Major league prospects for 2003: some rookies who could make a crucial contribution to their big league clubs this season include pitcher Francisco Rodriguez, catcher Victor Martinez, first basemen Hee Seop Choi and Lyle Overbay and outfielders Joe Borchard and Hideki Matsui - Baseball's Top Rated

Baseball Digest, March, 2003 by George Vass

Drew Henson, YANKEES--An outstanding athlete with loads of power, Henson is compared to St. Louis third baseman Scott Rolen. He may need another year in the minors, but will be Robin Ventura's replacement the Bronx.

Eric Munson, TIGERS--Munson will get a fulltime shot with the Tigers sooner rather than later. He's been a late-season callup in each of the last three years, but with Detroit going nowhere fast, 2003 will be Munson's to prove he belongs in The Show. He strikes out too often, but has a great deal of power and a good eye at the plate.

RELATED ARTICLE: Francisco Rodriguez comes up big.

THE ONLY THING RISING FASTER THAN HIS 95-MPH heater is his professional resume.

The more they moved up 20-year-old Frankie Rodriguez the more he produced. In less than one season in the Angels organization, he went from Double-A to Triple-A to making the big league playoff roster to pitching in the American League Division Series, and the A.L. Championship Series.

Then there he was, this kid Tim Salmon calls "The Phenom," about to strut his stuff in The Big Show, the World Series.

"Aren't you a little nervous about all this?" someone asked him prior to the start of the 2002 Fall Classic.

"Did I look nervous in the playoffs?" Rodriguez asked back.

"No," he was told.

"Exactly," he said. "I'm not going to war. I'm just playing baseball."

This kid is cool as an iced margarita glass.

"His composure is amazing, it really is." pitching coach Bud Black said. "The closest thing I've seen to him was Bret Saberhagen when tie came up with Kansas City at age 20 in the mid-1980s. The only difference was that Saby had a looseness to him yet he was always focused during the game.

"Frankie has a calm to him, but you see more intensity," Black said. "1 think his confidence is something that's inherent when you're young. But it's part of his personality, too. He is very confident in his ability."

You'd be confident, too, if you walked in from the bullpen and immediately started making some of the best hitters in the world look foolish.

Rodriguez has become such a post-season revelation that he led both leagues in nicknames. He said he doesn't mind, though. Whether they call him by his given name, Francisco, or Frankie, as most of his Angels teammates refer to him, doesn't matter.

He likes "K-Rod" and "Secret Weapon," too,

"Whatever they want to call me is fine," he said.

Rodriguez is just happy to be at Edison Field (Angels home park), instead of some tiny, poorly lit ballpark in El Paso, Texas, or Shreveport, Louisiana (minor league parks).

"It's a big difference," he said. "And not just because I eat good food, not fast food, and I sleep in a good bed now. The travel is the big thing.

"Down there," he said, referring to the Double-A Texas League, "It was tough. You'd regularly go six, seven, eight hours in a bus. From Arkansas to El Paso, it could take 18 or 19 hours sometimes."

That's why he was so thrilled at midseason in 2002 to get promoted to Triple-A Salt Lake City, where they actually travel by plane most of the time.