The future is now for these 9 MLB prospects

The face of Major League Baseball is changing, and we don’t even mean in terms of who wins their annual spring social media contest. With Derek Jeter retired, longtime commissioner Bud Selig replaced, and young talents like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, and Yasiel Puig asserting themselves as the next generation, the whole game is getting a makeover. They aren’t alone in doing so, either, as 2015 will introduce us to all kinds of new, key players who will make an impact both in the present and the future of the game.

There is no prospect with more potential to change the landscape of 2015 than Cubs’ third baseman Kris Bryant. The 23-year-old has turned heads all spring long as he hits homer after homer, and while sure, it’s against spring training opponents, this isn’t the first time he’s managed the feat. Bryant led all of baseball with 43 homers in 2014, splitting his time between Double- and Triple-A. He’s not just a power guy, either, as he batted a combined .325/.438/.661 across 138 games.

That’s impressive enough without any additional context, but Bryant was drafted in 2013, and came into last summer with just 146 plate appearances as a pro. If the Cubs compete in 2015, Bryant coming up and continuing to terrorize pitchers will be a huge part of it.

There are some concerns. The majors are significantly tougher than even Triple-A, and Bryant is prone to striking out. With that being said, though, he doesn’t need to come up and slug .600 in the majors to make an impact. Bryant could take his lumps, learn his lessons, and still drive 25-30 balls over the wall en route to a postseason appearance.

Boston signed the 26-year-old Castillo to a seven-year, $72 million deal last August, then let him briefly play in the minors, majors, and winter ball to shake off the rust he gathered in between fleeing Cuba and becoming a free agent. He could start 2015 in the minors once more while the Sox sort out their crowded outfield, but make no mistake, it’s not because Castillo is an inferior alternative.

Castillo projects to be a high-average hitter who, while happy to swing often, has a discernible eye at the plate. He’ll get his walks in even if his plate appearances tend to be short, as he swings at the pitches he likes and lets the others go by. When you have Castillo’s plate coverage, though, you like a lot of pitches. There is power there, and Castillo’s glove and speed are also positives, so expect a well-rounded contributor once he’s in the bigs to stay.

Norris didn’t have an obvious spot in the Jays’ rotation until Marcus Stroman tore his ACL, ending his 2015 before it began. Now, Norris, who hasn’t pitched much in the high minors but might not need to, has a chance to hold down a rotation spot in Toronto all summer long.

You might know Norris mostly as the shirtless guy who lives in a van in spite of his multi-million dollar signing bonus, but there is a potentially wonderful pitcher here, too. Norris struck out almost 12 batters per nine in his 124 minor-league innings in 2014, and the second-round pick jumped all the way to 18th on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list. It might take him some time to adjust, but there is potential for Norris to help Jays’ fans forget about Stroman.

Rodon is something of a wild card, as no one is quite sure when he’ll be in the majors or in what role. We do know this, however: Rodon has thrown just 24 innings in the pros, and prospect analysts and scouts only have amazing things to say about him anyway. He was the third-overall pick in the 2014 draft, and despite this he finished his season in Triple-A. If the White Sox need to inject some life into their bullpen in-season, Rodon could be the man for the job. There is more for him than a simple relief role, though, as the back-end of the White Sox rotation could easily fall apart.

The best days of John Danks are behind him, and Hector Noesi’s best isn’t all that impressive. With a rotation fronted by Chris Sale, Jeff Samardzija, and Jose Quintana, the White Sox might have a real chance at the AL Central or a wild card. Inserting Rodon into the rotation could be the final push that gets them to those levels. Expecting him to hit his ceiling as a top of the rotation arm by July will probably disappoint you, but he can still make a serious impact in a rotation that already has those kinds of arms in it.

The Jays make a second appearance on the list, thanks to their need for an Opening Day center fielder. Pompey is just 22, but he’s been in the organization since he was 17. He had only made it to Low-A ball in those first four seasons, but in 2014, something clicked, and Pompey played at four different levels, jumping from High-A all the way to the majors by season’s end. He held his own in his limited major-league time, too, posting a 105 OPS+ over 17 games.

Pompey is also a native Canadian, and for Canada’s only MLB team, that means something. He didn’t even start playing regularly until 2013, and now he’ll be part of the Jays’ Opening Day lineup as they attempt to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1993. Pompey is a plus fielder and baserunner, a switch-hitter with no real weaknesses at the plate, and if the Blue Jays make the playoffs for only the second time in his life, he’ll surely be one of the reasons why.

The Dodgers traded Matt Kemp to the Padres this past offseason, and it wasn’t just to clear some payroll space. Joc Pederson has a glove made for center field, and no one else on the Dodgers can claim that -- why else do you think they subjected themselves to multiple games of Matt Kemp at the position last year? He’s not just a glove, though, as Pederson batted .303/.435/.582 with 33 homers at Triple-A last year.

Yeah, those numbers will go down, both because the majors will feature tougher competition and because the Pacific Coast League is a hitters’ paradise. If Pederson gets on base at a well above-average rate, though, and flashes some of the power that helped make him such an appealing prospect in the first place, his glove will fill in the gaps. Losing Matt Kemp’s bat -- and Hanley Ramirez’s, too -- is no small thing for the Dodgers, but having someone with Pederson’s promise helped them make those calls.

Jorge Soler already has five major-league homers, and has been somewhat forgotten about in the Kris Bryant craze. It’s worth remembering that he hasn’t even used up his rookie eligibility, though, and that he’s still considered a top-20 talent, and easily one of the 10 or so best who will appear in the majors in 2015. Soler destroyed Double- and Triple-A in the same way his teammate at those stops, Bryant, did, batting a combined .340/.432/.700.

He has less to learn on the job than some other Cuban prospects who have come to MLB, as he’s spent the last three seasons in the minors developing on a standard path. The outfielder is as crucial to the Cubs’ plans, both now and later, as Bryant, and if the two of them both hit the majors hard out of the gate, the NL Central will be exponentially more intriguing.

Heaney could have been in this spot for the Marlins, but the Fish sent him to the Dodgers in exchange for Dee Gordon and Dan Haren, and then Los Angeles dealt him to the Angels for Howie Kendrick. The Angels have plenty of use for him, though, as Heaney will be part of their starting five from Opening Day onward.

While his first few appearances in the majors did not go well, Heaney hasn’t even turned 24 yet, and his new home park is one of the friendliest for pitchers. He’ll have a relatively safe environment to learn about major-league hitters in, and with division rivals in Seattle and Oakland, he’ll get similar benefits in many of his road starts, too. The Angels have had problems with the back-end of their rotation for years now, and Heaney has the potential to end those troubles and help the Halos get back to the postseason for the second year in a row.

Syndergaard, like Kris Bryant, will likely spend a chunk of 2015 in the minors until the desired service time shenanigans have been achieved. Once the Mets are ready for him, though, Syndergaard could be what helps push the Mets to meaningful October baseball. Ignore his 4.60 ERA at Triple-A last year: it came in the PCL, he was just 21 years old, and he still managed to strike out almost 10 batters per nine.

The Mets will end up having a space for him, too, as Dillon Gee is back in the rotation with Zack Wheeler undergoing Tommy John surgery. Gee isn’t a bad pitcher by any means, but he’s mediocre, and Syndergaard could be better than that out of the gate if the Mets give him a chance to show as much. Like Bryant on the hitter side of things, if Syndergaard comes up early enough, there might not be a rookie pitcher who impacts the season as much as he could.