Every once in a while, a rookie comes along and completely changes the complexion of an MLB franchise.
Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki led the Colorado Rockies on a late-season surge that carried them all the way to the World Series in 2007, finishing runner-up in NL Rookie of the Year voting during a 6.7-WAR rookie campaign.
Third baseman Evan Longoria debuted in 2008 for a Tampa Bay Rays franchise that had posted 10 straight losing seasons since its inaugural campaign in 1998 and won AL Rookie of the Year before leading them to the Fall Classic with three doubles and four home runs in the ALCS.
Catcher Buster Posey is perhaps the best example of this, as his rookie season coincided with the San Francisco Giants winning their first of three titles in five years in 2010, and he was at the center of it all from the get-go.
After a 25-homer, 54-steal, 5.4-WAR rookie season, he hit .295/.396/.455 with 13 hits, four steals and nine runs scored over the first three rounds of the playoffs, and he delivered a two-run triple in the third inning to help swing the momentum to the D-backs dugout in the early going.
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