Fantasy Focus Prospect Edition: Jurickson Profar

Jurickson Profar has been considered one of the top prospects in all of baseaball for several years now.  Last year he made it all the way to the major leagues where he hit a HR in his first AB.  Profar was signed as a 2-way international prospect out of Curacao.  Despite sporting a low 90's fastball and an advanced feel for pitching as a little leaguer, Profar told the Rangers that he wanted to play shortstop and he has excelled at the position and at the plate.

Profar is a lean, wiry 6'0", 165 lbs who generates power from both sides of the plate possibly partly by over-swinging a bit. He has strong intangibles and enough self-confidence to tell the Rangers he would make the majors by the time he turned 20 yo, and beat that by 5 months!  When he homered in his first MLB AB he was the second youngest player in MLB history to do so.  Here are his stat lines from the minor leagues:

2010  Short Season:  .250/.323/.373 with 4 HR's, 8 SB in 252 AB.
2011  Low A            .286/.390/.493 with 12 HR, 23 SB in 430 AB.
2012  AA                 .281/.368/.452 with 14 HR, 16 SB in 480 AB.
2012  MLB               .176/.176/.471 with 1 HR in 17 AB.

Profar may begin 2013 in AAA, but will almost surely return to the big leagues to stay before the season is over.  Depending on what happens with Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler may or may not move to the OF to make room for Profar up the middle.  Unfortunately from a fantasy perspective, Profar would probably be the one to move to 2B with Elvis Andrus staying at SS.

If you play in a deep keeper league, Profar is probably already owned in your league.  If you are in a re-draft league, you may want to be a bit cautious in rostering him right away, especially if he does not have SS eligibility, but he has a high probability of becoming at least an above average offensive middle infielder at either position.