Young Studs: Jaso, Joyce, Brignac, and Rodriguez

There are so many options for the Rays' most "pleasant surprise", I'm going to cheat and combine four of them into one. No matter how you look at it, John Jaso, Matt Joyce, Reid Brignac, and Sean Rodriguez have been incredible additions to the Rays this season. While only Jaso and Brignac are technically rookies (Joyce and Rodriguez got too many plate appearances with their former teams), all five players had less than one full season of major league experience going into this year and yet they've all transitioned exceptionally well to the majors. Look at how they compare to a league-average player, measured by the runs above average they've added and saved for the Rays:

*The values in the Offense and Defense columns are taken from Weighted Runs Above Average (wRAA) and Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR). WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement.

Breaking into the majors can be tough for many players, even top rookies. For every Buster Posey and Carlos Santana, there is a Travis Snider or Matt Wieters. For every Stephen Strasburg, there is a David Price (who, if you remember correctly, had a 4.42 ERA and 4.59 FIP last season). Rookies can take time to adjust to the majors and some never learn how to do it.

Heck, just look at the Orioles this season. They have a wealth of minor league talent and young prospects, but they have taken time to come around on the major league level. Their slugging thirdbaseman of the future, Josh Bell, has hit .220/.231/.326 in his stint in the majors this year. Jake Arrietta has a 4.96 ERA and a FIP to match. Matt Wieters - the man, the myth, the legend - has hit .255/.328/.395 so far, and that's with a recent hot streak to boost his numbers. Prospects are so much fun to follow and root for, but they can take a lot of patience.

And so, we shouldn't take the recent performances by Jaso, Joyce, Rodriguez, and Brignac for granted. At the beginning of the season, there were question marks and concerns about all four of them: Jaso and Briggy were fading prospects whose stars had dimmed, Joyce had his large platoon splits, and Rodriguez had poor plate discipline and carried the unfortunate burden of being the major piece in the Scott Kazmir trade. And yet, all four of these prospects have blossomed at the major-league level and become key cogs for the 2010 Rays.

How often has a team had so many young players contribute so much, so quickly? It's not a common occurrence, so be thankful.