_{CURRENT SIMBL POSITIONAL RATINGS}

LANCE'S LISTS: THE SIMBL'S TOP POSITIONAL PLAYERS UNDER 25

League's Future Is Now As SIMBL Is Loaded With Superstar Youth Talent At CF & SS

By Lance Stanley
SIMBL Contributor

Hi again youngsters.  Lance Stanley reporting for the SIMBL.

Well bedwetters, the SIMBL has begun it's 36th season of play and a new bevy of young players are emerging early this season on way to probable great futures in the league.

Today we will take a "Lance's Look" at the top young positional players under 25 years of age up and coming and emerging in the SIMBL:

NEXT: THE SIMBL'S TOP PITCHERS UNDER 25

LF Eric Floyd
Whitby Battalion
23 Years Old
2035 16th Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 8/5/6/6/6

The 16th overall pick of the 2035 SIMBL Draft is playing up to his first round expectations by hitting .329 with 2 HR and 12 RBI in his first 96 SIMBL at bats.  The 23 year-old thus far has also been flawless in left field by playing 222.0 innings without an error.

CF Pambo Rivera
Asheville Smokies
23 Years Old
2040 Supplemental Free Agent
Current Overall Ratings: 8/8/10/6/7

The 23 year-old Puerto Rican national team captain was the first Supplemental Free Agent in SIMBL history to be under 28 years-old and Smokies GM Pete McGowan jumped on him signing him to a two-year $42,000,000 deal on the first day of this past off-season's free agency.  Since then, McGowan has extended Rivera two more seasons now having the mega-talented center fielder wrapped up for the next three seasons as well.  Rivera was a very rare SFA and is currently the #3 overall rated positional player in the SIMBL while only being in the league for six weeks. Thus far, Rivera has hit .240 with 10 HR and 22 RBI.  A rare five-tool player, Rivera has elite ratings in center field and base running speed and ability so far nabbing 11 steals with only being thrown out once.  Expected to heat up and off to a slow start, Rivera is still in third place in league home runs and is expected to put up big power numbers and elite defense for the Smokies to advance past their SL wildcard berths the past two seasons. Of all the superb young star centerf ielders to be listed in this report, Rivera is currently the #1 overall rated center fielder in an impressive group of them currently on the rise to superstardom in the SIMBL.

CF Jimmy Hunter
Dallas Texans
24 Years Old
2036 Fourteenth Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 7/7/6/6/5

Another center fielder yet who doesn't possess the elite defensiveness of the several other young center fielders on this list, Hunter is taking the SIMBL by storm in his rookie season.  After hitting a scary .197 in his first 21 games and 76 at bats last year, Hunter is leading the entire SIMBL in his true first full-season rookie year.  The former #14 overall pick five drafts ago, is seemingly making his dismal SIMBL debut a year ago a mirage as he is hitting .329 with 12 home runs and a SIMBL-leading 41 RBI in his first 37 games of the 2040 season.  Not only does he lead the SIMBL in RBI, he currently is fourth in the league with a .616 slugging percentage and is tied for first with 12 home runs while his .991 OPS is sixth in the SIMBL.

SS Hugh Gordon
Boston Revolution
23 Years Old
2037 1st Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 10/8/10/6/7

The SIMBL appears to be Gordon's for the taking and he very well may have already.  The former #1 overall pick of the 2037 SIMBL Draft, who finished second to San Diego's Felipe Santana as 2038 SL Rookie Of The Year, in his first two seasons has started for the SL at shortstop in the SIMBL All-Star Game and he has also won two Gold Gloves in his first two seasons.  Another rare five-tool player in the SIMBL, Gordon, at only 23 years-old currently the #2-rated overall positional player in the SIMBL, is expected to nab a SL MVP Award or three before his career is over.  He's coming off a .297 AVG 19 HR 54 RBI 41 SB Gold Glove rookie season (in only 134 games) and a .315 AVG 31 HR 92 RBI 33 SB Gold Glove season a year ago.  Gordon, currently hitting .257 with 7 HR and 16 RBI, is expected to lead a talented young group of Revolution high draft picks and prospects to a climb back to contending and to end a current 16-season post-season drought.

2B Kimoyo Shimazu
Oregon Pioneers
21 Years Old
2036 11th Pick First Round
Current Ratings: 10/6/6/7/10

Speaking of youth, Shimazu was pegged and scouted to be one of the best pure hitters in any recent draft and slid all the way down to #11 in a plush draft pool to Oregon in the 2036 SIMBL Draft. Shimazu made his SIMBL debut at age 18, second-youngest in the league's 36-season history, after a season in the minors.  Currently at only 21 years-old, he is in his fourth season and third full-time for the Pioneers.  Shimazu's 214 hits led the UL last season and is the youngest player to do so in SIMBL history. The Japanese import is another 'near-five-tool' stud stealing 44 and 42 bases the past two seasons while playing exceptional defense. Shimazu was named to his first All-Star team starting last season and won a Richard P. DeMarco Gold Glove Defense Award last season as well all at the tender age of 20. After a .279 2038 season, Shimazu led the UL with a .335 average and got himself at the cut-off of historic batting averages in league history on the SIMBL Wall Of Fame.  The talented second baseman is part of a very talented Oregon first-base-second base-shortstop infield all of whom high draft picks in the top five of recent seasons and all of whom seemed to be destined for greatness and deserving of their draft picked statuses.  At only 21 years-old, Shimazu currently is the youngest highest-rated player in the SIMBL currently as the #6th-rated overall talent in the league.

CF Vincent Stewart
Norfolk Buccaneers
22 Years Old
2037 Seventh Pick First Round
Current Ratings: 9/7/8/6/9

At only age 22, Stewart is currently the #14th overall rated positional player in the SIMBL.  Stewart debuted for the Bucs in 2038 hitting .255 with 6 HR and 20 RBI while stealing 57 bases, which was third in the SL, in only 137 games. His big bright future had a setback in his sophomore season last season as he was held to only 75 games in a .235 AVG 4 HR 14 RBI 31 SB injury-plagued season.  Currently in his third season, Stewart is establishing himself among the top defensive and top overall center fielders in the SIMBL yet only playing in his first 11 games this season before fracturing his finger and is expected back in four more weeks.  If he can regain and maintain his health, the former #7 overall pick of the 2037 SIMBL Draft is expected to lead the Buccaneers, currently leading the SL East by 2.0 games, to end their 17-season postseason drought and be a mainstay for the future for the Bucs as another rare five-tooler who can dominate the game at any time with his bat, speed and/or glove.

CF Michael Price
Seattle Seawolves
22 Years Old
2036 Ninth Pick First Round
Current : 9/8/8/9/9

Price at only age 22, is already filled out with ratings among the top 1% of all SIMBL batters. The former #9 overall pick of the SIMBL Draft four seasons ago is in his first full season as the starting center fielder for Seattle.  The uber-talented quarterback of the Seawolves outfield debuted last season appearing in 85 games hitting .281 with 11 HR 48 RBI and 41 SB, stealing at least a base in nearly every other game. Like the others on this list, Price is expected to be a Top Ten player in the SIMBL for seasons to come and to anchor a Seawolves team to end a three-season post-season drought. Price is off to a .285 AVG 8 HR 20 RBI start in 2040 with 22 stolen bases which is currently third in the SIMBL.  Another uber-talented youngster who already has total ratings that exceed not only all on this list but nearly the entire SIMBL as well as currently the #18 overall player in the SIMBL.

Angel Vasquez
Oregon Pioneers
24 Years Old
2038 Eighth Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 9/7/2/8/7

If you've been following the SIMBL even remotely for the first quarter of this season it would've been hard not to hear of Vasquez.  Another part of Oregon's "Big Four" of current former first round picks in their SIMBL-leading offense, Vasquez may be the most vital of all four and perhaps the entire young stars in the SIMBL. While placed along several superb defensive young up and coming superstar center fielders on this list, Vasquez perhaps is the most dazzling with the most range not of only center fielders in the league, but also of any defensive players in the entire SIMBL.  The 24 year-old has already dazzled and saved several runs for the SIMBL-leading Pioneers who are trying to snap a ten-season post-season drought. The 24 year-old made his debut last season stopping for a cup of coffee for 12 games but in his true full freshman season is off to a spectacular .338 start while already hitting an unexpected 6 HR with 19 RBI and 22 stolen bases.  The young up and coming Pioneers superstar is enjoying a MVP-caliber first quarter of his first full SIMBL season and is on pace to hit 26 HR with 81 RBI, 213 hits, 107 walks and 94 stolen bases in the Pioneers lead-off position.  If he continues anywhere near his start, one of the SIMBL's only Venezuelan players will certainly be UL MVP-worthy at end of the season voting by SIMBL GMs.  Another one of the SIMBL's bumper crop of youth currently tearing it up as statistical league leaders and one of the league's emerging top eyes on the ball, Vasquez is currently third in the league with a .431 OBP and is fifth with a .992 OPS only behind such lofty SIMBL superstars such as Hawaii's future SIMBL Hall Of Famer Deryk Ryles and Tampa Bay's 2038 SL MVP Keith Cooper while the speedsters' 22 stolen bases are currently fourth in the league as well.  Vasquez's 2.9 WAR and 13 doubles lead the SIMBL in his rookie season and his 20 extra base hits are tied for third.

CF Mike Lunder
New York Enforcers
22 Years Old
2035 Fourth Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 8/6/7/8/6

A year after New York GM Chris Gattuso picked the now-26 year-old SS Jeff Kovach, last season's runner-up in UL MVP voting, #1 overall in the 2034 SIMBL Draft, the Enforcers nabbed Lunder with the #4 overall pick in 2035. A five-season wait appears to be more than worth it as the New York mega-talent is enjoying his breakout season at the ripe age of only 22. Another superstar-headed center fielder on this list, Lunder is not as defensively gifted as some of the others, but he is a definite offensive threat with rare 10/10/10-rated base running and stealing tangibles.  Lunder is currently 5th in the entire league with a sizzling .344 batting average and he leads the SIMBL with a .452 on base percentage.  After hitting .240 with 7 HR 26 RBI and 21 SB in 77 games in his first season last year, Lunder is off to a scorching 'true' rookie season hitting .344 with 4 HR 13 RBI and 17 stolen bases in the lead=off position.  What must be a scary thought to the rest of the SIMBL, is that Lunder has been added as his first full season starting for the defending SIMBL champion Enforcers.

SS Pedro Santana
Calgary Clippers
24 Years Old
2036 13th Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 9/8/9/7/7

Santana was voted last season's UL Rookie Of The Year by hitting .282 with 20 HR and 76 RBI though only playing in 138 games due to injuries.  Another one of the bumper crop of the Draft Class Of 2036 as the 13th overall pick, Santana is currently the #3 overall-rated shortstop (behind fellow young studs listed in this report New York's Jeff Kovach and Boston's Hugh Gordon) in the SIMBL in his second season. Santana not only displays top hitting ratings but is also a slick fielder with strong defensive ratings and will man the position for the past-traditionally tough Clippers teams for the next 5-10 season or even longer probably due to Calgary GM Christian DeMarco's traditional tendency to plug in a player for a decade or more at one position for his teams to built around. After his UL Rookie Of The Year start a year ago, Santana is off to a rather mundane .243 average with 8 HR and 22 RBI this season but has warmed up as of late.

CF Kevin Howell
Bend Bandits
25 Years Old
2036 Second Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 9/6/8/6/6

The former #2 overall pick of the seemingly-to-be historic Draft Class Of 2036, Howell is in his second full season as the starting center fielder for the two-time defending SL West champion Bandits of charter GM Ted Williams.  Howell hit .265 with 15 HR and 84 RBI with 41 SB in 156 games in his rookie season a year ago.  Howell, the current #5-rated center fielder in perhaps the strongest star position emerging in the SIMBL, is currently hitting .304 with 5 HR 21 RBI and 15 stolen bases in his first 36 games in 2040. More impressively and dangerously, Howell has cut down on his strikeout rate after sitting down 146 times in his rookie season.

SS Casey Garner
Oregon Pioneers
22 Years Old
2039 Second Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 9/8/6/3/6

Drafted second overall just a season ago, Garner has shown talent very rarely seen so young in the SIMBL.  After blazing up in Rookie League, A, AA, and AAA all last season, Garner added another scare to the SIMBL's 23 other GMs and joined last season's #1 SIMBL offense as a rookie on this season's Opening Day roster and has had one of the most memorable career starts in recent SIMBL history. The 22 year-old is hitting .422 with 4 HR and 16 RBI in a part-time role starting 15 of the first 27 games he has played in. While being highly-rated at second base, shortstop, left and right field, the #6-overall rated SIMBL prospect at 2040 Opening Day, has created a nice problem to have for Pioneers GM Jamey Carter who can't find a place to permanently put Garner in the Pioneers loaded offensive lineup. So much so in vying for playing time, bafflingly, Carter has placed 26 year-old former #9 overall pick of the 2036 SIMBL Draft and current #8 overall-rated shortstop Matthew Young, a UL starting All-Star last season, on the trade block to make room for the young phenom.

SS Popeye Parrish
Westbury Cannons
20 Years Old
2038 Fourth Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 10/7/8/7/7

Like Garner, another fast-rising young star, Parrish is the youngest on this list. After being the #4 overall pick of the 2038 SIMBL Draft, Parrish made his league debut a season later at barely over 20 years of age. Parrish hit a respectable .263 with 11 HR and 40 RBI in his first 79 games last season. This season, he is off to a .283 start with 6 HR and 21 RBI in his first 37 games for the Cannons.  Parrish is one of only 14 players in the entire SIMBL with a '10' contact scouting rating (less than 1 per team) and pairs with teammate Cade Maxwell as two of them on the same team joining Boston (Tyler Conway and Hugh Gordon) and Hollywood (Jacob Barker and Julio Escobar) as the only teams who have more than one and all together enjoy 6 of the 14 with Parrish being the youngest '10'-rated hitter in the SIMBL at the tender age of 20 years-old.

SS Miguel Gonzalez
Las Vegas Hustlers
22 Years Old
2036 Fifth Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 8/7/7/8/7

The 22 year-old shortstop was drafted #5 overall in 2036 by Las Vegas GM Carl Hannah as a first baseman who has '10' ability at first base but Gonzalez joins Calgary's Pedro Santana, Oregon's Matthew Young, Westbury's Popeye Parrish, Boston's Hugh Gordon and New York's Jeff Kovach in a loaded field of young star shortstops currently on the rise in the SIMBL, Of all of his talented peers listed, Gonzalez may post the best power numbers in his future career. The 22 year-old Puerto Rico native is enjoying a breakout season after hitting .285 with 2 HR and 19 RBI in 37 games last season.  Another sizzling fielder though lacks the speed of some of the up and coming bumper crop of future SIMBL shortstop superstars on this list, Gonzalez is currently the #6-rated shortstop in the SIMBL in an impressive group. Gonzalez is off to a sizzling .302 start in 2030 with 5 HR and 19 RBI.

2B Cesar Cortez
Asheville Smokies
23 Years Old
2036 Eighth Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 8/7/7/5/7

Cortez is in his second full season as the Smokies starting second baseman. After leading the SIMBL with 12 triples though hitting only .248 with 9 HR 51 RBI and 31 stolen bases in 147 games in his rookie season last year, Cortez is leading Asheville's offense thus far this season hitting .317 with 8 HR 22 RBI and 12 swipes.  At such a young age of 23, the former #8 2036 overall pick is already the #4-rated second baseman in the SIMBL.  Cortez looks to be among the top second basemen for the next 5-10 seasons at a traditionally weak position for offensive talent in the SIMBL.

2B Felipe Santana
San Diego Warewolves
25 Years Old
2032 21st Pick Second Round
Current Overall Ratings: 8/6/9/7/9

Santana already has established himself as the second-rated second baseman in the SIMBL behind Oregon's wunderkind Kimoyo Shimazu and was voted the 2038 SL Rookie Of The Year when he hit .275 with 26 HR and 102 RBI. The 25 year-old Venezuelan then hit .260 with 35 HR and 86 RBI and 42 SB for a 30 HR/30 SB season in his second season a year ago.  Santana will be a main stalwart in GM Paul Ware's traditionally tough division-winning teams and is hitting .292 with 10 HR and 36 RBI in his first 37 games this season.

1B Chris Metcalf
Oregon Pioneers
23 Years Old
2035 Second Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 9/6/6/5/9

Another #2 pick on our list, Metcalf was drafted #2 overall by Oregon in the 2035 SIMBL Draft as the top-rated center fielder in that draft.  A player with decent defensive ratings at six positions, Pioneers GM Jamey Carter converted Metcalf to first base to supplement a current Oregon lineup loaded with young talent all looking for playing time.  Only 23 years-old, Metcalf is already in his third full SIMBL season and fourth overall. Coming off his best season thus far a year ago when he hit .287 with 11 HR and 65 RBI, Metcalf is showing his full potential this season as he is hitting a blazing .331 with 1 HR and 22 RBI in his first 37 games.  Metcalf's emerging filling out to his lofty #2 overall draft pick potential is even a bigger headache for Pioneer opponents in the UL West and could be for the entire SIMBL for seasons to come.

1B Arlen Cox
Seattle Seawolves
23 Years Old
2037 Nineteenth Pick First Round
Current Overall Ratings: 8/9/7/6/7

The power bat of Cox is in his rookie season and has been added to a Seattle lineup that has featured plenty of power in with several 200+ team home run seasons in recent seasons. The former #19 overall pick of the Seawolves in the 2037 SIMBL Draft is off to a UL Rookie Of The Year-caliber season in 2040 by hitting .292 with 8 HR and 20 RBI in his first 34 SIMBL career games.

1B Jesus Diaz
Tampa Bay Silverbacks
25 Years Old
2033 13th Pick Free Agent Supplemental Round
Current Overall Ratings: 7/7/9/6/6

Going back to the oldest draft on our list, Diaz was a Free Agent Supplemental Round draft pick from the 2033 SIMBL Draft and was worth the wait. Drafted at age 18 by the Silverbacks, Diaz was voted the SL Rookie Of The Year last season by hitting 37 HR with 97 RBI while hitting a modest .244 and striking out 111 times.  Great power numbers that outshined his strikeouts and batting average, Diaz will be expected to be among the best and most feared power hitters in the SL as he again is off to posting power numbers this season with 9 HR and 24 RBI in his first 36 game on pace for hitting 38 HR and driving in 102 though currently is hitting .235 and on pace for another 100 strikeout season.

1B Cade Maxwell
Westbury Cannons
24 Years Old
2034 Round Four 94th Overall
Current Ratings: 10/6/8/5/8

The SIMBL's top-rated prospect for the better part of three seasons, Maxwell is one of only 14 players with '10'-rated contact. Thus far into his two-season SIMBL career he has yet to show it, hitting .239 with 7 HR and 46 RBI in his first 120 games last season. The lowest-drafted player listed on our list, the #94 overall pick of the 2034 SIMBL Draft, just has too much raw talent to not be listed here. Maxwell is currently trending upward by currently hitting .257 with 1 HR and 12 RBI in his first 164 at bats in his second season but will be expecting to improve by hitting fifth in the Cannons lineup sandwiched between six-time All-Star and 2036 UL MVP Kent Bennett who is a career .309 hitter and seven-time All-Star Michael Blackwell.

2B Matthew MacNamara
Whitby Battalion
25 Years Old
2034 16th Pick Second Round
Current Overall Ratings: 9/9/2/2/9

The 25 year-old MacNamara was called up late last season by the Battalion and impressed with a sizzling .337 average in his first 49 games and 206 SIMBL at bats.  An elite contact hitter with elite gap power paired with poor patience yet more elite tendencies not to strikeout equals out to one of the most complex and rare overall rated players in the SIMBL.  The former 2034 second round pick has taken over the second base position for Whitby by hitting .282 with 3 HR 17 RBI and 16 stolen bases in the lead-off position. MacNamara is likely to be put at first base or shortstop in seasons to come to pair with recent 2040 SIMBL Draft #1 overall pick and supremely talented Pedro Cendejas Jr. who will inherit MacNamara's position very shortly in the near future.

HONORABLE MENTION: LF Vincente Romero Asheville (24), 2B Hector Colon Hawaii (21), SS Christian Foster Hawaii (25), LF Ryan Van Keuran Tampa Bay (25), 3B Weston Tucker Texas (22).

NEXT: THE SIMBL'S TOP PITCHERS UNDER 25