Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright, Yadier Milona rookie years = “Businesslike”

Having a “youthful” Rasmus could be fun to watch; but a “businesslike” Rasmus could be just as much fun, too.

All that matters is the end result. He puts up good numbers, he will be having fun.

Because making the majors at age 22 or 23 instead of age 21 (assuming he actually hits in AAA next year) is incredibly tragic.

thanks, Allan

I ask because a friend of mine is a strength coach who works with a lot of minor-league players. He told me recently how difficult it is to plan an off-season training program for guys playing winter ball. You just don’t have enough time to get them bigger and stronger for the following season, much less give their muscles and connective tissues sufficient time to recover from the wear and tear of the season.

It’s especially difficult for pitchers, but for position players it’s an issue as well.

Toward the end of Cary’s article it mentions that Colby is in the gym five days a week. If I were his strength coach, and had a brilliant athlete who’d just lost two months of a pivotal season to a knee injury, that’s exactly what I’d want. I’d want a solid two or three months to let his body recover from that injury while strengthening everything from head to toe.

With a guy like Wallace, who’s on the fast track to the majors at a relatively new position, the repetitions are probably more important than the off-season conditioning. Tyler Green, to pick another example, really needs to catch up after losing so much crucial development time to injury.

But Colby, given his talent, needs a strong body more than he needs repetitions right now. I fully expect him to be fine by spring training.