Posted by Jeff Lubbers on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 at 4:12 am

The Detroit Tigers’ decisions to trade Curtis Granderson and to not offer arbitration to Placido Polanco did more than leave a void in the team’s top two places in the batting lineup for the last few years.  It also left the team with young and unproven options at two key defensive positions for the 2010 season.

Although much can change  between now and Opening Day 2010, currently the Tigers have two rookies without a single major league appearance between them penciled into the starting lineup for next year at two key positions: centerfield and second base.  Scott Sizemore (25 years old on Opening Day) looks to start at second base while newly-acquired Austin Jackson (23 years old on Opening Day) is the odds-on favorite to patrol Comerica Park’s vast center field.

If the Play Index at baseball-reference.com is to be believed (and I don’t see why it would not) a team giving playing time to rookies with no major league experience at both second base and center field is rare to say the least.  In fact only six times in baseball history have teams given 300 or more plate appearances (not even half of a season) to brand new rookies at both second base and center field in the same season.  And by and large the results have not been pretty.

The most recent occurrence of this scenario was in 1953 when the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates gave ample playing time to Johnny O’Brien and second base and to Carlos Bernier in center field.  That year the Pirates finished in last place and a mere 55 games behind the pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers.

The six occurrences below and the players involved largely involve teams that were in no position to field a competitive team.  With the very notable exception of future Hall of Famer Al Simmons in centerfield for the 1924 Philadelphia Athletics, this list is filled with players who stuck around for no more than a few years and who at best made a marginal impact over the course of their career.

Teams Since 1901 With Rookies at 2B and CF With No Prior Major League Experience

Year	Team	W-L	Player	Position	Career OPS+	Career Games
1950	Boston Braves	83-71	Roy Hartsfield	2B	87	265
			Sam Jethroe	CF	107	442
1924	Philadelphia Athletics	71-81	Max Bishop	2B	102	1338
			Al Simmons	CF	132	2215
1937	Philadelphia Phillies	61-92	Del Young	2B	47	309
			Hersh Martin	CF	110	607
1953	Pittsburgh Pirates	50-104	Johnny O’Brien	2B	68	339
			Carlos Bernier	CF	71	105
1905	St. Louis Browns	54-99	Ike Rockenfield	2B	91	504
			Ben Koehler	CF	86	208
1906	St. Louis Cardinals	52-98	Pug Bennett	2B	93	240
			Al Burch	CF	91	611

 
While the Detroit Tigers still figure to be more competitive in 2010 than most teams on this list, their likely reliance on rookies without even a major league cup of coffee on their professional resume at two of the most crucial defensive positions will make it very difficult for them to be playing meaningful games in the latter half of the season.