As my name may suggest, I have been looking forward to this season for some time.  I am hardly unique in that regard, as Colby Rasmus is likely the most hyped prospect in our system since the guy he replaced in center was snapping 12 to 6 curveballs in Florida (Pujols emerged on the scene so quickly the hype could not possibly keep up with the production).  To this point, Rasmus is more than living up to the hype. 

I think it's a good time to take a look at where his season, as it stands now, stands up in Cardinal history amongst his peers.  By peers, I am looking at hitters 22 years or younger with 250+ plate appearances.  Before I even dig into the numbers, it is useful to note that there have only been 40 players in Cardinal history that meet this criterea, and there are 63 seasons amongst these players.  Some of the names with duplicate seasons include Simmons, Pujols, Musial, Medwick, Hornsby. 

Just filtering it out to this level thins the herd to the point where you are picking from a group whose talent far exceeds your random group of athletes.  If you are playing in the majors at 22, you are expected to have a long and productive career, and this was as true during the beginning of the last century as it is now.  That being said, let's take a look at where Rasmus stands in some categories amongst these 63 seasons with 250 plate appearances....

Rate stats

BA - Rasmus currently rates 19th at .288.  Musial tops the list by hitting .357 in 1943.  He appears twice ahead of Rasmus, as does Pujols, Hornsby, Medwick, and Simmons.  Templeton (1976), Bill DeLancey (1934), Chick Hafey (1925), Frank Snyder (1915),  Jack Smith (1917), Wattie Holm (1924), Hernandez (1976), and McCarver (1963) are also ahead of Rasmus at this point. 

OBP - Rasmus rates 23rd at .330.  It is pretty much the same cast of characters ahead of him with a handful of exceptions and additions.

SLG - Rasmus rates 6th at .504. Albert Pujols 2001 season leads at .610.  He also is ahead of Rasmus with his 2002 season.  The others ahead of him are DeLancey's 1934 season, Musial's 1943 season, and Medwick's 1934 season. 

ISO - Rasmus rates 4th at .216.  Pujols 2001 season leads at .281.  Pujols 2002 season and DeLancey's 1934 season are the only other 2 that are better.

OPS+ - Rasmus is 15th at 119. 

And a couple counting stats.... 

Doubles - Rasmus already rates 19th with 19.  If he is able to continue this pace and double his output with 38 then he will be 6th behind Musial, 2 Pujols seasons, and 2 Medwick seasons.

Homers - Rasmus already rates 8th with 11.  If he can double his output and finish with 22 he will only trail Pujols 2 seasons. 

So I think it is safe to say that Rasmus is entering pretty rarified air here.  Of course, I chose to do this right in the middle to end of a torrid hot streak so a big disclaimer needs to be stated.  Still, it is just as possible we are just witnessing the start of something.  Only the next few months will tell for sure.  On top of it all, nothing here accounts for plus defense at a premium position either, and this adds substantially to the value he brings.

A few general thoughts crossed my mind when I ran these on B-Ref.  First,  at the beginning of the year one of the last things I was concerned about is his ability to draw walks.  I would have listed it as a top strength.  I take a little added optimism in that fact personally, but maybe that is my bias shining through.  To my eye, he does not look like he is taking an overly undisciplined approach.  He is being very aggressive, but I don't see him chasing pitches way off the plate.  I see him going after pitches on the edges - he can improve there and likely will.  I also think he will have more opportunity to show this as pitchers start showing a more appropriate level of fear towards his power.  Which leads me to my second thought.

I think we sell Rasmus short of his abilities when we cap him as 25-30 HR potential, with strong emphasis on the word potential.  He very well may cap out around that level, but I think his potential ceiling is higher than that.  With his current performance, he is validating his season in AA a couple years ago.  That kind of power, at that age and that level, is virtually unheard of.  Last year's season in AAA justifiably altered peoples projections downward, but I think it is just as reasonable to move them back upward based off what we're seeing now.  I accept the possibility that this is a flukey hot streak, but I also know that power is almost always the last tool to blossom.  We can say whatever we want, but I think it is dangerous for the organization to cap his power potential this early in his career. 

After all that, I want to just make one disclaimer.  I am not proclaiming him a hall of famer, or anything of the sort simply because he's having a good start at such a young age.  This is, of course, just half of one season.  He's always shown a great deal of streakiness.  The plate appearances are so miniscule in size that he could hit a terrible slump for 2 weeks and drop like a rock in many of these measures.  I made a mention to Ankiel above - things can obviously change in a hurry. That all goes without saying, but after taking a look at the numbers and who they compare to I think I needed to say it anyway. 

Still, even though it is just a start to a career, it is impressive.  As pleased as we all are with Rasmus right now, I think what he is doing to this point is probably even a little bit better than many of us realize given his age.