Aaron Crow… I just Gotta Say It

I know that scouts are WAY smarter than I am, but this guy has hardly pitched at all in 2 years… and he’s rated as MLB.com’s 41st over-all best prospect in baseball? How did he earn that? Don’t get me wrong; I’d like to see him ranked high on ANYONE’S top prospect list… when he’s earned it. And so far, he hasn’t earned squat! I just have this gut feeling about Scott BoreAss’s clients who are talked into taking an entire year off from baseball (as it turns out essentially 2 years), before they have proven ANYTHING on the professional level.

Professional sports is a young man’s game. After a guy’s spent time in college… then holds out a year… the takes the whole summer to finally sign a professional contract… his developmental clock is ticking. That’s 2 years of development wasted… two years of lost professional athlete wages… two more years away from arbitration… two more years away from free agency. In a young man’s sport, there is a BIG difference between a 28 and a 30 year old free agent.

There is a long list of “can’t miss” prospects who come out of high school or college… who DO miss. Maybe a guy like Luke Hochevar (another hold out “can’t miss” guy) will have a breakout season in 2010. Maybe Crow advances through the organization to be a prominent pitcher (like Luke didn’t). I’d love to see both of those things happen… but I’m not holding my breath.

The REAL exiting thing will be watching how the four Royals on MLB.COM’s prospect list (Mike Moustakas-32, Will Myers-33, Crow-41 & Mike Montgomery-43) develop… in addition to guys like Jeff Bianchi, Eric Hosmer and Danny Duffy.

I just hope we don’t get Jeff Austin-ed… again.