To say that I am too negative when it comes to young players in fantasy sports isn't accurate. I'm realistic. There's a big difference. It's not that I avoid rookies in drafts because they don't have worlds of ability, but fantasy sports are about opportunity, statistics and value. If a player doesn't get the chance to play, he won't put up the numbers you need, and he gets overvalued. Plain and simple.
Someday, maybe soon, the just-demoted Jay Bruce could be a star. I've seen the numbers, watched video, talked to people about him. He's going to be good. But even before Corey Patterson was brought in to play center field and lead off, I was passing by Bruce in fantasy drafts. He's a rookie. And opportunity just isn't there. Not yet.
New colleague Jason Grey, a terrific ESPN acquisition whose work you need to read (here's his archive), is our resident expert on scouting young players. About a month ago he wrote about the top prospects. Time has passed, and readers have been asking for my thoughts on baseball's top kiddies, so here they are. I'll use Grey's list of prospects as my guide, and just ramble on from there about the fantasy repercussions I and maybe only I see.
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Eric Karabell
