Ladies and Gentleman, a new era has been ushered in tonight, an era of hope in a sea side city known for crabs. Yes, tonight the city of Baltimore calls up its best prospect, rated 3rd in all of baseball by MLB.com, Manny Machado. The same city that was home to probably one of the best 3rd baseman ever to play the game, Brooks Robinson, and one of the best Shortstops ever in the history of the game, Cal Ripkin.

So now at the age of 20, Machado completely skipped Triple A and went straight to the majors.  Can someone please tell me why they did that? Its not like he had AMAZING statistics this year either in 109 games with Bowie (the Double A team of the Baltimore Orioles), he only had a .266 Batting Average, 11 Home Runs, 59 RBIs, and 13 Stolen Bases.

Those are okay statistics but nothing that’s too eye popping. What about his defense? I mean, if he is such a “5 tool player” as all the ESPN people call him. Now, his offense might be okay but if he has stellar defense that would be fantastic. His fielding percentage is 0.954 this season. Cal Ripkin’s only season of a fielding percentage below that was when he was 40. Unfortunately, this is just based upon his stats in Double A, he doesn’t sound anywhere NEAR ready for even Triple A.

It sounds like the Orioles want to rush this guy’s development because they need another young player who is a star, like OF Adam Jones and C Matt Wieters. Poor kid, he doesn’t sound anything like he is ready for the big leagues, at least Bryce Harper was in Triple A before he was called up.

On this Day in History-Baseball Style

1905- Ty Cobb’s mother kills his father thinking that Ty’s father was a burglar.
1925- For the only time in his career Babe Ruth pinch hits, he flies out
1971- Satchel Paige is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame
1988- Cubs beat Mets 6-4 in their first ever night baseball game at Wrigley Field.