It's a little much to supposedly buy in and then duck out after a week of games Also also the LEAGUE K rate right now is 31% and pitchers in the league on average are more than half a year older than the average hitter (22 YO v 21.4). Howard's one of the 5 or so youngest players in the league, didn't play any official games last year Not at all. It's, of course, semantics but the truly "elite" prospects don't look overmatched at the plate in A ball, regardless of their age. Maybe they have an off game, but not a week and a half of offensive ineptitude. For some reason I threw caution and common sense out the window this offseason, and just allowed myself to dream that Cubs finally got one of those "elite" guys that would push the envelope and force the organization to promote him early. I know better, but hope springs eternal and all that. This isn't to say that Howard can't become an awesome player, obviously. I still like him a lot. But the scouting reports of "needs to refine his offensive game" seem to be prophetic at this point.