We love answering prospect questions from our readers. Whether about a particular organization, player, or just the prospect development process in general, we love to hear from you and give you the information you're looking to find. You can submit questions at any time using our question form in the navigation bar at the top of the site. Send your questions in, and the more we get, the more we'll answer them in our MLB Prospect Watch Inbox segment.
Why are MLB rookies called up in June rather than earlier - is it a contract/rights issue?
Mark, IL
Yes, typically the waiting game that clubs play when calling up prospects is due to keeping them under team control for an additional year, more so than for developmental purposes. This link from earlier this year does a great job showing when those dates are for most of the game's top prospects.
In some cases, however, the decision is developmental. For example, the Red Sox promotion of Will Middlebrooks earlier this season fit with the traditional timeline of prospect call-ups, but his assignment to Triple-A this season was not done for financial purposes. Middlebrooks had just 60 plate appearances in Triple-A before this season, and the team wanted him to get more minor league experience to build on a strong 2011 season in Double-A from the year before. In fact, if Kevin Youkilis hadn't gotten hurt, Middlebrooks would probably still be in Triple-A, waiting for a September call-up.
While Trout, Harper, and Strasburg were all can't miss prospects the last couple years, I haven't been struck by anything similar on the horizon in the minors. Were these players once in a generation, or are there similar stars on the horizon in terms of complete justifiable talent?
Adam, CO
Once in a generation is a good term to describe the trio you mentioned. In back-to-back years, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper were lauded as the best pitching and hitting prospects, respectively, to come along in <fill in the blank> years, depending on who you asked. Harper is considered by some to be the best power-hitting prospect in the history of the draft.
Mike Trout, on the other hand, went late in the first round, and while he was considered a consensus first round pick, it wasn't until the domination of the minor leagues that people began to realize what the Angels had on their hands. Once he starting playing, everyone realized that they may have overlooked him because he came from the under-exposed Northeast. It would have been interesting to see what kind of reputation he would have had entering the draft if he had been from Florida, Texas, or California.
Now that they are in the majors, the top prospects in the game (in no particular order) are Jurickson Profar, Dylan Bundy, Manny Machado and Gerrit Cole. While all of them (and others) profile as future stars, none are getting the routine comparisons to Hall of Famers that Trout, Harper and Strasburg received.
It's impossible to predict that any player becomes a Hall of Famer, but it is realistic to say that someone has the toolset to make it possible. Profar might be in that category, but it's more of a stretch than it was for Trout and Harper.
