, normally known as primarily a hazard onto himself, has proven to be costly to teammate Lasting Milledge’s fantasy value, at least for the immediate future.
It has been reported that Milledge, the ’ opening day centerfielder, has been sent down to the minors after a slow start to the 2009 season. Dukes, who began the year as a back-up after losing the right field job to in Spring Training, has already played his way back into the starting role, with 8 hits and two walks in his last four games, and will take over as the everyday center fielder.
Both players are former top prospects who have had several well-known off the field issues that have overshadowed their on-field talent. Unfortunately for them, Washington’s outfield is one of the more crowded areas in the league with the offseason additions of and , along with Dukes, Milledge, Kearns, and Willie Harris, all looking for playing time.
Hopefully if you drafted Dukes you didn’t drop him when it was announced he would not be an everyday player to start the year. It has taken less than a week for him to remind skipper Manny Acta that he belongs in the lineup. In only 276 major league at bats last season Dukes had 13 homers and 13 steals while hitting .264.
While Dukes remains the poster boy for high-risk/high-reward, he was likely drafted pretty late in most leagues, or even picked up off the waiver wire last week if he was dropped by an impatient owner, somewhat limiting the risk if you drafted well earlier.
The upside for a monster year is still there as the sky is the limit for the 24-year old outfielder. Whether or not he realizes it remains to be seen but his hot start and nice numbers in 2008 show that good times could be coming for Elijah and his owners.
As for , who has indeed struggled to meet expectations thus far this spring, do not write him off as a bust quite yet. Last year, his first full season in the majors, he hit .268 with 14 homers and 24 steals in 523 at-bats. Just like Dukes, he has legit five-tool potential but has to continue to grow and mature before he can live up to his prospect hype.
If he can turn it around in the minors, or if there is an injury (and with , Dukes, and Willingham, it’s more of a when than an if), Milledge should find himself back with club in the near future.
With Dunn the only outfielder guaranteed playing time (he would also likely move to first when Nick Johnson gets hurt), there was a lot of guesswork as to how the situation would play out in the nation’s capital coming into the season and even with these latest moves things are not set in stone quite yet.
Sometimes these things take time with younger players to fully develop and it takes a couple years for them to produce the numbers people were expecting. If you have the bench room, or if you’re in a keeper league, Milledge is worth stashing because of his immense potential.
As Dukes already proved, going from back-up to starter in less than a week, now is not the time to follow Acta’s lead and make rash decisions. Let’s just be patient and see how this plays out. Remember, the season is long; don’t lose it in the second week.
