This was going to be a simple article recommending Colby Rasmus and then jerking off his ego for a bit. It’s still a good idea to go and pick up Colby Rasmus, especially if you’re the type to monitor rosters on a daily basis. Colby Rasmus, like almost every other youngster, is handled with kiddie gloves when it comes to platooning. While I understand that putting the best line-up on the field is the manager’s job, I’m not completely sold on the premise that sitting a young player against a same-handed pitcher aids his development. I’m more of a “throw ‘em to the wolves and see what happens” type of person. Of course Rasmus is going to only hit .116 against lefties when he’s only faced them 43 times, and has rarely seen the same lefty twice in one game. Baseball folk claim that sitting them will increase confidence, but I can’t fathom how showing a lack of confidence in a hitter increases their confidence.
This practice is definitely not limited to just Colby Rasmus; it pretty much spans every non-switching hitting uber-prospect. Like Colby Rasmus, Travis Snider only saw 16 AB in 15 G against left handed pitching. Even if it’s a small sample size, Snider did manage to hit .313 in those 16 AB. Jordan Schafer wasn’t ready, but he too only saw 52 AB in 27 games against lefties. Carlos Gonzalez hasn’t been up long, but he too has only seen 4 AB in 4 games against same-handed pitchers. Gerardo Parra rounds out the tentative list of top-100 prospects that simply do not get to face left handed pitching.
Can it be good for a young player to know that he’s sitting every time a left-hander starts? Watching Travis Snider earlier this year was painful, as his frustration shone through. There was no way that he was getting into a schedule and in turn, looked terrible against lefties and righties alike. Strangely enough, he was sent down to the minors to get every day at-bats. Whether you agree or disagree with the practice doesn’t particularly matter when gauging a player’s fantasy value. You just have to know who sits, and when they sit.
If you’ve got a solid bench player, Colby Rasmus is entering must-own territory. Against righties, Rasmus is hitting .331 with a .365 OBP and a .561 slugging percentage, which is good for a .926 OPS. These are numbers that play in almost every league, even if his counting stats don’t match ‘em at this point. LaRussa still has Skip Schumaker leading off, but has let Colby Rasmus bat second 4 of the past 5 games. For obvious reasons, batting directly in front of Albert Pujols is beneficial. If Rasmus can keep up his hot hitting against righties, his counting statistics which are currently pretty average, should sky-rocket.
Rasmus is going to have to start adapting shortly as he’s now been up long enough for pitchers to have fairly precise scouting reports. He’s currently sitting below a 6% BB which will have to change if he plans on being successful through September. There’s definitely a lot of risk associated with Rasmus, any youngster for that matter, but as a plug-and-play candidate against righties, Rasmus brings very solid value to the table. In the end, Rasmus should show some regression, as he’s been getting slightly lucky on his balls-in-play but that should be off-set by him running a little bit more. There’s no reason why an athlete the calibre of Colby Rasmus shouldn’t be allowed at least a shot at stealing 10 bases
