I See Prospects Everywhere...

I, unfortunately, missed the Stephen Strasburg debut (I was in lovely Des Moines, IA and my DVR at home reset for some unknown reason). I see very little to add to Mike's post here, other than to say that there is a fine art to pitching, and with his stuff and Pudge behind the plate, Strasburg's learning curve could be quick indeed.

Let's take a look at some other prominent major league rookies this year.

Mike Stanton. I also missed Mike Stanton's debut. Watching the highlights, however, one thing jumped out at me right away: he laid off two Brad Lidge "bury him" sliders. The sardonic among you may say he didn't get to them because he was simply over-matched. I'm not sure I buy that argument, and if Stanton can lay off those pitches, National League pitchers are in for a very long season.  We'll check back in with Stanton when we have some more data.

Buster Posey.  The Giants brought Posey up for a very particular reason: to provide an offensive boost.  Quite a lot of pressure for a rookie actually, and Posey has handled it with style.  In 43 plate appearances, he is hitting a cool .450 with one homer, 6 RBI and 6 Runs.  His line drive percentage is about 25%, and that is the book...the power will come eventually, but, for now, a few of those ropes will go over the fence and the rest will hit the wall for doubles.  For me, a couple of things jump out.  First, while his walk rate is low, his K rate is also quite low.  Second, he is seeing about 55% off-speed stuff (sliders, curves and changeups), and 60%+ of the pitches he sees are out of the strike zone.  He is really doing a nice job at the plate, and he looks like a star in the making.

Jason Heyward.  Jason has been locked in a slump for awhile now, and that thumb really seems to be nagging at him.  He is hitting an awful lot of balls on the ground, and his LD% is pretty low, but his BABIP is good and his walk rate is up there as well.  If he puts up a 20/80/10/.270, which is still within reason if he can get that hand healthy, it will be a great achievement for a highly touted prospect.

Mike Leake.  Up until today, Mike Leake was putting up tremendous results for the Reds.  He got lit up by Aubrey Huff in particular today, but it takes nothing away from his season to date.  The K rate is okay at just over 6, but the walk rate is a little high at 3.0+.  When you put up a .49 HR/IP, an 80%+ strand rate, and a nearly 53% GB rate, you are going to have some success.  We'll see what the warm, humid air of the summer brings for Leake, but let's remember that he never pitched an inning in the minors, something Strasburg can't say right now.