Baby Boomers

Ryan S. Kelley
2/17/09
caseyatbat09@gmail.com


Half of the game is a team's position players hitting and fielding. The following list is comprised of young guns, the very best position-playing prospects without more than a half MLB season on their resumes. Pictured to the right is The Kansas City Royals' Kila Ka'aihue.

1. Matt Wieters, C, Baltimore Orioles, (A)- Wieters is all over this blog and rightly so. He's currently the best prospect, on any team, period. His minor league stats are unmatchable and he may be able to unseat Joe Mauer as the best all around catcher by year's end. His ceiling is the sky and his peripherals are impressive for such a young guy. He received an 80 for patience on the 20-80 scouting scale and rated nearly that high, or just as high in contact, power and arm strength. He has a career .355 batting average through AA in professional ball and has a 1054 career OPS. He's starting fort he Orioles this year now that Ramon Hernandez was sent packing.

2. Tim Beckham, SS/MI, Tampa Bay Rays, (A-)- Beckham has all the tools to be another Jimmy Rollins. He's fast, he's got a strong arm, he makes good contact and he could hit 15-20 homers one day. He hit .243 in his first year in the minors, and that is a red flag, but in such a small sample and considering it was his first year in professional ball (and that he's straight out of high school) makes his disappointing statistics somewhat understandable. Beckham unseats Reid Brignac, formerly in the heart of this list, as the Ray's best position-player prospect.

3. Buster Posey, C, San Francisco Giants, (A-)- Posey is barely a step behind Wieters in every aspect of his game except contact. He is a carbon copy of Joe Mauer and his contact-hitting is the best in the minors, even better than Brett Wallace. During his junior year at Florida State he hit a whopping .463 and belted 26 homeruns. Those numbers tell you that he is an extremely good hitter. Losing the aluminum bat sent some of his power packing, but no bat can help a guy make better contact. His Nintendo numbers didn't take a dip once he started playing professinal ball--now that's sexy. He hit .385 in rookie ball in 2008 as well.

4. Cameron Maybin, CF, Florida Marlins, (B+)- Maybin, Rasmus and Snider flip flop as the best outfield prospects, but in my opinion Maybin is the best. The kid hit .400 in a shade less than 30 at bats last September and has blazing speed, has great range, a good arm, has 10-15 homerun power that can develop and could win a batting title some day. His tools are off the charts and to me, he looks a lot like What Rocco Baldelli was PROJECTED to be. His contact may need a little bit of work, batting .297 in the minors for his career, but his patience is there and has a .389 career OBP.

5. Travis Snider, OF, Toronto Blue Jays, (B+)- Snider looks a little bit swollen, like he lifts too much and used to spend his time catching bees, with his hands, as a child. But this isn't the NFL, so words like swollen/top heavy don't really apply. He has a .513 career slugging percentage in the minor leagues and has hit over .300 at four different levels. He strikes out a lot, so he probably won't maintain a .300 average, but the numbers Jason Giambi put up while with the Yankees (.250-.280, 30-35 hr) seems about right. Also he'll probably be moved to first/DH by year's end.

6. Colby Rasmus, CF, St. Louis Cardinals, (B+)- Hitting at about a .250 clip in 2008, Rasmus' stock dropped a bit. He still has a ton of power, a strong arm and he hits for a good average. He's stolen 73 basis in the minors and had a .551 slugging percentage at AA in 2007. A twenty twenty guy Rasmus is, Carlos Quentin/Ryan Braun he is not. In his prime he could be a 30-30 guy but for now he's more of a Tori Hunter.

7. Carlos Santana, C/3B, Cleveland Indians, (B+)- Carlos was born with a sweet name and was named after the King of Salsa at birth by his parents. He has a very advanced bat and a very good arm. Santana hit .352 in A+ last year and has 60 power on the 80 scouting scale. He's been moved to 3B because of the glut of catchers on the big club's roster. As a corner infielder his value doesn't take that much of a hit as he's such a good all-around player that he can compete with the best of the second tier at nearly any position.

8. Kila Ka'aihue, DH/1B, Kansas City Royals, (B+)- Kila has a cool name and a hot bat. He had an 1079 OPS at AAA last year and a 1087 at AA in the Texas League. What impresses me is that he duplicated his numbers after he left the hitter friendly Texas League and went on the the Pacific Coast League. He came up in September and looked ready to mash. In 21 September at bats he had an 804 OPS a number that will likely improve in 2009. Billy Butler and Mike Jacobs currently block him, but hopefully he can push himself in front of Jacobs.

9. Pablo Sandoval, 3B/C/1B, San Francisco Giants, (B+)- Sandoval is another victim of the sudden plentiful pool of catchers in the majors. Bengie Molina is blocking him and Posey is the planned eyre. He hit over .337 at three different stops in 2008 and a whopping .345 in a 145 at bats with the big club. His power is still developing but his line drive swing matches well with the Giants' spacious outfield. A possible batting title winner someday.

10. Gordon Beckham, SS, Chicago White Sox, (B/B+)- Usually LaPorta would be slotted in here but the guy's batting average and strikeouts along with his defense just plain don't cut it for me. Beckham has a perfect 80 for power on the 20-80 scouting scale--some seriously impressive numbers for a shortstop who can pick it like Beckham can. He hit .310 in a glimpse single and an .865 OPS. He's a very good all around player and has the tools to overthrow Tim and David as the best Beckham in sports.