Part of what makes baseball such a fun sport to track is keeping tabs on the future superstars of the game.  No other sport develops their own players the way MLB does.  Football and Basketball grab their players straight out of college and give them an immediate shot.  MLB player development is one of growth, often from High School, through a tiered system of successively more competitive environments.

So far this year, several MLB rookies have been identified as potential super-stars, based on their current production and reasonable expected growth over the next few years. 

And so we have the 2008 1st-Quarter All-Rookie Team!

C:  Geovany Soto (131 AB, 0.321 BA, 18 R, 7 HR, 29 RBI, 1.018 OPS)

There really is no contest here.  Not only is Soto the best performing rookie catcher this year, but he is the best hitting catcher in baseball, period.

1B: Joey Votto (116 AB, 0.276 BA, 21 R, 8 HR, 20 RBI, 1 SB, 0.887 OPS)

Despite the best efforts of Reds Manager Dusty Baker to hold him back by platooning him with uninteresting veteran Scott Hatteberg, Votto has established himself as the best young 1B of this year’s rookie class to date.  1B is actually very deep this season, with Daric Barton and John Bowker qualifying, among others.

2B:  Eugenio Velez (118 AB, 0.212 BA, 11 R, 0 HR, 8 RBI, 8 SB, 0.581 OPS)

There are not many rookie second basement this season, and if it were not for Velez’ baserunning abilities, this space would need to be left blank.  If he raises that average and learns how to draw a walk, Velez could be a decent top-of-the-lineup guy.  Some day.

3B:  Blake DeWitt (103 AB, 0.320 BA, 19 R, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 3 SB, 0.892 OPS)

Let the masses cry, “We want Evan Longoria!” but it has actually been DeWitt with the numbers at third this year.  Despite jumping unprepared into the bigs due to injuries to Andy LaRoche and Nomar Garciaparra, DeWitt looks like he belongs, swinging his bat better than almost all of his established Dodger teammates.

SS:  Brian Bixler (65 AB, 0.169 BA, 11 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0.450 OPS)

Brian who?  There are no Rookie starting short stops this season, to my knowledge.  So this guy with his “gosh I hope he gets better” stats gets the nod.

OF:  Jacoby Ellsbury (117 AB, 0.282 BA, 31 R 3 HR, 13 RBI, 15 SB, 0.783 OPS)

We all knew this kid was good after the 2007 World Series, but who can honestly say they saw 15 Stolen Bases in less than 120 At-Bats around the corner?  Now if only the Sox could ship off Coco Crisp, and we could REALLY see what Ellsbury can do.

OF:  Carlos Gomez (147 AB, 0.272 BA, 22 R, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 16 SB, 0.709 OPS)

The Twins fants can not complain TOO much about trading away Johan Santana after watching Gomez play center field.  It seems like every few days a note pops up saying “Gomez leads the league in stolen bases”, and after a rocky start, he has begun to cut down on the strikeouts and has raised his average 70 points.  If he learns how to walk, and dings 15 homers a year, Gomez could be Carl Crawford – Lite.

OF:  Justin Upton (138 AB, 0.326 BA, 23 R, 6 HR, 19 RBI, 0.936)

MLB’s next perennial superstar has made a huge leap from his abysmal batting average last season to become one of the sparks for the best team in baseball.  His power has eased off a little from the start of the season, but he hasn’t stopped hitting.  And hitting.  And hitting.  At 20 years old, this guy will be scary good some day.

Bench:

Michael Bourn, OF – Despite a miserable BA, Bourn shows signs that he can walk and hit, and nobody questions his base running.  17 steals in 17 tries is impressive for anybody.

John Bowker, 1B/OF – Bowker is less-heralded than neighbor Daric Barton, but his numbers are more impressive in fewer at-bats.  With more playing time, he can be a solid player

Evan Longoria, 3B – Nobody brought up from the minors has been more heralded.  Get out the streamers and the confetti, it’s time for a ticker-tape parade.  Oh wait, he’s batting .216.  Still, the overall numbers are not bad.

Kosuke Fukudome, OF – Lots of runs scored, which means he gets on base. 

David Murphy, OF – Who?  Murphy has quietly been one of the best rookies all season, and is playing full-time.

Starting Rotation:

Edinson Volquez – 48.1 innings pitched, 6 earned runs, 10.61 strikeouts per nine innings.  Ridiculous.

Jair Jurrjens – 3.10 ERA over 49.1 innings, this kid is the only reason the Braves pitching staff is not a complete joke this year.

Greg Smith – Greg Who?  Smith has been the A’s best pitcher this season…and all of them have been pretty good so far.

Armando Galarraga – Galaladoaigawhatever has also been Detroit’s best starter.  Yes, Detroit.  How the mighty have fallen.  Still, a WHIP under 1.00 for a rookie starter is excellent.

Dana Eveland – Oakland’s other surprise star.  Eveland has very very quietly been one of the most consistent pitchers in all of baseball this season.  Not overwhelming, but with an ERA of 3.07 and a whip of 1.25, there is no reason to expect that he can not keep it up.

Relievers:

Joey Devine – 3.05 ERA 15 IP

Leo Nunez – 1.62 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 16.2 IP

Jesse Carlson – 2.12 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 9.53 K/9, 17 IP

Aquilino Lpez – 2.01 ERA 22.1 IP

Masa Kobayashi – 1.93 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 18.2 IP and possibly Cleveland’s new closer

Aaron Laffey – Technically a starter, I have him tagged for long relief.  1.83 ERA in 19.2 IP

Wesley Wright – 21 year old Rule-5 pick dominating lefties, has 3 wins in 14 IP.

To put this team in perspective, this all-rookie team would have 233 runs scored and 95 runs given up.  That would put them SECOND in runs scored in all of MLB behind only the Chicago Cubs, and FIRST place in Earned Runs by thirty-seven over the Cleveland Indians!