August AL Rookie Lookie

Jason Michael Barker

It's early in August, and you know what that means -- time for our monthly look at the top rookies in Major League Baseball. I'm proud to announce three new additions to the American League side of the ledger: Anaheim's Ben Molina, Oakland's Barry Zito and Tampa Bay's Aubrey Huff. If you know one of them, be sure to pass along the URL.

Anaheim's Ben Molina and Adam Kennedy are very similar hitters. Both have put up nice batting averages this season, but don't walk much and thus have low on-base percentages. Their numbers are eerily similar, in fact -- Molina is at .281/.317/.435, while Kennedy checks in at .280/.316/.428. The biggest difference between the two is that Molina generates his SLG from his 12 homers in 312 at-bats, while Kennedy has just seven homers in 425 at-bats, but 24 doubles and nine triples.

As a catcher with some home run pop in his bat, Molina is the more valuable of the two at this point. So why wasn't he included until this month? The short answer is that I wasn't aware he was still a rookie this season. He got a late-season call up last season, playing 31 games, and I had that stuck in the back of my mind. All apologies to Anaheim fans for his exclusion.

As for Kennedy, last month I noted that was alternating good and bad months so far this season. He was due for a bad month in July, and that's exactly what happened. He did hit .275 for the month, but thanks to a mere two walks he posted an extremely weak .288 OBP. I normally don't believe in this kind of thing, but if you're in a fantasy league you might want to consider Kennedy this month -- he's "due" for a big August if his current pattern holds.

Like Kennedy, Oakland's Terrance Long had a rough month of July at the plate, hitting .277 but walking just three times on his way to a .298 OBP. The good news is that he's already walked three times in August, in 21 fewer games, and the A's aren't a club to let a player get by without drawing walks.

Overall, I'm not quite sure what to make of Long. He's shown flashes of good strike zone judgement this year, but other times he appears lost in that regard. Despite seemingly above-average speed, he's stolen just two bases on the season. He's also had some problems on defense, having made six errors, and he's only recorded one outfield assist all year. The physical tools are certainly there, but he still needs work on his baseball skills.

Over the past couple of years the A's have had no problems developing position players in their farm system -- Ben Grieve, Miguel Tejada and Eric Chavez are the best of the bunch -- but it had been years since they had brought a quality starting pitcher through the system. That all changed last season, when Tim Hudson exploded on the scene with an 11-2 record and 3.23 ERA, establishing himself as a future ace.

This year the A's introduced us to their latest product, 6-6 lefty Mark Mulder. Mulder's 4.93 ERA this year doesn't look bad for a rookie, but a closer look at his numbers suggests he's been a bit lucky -- Mulder has allowed 192 runners (142 hits, 50 walks) in just 118.2 innings, and his strikeout to walk ratio is an unimpressive 1.34:1. Opposing batters are hitting an even .300 against him, with a .367 OBP and .475 SLG. Mulder still has good stuff, though the track record for pitchers who strikeout just five batters per nine innings isn't all that great.

Barry Zito, on the other hand, has been a bit more impressive, albeit in only 25 innings this season. Zito, yet another good young lefty the A's have at their disposal, has allowed just 13 hits in those 25 innings to go along with 18 strikeouts. He has walked 14, but that's probably to be expected for a guy just a year out of college.

Yes, you read that right -- the A's drafted Zito with the #9 pick in the 1999 Amateur Draft out of Southern California, keeping with their tradition of drafting college pitchers like Hudson and Mulder. Zito pitched at three levels last season, started 2000 at AAA, and earned himself a call-up at the end of July. His stuff might not be as good as Mulder's, but stuff doesn't always tell the full story. The A's are particularly high on Zito, as he was often cited as the player they refused to deal as they tried to improve the club at the trading deadline.

Seattle's Kazuhiro ("Kaz" for short) Sasaki continues to lead the race for American League Rookie of the Year, by virtue of his 26 saves in 29 chances and 56 strikeouts in 43.2 innings. Sasaki has yet to get over his penchant for giving up homers (10), and he's walked a few too many as well (22). When the game is on the line, however, he's consistently come through. Am I a bit biased? Sure, but he's the one guy on this list I get to see regularly.

Like the aforementioned Adam Kennedy and Ben Molina, Texas 3B Mike Lamb draws attention because of his nice batting average. Unlike those two, however, Lamb has a decent grasp of the strike zone and has drawn enough walks to post a .355 OBP this season.

Now the downside -- his power production, particularly for his position, is downright pathetic for a hitter in the year 2000 playing half his games at the Ballpark at Arlington. He is slugging .503 at home, but has managed just a .339 slugging percentage on the road, a mark well below league average. He was never a big-time power hitter in the minors, but he was certainly better than he's shown thus far. Already 25, he's unlikely to experience a huge power surge in the coming years.

The Royals sent Mark Quinn back to the minors in early June, where he stayed for about a month. He returned to have a monster July, putting up numbers (.324/.381/.593) which reflect how good a hitter he was in the minors. He could stand to draw a few more walks, but for the most part what you see of Quinn is what you get -- a big strong guy who'll hit around .300 with good pop in his bat. That's got value as a corner outfielder, but isn't nearly as good as a designated hitter.

After half a year messing around with the disastrous Vinny Castilla Experiment (tm), the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have finally done something right, handing their 3B job to Aubrey Huff as of last week. Huff might not be the best prospect in the Tampa Bay system, or the player with the highest ceiling, but he's certainly the one player ready to help right now at the major league level.

After hitting .301/.385/.530 with a good walk rate at AA last season, Huff improved to .314/.393/.563 while holding his walk rate and jumping a level to AAA Durham this season. He also led the league in fielding percentage among third basemen last season. The Devil Rays need to find a taker for Castilla, because Huff can play, does so for cheap, and is just 23 years old.

Picking a closer for Rookie of the Year honors may get Jason Michael Barker drummed out of the stathead army. Sign up to rip off his epaulets at jmb@strikethree.com.