With a 2005 draft class featuring the likes of high school outfielders such as Jay Bruce, Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen, and Justin Upton, it becomes easy to overlook every other prospect in their category.
Just make sure you know the name of the fifth teenage outfielder to be selected that day as well.
The St. Louis Cardinals made Colby Rasmus the number 28 overall pick in the 2005 draft. Rasmus, now 20 years old, was quickly sent packing from Russell City High School (Phenix City, Alabama) to Johnson City, Tennessee and the Appalachian League.
Rasmus made a strong first impression. In 216 at-bats, the 6-foot-1, 175-pounder posted an impressive .296/.362/.514 vital line, which included 16 doubles, five triples, and seven home runs.
The strong 2005 debut season earned Rasmus a promotion to Single-A Quad Cities for the beginning of the 2006 campaign. Rasmus managed to show improvement at the next level, using his 303 at-bats to pound out 22 doubles and 11 home runs to produce an impressive line of .310/.373/.512 in the Midwestern League.
This impressive showing sent the Columbus, Georgia native up to High-A Palm Beach to finish out the season. While his 53-game stint produced rather pedestrian numbers (.254/.351/.404), there is absolutely no reason to hit the panic button with regard to this top prospect.
Rasmus has developed a well-deserved reputation as a five-tool guy and there’s no reason to think that he will fall off in any of those departments in the future. It’s also impressive that Rasmus keeps advancing the areas of his game that could use development. Rasmus has what the scouts have called a haymaker swing and has never really displayed too much patience at the plate.
But Colby Rasmus is getting better.
As Rasmus has cut his swing down and started to look for certain pitches, his walk to strikeout numbers have vastly improved from level to level (21:73 at Johnson City, 29:55 at Quad Cities, 27:35 at Palm Beach). Put this ability to further develop weaker areas of his game into the equation and we have ourselves a legitimate big league prospect.
The natural talents and work ethic of Rasmus have planted him firmly on the prospect map. While he may never be confused with Bruce, Maybin, McCutchen, or Upton, Colby Rasmus has truly established himself as the Cardinals' center fielder of the future and a potential middle of the lineup force for St. Louis.
Farm Feed will highlight a new prospect every Sunday morning. Have a player you would like to see profiled? Simply email Adam Loberstein at adamloberstein@gmail.com with the player(s) of your choice.