With pitchers and catchers reporting to their respective Spring Training camps, I want to dish out who I think are the top 5 prospects that everyone should know about. Every spring, rookies set out to impress their managers, battling out veterans to compete for a starting job and trying to make a case for the Rookie of the Year award. In past years, a new crop of impressive rookies have dazzled major league baseball with their hustle, enthusiasm, and eagerness to be thrust into the spotlight. Last year it was Evan Longoria and Geovanny Soto who captured the ROY award. Before that it was Ryan Braun and Dustin Pedroia. We also had Hanley Ramirez and Justin Verlander to name a few more. But without further ado, here are the 5 guys to watch this year.
1. David Price, 23, P, Tampa Bay Rays: The first overall pick in the 2007 draft is now a bone fide, genuine phenom. Last year was a year to remember for this hurler, going a combined 12-1 with a 2.30 ERA in 19 minor league starts between the A, AA and AAA level. And, after being called up Sept. 14 to the bigs, he yielded a 1.93 ERA with 12 K in 14 innings in five regular season appearances. Never mind the playoffs, in which he compiled a 1-0 record with a 1.59 ERA, including a save in game 7 to close out the Red Sox in the ALCS. He is poised to have a breakout year and become the ace of this young Rays team.
2. Pablo Sandoval, 22, IF, San Francisco Giants: The Giants might be a little closer to be the NL West champion this year, even after four consecutive losing seasons, thanks in part to a youthful core that includes Tim Lincecum and this young, fellow Venezuelan in Sandoval. He was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2002 and last year he split time in AA and AAA, hitting .350 with 20 home runs and 96 RBIs by the time he was called up to the big leagues. He didn’t disappoint once he got there either, batting an eye-catching .345 with 24 RBIs in 145 at-bats. The only question mark for Sandoval is where the Giants plan on playing him. He can be their catcher, first or third baseman, but his bat will force the team to play him somewhere.
3. Travis Snider, 21, OF, Toronto Blue Jays: This 14th overall pick of 2006 is slated to become the Jays starting left fielder after a brief call-up last year in which he hit .301 with 2 homers and 13 RBIs in 73 at-bats. The Blue Jays are in dire need of a power hitter after finishing 10th in the AL in home run last year. They hope Snider, who hit a cumulative 23 homers last year, can change that. This left-hander can also hit for average and to all fields. The only catch against him is that he strikes out a lot, having done so 177 times last year between the majors and the minors. With some patience and more seasoning he should be among the elite players in its class.
4. Kenshin Kawakami, 33, P, Atlanta Braves: Granted, he is an 11 year veteran of the Japanese league, having won the Sawamura award (similar to the Cy Young) in 2004 after going 17-7 for the Chunichi Dragons. Last year, he went 9-5 with a 2.30 ERA in a 117 innings. But he still qualifies as a rookie and he will try to make his mark pitching for the Atlanta Braves in 2009. He could wind up being a better pitcher than Daisuke Matsusaka has been for the Red Sox. He’s said his style is “all about putting my soul into my pitches”. We’ll see if he has the stuff to regularly get major leaguers out, but working for manager Bobby Cox should be a plus.
5. Matt Wieters, 22, C, Baltimore Orioles: This little-known catcher played in his first pro-season last year after being the 5th round pick of the 2007 draft and had a monster year. Between A ball and AA he hit .355 with 27 homers and 91 RBIs, poising himself into the driver seat for the catching job. The top brass want to start him at AAA (the Orioles signed Greg Zaun as a stopgap) but he should be up in Baltimore by the All-Star break. There hasn’t been a dominant catcher like him since the Mike Piazza days. He will probably be an all-star himself for years to come.
There are a lot more players that deserve mention, too many to count. But these 5 players stand out the most to me for their immense potential that they carry.
Honorable Mention: Bud Norris, P, Astros; Matt LaPorta, OF, Indians; Carlos Carrasco, P, Phillies; Clayton Richard, P, White Sox; Cameron Maybin, OF, Marlins.
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Nice work keep on working i love to read such type of things.
ReplyDeleteVictor, what a great way to summarize and synthesize information about rookies!! Thank you for sharing this with us! It called my attention that out of the 5 rookies, Kawakami only is over 30 years old. What makes him still qualify as rookie?
ReplyDeleteRight, he is definetely older than all the other guys. But he played his career in the Japanese league and not here in America, so technically he is still a rookie. Say, if you were to be that age too and you step in a ML baseball diamond for the first time, you would be consider a rookie as well. There are some who argue that since Japanese players have played significant time in Japan then they shouldn't be counted as rookies. But remember that MLB is the highest and most competitive league of baseball in the world, much like the NBA is to basketball, and it takes a while for foreign players to get acclimated to playing ball in America. There are a few who makes it like Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Susuki and Kazuhiro Sasaki all of whom won the Rookie of the year award after playing in Japan, but there are many more who don't live up to their hype and return quitly back to their countries.
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