September Call-ups

This is the time of year when the also-ran teams call up their prospects to get a head start on next year.  September is spring training 2.0 in Chicago.

I remember the White Sox bringing up a young third baseman once.  He’s so good, I thought as a 16-year old evaluator of talent, he can’t miss.  And Bill Melton did win the AL homerun title in 1971.  Then he had to go fall off a roof in the offseason and screw up his back.

I also remember Grover “Deacon” Jones, who as a 22-year old phenom hit .409 for Dubuque in the Midwest League.  Jones slid headfirst into third during a spring training game and screwed up his shoulder.  He went on to become a pretty good major-league hitting coach.

The Cubs have most of their highly touted “core” kids up; we just have names, including Josh Phegley.  Maybe nothing will get screwed up this time.