I am certain that if you are reading this you are a fan of baseball. If you are a fan of baseball then you have certainly heard that consensus number one prospect Jurickson Profar has just been called up to replace the ailing Ian Kinsler at second base for the Texas Rangers. There are not many things in this life that I am sure of, but the previous two sentences definitely qualify as undeniable truths to me. Now that I have established those truths I am faced with the question of what this information really means. The most obvious candidates to be affected by this move are Mitch Moreland, Ian Kinsler, David Murphy, Giancarlo Stanton, David Price, and scorecard spell-checkers. We all know Profar’s talent level, so I will not reiterate that as it would be redundant information to the majority of you. Instead I will include this scouting rundown by Fangraphs’ Mike Newman who does a much more adept job at summarizing Profar’s various talents than I ever could. Now that you know what Profar brings I would like to explore quickly in bullet form how he might affect those various entities mentioned above.
- Mitch Moreland – Moreland has been pretty fantastic of late with a .464 wOBA so far in the Month of May. It seems unlikely that he will be moved to a DH role or sent to the Bench to move Ian Kinsler to make room for Profar. Ron Washington loves to stick with his veterans sometimes to a fault. However, it appears that this time it may be prudent to stick with Moreland rather than move to the young Profar.
- Ian Kinsler – Kinsler has turned in to the new Michael Young for the Texas Rangers in that it appears that the rumblings of moving his position will not subside. It appears as though he is safe at second base for now considering his torrid start and the play of Mitch Moreland so far.
- David Murphy – Murphy, unlike Kinsler and Moreland, has not been so great to begin the 2013 campaign. It is possible that Kinsler could be moved to the outfield to take over primary duties on LF while Murphy is sent to the bench. Again, I do not see this organization making such a move which leads me to believe that Profar could be traded.
- Giancarlo Stanton – Rumors were abound in the offseason of a Profar plus additional pieces trade for Stanton. This is still very much in play, but the Marlins insistence that he will not be traded and Stanton;’s own health issues have thrown a monkey wrench into that idea. Still, I would not be overly surprised to see a Profar-Mike Olt-Martin Perez/Justin Grimm/Leonys Martin type trade at the deadline.
- David Price – Price is the other name that has been bandied about in a trade for Profar, but it appears that a separate monkey wrench has been thrown into that idea. Price’s velocity has been down and he is currently on the disabled list and not expected to return for roughly three weeks. If he is still struggling with his velocity it is possible that the Rangers would not feel comfortable trading the top prospect in the game for a starter with legitimate injury concerns. Additionally, from the Rays side it seems unlikely that they would trade low on Price when they could simply wait until next season to jettison him for prospects.
Jurickson Profar hitting a homerun in his first Major League at-bat.
So far Profar has been a solid performer at every level and projects to exceed in all aspect of the game. He does not blow you away in any singular way, but the sum of his parts constructs a great foundation for stardom. It has often been side that he is more of a high-floor than a high-ceiling guy, but a shortstop who hits near .300 with a .380 OBP throwing up 20/20 seasons is nothing to scoff at. So far Profar’s future is still rather uncertain, but I do have to say that as a Rangers fan I hope that we find a way to hold on to him.
