Yesterday, I ran through the rookie crop in the NL. Today, the AL – where, I must admit, the field is stronger the more I look at it, though still weak compared to last season.
Success Stories
Batters
| PLAYER | Age | Pos | Team | AB | AVG | SLG | OBP | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travis Buck | 23 | OF | OAK | 131 | .252 | .504 | .359 | 22 BB, 4 3B |
| Dustin Pedroia | 23 | 2B | BOS | 140 | .329 | .464 | .409 | 17 BB, 10 K |
| Reggie Willits | 26 | OF | LAA | 148 | .324 | .378 | .420 | 14 SB, 28 BB, 26 K |
| Akinori Iwamura | 28 | 3B | TB | 73 | .370 | .507 | .483 | 16 BB, 11 K, 3 SB, 3 CS |
| Brendan Harris | 26 | SS | TB | 166 | .301 | .416 | .352 | 12 BB, 30 K |
While the AL has its share of struggling rookies, these five are not a bad foundation at all, albeit Harris is more of a journeyman than a prospect. I don’t know if a guy with Willits’ extreme lack of power can keep his OBP above .400, but if he can stay in that neighborhood he could be a heck of a player for the next 5 years or so. Iwamura’s injury means that we haven’t gotten a real chance to assess him yet.
Pitchers
| PLAYER | Age | Pos | Team | IP | ERA | BB/IP | K/IP | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hideki Okajima | 31 | RP | BOS | 28.1 | 1.27 | 2.22 | 8.89 | 26 G, 4 SV, 16 H, 1 HR |
| Jeremy Guthrie | 28 | SP | BAL | 58.2 | 2.76 | 1.53 | 5.52 | 3-1, 4 HR |
| Dustin Mosely | 25 | RP | LAA | 31.0 | 1.45 | 1.45 | 3.77 | 4-0, 1 HR, 15 G, 2 GS |
| Joakim Soria | 23 | RP | KC | 22.2 | 3.57 | 4.37 | 9.93 | 0 HR, 10 SV |
| Brian Burres | 26 | SP | BAL | 43.2 | 2.89 | 5.15 | 7.01 | 1 HR |
| Brandon Morrow | 22 | RP | SEA | 21.2 | 1.66 | 7.89 | 9.97 | 0 HR, 12 H |
| Adam Loewen | 23 | SP | BAL | 30.1 | 3.56 | 7.71 | 6.53 | 2-0, 1 HR |
| Eric O’Flaherty | 22 | RP | SEA | 18.1 | 2.95 | 3.44 | 4.91 | 1 HR |
| Boone Logan | 22 | RP | CHW | 16.0 | 3.38 | 1.69 | 5.63 | 1 HR |
| Tyler Clippard | 22 | SP | NYY | 20.0 | 3.60 | 4.95 | 6.30 | 3-1 |
| Philip Hughes | 21 | SP | NYY | 10.2 | 3.38 | 3.38 | 9.28 | 1-1 |
As you can see, while there have been a bunch of successful young pitchers thus far – particularly Leo Mazzone’s charges – many of them need to get their strikeouts up or walks down if they are going to last the season. Then again, Mazzone’s guys may be specifically concentrating on keeping the ball in the park (0.41 HR/9 between them). Huges and Loewen are supposed to be the highest-ceiling guys in this batch, although for the short term Okajima is providing the most value.
Showing Promise
Batters
| PLAYER | Age | Pos | Team | AB | AVG | SLG | OBP | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elijah Dukes | 23 | OF | TB | 165 | .200 | .424 | .314 | 10 HR, 26 BB, 42 K |
| Adam Lind | 23 | OF | TOR | 145 | .248 | .428 | .295 | |
| Mike Rabelo | 27 | C | DET | 51 | .275 | .353 | .296 |
It’s this category that is weakest in the AL – I’m especially stretching to include Lind, who has shown a tiny bit of power, and Rabelo, who has hit for a decent average as a backup catcher but little else. Dukes, of course, may yet eliminate his opportunity to develop his promising talents, if he can’t control his rage.
Pitchers
| PLAYER | Age | Pos | Team | IP | ERA | BB/IP | K/IP | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daisuke Matsuzaka | 26 | SP | BOS | 79.2 | 4.63 | 2.60 | 8.59 | 7-4 |
| John Danks | 22 | SP | CHW | 56.0 | 4.34 | 3.54 | 6.43 | 3-5, 10 HR |
| Darrell Rasner | 26 | SP | NYY | 24.7 | 4.01 | 2.92 | 4.01 | 1-3 |
| Glen Perkins | 24 | RP | MIN | 23.2 | 3.80 | 4.56 | 6.08 | |
| Juan Salas | 28 | RP | TB | 13.2 | 3.95 | 6.59 | 7.90 |
Matsuzaka obviously has star-quality tools and has pitched some wonderful games, but he has yet to find his consistency as a front-of-the-rotation major league starter. Rasner has been one of the brighter spots among the Yankees’ emergency-starter crew.
Struggling or Outright Failing
Batters
| PLAYER | Age | Pos | Team | AB | AVG | SLG | OBP | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delmon Young | 21 | OF | TB | 217 | .249 | .396 | .289 | 12 BB, 45 K |
| Alex Gordon | 23 | 3B | KC | 180 | .172 | .278 | .287 | 8 RBI, 9 HBP, 20 BB, 54 K |
| Erick Aybar | 23 | 2B | LAA | 130 | .246 | .269 | .290 | |
| Billy Butler | 21 | DH | KC | 37 | .243 | .297 | .256 | |
| Ryan Sweeney | 22 | OF | CHW | 45 | .200 | .333 | .265 | |
| Brandon Wood | 22 | SS | LAA | 11 | .091 | .091 | .091 |
Wood, obviously, got only the briefest cup of coffee. I still expect Gordon to be a star, but he really has been horrendous – like Angel Berroa, all he seems able to do right is get drilled by pitches. The man’s in the everyday lineup and has driven in 8 runs.
Pitchers
| PLAYER | Age | Pos | Team | IP | ERA | BB/IP | K/IP | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kei Igawa | 27 | SP | NYY | 30.2 | 7.63 | 4.11 | 6.16 | 2-1, 8 HR |
| Nick Masset | 25 | RP | CHW | 25.1 | 7.11 | 5.68 | 4.62 | |
| Matt DeSalvo | 26 | SP | NYY | 23.0 | 5.87 | 6.26 | 2.35 | 1-3 |
| Brian Stokes | 27 | RP | TB | 24.1 | 6.66 | 2.22 | 5.92 | 39 H |
| Jay Marshall | 24 | RP | OAK | 22.2 | 5.16 | 3.18 | 3.57 | |
| Jae Kuk Ryu | 24 | RP | TB | 21.1 | 5.06 | 3.80 | 4.64 | 1 HR |
| Dallas Braden | 23 | RP | OAK | 19.2 | 6.41 | 2.75 | 6.86 | |
| Jesse Litsch | 22 | SP | TOR | 17.2 | 6.62 | 3.57 | 1.53 | 1-2, 4 HR |
| Sean Henn | 26 | RP | NYY | 17.1 | 5.19 | 5.71 | 5.71 | |
| Ryan Braun | 26 | RP | KC | 13.2 | 7.24 | 5.93 | 5.93 | |
| Chase Wright | 24 | SP | NYY | 8.0 | 7.88 | 6.75 | 6.75 | 1-0, 5 HR |
| Jeff Karstens | 24 | SP | NYY | 4.1 | 14.54 | 4.15 | 2.08 |
Like I said yesterday – rookie pitchers will break your heart. With apologies to David Pinto, Roger Clemens could out-pitch most of these Yankee rookies with one groin tied behind his back. There is a reason why the Yanks’ staff has struck out 278 batters while every other major league team is at 314 or better. Granted, guys like Karstens didn’t exactly have the luxury of a long look.
Folks in keeper leagues should be looking to steal players currently labeled as failures. A lot of players struggle initially in the major leagues and then blossom once they get some confidence that they belong.
Gordon is a real mystery. Last nights game with the Tribe is a great example of his season and why I have stated before that he does not seem overmatched. Late in the game he was up with runners in scoring position and hit a bullet, just foul. then struck out. I have seen him repeat this same pattern over and over. At some point those hits are going to start falling in. In the mean time I think they should send him to AAA for about 2 weeks and let him rip the cover off the ball.
I’m not sure if you can consider Brendan Harris or Darrell Rasner rookies, since they both put in notable innings for the Nationals last season. Granted, you could make the argument that the 2006 Nats, save for Soriano and Zimmerman, were the equivalent of a Quadruple-A club, but I don’t think either of them would be considered a lost “prospect” by Nats fans today.
I’m not sure if you can consider Brendan Harris or Darrell Rasner rookies, since they both put in notable innings for the Nationals last season. Granted, you could make the argument that the 2006 Nats, save for Soriano and Zimmerman, were the equivalent of a Quadruple-A club, but I don’t think either of them would be considered a lost “prospect” by Nats fans today.