AL Rookies: June Swoon?

Jason Michael Barker

Welcome back to the Rookie Roundup, a monthly look at the top youngsters in each league. Today we'll focus on the American League, where we'll discover the grass is always greener (and the players younger and better) out west, or at least anywhere that's not east.

Last month Anaheim 2B Adam Kennedy was making quite a name for himself in the second spot in the batting order by knocking in Darren Erstad, getting on base regularly and stealing bases. He's since cooled off -- strike that, he's gone ice cold -- and has even been seen hitting eighth or ninth in the batting order. Talk about a tale of two months.

After hitting .318/.380/.518 in April, Kennedy slumped to a meager .192/.208/.240 in May. The real Kennedy lies somewhere in the middle. Other than the huge drop in batting average, what's of more concern is the huge drop in his walk rate. Never a patient hitter in the minors, Kennedy drew 10 walks in 110 April at-bats, but just three in roughly the same number of at-bats last month.

The Athletics have a pair of rookies worth watching in CF Terrance Long and LHP Mark Mulder. Long has been starting and hitting at the top of the order since the end of April, with mixed results. He started off well but has cooled since, and he really doesn't draw enough walks or get on base enough to justify hitting leadoff.

Despite good speed, he hasn't stolen a base this year, let alone attempted one -- I think that has more to do with Art Howe's managing than Long's ability, however. He's hitting .243/.302/.438 with 12 walks in 144 at-bats as of this writing, and needs to either up his average or draw more walks to really help the team. Long would be better off further down in the order, but the A's don't really have any other options right now.

Mulder hasn't been outstanding, but he's pitched well for a rookie in this offensive age. Averaging just over six innings per start, he has a 4.58 ERA in nine starts. His peripherals could use some work, however -- most notably his 1.5 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched) and less than six strikeouts per nine innings.

There has always been talk about his great stuff, and while I've only seen him pitch once, it certainly doesn't seem to be showing up in those numbers. That's mostly nitpicking, though, and of course not every young lefty can be Rich Ankiel.

Seattle closer Kazuhiro Sasaki is a guy I have seen quite a bit of, and his pitching has literally been up and down this year -- he survives on a splitter that's frequently down in the dirt, and he tends to give up more than his share of homers to opposing hitters (six in 18.2 IP). Like most pitchers who rely on the splitter, when Kaz gets behind in the count hitters can wait for his fastball, which doesn't get much over 90 MPH.

Since blowing back-to-back games the second week of May, prompting rumors that he wasn't completely recovered from off-season shoulder surgery, he's allowed just five hits and one earned run in his last nine outings. He's back as Lou Piniella's exclusive closer, and should remain so barring a complete collapse.

One guy I didn't mention last month was Texas 3B Mike Lamb, because he had been with the big club less than a week. Since a slow start his first week, Lamb has performed well and is currently hitting .294/.348/.468 for the Rangers.

He doesn't have 30-homer power, but he did hit 51 doubles at AA last year. He doesn't draw a ton of walks, but he's no impatient hacker, either. And he probably won't win a batting title in his career. But while he doesn't do any one thing exceptionally, he's a good all-around player and can be a solid regular.

In Kansas City, the Royals decided to send OF/DH Mark Quinn down to AAA Omaha. Quinn's numbers (.279/.335/.459) were decent but not eye-popping, and the team has decided to go with a red-hot (.354/.400/.707 in 82 at-bats) David McCarty instead. McCarty also has more defensive value to the Royals as well, as he can play first and allow Mike Sweeney to DH.

Quinn's biggest problem this year is that his numbers are inflated by a handful of great at-bats against left-handed pitching: he's only hitting .255/.310/.407 against righties. That's barely adequate for a middle infielder, and certainly not acceptable from your DH.

Last week I touched briefly on Cleveland's Russell Branyan, a power hitter of extreme proportions who also happens to rack up some extreme strikeout totals. After homering twice in his first game with the Tribe, Branyan has just one at-bat as a pinch-hitter. There's been talk of using him in the outfield, but so far it hasn't happened. I expect he'd be playing if it weren't for interleague play, however, and he should pick up some AB's once the Indians are able to use the DH later this week.

Minnesota's Matt LeCroy is one of the top young catchers in the American League, but so far this season he has yet to figure out what he's doing at the plate. His numbers at this point are quite ugly, frankly -- .190/.271/.336, and he hit just .177 in May.

He's still drawing a good number of walks, however, and was always a good hitter in the minors, so I expect him to turn thing around. I don't have anything other than anecdotal evidence to back this up, but it seems to me that rookie catchers have quite a bit to worry about (like handling pitchers) when the first get to the majors, and as a result their hitting often suffers for the first year or two.

And if you noticed that nary a rookie from the AL East appeared in this piece, there's a reason for that -- I couldn't find any worth mentioning. For the most part those are some old teams over there. I might have missed someone, though, so be sure to let me know if that's the case.

about the author

During April and May, Jason Michael Barker wandered almost every major-league team's office hall wearing a "pick me" sign, but a lot of good it did him on Monday. Suggest he should have allowed the tampering at jmb@strikethree.com.