The Tampa Bay Rays acquired Wil Myers from the Royals this winter in the trade that sent James Shields and Wade Davis to
Kansas City. The star prospect was rumored to be ready for the big leagues last
summer but the Royals never called him up. As for 2013 with the
Rays, it seems like a certainty that Myers will start the year in the minors.
Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune writes that the Rays are
expected to start Myers out in Triple-A Durham. Tampa Bay has a history of
being extremely careful with their prospects so it’s not really a surprise that
they will give the young man a little more time to grow down in Triple-A.
The manager of the Rays Joe Maddon has been known to say
there are five stages of a major league player.
1 1.
Happy to be here
2 2.
Trying to survive
3 3.
I belong here
4 4.
I want to make my money
5 5.
I want to win
He says the stage one and two guys, you lose with them. It’s safe to say that Myers will not be moving
towards stage five by April 2nd. Madden seems to think that young
players benefit from coming up part way through the year so that’s what they
plan to do.
Madden says “When they make the team out of spring training
expectations get raised even higher, and I think if you're really looking for a
young man to apply pressure to himself it's then, when he makes it out of camp
and Opening Day comes and all the stuff is being written and it's tough.”
There’s no doubt that Wil Myers will be in the majors sooner rather than later, it’s just a question of when. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets called up at some point this season and is 2013’s version of Mike Trout.
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