David Price and Matt Wieters: The Future Faces of the American League

Last year, Evan Longoria had an amazing year for the Tampa Bay Rays. But the Rays have another gem prospect in left handed fireballing pitcher David Price. Last year, Price was 12-1 with a 2.30 ERA in the minors last year between Single A, Double A and Triple A. The Rays, among others, were impressed. They decided to give him the call and promote him to the bigs. In five games, he was 0-0 with a 1.93 ERA and 12 strikeouts in 14 innings. In the playoffs, he was impressive, to say the least. He won a game, lost none and struck out eight in five and two thirds innings.

Price will be on the Rays Opening Day roster as the fifth starting pitcher. At 6’6”, 225 pounds, he is one of the biggest pitchers in the game – and he’s only 22. People are considering Price and Wieters for the American League Rookie of the Year Honor. On CBS Sportsline Fantasy Baseball, he’s projected to win 11, lose six and post a 3.99 ERA, numbers that certainly aren’t deserving for the ROY. But, over time, people have learned it is foolish to expect Price to do badly. This is a guy who is 12-1 in his pro career and showed he had ice water in his veins when he came up with the big strikeout in game seven of the ALCS against Boston. I expect him to go 15-8 with a 3.51 ERA.

Price is the future of the Rays pitching-wise. Tampa Bay has plenty of talented young pitchers on the team, but Price is beneficial to the Rays success. The Vanderbilt alum is the most talented fifth starter in the league, hands down. Price’s mid 90’s fastball is intimidating and his work ethic and poise is undeniable. He has expectations for himself that are unmatched by any other. “Every time I step on the mound, I expect to throw a perfect game.” Price has the speed (95-97 MPH fastball), a great mix of breaking pitches and a very deceptive delivery. Rays scouting director Brad Matthews calls him the “best amateur pitcher I’ve ever seen.”

On March 8th, 2008, Price made his official Major League debut. In a Spring Training game against the New York Yankees, he struck out the side and people got a first glimpse at the future star. Mitch Lukevics, the Rays Minor League Scouting Director, says Price can handle the hype he’s being handed. “Is it pressure? Sure. Can he handle it? No question. This is what he works for, he’s on a mission. He lives for the pressure, this is his goal.”

But not many know that after going just 2-4 as a freshman at Vanderbilt, he nearly quit. He said “it wasn’t fun anymore” and he just wanted to “go home, get away from the spotlight, work at McDonald’s and go to a Junior College”. But Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin saw his potential and talked him out of it. He returned and went 20-6 over the next two seasons, including 11-1 as a junior. He won 2007 College Player of the Year, Golden Spikes Award, SEC Male Athlete of the Year and a whopping 12 other awards.

The Rays were impressed and decided to draft him with the first overall pick in the first year player draft. Price summed it up in one word: “awesome”. Rays executive Andrew Friedman said it was a rather easy decision. “We were fortunate enough to have the first pick in the draft, not the second or third. It was a fairly easy decision for us. His fastball and slider are as good a 1-2 pitches as any guy in baseball right now.” Price’s pitch command, deceptiveness and smarts have gotten him where he is. In what is rare for a rookie, he was on the Rays Postseason roster. And he didn’t disappoint. He recorded the final four outs of Game seven of the ALCS and recorded a save in Game two of the World Series against the Phillies. Price is a remarkable talent and the Rays are lucky to have him.

While Price is a “see it to believe it” kind of player, the Baltimore Orioles have the best prospect in baseball with a catcher by the name of Matt Wieters. Wieters dominated Single A and Double A last year, hitting .355 with 27 homers and 91 RBI. He hit over .400 with runners in scoring position. He even threw out 40.2 percent of runners trying to steal. Wieters is expected to be the savior for Baltimore. "I'm aware of those expectations, but that's nothing compared to what I expect from myself," Wieters says. The 6’5”, 230 pound catcher is a switch hitter, which is extremely rare for his size. He’s a power guy, but struck out 76 times and walked 82 times in his first season in professional baseball.

Those statistics were good enough to earn him 2008 Minor League Baseball Player of the Year, an award that has been won by Paul Konerko, Manny Ramirez, Derek Jeter, Dwight Gooden, Jose Canseco, Frank Thomas, Andruw Jones and Joe Mauer. Wieters, a Georgia Tech graduate, starred for the Yellow Jackets. He finished his three-year career with 35 homers, 198 RBI, 253 hits, a .359 average and 169 consecutive games. The majority of baseball writers are predicting that Wieters will win the American League Rookie of the Year Award, not Price – including me. I think Wieters will have statistics nearly identical to Longoria (27-85-.272).

The only weakness scouts see in Wieters is calling a game. It will be a tough transition for Wieters. He’s only played one full season in the bigs and in college, he never played more then 68 games in a season. Wieters responded in an ESPN Fan Chat. “I think it's always a great experience when you can catch guys with major-league ability. That way you can learn with them. It's always fun to work with them in order to call the best game possible.” Wieters has a plus arm, as he threw out just over 40 percent of runners attempting to steal.

O’s president Andy MacPhail wanted Wieters to have as few obstacles as possible getting to the bigs – and playing. So, he traded 2008 starting catcher Ramon Hernandez to the Reds for utility man Ryan Freel and two prospects. Recently, MacPhail signed veteran Gregg Zaun to mentor Wieters. Zaun will likely be the Opening Day starting catcher. That said, he is not oblivious to his role. "I know going in, no matter how well I play, I could see a significant less amount of playing time when [Wieters] gets here, and I understand that," said Zaun. Wieters likes the acquisition of the vet. “Anytime you can learn from a guy with that much experience, it's something you can benefit from. I learned a great deal from Ramon as well last year.”

ESPN expert Keith Law went as far as to say Wieters has the bat of Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira and the defense of Twins catcher Joe Mauer. He compares to Teixeira because both of the stars went to Georgia Tech, both are switch hitters with great batting eyes, incredible power and are both slightly better from the left side. His defense reminds Law of Mauer because of his flow. He makes everything look easy and can throw from home to second base in 1.96 seconds. The time you spent reading that last sentence is how long it takes for Matt Wieters to throw to second base on a line.

Both Wieters and Price are the faces of their franchise and are the faces of baseball.