The Sea Dogs have been extremely excited about Rasmus' progress since he was selected in 2005, and with good reason.
The St.Lous Cardinal prospect has got at least 20-20 potential, which he just started to realize when he stole 28 bases and hit 16 homers across two levels in his first full season. At each level, Rasmus got off to a terrible start, going 2-for-28 to kick off the year in Quad Cities, then hitting .214 in his first month at Palm Beach. To his credit, he made adjustments, finishing his time in the Midwest League with a .310 average and hitting .305 in August.
Rasmus is a prototypical five-tool player who someday soon should be able to take the reins from Jim Edmonds in St. Louis' center field and could develop into a .300 hitter with 20-25 homers per season while playing excellent defense. The Cardinals would love for Rasmus to start in Springfield while turning just 21 in April, but they also know there's a lot of outfield depth at the upper levels that could trickle down and the Cardinals would rather have Rasmus play every day in Palm Beach to start the year rather than be the fourth guy in Springfield. Either way, he should see Double-A at some point in 2007.
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