The Decade of Diaper Dandies

For perspective on just how fat with young talent Major League Baseball is today, may we present to you one Dansby Swanson.

Arizona selected the Vanderbilt shortstop with the first pick of the 2015 draft. Swanson has done nothing to undermine that status during his brief stint in the Minors. Atlanta was over the moon about snagging him in a deal for Shelby Miller this past off-season and he is expected to anchor the Braves' infield into the 2020s.

Dansby Swanson is just the 69th best Major League prospect under 25 according to Baseball Prospectus.

That's no knock on Swanson. BP thinks the world of him. It's just that there are 68 other guys whose early profile suggests even more potential than him.

Take Twins shortstop Francisco Lindor. At age 21 he produced 3.3 wins in 99 games in 2015 while impressing with the leather. And he's just the 14th best prospect in MLB.

Or consider Addison Russell at #20. The Cubs rookie shortstop supplanted Starlin Castro last year and produced about two wins, or what an average starter contributes.  But not an average 21-year-old starter. In most years, Russell might have contended for the Rookie of the Year award. He didn't get even a single third place vote. And there are 19 prospects under 25 deemed better than him.

Kevin Kiermaier earned five wins for the Rays last season, mostly with his all-world glove. Now in his third stint through the league, his exploits with the leather in center field make him a Web Gem hog and the subject of Sports Illustrated features. And BP rates 55 young prospects ahead of him.

Trevor Rosenthal's not shedding any tears for Kiermaier. He's saved 93 games the last two spins around the sun, but because he's the ripe old age of 25, he's rated just 87th.

Consider that every one of these guys is already in the Majors. Almost all of the best under-25 prospects have already debuted in the Bigs, and most of them have drained their rookie status.

Consider also that this doesn't account for the phenoms at the top. Describing MIke Trout and Bryce Harper at this point amounts to gilding a lily, but the next group of players include Carlos Correa, a shortstop who smacked 22 dingers as an age-20 rookie; Manny Machado, already an 18-win third baseman; Gerrit Cole, the ace of the Pirates staff; Jose Fernandez, a Rookie of the Year who's back strong from TJ surgery; Nolan Arenado, a slick-fielding cornerman who led the Majors in 2015 with 42 home runs; and other young stars including Corey Seager, Mookie Betts, Xander Boegarts, Kris Bryant, Jose Altuve, Miguel Sano, Noah Syndergaard, Anthony Rendon and Yasiel Puig. What a haul.

That grouping could contain half a dozen Hall of Famers when it's all over but the shouting. But you won't hear the shouting for a long time because they're all younger than my marriage.

So here's the takeaway: forget all the bellyaching you hear about the game. It's a great time to be a baseball fan.

The Braves Won the Trade and Lost the Season

Of all the moves consummated so far this off-season, one of the most intriguing involves the Braves and Diamondbacks, in which the D-backs get an orange in exchange for some shiny rocks.

That is, Arizona knows what its end of the deal brings: Shelby Miller and a Single-A pitching prospect, which is to say, Shelby Miller. The 25-year-old righty enters his fourth season cost-controlled with a 3.22 lifetime ERA. If your immediate aim is a pennant, which is the profile of a team that signs Zack Greinke to a fat contract, Miller is a find.

Atlanta, by dealing Miller, is telling us what we already suspected: damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead to 2018. That's the year after the franchise basks in the fresh bloom of a new stadium in a new town.

So the Braves cashed in Miller for a haul of youthful talent. First, there's Ender Inciarte, also 25, who is all batting average, speed and outfield defense. Atlanta's young pitchers will appreciate his glove behind them in the field, not so much the lack of run support he'll contribute to.

Promising Triple-A hurler, 24-year-old Aaron Blair, might be one of those pitchers soon. Low strikeout totals belie low ERAs in high scoring environments. A good addition to a rebuilding club.

Then there's homeboy Dansby Swanson, the shiniest object in the bag. A shortstop out of Vanderbilt selected with the #1 pick in last year's amateur draft, he did nothing to diminish his status as a 21-year-old in Single-A. If your eye is on a distant horizon, the most recent #1 pick is a nice prize.

So the Braves relinquished their second-best starter, but got back a good defensive outfielder, a pitching prospect and a potential star at middle infield. It's the riskier side of the equation and its payoff will take a couple of years, but the likelihood is the scales will tip their way in the long run. That's the side you want to be on if you're not concerned about the present.