For the first time since 2001, the Red Sox may have developed their own franchise first-baseman.
During yesterday’s ESPN/Baseball America chat with Jim Callis, Callis revealed that his No. 1 first-base prospect in the minor leagues is none other than Boston’s Lars Anderson.
He ranks Anderson ahead of Cincinnati’s Joey Votto, Washington’s Chris Marrero, Oakland’s Daric Barton and Texas’ Chris Davis.
With Youkilis entering his age 29 season and Mike Lowell likely not surviving as the Red Sox’s third baseman past his contract year of 2010, this news comes as a breath of fresh air, knowing we have a young corner infielder that can step in and provide some offense for when Mike Lowell moves on from this grand game.
Make no mistake, offense is what Anderson is known for. He represents perhaps the only legitimate power-hitting prospect in the minor leagues (unless you count Jason Place) and SoxProspects.com compares him to Adam LaRoche. LaRoche’s career high is 32 homeruns, .285/.354/.561, set in 2006 with the Braves. He had a terrible first half with the Pirates in 2007 but rebounded in the second half.
The scary thing is that the 20-year old could have a ceiling even higher than LaRoche. Anderson has tremendous plate discipline (hit .288/.385/.443 for Greenville last year) and Callis has said he sees Anderson as a future regular 40-homer hitter in his career. He may be the answer to the growing concerns about the Sox’s lack of power in the system.
The power issue is certainly growing as Manny Ramirez enters the last guaranteed year of his contract and David Ortiz only gets older and seems to have developed various nagging maladies over the last couple of years.
While the Red Sox will always be able to be aggressive and sign free agents who can hit homeruns, developing those prospects can also be a welcome relief, especially when you can plan them out for the future instead of crossing your fingers that players don’t sign extensions or sustain long-lasting injuries. Case in point: Excepting Ramirez and Varitek, no major player will be a free agent for at least two more years. Barring trades, this team that won the 2007 World Series will remain together through 2010. If Manny’s options are picked up and Varitek resigns, we will be getting very used to this team — but the team will continue to age.
That’s where a player like Anderson becomes valuable, because he should be more than ready to contribute once 2010 rolls around. Perhaps we let Mike Lowell leave as a free agent and shift Youkilis to third. Perhaps we make a trade after the 2009 season to open a spot up for Anderson. There’s lots of possibilities, but one is obvious: having Lars Anderson makes future decisions a lot easier.
