Keith Law has made his list of top MLB talents under the age of 25 and the Kansas City Royals are lucky enough to have one of the best -- No. 7 on the list is Eric Hosmer, the Royals first baseman. Hosmer wowed the team all season and fans realize they have a tremendous talent blooming in front of their eyes. But they might not realize just how good he could be.
"Hosmer had a solid big league debut in 2011 as the American League's youngest regular, but it only represents a fraction of what he's capable of producing," writes Law. "He's very strong and has great hip rotation to produce power to all fields, and showed great pitch recognition on his way up the Royals' system before an early promotion in May.
"The surprise of his year on offense was that he didn't get walks as often as he did in the minors, which could be just a young player making adjustments, or commensurate with a team philosophy that doesn't value getting on base. Hosmer's an agile first baseman with a plus arm (he was up to 94 as a pitcher in high school) who'd probably be fine in right field, although the Royals show no inclination to move him. His ceiling is an Adrian Gonzalez-type of player, adding value through average, walks, power, and defense, but with a little more speed as well."
Justin Upton leads the list with Andrew McCutchen and Mike Stanton coming in second and third.