Desperate Times

Is it me, or was MLB just the other week trying to ram Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. down my throat as the next big thing?  MLB.com sure couldn’t get enough of Guerrero, at least until he started playing.

 

As it stands, the 20-year old is hitting .162 (6/37) with one RBI.  That may be why the powers that be got so excited when the Nationals brought up Carter Kieboom .  If Guerrero wasn’t ready, then Kieboom had to be.  Wrong.  The 21-year old was hitting .128 (5/39) with two homeruns and two RBIs before being sent down this week.  Kieboom had four errors in 40 chances at shortstop, for a .900 fielding average that didn’t exactly help his cause.

 

That’s leaves grizzled 22-year old Eloy Jimenez of the White Sox as the best of the bunch, at .241 (19/79) with three homers and eight RBIs.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that age, or the lack thereof, is not the main reason for any of the above struggles.  Baseball is desperate for a clickable phenom, someone who will generate attention and merchandise sales.  That’s a lot of pressure to put on a rookie, especially English is his second language, at best.

 

But, for baseball, these are desperate times.