As nice as it is to have players who have proven themselves to be consistently good, having a player who's never proven himself to be bad is a siren call that most fantasy owners can't resist.
So, if a player is a top prospect -- someone who's put up huge numbers in the minors -- and has a shot to either break camp with a big-league club or be called up early in the season, fantasy owners will likely go a little overboard with their preseason hype.
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But there is one thing that can slow down the hype train -- injuries.
Three of this season's top prospects, Seattle's Taijuan Walker , Minnesota's Miguel Sano and St. Louis 's Oscar Taveras , are currently dealing with health issues that could keep them out for Opening Day and beyond.
Walker might be on the only member of that trio that had a shot of opening the season with his team, but inflammation in the bursa of his right shoulder will shut him down for at least the next seven days. There's reportedly been no structural damage found, but Walker, who ranked fifth on Frank Neville's top fantasy prospects list , will have a tough time being ready for the start of the season. If everything checks out, he might only miss a start or two, but clearly there's some added risk in drafting him now.
Sano experienced renewed soreness in his right elbow on Thursday, and there's some fear that he'll need Tommy John surgery. Sano has been dealing with a strained UCL all offseason, but Minnesota was hoping he could avoid surgery. Sano was unlikely to open the season with the Twins, but after clubbing 35 HRs last year between Single-A and Double-A,, there was a chance he would fill Minnesota's DH slot sooner rather than later. Obviously, Tommy John surgery would kill Sano's value in redraft leagues, as he likely wouldn't play at all this year. ( Update: Sano will undergo Tommy John surgery this spring, and he's expected to miss the rest of the 2014 season. Keeper leaguers should continue to hold onto him, as position players often have successful -- and quicker -- comebacks from TJS.)
Taveras, our top fantasy prospect entering the season, has still not been cleared to play in Grapefruit League games because of an ankle injury that limited him to just 47 minor league games last season. He's reportedly running at about 80 percent, and the Cardinals have no plans to push him since he wasn't expected to begin the season with the big club anyway. At this point, Taveras hasn't really lost any draft value, but the longer it takes for him to get on the field, the longer it could take for him to debut in St. Louis' outfield.
