Will Longoria be up in September?

August 27, 2007 @ 16:00:00

By Brad Berreman
Edited by Ryan Dodson

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays will not be bringing up third baseman prospect Evan Longoria. He is headed to Arizona to participate in the Arizona Fall League. Longoria was the team's top draft pick, third overall, in the 2006 MLB Draft out of Long Beach State. He is considered one of the top minor league prospects in all of baseball.

On Aug. 1, Longoria was promoted from Double-A Montgomery to Triple-A Durham after hitting .307 with 21 homers and 76 RBI in 105 games for Montgomery. In 22 games with Durham, he has hit .288 with four homers and 15 RBI. 

Longoria has maintained a solid slugging percentage this season (.528 at Montgomery and .507 so far at Durham). His on-base percentage is also solid (.403 at Montgomery and .411 at Durham). Both are good signs of a productive hitter. Longoria's strikeout rate, one every 4.7 at bats at Montgomery this year, is one negative.

When the Devil Rays traded infielder Ty Wigginton to the Houston Astros earlier in the season, a spot seemed to be cleared for Longoria to get the call to the big leagues at some point. 

Longoria is a solid hitter and would be another young and talented position player the Devil Rays have. Along with outfielders Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Delmon Young, Longoria could help provide a solid core of young players the team can build around.

Look for him to have a good shot at winning the job in spring training, which would move Akinori Iwamura to second base. Brendan Harris, Josh Wilson and Reid Brignac would fight for the shortstop job. This move should improve the Devil Rays' infield defense as well, as Longoria is very good defensively and Iwamura's strong defensive abilities will be elsewhere on the infield. This also means the Devil Rays may have to trade center fielder Rocco Baldelli in the offseason or stick him or Upton at designated hitter.

Longoria's fantasy value is obviously great in keeper leagues. He's a hard worker that could make a significant impact in the next couple of seasons. Keep him protected in your keeper leagues, and if you want to draft him in a single-year league next year, look to grab him in the last fourth of your draft.

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Brad Berreman
Brad Berreman has been a KFFL contributor since 2004.

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