Delmon Young

Young started out the 2013 season on a one-year contract with the Phillies, but hit .260/.307/.407 with eight home runs in 80 games. Rather than accept an assignment at Triple-A when the Phillies were out of contention and wanted to develop some of their younger players, he took to free agency. The Rays picked him up for the remainder of the season as an extra right-handed bat with power. He hit .258 with a .780 OPS in 23 regular-season games with the team that drafted him first overall in 2003. He had some clutch hitting in the postseason, but saw limited action overall. He may be limited primarily to DH duties in the AL if teams have concerns about his defense in the outfield, but he will not likely be an everyday player in 2014.

Young bounced back slightly from his 2011 campaign to post one of his better offensive seasons last year. He finished the season hitting .267 with 18 home runs and 74 RBI. His 18 homers marked the second highest output of his career, while the 74 runs driven in was his third-best total. Unfortunately, the same holes remained in Young’s game, as he struggled mightily on defense and managed just 20 free passes while striking out 112 times. Heading into his age 27-season, Young is just now entering his prime power years, so the home-run stroke he showed in 2012 should continue if not improve, but it's unlikely he'll improve his plate discipline much at this stage of his career. There's marginal upside here, but the odds of Young ever living up to his pedigree appear to be slim.

After a miserable first half of the season in Minnesota, Young was able to turn things around following a trade to Detroit. In 40 games with the Tigers, Young hit .274 with eight home runs and 32 RBI in 168 at-bats. Unfortunately, Young brought all of his flaws with him to Detroit, too - he still never takes a free pass, swings at too many bad pitches and plays some of the worst defense in the league. The Tigers tendered Young a contract in December, and while there have been some trade whispers, he appears set to see the majority of starts in left field if he sticks around. At 26, Young still could still mature as a player, but don’t expect a huge breakout at this point.

Young had the best season of his career last year as it appeared the former No. 1 overall draft pick was finally starting to realize his potential. Young set career highs in home runs (22), RBI (119) and batting average (.298), while seeing improvements in his walk rate, strikeout rate and his power (a career-high .493 SLG, that included 46 doubles). Despite the strong counting stats, Young has major fundamental problems as he rarely takes a walk, swings too much at the first pitch and plays poor defense (ninth-lowest UZR among all outfielders). Still, he's just 25 this season and will get steady playing time between DH and left field. Just don't look at his counting stats and assume he's set for a major growth phase given his flaws.

Young had another disappointing season in 2009 as the luster from being the 2003 No. 1 overall draft pick and promise from his trade to Minnesota continues to fade. Young was the odd man out in a Minnesota outfield with four outfielders for much of the season until Justin Morneau's back injury opened a regular spot for him in the lineup. Young responded by hitting 340/.364/.544 with four home runs in September. Overall he had just a .733 OPS and .308 OBP and played poor defense in left field (eighth-worst ultimate zone rating among all outfielders). His already poor plate discipline took a turn for the worse last season as he walked just 12 times. Despite all these flaws, he'll be just 24 next season and still has the power and talent that made him Baseball America's 2005 minor league player of the year. The Twins will give him every chance to be their staring left fielder in hopes he can turn things around.

Young had a disappointing first season with the Twins as he showed declining power (just 10 home runs) and poor plate discipline (leading all of baseball at swinging at the first pitch 47.4 percent of the time). Meanwhile, the players he was traded for enjoyed success as Jason Bartlett was named Tampa Bay MVP by local writers and Matt Garza was ALCS MVP. Despite his flaws, he'll still be just 23 next season and was the No. 1 overall pick in 2003 and named the 2005 minor league player of the year by Baseball America. However, he may have to fight to win an everyday role in spring training as there's been talk this offseason that he'll be a fourth outfielder.

Young came close to a .300/100-RBI season, a rare achievement for a rookie, especially for one who did not turn 22 until September. He'll certainly start the spring as the Twins' everyday right fielder. However, Young does need to work on plate discipline. And though he showed a marked increase in maturity from 2006 (when he was suspended for nearly two months in the minors for throwing his bat at an umpire), Young isn't quite a finished product in that area either, as he was taken out of the starting lineup for the season finale for failing to run out grounders and then mouthing off afterward. He did not win Rookie of the Year honors in 2007, but Young has the upside to make the resulting vote look like an utter embarrassment in a few years.

Young lost two months of last season when he was suspended for flipping his bat at an umpire in a Triple-A game. With that, he still put up great numbers at Durham and decent stats in his September stint with the Rays. More importantly, he showed tiny signs that he knew he'd crossed the line and had to reel in his temper. The Devil Rays expect to start the season with Young as their everyday right fielder and No. 3 hitter. With his power, speed and defense, he's a legitimate ROY candidate.

The Minor League Player of the Year put up great numbers at Double-A, but wasn't dominant in his brief stint at Triple-A -- not that he stunk, either, but the stat line shows Young very likely could use some additional seasoning at Triple-A. That's where Young will start the 2006 season; how quickly he comes up will depend both on his bat and on who's doing what at the big league level. The new Rays management team won't mind not calling up Young until after Opening Day of 2007 in order to put off his arbitration payday as long as possible; it'll be up to Young to show them that patience isn't a virtue in his case.

Young will be the best prospect in all of the minors when the 2005 season opens—unless Tampa Bay decides to start him as their right fielder. That sounds ludicrous, but in this organization it could happen. If and when he's called up grab him posthaste in keeper leagues, but don't expect much 2005 impact.

It's tough to make your pro debut in the Arizona Fall League, but that's what Young did, and he pulled off the near-impossible -- making Chuck LaMar look like a genius. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 draft hit .417/.451/.625 in his first 15 games against pro pitching and had scouts drooling, comparing him to a young Albert Belle minus the attitude. He'll likely start 2004 in the high Single-A Cal League, and he may be knocking on the door of the big-league roster as early as the spring of 2006.