The Best Young Players in Baseball 

That is the curse young players live with each spring. Oh, the first few weeks are great, filled with promises, get-me-over fastballs, guys out of A ball and 4-A players. But in the end the hopes of being the next Albert Pujols shooting past the minor leagues is fraught with complications.

But the kids are the enduring siren's song of spring training. We watch lines of pitchers throw from bullpen mounds, study infield drills and listen for the sounds that differentiate bat speeds.

There are kids we all want to see, even if they are a year, or years, from the big leagues -- Fernando Martinez of the Mets. Justin Upton and Carlos Gonzalez of the Diamondbacks, Cameron Maybin of the Tigers, Dexter Fowler of the Rockies, Evan Longoria of the Rays, Nick Adenhart of the Angels (actually, if they keep having pitching breakdowns, Adenhart might be placed in the HOV lane).

That is the future. Here are the young players most will be watching this spring.

MOST SIGNIFICANT YOUNG POSITION PLAYERS

• Alex Gordon, 3B, Kansas City. The kid from Nebraska, he with the 29 homers, 101 RBIs and 1.015 OPS in his first professional season, is the Royals' hope as their hero to make folks forget how long it's been since George Brett embodied the franchise. He will likely start at third base with Mark Teahen working in the outfield. Gordon can play first. Whatever ... he will play. He drew as many as 2,000 fans as the Royals took their caravan through the small towns of Missouri and Kansas.

• Delmon Young, RF, Tampa Bay. The 19 walks in 570 Triple-A at-bats might cause a reasonable learning curve, but he is a potential superstar who wants to be a superstar. Oh yes -- he can also really throw from right field. It's almost as if there is no doubt about Delmon. Where B.J. Upton plays and how the enormously talented Elijah Dukes adjusts socially may be the March stories to watch more carefully.

• Chris Young, CF; Stephen Drew, SS; Carlos Quentin, RF; and Miguel Montero, C, Arizona. How far this quartet goes this summer may take the 'Backs deep into the NL West race. Young is special, Drew can be a big-time offensive middle infielder, and Quentin should be a superb right fielder.

• Troy Tulowitzki, SS, and Chris Ianetta, C, Colorado. After only 22 professional games in his '06 debut, Tulowitzki hit .291 with 59 extra-base hits in 104 games in his first full season. He will step right in at shortstop on a very good, young, developing team. Ianetta has developed into an intriguing offensive catcher with some power and boundless enthusiasm.

• Felix Pie, CF, Cubs. Considering all the bad things that happened to the Cubs the last two years, it may have been a good thing that Pie hurt his ankle in June 2005 and missed the rest of the season. That allowed Pie to play a full season, in 2006, at age 21. The tools are immense -- speed, slashing power ... but his on-base percentage has declined the last two years, which indicates he may have an adjustment period. The Cubs want him to be the center fielder and allow Alfonso Soriano to move to a corner position, but they will not force the issue. He is too good, too important.

• Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Boston. He is the opposite of Pie, the prototypical performance vs. tools guy. He is short (5-foot-6 maybe), has a big swing and doesn't swing and miss. In 270 minor-league games, he has 125 walks, 101 extra-base hits and 77 strikeouts. His hands are outstanding. The job is his to lose. A serious winter at Athletes' Performance Institute in Tempe will help.

• Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B, San Diego. The Pads traded Josh Barfield to get him and his .332 average/.951 OPS minor-league numbers. There are few doubters about his ability to hit. Staying healthy is an issue to watch. The .660 and .647 slugging numbers in Akron and Buffalo respectively are very impressive.

• Adam Jones, CF, Seattle. Many compare him to Mike Cameron, and at 21 he may be ready to step into Cameron's old position. Plate discipline is still an issue, but he has tremendous tools and an electric personality.

• Daric Barton, OF-1B, Oakland. He was 20 years old and 43 games into his Triple-A career when he broke his elbow in a collision. But don't forget that he is a pure hitter with a career minor-league on-base percentage of .425. The A's would love for him to emerge, and he may.

• Ryan Sweeney, CF, Josh Fields, 3B-LF, White Sox. Sweeney has been the darling of the White Sox organization, and at 22 will get a good look in spring training; his .754 minor-league OPS isn't dazzling, but he has a great swing and love for the game. Fields could play third base or the outfield, had an .894 OPS in Triple-A and going back to his quarterback experience at Oklahoma State is such a good athlete he is expected to temper his sometime overenthusiasm.

• Adam Lind, RF, Toronto. After hitting .319 in his three-year climb to Toronto, he may get the opportunity to platoon with Reed Johnson.

• Ryan Braun, 3B, Milwaukee. With concern about Corey Koskie's post-concussion problems, the former University of Miami star will get a prime shot this spring. He slugged .589 in Double-A and has intriguing complementary power to go with Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks.

• Andy Marte, 3B, Cleveland. He had a confusing year after being traded twice. The .261 average, 15 homers and .773 OPS were disappointments, but the Indians' depth will allow him to break in slowly. The talent is there, and a big spring would be a good start.

MOST SIGNIFICANT YOUNG PITCHERS
• Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez, San Francisco. With Barry Zito, Matt Cain, Matt Morris and Noah Lowry, the doors have been opened for a generation of young pitchers to get to AT&T Park. Lincecum was the 10th pick in last June's draft, but has sick stuff (58 strikeouts and 14 hits in 32 pro innings), even if watching him throw may hurt your shoulder. Sanchez was put in the bullpen after three starts last year, but also has big-time stuff. If Brian Wilson ends up the closer, Lincecum and Sanchez could end up as the guardians of the seventh and eighth innings.

• Mike Pelfrey, Mets. It took guts for the Mets to not overspend for free agent starting pitching, but Omar Minaya is a scouting man who believes in Pelfrey, Philip Humber and the skills of an Oliver Perez, and Fred and Jeff Wilpon made a definite statement about trusting their general manager. Pelfrey throws 92-95, filthy, but there remains enough question about the development of his secondary pitches to make spring training very important for him. Humber threw only 78 innings last year coming off Tommy John surgery, but will be closely monitored.

• Jonathan Meloan, Dodgers. Just look at the strikeouts -- 91 in 53 innings. Here is L.A.'s bullpen sleeper.

• Jason Hirsh and Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado. The Rockies took some heat for trading Jason Jennings, but the consensus around the game was that they made a terrific deal. Hirsh is 6-foot-8, polished and was 16-6 in the Astros' organization, and he came with a proven defensive center fielder (Willy Taveras) and Taylor Buchholz. Jimenez was 14-4, is a work in progress and still could end up in the bullpen, but is another big-league arm. And lefty Franklin Morales may be the best of them all.

• Tyler Lumsden, Kansas City. When Dayton Moore took over, he knew he had to restock the organization's pitching, and he got Lumsden for Mike MacDougal. Lumsden had a very good spring for the White Sox last year, and could well go north in the Royal rotation. It's probably too much to ask for Luke Hochevar to move that fast.

• Matt Garza, Glen Perkins and J.D. Durbin, Minnesota. Garza is better than he looked in September, but then he'd already gone 14-4 on the ladder en route to Minnesota. In a year and a half, he's 18-8, 2.56, and on a staff depleted by the injury to Francisco Liriano and the retirement of Brad Radke, he will get every opportunity. So will Perkins, the lefty out of the University of Minnesota, and Durbin, who after a succession of physical problems going back to a strained labrum in '04 may be out of options at the right time.

• Micah Owings, Arizona. He originally turned down the chance to sign as the Rockies' No. 2 pick, went back and forth between pitching and a position at Georgia Tech before settling on pitching at Tulane. He went 16-2 in the Arizona organization, and there is room in the rotation behind Brandon Webb, Livan Hernandez and Randy Johnson.

• Tony Sipp and Adam Miller, Cleveland. Sipp was also in-between in college, an outfielder at Clemson who is now on the verge of being a preeminent left-handed reliever(80 K, 60 IP). Miller was 15-6, 2.75 at Akron, and his 157-43-129 K-BB-H numbers tell you he's eventually going to pitch for the Indians this season, as a starter or reliever.

• Yovani Gallardo, Milwaukee. As the Brewers put together a very talented young offensive team, they have to concentrate on defense and get Gallardo to the majors. He's 19-9, 2.38 with 329 strikeouts in 303 innings in 2 1/3 seasons, and Ned Yost and Mike Maddux have shown they can really handle pitching.

• Devern Hansack, Boston. If you haven't read Amy Nelson's profile of the Nicaraguan lobsterman, do so immediately. Brilliant. He may be 29, but his five-inning no-hitter on the last day of the season at Fenway showed his stuff, slider, arm angles ... enough so that there are a lot of people in the organization who are intrigued about Hansack closing if Craig Hansen isn't ready at the end of spring training.

YOUNG PLAYERS WE MAY SEE COME AUGUST
• Philip Hughes, RHP, Yankees. Just a matter of time. And watch Tyler Clippard, Ross Ohlendorf, Humberto Sanchez and Kevin Whelan, because they may all be in The Stadium before the season is over.

• Hunter Pence, CF, Houston. He may be unorthodox, but he's hit 59 homers the last two seasons and is edging into becoming an important part of the Astros' future.

• Andrew Miller, LHP, Detroit. OK, he's thrown 15 professional innings. But it may be hard for Jim Leyland not to use him in the stretch run.

• Andy LaRoche, 3B, Dodgers. His time could be April. He's hit 30 and 19 homers the last two years, greatly improved his approach and discipline to the point where he had more walks than strikeouts and made five errors in 54 Triple-A games. He walks on the field and looks like a major leaguer.

• Luke Hochevar, RHP, Kansas City

• Brandon Wood, SS-3B, Angels

• Chuck Lofgren, LHP, Cleveland. Al Leiter II. 22-10 in the minors.

• Trevor Crowe, LF, Cleveland, Jacoby Ellsbury, CF, Boston. They are different players. One GM calls Crowe "Ty Cobb," and Ellsbury is a swift, highly-skilled defensive center fielder. But they are grouped here because they're buddies from their Oregon childhoods, and even bought houses across the street from one another in Arizona this winter.

• Troy Patton, LHP, Houston. A guy who really knows how to pitch and likely will get the opportunity in the second half, especially if Roger Clemens does not return.

• Bryce Cox, RHP, Boston. Boston took him in the third round after he shortened his delivery at Rice, and between a riding 92-94 mph fastball and a nasty slider, showed he could bolt through in a hurry. The Red Sox may have had a franchise-altering pitching draft last spring, but they likely will let Daniel Bard, Justin Masterson and Kris Johnson proceed slowly.

• Homer Bailey, RHP, Cincinnati. Scouts watch him and see a future No. 1 starter -- great stuff, body, poise. Wayne Krivsky has been trying to build the Reds' defense to make certain he has the right support system when Bailey arrives.

• Tony Gwynn Jr., CF, Milwaukee. With Billy Hall in center, the son of the Hall of Famer will probably open the season in Triple-A, but his .366 OBP the last two years and defensive talent insure that he will make it. There should be no surprise for anyone who knows the family that he has great makeup.

• Charlie Haeger, RHP, White Sox. They love power arms, but Haeger has the best stuff of any knuckleballer to come along since Tim Wakefield made it with the Pirates in '92. He could be an interesting contrast, especially with all the power arms in the Chicago bullpen.

• Bill Butler, OF-DH, Kansas City. Hit, yes. Defense is an issue.

• Ian Stewart, 3B, Colorado. Another key part of the Rockies' return to respectability.

Then we get to carry our Baseball America Prospect Handbooks around Florida and Arizona and watch all the players listed above, plus Jeff Samardzija with the Cubs, Preston Mattingly with the Dodgers, Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker with the Pirates, Travis Buck with the Athletics, Chris Volstad with Florida, Scott Elbert with the Dodgers ...

It's all part of what makes the game so much fun.

Written by Peter Gammons