Summer call-ups on the horizon
By Travis
There have already been plenty of early-season Major League call-ups through just three months, most notably Houston’s Hunter Pence, San Fran’s Tim Lincecum, Cincinnati’s Homer Bailey and Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun. All four are future All-Stars.
There’s also been several rookies who have so far flamed — San Diego’s Kevin Kouzmanoff, MFY pitcher Philip Hughes, Tampa Bay’s Delmon Young and Chicago White Sox OF Ryan Sweeney — after slow starts or injuries.
But this season has really enjoyed a great crop of rookies already — Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie, Boston’s Dustin Pedroia, Atlanta’s Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Arizona’s Chris Young, the MFY’s Tyler Clippard and Atlanta’s Yunel Escobar, to name a few more — but more often than not the top young call-ups come after the midway point of the season. The ones that make the biggest immediate impact often have a few more months of seasoning in the minors to ease them into an everyday role at the major league level.
A few recent examples are David Wright, who was an instant success with the Mets in 2004 with 14 home runs in just 69 games, Ryan Howard and Justin Morneau. Morneau and Howard both had a couple cups of coffee with mixed results before finally breaking in big the last two seasons.
There’s always the freak of nature who excels from Day 1 — Albert Pujols, most notably — but it always benefits a team to give its prospects as much development time down on the farm as possible. That’s why the timing of the Reds’ promotion of Bailey is perfect. They need him, but they needed him last summer, too. Kudos to GM Wayne Krivsky for not rushing him.
But there are several more minor leaguers who are going to blossom in the second half with call-ups. Another Reds farmhand, Joey Votto, is one. The first baseman can rake, and he’s ready to make the move northward on I-71. All that’s standing in the way is a trade of Scott Hatteberg, which will probably happen in the next month, most likely to the the MFY.
Votto is hitting .314 at Triple-A Louisville, and along with Bailey and OF Jay Bruce will infuse some life into the lowly Reds.
Most midseason call-ups are going to come from teams at the bottom of the standings with little to risk until Septemeber when rosters expand. Pennant-contending teams are less likely to rest their playoff hopes on a first-timer.
The Royals should also call up OF Billy Butler to join a developing nucleus of young players that includes 3B Alex Gordon (who would have benefited from a couple extra months in Triple-A as opposed to being the Opening Day starter), CF David DeJesus, 1B Ryan Shealy and C John Buck. Butler is a defensively liability. He is best-suited to DH, but the Royals really don’t have much to lose with him in the field either. But Butler can really help with the bat.
Others to watch out for are Cleveland RHP Adam Miller, Seattle’s Adam Jones and Tampa’s Jeff Niemann. Jones got called up last year and played admirably at age 20, but the acquisition of Jose Guillen in the offseason forced him back to Triple-A Tacoma. Think Mike Cameron but with more power potential.
If the Mets’ pitching staff continues to struggle, they may even give Philip Humber a shot. And when the White Sox trade Mark Buerhle, Gio Gonzalez — who was once traded to the Phillies for Jim Thome only to return to Chicago for Freddy Garcia — will likely take his spot in Ozzie Guillen’s pitching rotation. Also: Justin Maxwell, Brian Horwitz, Nolan Reimold and Daric Barton.
There are also several prospects who previously were on a timetable to play in the majors this season but have stumbled: Tampa’s Evan Longoria, St. Louis’ Colby Rasmus, Anaheim’s Brandon Wood and Dodger 3B Andy LaRoche.