Passing Judgment - Tomorrow's MLB Stars Are Here Today

Right now is an exciting time to be a baseball fan as teams begin elevating highly touted prospects to the big leagues.  The reason this happens at this point in the season is so clubs can save an arbitration year by avoiding the “Super Two” status.  It does make sense from a financial standpoint for teams to do this because purchasing early arbitration years in a long term contract has been the recent trend for teams to save money later on by spending right now.  This injection of youth begins and ends with the Kansas City Royals who have one of the deepest and most talented minor league systems in all of baseball.  Both Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas are now with the big league club and look like they are here to stay.  Hosmer has been extremely impressive since his promotion in May, holding his own in 37 games by batting .288 with 5 homeruns and 22 RBI.  Moustakas was just called up this week and already has his first major league homerun.  Hosmer (1B) and Moustakas (3B) look like they will be the cornerstones for a hopeful renaissance by the Royals as they build for the future.  Oh yeah, they also called up one of their top pitching prospects, Danny Duffy, who likes like he will be a fixture in Kansas City’s rotation from now on.

Another notable call-up is Padres first baseman Anthony Rizzo, one of the top prospects included in the Adrian Gonzalez trade.  Thus far this season, Rizzo is hitting .365 with 20 doubles and 16 homers in just 52 games. In those 52 games he has knocked in an amazing 63 runs, giving him an OPS of 1.159 in the Triple-A Pacific Coast League.  Rizzo will be relied upon to inject some power into an otherwise pedestrian offensive team playing in a true pitchers’ park.  Based on the numbers he has previously compiled, it looks like the Padres have found their man to try and fill Adrian Gonzalez’s shoes.

Other notable call-ups include Dustin Ackley (2B-SEA), Jemile Weeks (2B-OAK), Charlie Blackmon (OF-COL), and Dee Gordon (SS-LAD).  Not far behind are Brett Lawrie (3B-TOR) and Desmond Jennings (OF-TB).  These rookies are all top prospects with which expectations come attached.  Recent trends have shown that players do not necessarily need 5-6 years in the minor leagues to develop and learn how to properly play baseball.  This new crop of young stars should all have at least moderare success in the big leagues barring unforeseen injuries or other circumstances.  At the very least, they will all be given the opportunity to prove they belong.  If any of these players are available in your fantasy baseball league, grab them.  It doesn’t matter if you are in a keeper or non-keeper league, these young players are contributing more at an earlier age so it is highly advisable to snacth one, two, or all of them

 

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