Fantasy Baseball Call Up Report: Xander Bogaerts

Could Xander Bogaerts get the call to man the infield for the Red Sox this season?

It’s insane to call up a 20-year-old in the midst of a pennant race. Who’s got my back on this? Yet, the Orioles did that very thing last year with Manny Machado and he proved pivotal. Miguel Cabrera hit 12 homers at that age and helped the Marlins win the World Series. There are other examples as well, yet still, I don’t know. It sounds like crazy talk because you just don’t call up 20-year-old in the midst of a pennant race.

Yet Xander Bogaerts just might get the call late in 2013, according to sources close to the team. But don’t pop the cork just yet, just figure out a way to keep that stuff cold.

The 6’3″, 185-pound Bogaerts is from the island of Aruba. But he’s Dutch. I’ll let you figure that one out because I wasn’t able to trace his lineage with a Google search, so let’s just let it slide and start talking about his skills.

They are weapons-grade skills and he’s flashed them at every step in the minors. For one, his hit tool is so lethal, it was undoubtedly made by Trask Industries. I was a fan of Xander Bogaerts before, but now I’ve started writing his name all over my Trapper Keeper.

That hit tool translated into a breakout 2012 season, which saw him jack 20 homers between High A and Double A at age 19. It’s rare for a teenager to hit 20 homers, even in the minor leagues. The few that do display that type of power that young almost always end up making an impact, with Prince Fielder, Adrian Beltre and Giancarlo Stanton serving as perfect examples.

The 20-year-old then crushed in Double-A and earned a promotion to Triple A this June, making him the youngest player on the circuit. Bogaerts is a natural hitter who hasn’t even found the ceiling on his power stroke. That ceiling is a .300 hitter with 30 bombs and excellent counting stats.

Given the fact that he’ll play at the thin shortstop position, Bogaerts has a chance to be someone as rare as a left-handed catcher: a middle-of-the-order bat who plays at the shortstop position. His glove work isn’t good enough to keep him at short for long, but us fantasy players know when to savor a good thing as long as we can get it.

He has shown a consistently solid approach at the plate, which suggests that his transition to the Big Leagues won’t be rocky. He’s struck out at around an 18% clip this season, which in this day and age of the high strikeout rate is practically nothing. That contact is consistently solid and he has a slight rise to the ball which explains his career BABIP numbers of .350+. He also walks at around an 11% clip.

I could bore you with more numbers, but suffice it to say that Bogaerts has passed every test put in front of him. He’s hit in Single A and Double A, and now he’s hitting in Triple-A as well, excelling everywhere he’s been, despite the fact that he’s always been one of the youngest players at each level. He is the total package, which is why he’s coming in near the top every every prospect list in baseball.

In short, he’s a franchise player. In fact, he is the most exciting homegrown prospect for the Red Sox in decades. Yes, more exciting than Nomar, more exciting than Jacoby Ellsbury, and more exciting than Dustin Pedroia, all of which I say without an ounce of hyperbole.

He’s long gone in dynasty leagues but certainly stash him if you can. The sample size this season might be too small for much of an impact, but he’ll be worth the flyer regardless. As early as 2015 he could be a first round fantasy baseball pick at the tender age of 22.