It’s not supposed to work this way, when you’re a 20 to 24 year old with a lack of professional baseball experience. You’re not supposed to even be considered for the Major League Club. But Rick Porcello and Gordon Beckham are trying to prove you don’t need time in the minors to be successful. Porcello is 20 years old and has accumulated less than 125 innings in his professional career in the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system. Beckham is an infield prospect for the Chicago White Sox; he was drafted in last year’s draft out of the University of Georgia. Both players went into Spring Training with outsiders expecting them to be in the minor leagues this season. Both however, have proven that they have the skills to compete right now on the major league level.
Porcello draws comparisons to Brandon Webb with his 93-95 mph sinker and is mentally strong enough to handle the pressure that comes with pitching in the big leagues. There also is a potential opening in the Tigers’ rotation with Dontrelle Willis still not able to find home plate and Nate Robertson just being bad, and the injury to Jeremy Bonderman. The problem Porcello is facing is that he is 20 years old and General Manager Dave Dombrowski doesn’t want to rush the pitcher. They say that if he makes the team he will be under strict pitch counts, which could tax the bullpen every fifth day. If he is rushed and fails he could develop into another Jeff Weaver, a mental case of a pitcher who never quite reaches his full potential. Manager Jim Leyland wants Porcello to head north with the Tigers when camp breaks in a few weeks. And it’s clear why he thinks that, Porcello has a lot of talent and talent is what the Tigers rotation needs if they want to contend in a fairly even American League Central this season.
For the White Sox, Beckham wasn’t even considered an option at second base this season. It was supposed to be a battle between Chris Getz, Brent Lillibridge and Jason Nix, but Beckham is not letting Ozzie Guillen or Kenny Williams forget about him. Beckham was thought to start the season in AA with the Birmingham Barons due to the fact he was drafted last year and didn’t make his professional debut until late in the season. But this spring Beckham is hitting .321 with seven of his nine hits going for extra bases and two of those being home runs. Beckham seems to be the future at second base for the White Sox so it would make sense to just let him take over now and let him grow into the position, but there is also the thought that giving him a little time to polish his game in the minors couldn’t hurt his development. The other argument that is being made is that the White Sox should wait until May to call up Beckham so they have control over him for another year (this is what the Rays did with Evan Longoria last season). People are also arguing that bringing up Beckham would hurt his development if it is discovered that he is overmatched to begin the season. I personally don’t agree with that argument, and I think if he struggles he’d welcome a move to the minors to work on his game. Beckham could potentially provide the White Sox with the leadoff hitter they desperately need to compete and fill one of the many holes experts think the White Sox have.
In my opinion if a player is competing against other major leaguers and having success doing so they should be rewarded for their performance. If the player will give you team the best chance to win right now, he should be on the team, if there is something he can work on, then keep him in the minors with the notion that he will be in the majors when the flaw in his game is corrected. If Porcello can get batters out and Beckham can handle second base both offensively and defensively then both should be on the opening day rosters for the respective clubs.
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