Man, a guy turns in a mediocre season when he’s a twenty-two year old rookie and people abandon him in flocks. Let’s recap what I said in the first sentence. In 474 at-bats, Colby Rasmus hit 16 homers and stole 3 bases. At the age of 22. Sure, it would’ve been nice if he burst on the scene like David Naughton in Hot Dog… The Movie, but where’s David Naughton now? Yeah, I have no idea either. Rookies have ups and downs, that’s what they do. Do you know what Barry Bonds did his rookie year? Me neither, but I vaguely remember it not being very good. (Fine, I looked it up. 16 homers, .223 average, but he did contribute 36 steals, finishing sixth to Todd Worrell in the Rookie of the Year balloting. Nothing gets by the BBWAA. Interesting how the baseball writers are over closers for ROYs, but virtually ignore them for other accolades. Ah, for another time, I suppose.) Yes, the theme of this post is don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. So if Colby Rasmus is a 2010 fantasy baseball sleeper, which he is, what can we expect?
Let’s look at his month to month slugging progression. In April through September, Rasmus slugged .305, .447, .536, .397, .400, .373, respectively. If you throw out April, he averaged just over 3 homers per month. He’s capable of 4 easily in 2010. That would give him 24 homers. Thank you, come again. And for all you haters out there, if haters is indeed the right word, he hit 29 homers in Double-A at the age of 20 and he hit 11 homers in 90 games at Triple-A. So there’s power there. His steals were Steve Balbonian in 2009. That has to change. I mean, has to. He stole 15 of 18 in Triple-A in 2008 and 18 of 21 in Double-A. Look at the big brain on Brad. Yes, he hit 29 homers and stole 18 bases in 128 games of Double-A. 3 steals last year is ludicrous. Absurd. And other similar words found in the thesaurus. He’s capable of 20 steals. Does he approach that? Something you don’t hear often from ‘perts, but I don’t know. He can, that’s what matters. Sleepers are as much about what they can do as where you can get them. Right now, Colby Rasmus is being drafted around such perennial schmohawks as Vernon Wells, Juan Rivera and Jack Cust. His 20/15 potential and his company being kept on draft boards makes Colby Rasmus a 2010 fantasy baseball sleeper.
