“In 1979, the Dodgers signed Fernando Valenzuela out of the Mexican League. In 1981, as a 20-year-old starter, he won the Cy Young and was voted NL Rookie of the Year. He had the Force.
The Force, as I see it, has four elements:
• The person must come from nowhere. Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant, which is perfect. When Valenzuela signed, there was nobody more irrelevant to MLB than a short, skinny (yes), teenaged curveballer from the Mexican League. Back then, nobody walked out of the Mexican League into the big leagues.
• The person must make an immediate and shocking impact.