30 Players: Red Sox Hope Jackie Bradley Jr's Finally Found His Swing
The Red Sox are counting on Bradley to take his offense to the next level this season.
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The Red Sox are counting on Bradley to take his offense to the next level this season.
Luis Severino looks like the next Yankees ace.
The Orioles has a bright young pitcher who could help solidify their rotation.
The Rays always seem to have a good young pitcher in the pipeline. Blake Snell looks to be the next one.
Now healthy and ready to roll for Spring Training in '16, the 24-year-old Stroman appears poised to become one of baseball's next true aces.
A 2011 first-round Draft pick out of St. John's University, Joe Panik had a meteoric rise to Major League glory last season -- not only putting up impressive numbers as the Giants' new second baseman in 73 regular season games, but also helping San Francisco earn its third World Series championship in the past five years.
Heading into the 2014 season, Eddie Butler was hailed as the top arm in the Rockies' system and one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. Heading into this year, things were quite different.
So when you look at the roster right now, there aren't many young, inexperienced players who have a chance to make a big impact on the Padres in 2015. One name that does come to mind, however, is pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne.
The influx of Cuban players in MLB has been much discussed, and after the wild success Jose Abreu had with the White Sox in 2014, teams will continue to scout and give big money to defectors. Yasmany Tomas is a perfect example, as the D-backs gave him a six-year, $68.5 million contract as a 24-year-old this offseason.
Joining the 40-40 club (40 homers and 40 steals in a single season) has always been a rare feat, evidenced by the fact that it's been accomplished just four times in baseball history. But if you were to make a list of baseball's top candidates to even have a shot at reaching the milestone, Astros outfielder George Springer would be at or near the top.
An 11th-round Draft choice by the Dodgers out of high school, Los Angeles knew it was taking a risk by drafting Joc Pederson, as he had pretty high bonus demands and had already committed to play baseball at USC. But the Dodgers were OK with the risk that late, and OK with giving him a hefty bonus, and now five years later it looks as though it's all going to pay off.
Mike Zunino's first full season with the Mariners was an intriguing one, as the young catcher showed off some of the skills that prompted Seattle to take him third overall in the 2012 draft. But he also showed a lot of his inexperience and a continued lack of plate discipline over the course of 131 games.
It's been a crazy couple of years for Andrew Heaney, who has risen through the Minor League ranks, been traded twice in a matter of hours this offseason and has struggled to find effectiveness at the big league level. But at 23 years old, the Angels' new top prospect still has plenty of time to break into the rotation this season.
Now, at 21 years old with almost a full season under his belt, Odor is ready to prove that it is he who is actually the Rangers' second baseman of the future.
When you take a look at Marcus Semien's stats, nothing really jumps out at you, until you get to his on-base percentage. If you were wondering why he was the main target of Athletics GM Billy Beane in the Jeff Samardzija trade, look no further.
Mike Fiers has always been a late bloomer. He was a 22nd round pick in 2009, and was already 24 years old as his college career took some time due to injuries. He never ranked as a top prospect, and has logged 116 games and 483.1 innings in the Minor Leagues, despite making his MLB debut in 2011.
It doesn't take much to explain to someone just how good Kris Bryant is. One look at his 2014 Minor League numbers will drop jaws. And then there's this unbelievable spring training where he hit a Major League-leading nine home runs in 14 spring games.
With Andrew McCutchen in center field and Starling Marte in left, the Pirates are one piece away from having one of the best young outfields in baseball. And they have that piece in Gregory Polanco, it's just a matter of getting him to fit right and stick in right field in the bigs.
This spring, Reds manager Bryan Price became one of the first skippers to officially lay out his entire rotation, even though there were expected to be plenty of questions after Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake. And to the surprise of many, Cuban signee Raisel Iglesias, despite only pitching in the Arizona Fall League
Teams don't often trade a young pitcher like Shelby Miller, but when you're a team like the Cardinals with a surplus of young pitching ready to break out seemingly every year, it may be a bit more common. St. Louis general manager John Mozeliak basically said after trading Miller that one reason he did so was to make room in the rotation for Martinez, a top prospect who pitched out of the bullpen in 2014.
For a player with parts of three Major Leagues seasons on his resume, it's still relatively unknown what kind of big league player Avisail Garcia will be.
Very few 21-year-old athletes have been on more of a rollercoaster in the past year than Royals pitcher Brandon Finnegan. He became the first player to pitch in the College World Series and MLB World Series in the same year.
The Twins have two of the top prospects in baseball in their farm system in Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano, but they'll probably start the season in the Minors. Until they reach MLB, the club can still be excited by the arrival of Vargas, who right at the start of 2015 should bring a pure power presence the Twins were really lacking for much of last season.
Drafted in the first round of the 2011 Draft eighth overall as a 17-year-old, Lindor has rapidly risen through the Tribe's Minor League system and he appears to be on the cusp of the Major Leagues at just 21 years old … though his Indians' debut won't come right away.
The Mets were hoping they had acquired their catcher of the future when they traded for d'Arnaud in 2013. After a slow start to his Mets career he broke out late last season and looks poised for a big year this season.
