The changing of the baseball guard has begun.
The first week or so of the regular season has a notably newer look to it. Players like Carlos Gomez (22), Johnny Cueto (22), J.R. Towles (24), Kurt Suzuki (24), Edinson Volquez (24), Lastings Milledge (23) and Manny Parra (25) are climbing the owned percentages in CBSSports.com leagues quickly. Yet there are other young players or rookies -- that came into the spring with a lot more publicity -- now costing their Fantasy owners spots on their bench: Homer Bailey, Jay Bruce, Evan Longoria, Cameron Maybin, Steve Pearce, Geovany Soto, Chris Volstad and Joey Votto.
We haven't even mentioned the youngest player in the majors right now, red-hot Justin Upton (20).
Over the past several years, teams are beginning to trust their youngsters a little earlier than in the past, mostly because these players have been harder tested in high school, AAU and college games than ever before. And with big contracts comes big responsibilities. Some players are able to handle the early pressure, whereas others need to arrive under their own volition.
Let's take a closer look at the fast-starting newbies:
Breaking out-fielders
Upton is an interesting case. The right fielder for the Diamondbacks already has three homers and a .393 batting average. Unfortunately, he has as many homers as he does RBI (all three were solo jobs), his 10 strikeouts put him on pace for 170 Ks for the season and he has yet to steal a base. Owners are leaning on him for help in steals, which is supposed to be something he has worked on this past offseason. He doesn't have one attempt so far. Don't worry about those numbers -- the steals or the homers -- just be happy he is getting on base regularly. In the end, he'll get you your speed numbers (runs, steals) as he develops that part of his game earlier than the rest.
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Michael Bourn is proving to be a pleasant surprise for the Astros.
(US Presswire)
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Lastings Milledge came over to the Nats much like
Elijah Dukes did -- a talented player that has been a problem in the locker room and away from the game. But he just turned 23 on Saturday, and unless you lose points for bad attitudes, he'll make for a solid Fantasy outfielder, as long as he hits in front of
Ryan Zimmerman. He doesn't have Upton's speed, but he should be able to knock in more runs and hit for a better average.
Carlos Gomez has taken a lot of heat off the Twins for their Johan Santana trade. Consider that the Marlins -- a team with many more holes than the Twins -- had to send Cameron Maybin down for seasoning, even though he was, along with Andrew Miller, their prize in the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade. Gomez has five stolen bases, but he has hit safely in every game but one so far. He's bunting to get on, he's sliding headfirst and has emerged as an early favorite for Fantasy surprise of the month, considering he was battling Denard Span and Jason Pridie for the starting spot in center and he had a hamstring injury in late March. Check this out: On Tuesday, against the White Sox, he led the game off with a bunt single, stole second, and then scored on a hit by Joe Mauer. That's the third time this season that he has pulled off that sequence. Unfortunately, this Twins offense just hasn't taken his cue, and only three teams have scored fewer than their 23 runs so far -- and two of them are the Rockies and Tigers, who will blow by them any day now. Gomez will fall back to earth, much to my chagrin, but by season's end, he could still have 40 steals and a .270 batting average.
Michael Bourn, who was actually drafted in most leagues right around Milledge and Upton, is now known as the fastest man in the National League. He has six stolen bases (yet to be caught) and the Astros' leadoff man has reached base in every game, with a base hit in five of his first seven games. His trade from Philadelphia this past offseason brought him back home to Houston, where he went to college. "Michael is a guy who brings a different element for us," manager Cecil Cooper told the Houston Chronicle. "We had that (base-stealing threat) in (Willy) Taveras for a short period of time, but this guy has a chance to be a very, very good player at this level. I guess I'll just call him 'The Ignitor' now." He started out the '07 season with 15 consecutive steals with the Phillies. Gerald Young owns the team record with 65 steals -- and Bourn has his sights set on it. When he first got to this club, I was worried that Cooper wouldn't run him enough -- that's not the case.
And he might not be young (well, to me he is at 30), but Kosuke Fukudome is another hot newbie on the rise. He has reached base 18 times in his first seven games in the majors, with an on-base percentage of .580 -- he has proven that he's for real. The Cubs have the perfect mix of speed and power around him in the lineup, and his slap-and-run style will prove conducive to the owners that drafted him for hits and now power (he might not reach 20 homers). Fukudome has been traded on our site straight up for Ian Kinsler, Roy Oswalt and Brett Myers.
Making a sales pitch-ers
Johnny Cueto exploded onto the scene last week after a very impressive spring in which he forced manager Dusty Baker's hand to get him into the rotation. Then he went out and threw a perfect game through five innings against Arizona, ending the game with 10 strikeouts in seven innings and a win. He made his second start on Tuesday and left trailing 2-1 in the seventh inning and didn't factor in the decision. A great number to see on Cueto's line in the minors last season (he started at Class A Sarasota!) was 11 -- that's the number of homers he gave up in 28 starts at all three levels. His Fantasy ownership has climbed from 66 percent up to 92 percent as of Tuesday -- that's almost a 50-percent jump. Some recent one-for-one trades for Cueto on our site include players like Josh Beckett, Chad Billingsley, Robinson Cano, Brian Roberts and Billy Wagner. That's crazy talk. Adam Wainwright for Cueto? Much better.
Let's compare Cueto to his Dominican Dandy teammate in the Reds' rotation, Edinson Volquez. The right-hander who came over from Texas in exchange for Josh Hamilton got the win Sunday against Philadelphia. He's no stranger to small ballparks (coming from Arlington), and he struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings in his Reds debut. His ownership went from 60 percent to 79 percent over the past couple weeks. But, in my opinion, Volquez is the one you want to own between these two -- at least in seasonal leagues. And here are my reasons:
- Volquez already has three partial seasons with the Rangers in which he continually showed improvement.
- Volquez will strike out three batters for every one he walks, which keeps runners off the bases and runs off the plate.
- Cueto walked 12 batters in 17 1/3 spring innings, compared to Volquez's four walks in 20 innings.
- With Baker as manager, the Reds will be quicker to send Cueto down to the minors if he has a couple bad outings, especially if Homer Bailey does anything positive at Triple-A Louisville.
Manny Parra struck out seven batters in 5 1/3 innings Saturday. He has been a very good pitching prospect for a few seasons now, striking out four or five batters for every one he that he walks. I have no doubts that he'll make plenty of noise this season -- but let's not forget that what he did was against the Giants. The same Giants that have a chance to eclipse the Houston Colt 45s from over three decades ago for fewest runs scored in a season. His ownership is only up to 53 percent, since he could still see time in the minors at some point. But 47 percent of CBSSports.com leagues should at least take a gamble on him.
Catch-ers if you can
Towles had a nice spring and was benched to start the season in favor of Brad Ausmus (to catch Roy Oswalt). While he does have two homers already -- he only has four hits total batting near the bottom of the Astros lineup. At just 24 years old, Towles is still considered a young catching prospect, since backstops develop their hitting skills a little later than other position players. You could do worse in mixed leagues for your No. 2 catcher, however.
Geovany Soto had a quiet first week with the Cubs, as Kosuke Fukudome got most of the attention as the new starter in the lineup. But after Monday's two-RBI game against the Pirates, he has knocked in a run in four of his first six games. Soto was the PCL MVP last season with Triple-A Iowa and he'll be a much better Fantasy asset than Towles this season. Our readers agree -- Soto is owned and started in nearly twice as many of our leagues as Towles. Considering only five catchers knocked in more than 70 runs last season -- Soto is becoming a top-10 catcher in Fantasy.
And in the Seriously? This Guy? Category ...
Eugenio Velez is forcing the Giants to find positions for him to play. He started in right field Sunday and then at second base Monday. He hit a ground-rule double that would have been a triple Sunday, then he hit a real triple Monday. He has played three positions in seven games, but the Giants would do better to put him at one spot and leave him there. His speed near the top of the order would do wonders for the RBI chances of Aaron Rowand and Bengie Molina. And if he hits some balls into Triples Alley at AT&T Park -- he could get a couple of inside-the-park homers. He's owned in 17 percent of CBSSports.com leagues, which is about right, but he has hit safely in six of seven games and he led the majors in spring training with 16.
Achy, breaky heart
Here's a quick look at some youngsters that have disappointed their Fantasy owners so far:
- Evan Longoria, 3B, TB: He was hitless in his first 15 ABs at Triple-A Durham before going 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored.
- Cameron Maybin, OF, FLA: He isn't moping after his demotion, batting .467 with a triple, two homers, four RBI and two steals in his first five games with Double-A Carolina. He has hit safely in each game and has an early OBP of .619. Another couple of solid weeks and the Marlins will have to bring him up.
- Jay Bruce, OF, CIN: Just four hits in 19 at-bats (one homer) with Triple-A Louisville.
- Joey Votto, 1B, CIN: He's supposedly the starter at first base, but Scott Hatteberg -- and now Jeff Keppinger -- are getting starts there. Don't give up on him (.167 BA) this early, since Baker is vowing to give him plenty of chances.
- Steve Pearce, OF, PIT: After a big spring with the Pirates, he's hitting just .190 in five games for Triple-A Indianapolis, and Xavier Nady has exploded offensively. Unless he gets traded, Pearce will remain in the minors.
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