Cameron Maybin 2009

Cameron Maybin has been considered one of the top prospects in baseball for several years. While I think he will ultimately be a successful major league player, I'm not sold on him as a future star (or an immediate contributor). Last year he spent the bulk of the season at AA, and managed only a .277 batting average, while striking out in more than a quarter of his plate appearances. I know he went 16 for 32 in a short major league trial, but if you adjust his AA performance for the level of competition, it certainly looks like he's going to have trouble making contact in the majors. He also didn't show really exceptional power (13 HRs in 390 at bats) although that is likely to develop over time as he will be only 22 years old on opening day. One final strike against Maybin is that while he has stolen plenty of bases, he's also been caught fairly often. Nothing out of the ordinary, but assuming it's harder to steal successfully in the majors, he may be caught often enough not to be given a green light very often. On the whole, Maybin is a player I think isn't ready to be a major fantasy contributor in 2009, and who I would steer clear of for now.