Prospects represent so much for an organization. They define the success a club could achieve in the future, they define the rainbow at the end of the storm. Playing at a consistent high level gives clubs hope they could use you to add their rebuilding or potent lineup. But this is not like other main sports. When the NFL, NBA or NHL draft players it is to benefit their club the following season, but baseball is different and it can take hitters years to adjust to the speed and fast pace of MLB caliber games.

That’s why top prospects may get lost in the minors because of their struggles adapting to faster and harder pitches. It’s a sad and intense reality that happens to even the best of the best college hitters. Sometimes they just cannot adjust to pro hitting and fall of the ranks of their potential. It is statistically true, players drafted in the top ten overall seemingly struggle more than players picked later. The mixture of unrelenting pressure on themselves with fear of failure is a disaster for many individuals. So don’t be a huge heckler for your team trading prospects as it doesn’t mean so much since many aren’t proven as MLB talent. Given the fallout of prospect success there should be less reaction towards trading them.

Forward to 2016, the Yankees have a top 5 farm system led by star international shortstop right out of the Dominican Republic is Jorge Mateo. Signed as an amateur free agent in 2012 he rose to #3 in the Yankees farm and #30th overall in the top 100. Unfortunately Mateo never made it to the Pros with the Yanks as that trade deadline he was sent to the Athletics in the Sonny Gray deal. It would take another trade to the Padres before he experienced big league time.

His one year stint with the Padres in 2020 never paned out. It looked like all hope was lost for the shortstop after being DFA’d until the Orioles swept in and it looked like a bright future for the young speeder. Over two years from 2021-2022 Mateo didn’t really impress offensively as he was known for his speeding around the bases than he was with the bat. In 182 games (2021-2022) Mateo put up a 86WRC+ but had 40 SB and led the AL in SB (35) in 2022. With all the exciting young offense coming up for the future of the Orioles it looked like Mateo would serve as a bright spot on the roster as a speeding middle infielder with not really much pop to the bat.

2022 was a resurgence season for Mateo, he showed the world what he is capable of and that the could be the beginning of a dangerous ERA for the player. 2023 blew his stats out of the water, in just one offseason of work Mateo has completely changed his mechanics and it has paid off wonderfully. With the young additions to the Orioles lineup in Gunnar Henderson or Adley Rutschman and sluggers Ryan Mountcastle or Anthony Santander, all have been dominant at the plate but none have been as hot to the season as Mateo has.

In 32 games Mateo leads all AL shortstops with a 1.5 WAR. His balls in play % has skyrocketed as well as his hard hit % that boosted his batting average to .350. He is tied for first with 6 home runs. He is on pace to demolish his single season record of 13Hrs with 30 projected this year. He is averaging a hit per game and 19 RBIs. Slugging over .650 and already has 1/3 of the SB he recorded last year (10) in 26 games. He is going to shatter all his previous records and looks to be the most pronounced hitter in the AL behind all the MVP candidate hitters.

It seems we have stumbled on another star on the edge of stardom. The career has been revived and he is not stopping anytime soon. He is ready to attack and to prove to the league the Orioles won’t be an easy team to beat especially with him navigating at the front end of the lineup.