Power of Caring
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Plenty of possible breakthroughs in '99

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Posted: Thursday April 15, 1999 06:33 PM

ST. LOUIS (CNN/SI) -- I guarantee that this season a few players will have a breakthrough year -- young guys you may not have heard much about, who all of a sudden establish themselves as quality major leaguers for years to come.

Last year we had the Blue Jays Shawn Green, who hit a career-best 35 homers with 100 RBI's, Philadelphia's Doug Glanville, who led his team with 189 hits, and the Twins Todd Walker, whose .316 average softened the loss of Chuck Knoblauch.

These guys were all in their mid-twenties and they had a few years of big league experience to build a solid foundation. Mainly though, they all finally got the most important thing: an opportunity. All three players got 500 at-bats for the first time in a season.

So who will be the breakout stars of 1999?

Well, Kerry Ligtenberg's injury and Mark Wohlers' failures have cleared the path for John Rocker to become Atlanta's bullpen savior. He's only 24 year-old, but from talking to John, I can tell he's got the perfect closer's mentality. He's already off to a hot start and I look for Rocker to get over 30 saves this year.

In only 81 starts last season, Jorge Posada hit 17 homers and had 63 RBI's, more than any American league catcher besides Rangers All-Star Ivan Rodriguez.

He'll put up even better numbers now that he's clearly the Yankees No. 1 guy behind the plate. Posada also handles his pitchers beautifully and I believe he's the heir apparent to Rodriguez as the game's premier catcher.

Here are a few others I expect to emerge this season: