Gregory Polanco bombed in his first season causing people to run from him like he had a full on herpes outbreak in progress. Polanco may have struggled in year one, I'll give you that, but he's still just 23 years old and an uber-talent with a myriad of gifts to aide a fantasy squad. Will you give him a chance to display those talents on your fantasy team this year?

THE MINORS

2009: Signed as an amateur by the Pirates out of the Dominican Republic. He appeared in 63 games in the Dominican Summer League as a 17 year old batting .267 with 12 steals an a .370 OBP.

2010: Spent 53 games at Rookie Ball batting a mere .202 with a .532 OPS. He only walked eight times, hit three homers and stole 19 bases.

2011: Spent 51 games at Rookie Ball and High-A. Hit a mere .229 with a .669 OPS. Went deep three times while stealing 18 bases. 

2012: Finally put it all together exploding all over Single-A pitchers. In just 116 games he hit .314 with 16 homers, 41 steals, 86 RBIs and 85 runs scored. His OPS was .874.

2013: Baseball America had him ranked as the 51st best prospect in baseball, Baseball Prospectus 44th and MLB.com 65th. He hit .312 with six homers and 24 steals in 57 games at High-A. In 68 games at Double-A he batted .263 with six homers and 13 steals. In two games at Triple-A he went 2-for-9.

2014: Baseball America had him ranked as the 10th best prospect in baseball, Baseball Prospectus 24th and MLB.com 13th. Saw action in 69 games at Triple-A with superb results: .328/.390/.504 with seven homers, 51 RBIs, 51 runs and 16 thefts. 

TOTALS: .285/.356/.432 with 41 homers, 289 RBIs, 290 runs and 143 steals in 479 games

THE MAJORS

2014: Polanco appeared in 89 games as a rookie. He started hot, fell on his face and was eventually demoted before being brought back up. He hit seven homers and stole 14 bases. He also scored 50 runs. His slash line was a poor .235/.307/.343, but as you will read in a brief moment it still puts him in good company.

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THE SKILLS

I say it all the time, but consider the following...

Mike Trout appeared in 40 games as a rookie and had a .220/.281/.390 slash line.
Carlos Gomez appeared in 58 games a rookie and had a .232/.288/.304 slash line.
Clayton Kershaw had a 4.26 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and 4.35 BB/9 mark as a rookie.

The game simply isn't that easy. It's not. Stop thinking it is. It's not. 

Read the above again. 
Rinse, repeat.

The fact is we have no patience in life. We want answers now. If it takes the fast food joint seven minutes to make our lunch we're angry. If we click on a web page and it takes seven seconds to load we get frustrated (don't get me started on 28.8K modems). If a young prospect struggles people run away in droves (give my Player Profile on Bryce Harper a read before you bail on him). Not everyone who ever played hit the ground running at the start of their career. More info you say?

Willie Mays was so bad at the start of his career that he cried and begged to be sent back to the minors. 
Hank Aaron only hit 13 homers as a rookie in 468 at-bats.
Reggie Jackson hit .178 with a .574 OPS in 35 games his first season. 
Mike Schmidt hit .197 over his first 401 at-bats.
Harmon Killebrew didn't earn 100 at-bats in a season until his 6th big league campaign. 

All five of those men are in the Hall of Fame. 

I'm not predicting that Polanco will make the Hall of Fame, or that he will be a superstar in 2015, but I am trying to make a point that it's idiotic to give up on a player after half a big league season. Think I'm nuts? Did you give up on these guys last season after they had horrible second half’s?

Coco Crisp hit .191.
Jay Bruce hit .201 with eight homers.
Brett Gardner hit .218.
Ryan Braun hit .226 with eight homers.
Salvador Perez his .229.
Devin Mesoraco batters .237 with nine homers.

You aren't bailing on them, so why are you bailing on Polanco? 

I almost don't even want to say anything particular about Polanco cause I'm so frustrated at the mindset of some folks when it comes to his outlook. That wouldn't be right though, so here goes.

Polanco has 15 homer power. At this point, expecting more is stretching things. Why? He hits everything on the ground. Last season his ground ball rate was 49.5 percent and from 2011-14 his minor league ground ball rate was 44.4 percent. He has a 12.7 percent HR/F in the minors and it was 10.7 with the Pirates, but there's just not enough fly balls to expect a run to 20 this season. Could happen, he continues to fill out his frame (he's up to 220 lbs on his 6'4" frame), but he's more about speed than power right now.

If he stole 30 bases non one would be shocked. Don't know how many noticed that Polanco swiped 14 bases last season in his incredibly and and :down" effort. In case you missed it above, he swiped 41 bases in 2012 and 37 bags in 2013. The man can steal a base.

Polanco always seems to score runs as well. Think of it. He had a .307 OBP last season and still scored 50 runs in just 89 games. Polanco had a 0.51 BB/K ratio last season, above the big league average, even with all his struggles.

PLAYING TIME CONSIDERATIONS
 
With Travis Snider dealt to the Orioles it certainly seems like the Pirates are planning on playing Polanco every day out there alongside Starling Marte and Andrew McCutchen in potentially the most dynamic outfield in baseball. Where will he hit in the order? That's a good question. If Polanco hits first or second as appears likely, he will obviously be in line for a large plate appearance mark in 2015 and that can only bolster his outlook. 

CONCLUSION

Gregory Polanco is an elite talent, one that could one day produce a couple of 20/20 efforts before his career is over. It should also be noted that if Polanco played 150 games at the level he did as a rookie he would hit 12 homers, score 84 times and swipe 24 bases... and that was him being "bad." How many outfielders went 12-84-24 last season? One - Carlos Gomez. #JustSaying

10 team lg: His talent says go for it, but there are obviously concerns about how Gregory will produce in 2015. Ideally he's your 4/5 outfielder in this format. Anything earlier and you're passing up on sure things to add him to your roster.

12 team lg: An elite fourth outfielder who could easily produce more value than that cost. A couple of tweaks here and there and he has a huge season. Build depth though just in case.

15 team lg: Power/speed options are key in this format, and Polanco fits the bill. You don't make him a building block of your squad, but if you pair him with a guy like Jay Bruce and Matt Holliday, fairly stable options, it certainly makes it easier to take a shot on Polanco as your third outfielder. 

NL-only: I'll risk it here. I don't want to make Polanco my second or third highest payed player, but his dynamic talent is certainly intriguing enough to me that I will be aggressive to add him as my third outfielder after the more stable options go off the board (if he was my second OF, it might be OK if I had stability elsewhere).