Additionally, when its all said and done, there's a chance that Springer could have had more quality MLB years in his career than he'll end up having... by staying in the minors for service time reasons, on a team that needed more time to become a contender. Evan Longoria... who was the poster child of extending MLB service time by starting 2008 in the minors by design (he was called up after 3 weeks in order to get an additional year of service time)... still made his debut 2 years earlier than Springer will be.
If the team is keeping him down for service time reasons, he won't be up here till after 20 games into the 2014 season. Sucks.
I think you're wrong if you think Springer's staying down simply for service time. The power and speed combination make his numbers in the minors just gawdy, but there's plenty he has to work on. Some reports have been that he still strikes out mostly because of a lack of any kind of 2 strike approach.
So let him learn/develop that at the MLB level. There's going to be an adjustment regardless.... or he is just going to end up being an MLB player who strikes out a ton, but hits for power and has devilish speed. That still can make him an all-star in this league, and fits right in with what most young hitters are like in baseball nowadays.
If we're going simply based on merit, he probably could have been promoted the second he started tearing up AA. I don't see him gaining anything at AAA other than making the decision for him to not be here look worse and worse. But wait... he's going to be a 30-30 minor league player of the year!
It's not because of service time, it's because he's not ready. He really needs to work on plate discipline, MLB pitchers will eat him up with 2 strikes.
Very true, I don't think that is it though. None of us really know for sure. I personally think Crane feels like next week with the Sox and Rangers attendance will be good.
Sure... better than the waste of space that was Carlos Pena, and chances are he'd perform no worse than 0.2 WAR Chris Carter. That being said, Singleton is more considered a top prospect because there are no great first baseman prospects in baseball... and he's not going to have a ceiling that the 5-tool threat Springer has.
MLB pitchers are eating up ALL our players with 2 strikes... hell, most MLB players nowadays get eaten up with 2 strike... and again, its unproven whether more time at AAA will actually help with that. Every AAA pitch he makes contact with right now is being sent to pluto... and I actually think his AAA run could reinforce his bad habits instead of deter them.
exactly. why is the minors the only place someone can improve their game? I would assume our coaches/manager are at the major league level for a reason.
Different argument, but the minors weren't devoid of 1st base talent when he originally became a top prospect a few years ago. Also, I don't even think that's true. Whatever prospect status Singleton has is because of his bat. If they announced tomorrow that he's switching to left field, I don't think his rank drops. There is no position quota for top prospect lists.
Much tougher to work on your game against major league pitching than minor league pitching, and terrible failure at the major league level isn't exactly a great thing for young prospects. Most guys will always struggle a little when they're first called up, but smart teams put their guys in a position to succeed. You can be the Marlins (calling up guys who aren't ready, just hoping one sticks), or you can be the Cardinals, taking the long view and fully developing guys in the minors.
