Corners full of potential at Futures Game

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Corners full of potential at Futures Game
06/27/2006 9:59 AM ET
By Lisa Winston / MLB.com

Meet the four corners of the world -- that is, the four corner infielders for the World squad at the upcoming 2006 XM Satellite Radio All-Star Futures Game.
While power-hitting Joey Votto of Canada is strictly a first baseman, the other three "cornermen" share the valuable trait of positional versatility, giving World Team manager Ferguson Jenkins some maneuverability.
Yunel Escobar has split his first full season between two positions, while Pablo Sandoval has played three positions professionally, and Joel Guzman just added two more spots to his positional resume this year. That gives him a grand total of four.
Here is a look at the four players who will be representing the World Team at the corners:
Yunel Escobar, World Team, Mississippi (Double-A Braves):
Apparently only Snow White's dwarves are allowed to whistle while they work. And at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, Yunel Escobar does not qualify.
Escobar is among the most exciting of the Atlanta Braves' infield prospects, and he is certainly their most ebullient and enthusiastic. But his lifelong habit of providing a constant stream of infield chatter and punctuating it with piercing trainlike whistles was put on hold this year when the club asked him to stop because some of his opponents found it antagonizing.
Still, the 23-year-old, in his first full pro season, hasn't let the adjustment to silent play affect him on the field.
Making the jump from Class A Rome in 2005 in his pro debut to the Southern League in 2006, the Cuban émigré has barely missed a beat, hitting .284 with two homers and 30 RBIs while adding 16 doubles and 41 walks. He was hitting .317 in June.
He's also handled a new positional challenge, adding third base to his repertoire.
A natural shortstop who did see time at the hot corner in his homeland, Escobar has quality tools across the board, including an outstanding arm and solid glove. He played exclusively at shortstop last year, after the Braves took him in the second round of the draft, but has pretty much split his time between the two spots for the past two months.
Escobar came to the states in the fall of 2004, escaping Cuba on a boat, spending three harrowing days at sea with five other young baseball players before landing safely in Miami. He declared himself for the draft last spring and close childhood friend Brayan Pena, the Braves' young catcher, stoked Atlanta's interest with his complimentary words about the enthusiastic young infielder.
In his pro debut, he hit .400 in eight games at short-season Danville, quickly earning a promotion to Rome where he batted .313 and made just six errors.
Joel Guzman, World Team, Las Vegas (Triple-A Dodgers):
Guzman has been considered one of the Dodgers' elite prospects ever since signing at age 16 out of his native Dominican Republic.
This year, though, he's shifted from being their shortstop of the future to being their ... well, the latter part is still undecided. He could wind up in left field. He could be at first base. He's even been playing third base of late, though with the presence of fellow top prospect Andy LaRoche there, the hot corner is likely filled.
But there is no question that while the 6-foot-6, 250-pound Guzman has grown out of shortstop, he has not grown out of the Dodgers' plans.
The only 2006 Futures Game participant to be making a repeat appearance (he played in 2004 as well), Guzman has tremendous power, projects to hit for good average and has a strong enough arm to play just about anywhere.
The initial plan this year had been to ease him into left field and maybe see a little time in right. But when Dodgers first baseman Nomar Garciaparra went on the DL out of the gate and Las Vegas first base prospect James Loney went up to the Majors, Guzman shifted over to first for a little while and ended up splitting most of the first half of the season between first and left.
However, when he made his long-awaited Major League debut last month, it was at third base, in place of the injured Bill Mueller. Guzman had played 21 games at third at Double-A Jacksonville in 2005, but that was pretty much the extent of his experience at the hot corner.
It's too early to say how he'll fare defensively, but it's certainly not too soon to assess his impressive bat.
In '05 with the Suns, generally considered one of the best teams in the Minors last summer, he hit .287 with 16 home runs and 75 RBIs. In 2004 he had split his season between Class A Vero Beach (.307) and Jacksonville (.280), combining for 23 home runs and 86 RBIs.
While his lack of speed keeps him from getting that "five tool player" designation and his 128 strikeouts last year were fourth in the Southern League, the sky seems to be the limit for the 21-year-old Guzman.
At Las Vegas this year he was hitting .292 with eight home runs and 39 RBIs.
Pablo Sandoval, World Team, Augusta (Class A Giants):
Sandoval, just 19, will be among the youngest participants in the Futures Game, but he's already playing his third position as a professional.
Signed in 2002 out of Venezuela, he caught in 2004, when he hit .266 with 26 RBIs for the Giants' Arizona League squad, and played third last summer at short-season Salem-Keizer, batting .330 with 50 RBIs for the Volcanoes.
In '05 he was among the Northwest League leaders in RBIs (second), hits (second with 97) and batting average (third).
This year, in his full-season debut at Augusta, Sandoval returned to third for the first month of the season before shifting across the diamond to first base. He was hitting .259 with 27 RBIs, but missed two weeks with a strained wrist.
A switch-hitter with power potential and a fluid, easy swing from both sides of the plate, his bat is his best tool. The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder also has a good eye, having ranked among his league's toughest players to strike out each of the last two seasons. This year he had fanned just 37 times in 224 at-bats.
Joey Votto, World Team, Chattanooga (Double-A Reds):
The 22-year-old Canadian, drafted in the second round of 2002 out of high school in Toronto, is doing more than living up to the hopes the Reds had for him when they predicted he would be one of their top hitters within the next few years.
Through the first half of the season in his Double-A debut, he was a leading contender for the Southern League's Most Valuable Player. He was leading the league with 14 homers and batting .316 (third in the league) with 47 RBIs (second) and a surprising 13 steals. He also led the league with 25 doubles, 92 hits, 49 runs scored and a .560 slugging percentage.
After getting off to a slow start, batting just .231 in April, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Votto batted .351 in May and was hitting .360 in June as he was enjoying what should easily turn out to be a career year.
Not to say his last few seasons have been that shabby. In 2004 he batted .302 at Class A Dayton and moved up to Potomac for the final month where he hit .298, combining between the two stops for 19 home runs and 92 RBIs. He finished third in the Midwest League with a .419 on-base average thanks to a fine eye that helped him work 79 walks.
Last year, back at Class A, this time at the Reds' new affiliate in Sarasota, his average dipped to just .256 but he still flashed good power in a pitchers' league, with 17 home runs and 83 RBIs.
His defense is average at best, but he's considered a savvy student of the game and a hard worker with excellent makeup.

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.