Oscar Taveras Will Play In Fall League, Cause St. Louis Cardinals Fans To Swoon

St. Louis Cardinals minor league dilettantes: If you’re looking for a position player to dream on, forget about Zack Cox, whose upside seems like a rich man’s David Freese, and shrug off Kolten Wong, who’s too useful to be exciting. You’re going to want to follow the career of teenaged outfielder Oscar Taveras, who will be playing in the Arizona Fall League along with slugging first baseman Matt Adams and slick shortstop Ryan Jackson. Taveras is the second-youngest player in the AFL this year, which is braggable.

The toolsy outfielder is torching the Midwest League, in the meantime; currently his numbers are sitting at .387/.444/.589 in a league of older players with an average line of .249/.323/.371. It’s the best numbers from a Cardinals teenager in full-season ball since 18-year-old Daric Barton hit a less absurd .313/.445/.511. His hamstring problems rightfully worry the Future Redbirds crowd—wither injury-prone ex-teeenager Fernando Martinez?—but that’s just about all there is to quibble with in Taveras’s outrageous debut.

Now late-comers to the Os-Car, his 2011 bandwagon, will get an extra few weeks to watch the Cardinals’ upsidiest outfielder against a higher level of competition (in a hitter-friendlier league.)