Crystal Ball: Jose De Leon, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays

Here's a Crystal Ball, by reader request, for Tampa Bay Rays pitching prospect Jose De Leon.

The Crystal Ball is NOT a PREDICTION in the sense of me saying "this is how the guy will definitely turn out." The idea is to generate discussion about a player by presenting one possible outcome for his career, based on what we currently know about him.

I try to make them logical, based on the outcomes of players who were similar at the same stage of their career. Sometimes a CB represents a maximal outcome, sometimes it is more of a middle ground. You can pick out the imagined injuries, trades, and free agent signings. Teams are more or less random once you get past six years.

In the case of Jose De Leon, he had a rough spring training and was recently optioned to Triple-A, though his strong start for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic shows what he is capable of. This CB assumes he still gets significant pitching time half in Tampa this year.