Fantasy Focus: Impact Rookies- Xander Bogaerts

After seeing Xander Bogaerts play for the Red Sox in the postseason, it's hard to believe he is still a rookie, but he had just 50 PA's in the regular season.  Bogaerts came up through the minors as a SS, but played mostly 3B in the postseason.  With Stephen Drew likely moving out of Boston, Bogaerts may well be the 'Sox starting SS in 2014.  If he stays at 3B, though, he probably still has SS eligibility in a lot of fantasy leagues as he started 6 games there in the 2013 regular season with 8 appearances.  That's important because while he is worth considering for your fantasy roster as a 3B, he has the potential to be a beast at SS and guy you might want to draft fairly early, especially if you like to take risks on young players.  It may be already too late to draft him in a lot of keeper leagues.

Here's a look at his numbers(this guy just tore up the minor leagues at every stop):

2012 High A:  .302/.378/.505, 15 HR, 9.9% BB, 19.5% K in 435 PA
2012 AA:        .326/.351/.598, 5 HR, 1% BB, 21.6% K in 97 PA.

2013 AA:  .311/.407/.502, 6 HR, 13.5%, 19.7% K in 259 PA.
2013 AAA:  .284/.369/.453, 9 HR, 10.9% BB, 17.2% K in 256 PA.
2013 MLB:  .250/.320/.364, 1 HR, 10% BB, 26% K in 50 PA.
2013 Postseason:  .296/.412/.481, 17.6% BB, 26.5% K in 34 PA.

Just for fun, his Steamer projection for 2014 is .261/.325/.413 with 15 HR.  His Oliver projection is .266/.331/.481 with 21 HR.

He's definitely someone to consider rostering even if he only has 3B eligibility.  If he also has SS, then you will probably have to grab him early and should consider doing so.  Ian Desmond, Hanley and Tulo are the only SS's I can think of off the top of my head who I would rank ahead of him right now and we all know about Hanley's and Tulo's injury histories.