in June, he has been very solid overall. Look for Goldschmidt to continue putting the finishing touches on what could easily be a Hall of Fame career.

Andrew McCutchen

McCutchen has been a dependable player at the MLB level for almost two decades. Over his 17-year career, he has a .273/.367/.461 line with a 126 OPS+ and 49.7 bWAR.

His 9,394 plate appearances leads all active players, and he has accomplished a great deal over that span. Since 1886, McCutchen is one of only 19 players with 2,000 hits, 300 home runs, and 200 stolen bases.

He won NL MVP in 2013 while hitting .317/.404/.508 with 7.8 bWAR. Beyond his peak years, he’s remained consistent at the plate, achieving an OPS+ over 100 in all but one year.

McCutchen’s performance this year has been solid, as he’s hit .263/.354/.405 with a 113 OPS+ in 238 plate appearances. While the numbers may not necessarily jump from the page, his performance is still noteworthy given his age.

Additionally, there are some discrepancies between his expected stats and actual production. This is particularly true against fastballs, against which he is batting .287 with a slugging percentage of .426. Both of these marks are positive, but his underlying metrics suggest he has some wiggle room here.

McCutchen’s expected stats suggest he should be batting .320 while slugging .524 against heaters. He is still making solid contact, as he owns an average exit velocity of 91.5 mph against them, so perhaps some positive regression will follow.

Aroldis Chapman

Chapman has been one of the best relievers in baseball over the course of his 16-year career. Over 788.1 innings of work, he has struck out 1,285 batters while working to a 2.59 ERA and 2.41 FIP. Chapman is also 15th all time in saves with 347.

Most known for his elite velocity, Chapman holds the record for the fastest recorded pitch at 105.8 mph. Even more remarkable is that fifteen years after setting this record, Chapman is still hitting 103 mph with his fastball.

Chapman has continued to find success this season. He has taken a step forward from the previous few years, putting up a 1.59 ERA while striking out 39 over his first 28.1 innings of work.

In his age-37 season, Chapman remains one of the toughest pitchers in the league to step into the batter’s box against. He has managed to significantly boost his chase rate this year, jumping from 23rd percentile to 94th percentile this year.

While batters tend to make harder contact against him, Chapman is able to avoid damage by maintaining a high chase rate and whiff rate (97th percentile). His elite extension (97th percentile) and velocity (99th percentile) make him super difficult to hit, leading to a ton of strikeouts.

Chapman has managed this by living in the strike zone and going right after hitters. He has increased his first pitch strike percentage by 13.5%, and he has generated a first pitch swing 21.5% more often.

This has also netted him an 8.4% increase in out-of-zone swings, and an overall increase in swing percentage by 12.5%. By dropping his strikeout and walk percentages in favor of weak contact, Chapman has been able to mitigate some traffic on the basepaths.