Baseball and major sports television has done a great job making the First Year Player Draft pertinent to the average fan, but Fantasy owners need to be careful of all the "He can arrive quickly" or "He is the best chance in this draft to be a superstar" commentary.

Those reviews were dropped repeatedly on the early first-rounders Thursday. But we merely have to point you to the likes of Matt Bush (No. 1 overall in 2004) and more recently Josh Vitters (No. 3 overall in 2007 is injured in low Class A) to show baseball's draftees are no sure things in Fantasy right away.

Minor League stats
Interested in seeing how your favorite prospects are performing in the minor leagues? You can find a player's stats on his page or you can sort stats for Triple-A and Double-A by clicking here .

Yes, baseball is doing a much better job of scouting and player development, reaping early rewards from their draftees, but it still has a long way to go.

The quick Fantasy hits of: Ryan Braun (No. 5 overall in 2005), Troy Tulowitzki (No. 7 overall in 2005), Ryan Zimmerman (No. 4 overall in 2005), Evan Longoria (No. 3 overall in 2006), Tim Lincecum (No. 10 overall in 2006), Alex Gordon (No. 2 overall in 2005), Justin Upton (No. 1 overall in 2005) and, perhaps come August, David Price (No. 1 overall in 2007) are more the exceptions than the rule. And, save for Upton, the fastest rising Fantasy talents come from major college programs.

The suggestion here is, outside of some truly special cases, look back on a June draft years back to focus on how those players developed and merely keep the new draftees in mind as minor leaguers to watch over the next couple of seasons.

In a look back the past few years, here are some of the top first-round picks yet to pop but most capable of becoming stars:

2004 -- 10. SP Thomas Diamond, TEX; 14. 1B Billy Butler, KC; 18. 3B Josh Fields, CHW; 23. SP Phil Hughes, NYY.

2005 -- 3. C Jeff Clement, SEA; 9. SP Mike Pelfrey, NYM; 10. OF Cameron Maybin, FLA; 11. OF Andrew McCutchen, PIT; 15. SP Lance Broadway, CHW; 16. SP Chris Volstad, FLA; SP Cesar Carrillo, SD; OF Colby Rasmus, STL; 42. SP Clay Buchholz, BOS; 47. SP Michael Bowden, BOS.

2006 -- 5. SP Brandon Morrow, SEA; 6. SP Andrew Miller, FLA; 7. SP Clayton Kershaw, LAD; 9. 3B William Rowell, BAL; 11. Max Scherzer, ARI; 14. Travis Snyder, TOR; 15. OF Christopher Marrero, WAS; 16. SP Jeremy Jeffress, MIL; 19. SP Brett Sinkbeil, FLA; 21. SP Ian Kennedy, NYY; 41. SP Joba Chamberlain, NYY; RP Chris Perez, STL.

2007 -- 1. David Price, TB; 2. Mike Moustakas, KC; 5. C Matt Wieters, BAL; 6. SP Ross Detwiler, WAS; 7. OF Matt LaPorta, MIL; 9. SP Jarrod Parker, ARI; 10. SP Madison Bumgarner, SF; 13. 1B Beau Mills, CLE; 14. OF Jason Heyward, ATL; 19. SP Joe Savery, PHI; 25. SP Aaron Poreda, CHW; 27. SP Rick Porcello, DET; 30. SP Andrew Brackman, NYY; 34. 3B Todd Frazier, CIN; 49. OF Michael Burgess, WAS.

Now, there are hundreds of other prospects who still could become Fantasy-worthy, but the point of this exercise is to show how rare those instant Fantasy hits above are. And, outside of the deepest of long-term keeper leagues, there are plenty of other developing already-pro prospects to consider over this year's most-hyped draftees.

If you are in one of those long-term keeper formats, here are some scouting reports on the top draft prospects. Also, here is a list of this year's class pick-by-pick.

Prospect watch

Every Thursday, we break down all the minor leaguers who are owned in at least 1 percent of our Fantasy leagues. This will be your essential guide to unearthing the elite prospects before they hit the big time.

CBSSports.com's most-owned minor league pitchers
Player TM POS Own% Level W-L ERA K BB HA WHIP IP
Francisco Liriano MIN SP 61 Triple-A 0-2 4.18 33 18 42 1.268 47 1/3
Clay Buchholz BOS SP 50 Triple-A 0-0 2.77 11 8 8 1.231 13
Homer Bailey CIN SP 49 Majors 4-4 4.15 55 31 66 1.399 69 1/3
David Price TB SP 28 High A 2-0 0.00 19 2 8 0.556 18
Rich Hill CHC SP 24 Triple-A 1-2 4.41 20 11 15 1.592 16 1/3
Franklin Morales COL SP 6 Triple-A 3-2 7.13 15 23 18 1.708 24
Nick Adenhart ANA SP 5 Triple-A 5-3 3.02 33 25 49 1.379 53 2/3
Chuck James ATL SP 4 Triple-A 1-2 1.65 16 8 24 1.171 27 1/3
Adam Miller CLE SP 4 Triple-A 0-1 1.88 20 12 26 1.326 28 2/3
Kason Gabbard TEX SP 4 Triple-A 0-0 6.43 7 2 9 1.571 7
Jeremy Sowers CLE SP 4 Majors 4-3 2.08 43 17 56 1.203 60 2/3
Gio Gonzalez OAK SP 3 Triple-A 2-3 5.98 55 30 69 1.688 58 2/3
Rick Porcello DET SP 3 High A 3-6 2.87 36 17 61 1.245 62 2/3
Chris Volstad FLA SP 3 Double-A 3-2 2.96 46 25 61 1.229 70
Brad Hennessey SF RP 2 Triple-A 3-1 2.93 13 7 33 1.446 27 2/3
Anthony Reyes STL SP 2 Triple-A 1-1 3.04 23 13 24 1.563 23 2/3
Carlos Carrasco PHI SP 2 Double-A 4-4 3.46 69 25 68 1.374 67 2/3
Jake McGee TB SP 2 Double-A 5-3 3.77 58 24 49 1.223 59 2/3
Wade Davis TB SP 2 Double-A 6-3 3.15 52 27 62 1.248 71 1/3
Dustin Moseley ANA SP 1 Triple-A 1-2 6.45 18 7 29 1.612 22 1/3
Charlie Morton ATL RP 1 Triple-A 5-1 1.70 68 24 47 0.959 74
Sean Marshall CHC SP 1 Triple-A 0-1 4.02 14 4 12 1.021 15 2/3
Matt Belisle CIN SP 1 Triple-A 1-0 4.32 7 1 14 1.800 8 1/3
Jensen Lewis CLE RP 1 Triple-A 0-0 4.50 6 2 5 1.750 4
Taylor Tankersley FLA RP 1 Triple-A No stats yet
Jon Meloan LA RP 1 Triple-A 4-5 4.18 56 37 59 1.591 60 1/3
Philip Humber MIN SP 1 Triple-A 3-5 5.53 33 29 66 1.717 55 1/3
Kei Igawa NYY SP 1 Triple-A 5-4 4.07 61 17 60 1.161 66 1/3
Jeff Niemann TB SP 1 Triple-A 2-2 4.35 24 10 27 1.194 31
Eric Hurley TEX SP 1 Triple-A 2-5 5.56 65 27 79 1.559 68
Kazuo Fukumori TEX RP 1 Triple-A 0-2 3.80 16 4 19 1.078 21 1/3
Matt Chico WAS SP 1 Triple-A 0-0 9.00 1 2 7 2.250 4
Kris Benson PHI SP 1 TBD No stats yet
Rick VandenHurk FLA SP 1 Double-A 1-0 5.91 13 3 11 1.313 10 2/3
Ross Detwiler WAS SP 1 High A 4-3 5.76 54 28 59 1.740 50
Jarrod Parker ARI SP 1 Low A 4-3 2.72 34 10 39 1.235 39 2/3
CBSSports.com's most-owned minor league hitters
Player TM Pos Own% Level AVG HR RBI R SB OBP SLUG
Billy Butler KC DH 28 Triple-A .364 0 2 5 0 .417 .545
Chris Duncan STL LF 20 Triple-A .214 0 1 3 0 .421 .286
Cameron Maybin FLA OF 18 Double-A .267 10 25 41 13 .367 .486
Chase Headley SD 3B 17 Triple-A .301 10 30 41 0 .369 .522
Josh Fields CHW 3B 14 Triple-A .256 7 21 22 3 .336 .481
Jeff Clement SEA C 10 Triple-A .366 11 35 32 0 .482 .724
Andy LaRoche LA 3B 9 Triple-A .274 4 23 30 2 .445 .406
Colby Rasmus STL OF 8 Triple-A .225 8 24 34 7 .323 .367
Felix Pie CHC OF 7 Triple-A .179 3 9 14 2 .238 .359
Matt LaPorta MIL OF 6 Double-A .297 16 52 44 1 .403 .612
Jerry Owens CHW OF 5 Triple-A .253 1 11 20 13 .325 .312
Eugenio Velez SF 2B 5 Triple-A .388 2 7 9 5 .455 .592
Jed Lowrie BOS SS 3 Triple-A .297 1 9 14 0 .397 .469
Matt Joyce DET OF 3 Triple-A .283 7 24 22 2 .356 .550
Steve Pearce PIT OF 3 Triple-A .264 6 35 22 4 .319 .434
Andrew McCutchen PIT OF 3 Triple-A .290 7 24 38 18 .379 .446
Chris Davis TEX 3B 3 Triple-A .235 2 10 8 0 .297 .412
Adam Lind TOR LF 3 Triple-A .322 5 40 19 1 .380 .521
Matt Wieters BAL C 3 High A .324 12 33 37 1 .420 .566
Josh Barfield CLE 2B 2 Triple-A .264 5 20 25 9 .305 .398
Jayson Nix COL 2B 2 Triple-A .276 6 16 28 6 .346 .517
Dallas McPherson FLA 3B 2 Triple-A .282 19 42 38 2 .379 .635
Matt Antonelli SD 2B 2 Triple-A .176 3 14 26 2 .313 .277
Reid Brignac TB SS 2 Triple-A .276 5 31 28 4 .312 .472
Dan Johnson TB 1B 2 Triple-A .318 8 30 32 0 .429 .553
Fernando Martinez NYM OF 2 Double-A .280 3 16 19 3 .314 .408
Travis Snider TOR OF 2 Double-A .235 8 31 24 0 .341 .425
Kendry Morales ANA 1B 1 Triple-A .324 8 37 22 1 .365 .505
Brent Lillibridge ATL SS 1 Triple-A .192 1 14 18 12 .263 .245
Brandon Jones ATL OF 1 Triple-A .258 2 20 23 4 .337 .371
Brandon Moss BOS OF 1 Triple-A .302 6 26 25 2 .357 .547
Matt Murton CHC LF 1 Triple-A .333 1 12 23 3 .440 .425
Danny Richar CHW 2B 1 Triple-A .196 2 7 8 2 .305 .353
Joe Koshansky COL 1B 1 Triple-A .307 13 55 39 0 .381 .615
Ryan Shealy KC 1B 1 Triple-A .222 8 16 17 0 .300 .470
Tony K. Gwynn MIL OF 1 Triple-A .364 0 5 7 3 .453 .364
Neil Walker PIT 3B 1 Triple-A .224 6 25 32 1 .267 .413
Nate Schierholtz SF OF 1 Triple-A .304 8 41 31 8 .354 .557
Taylor Teagarden TEX C 1 Triple-A .250 3 9 12 0 .388 .413
Lars Anderson BOS 1B 1 High A .280 7 26 30 0 .384 .488
Christopher Marrero WAS OF 1 High A .244 8 27 29 0 .309 .405
Jordan Schafer ATL OF 1 Double-A .250 1 4 3 1 .357 .500
Michael Aubrey CLE 1B 1 Double-A .282 2 16 14 0 .330 .456
Matthew Gamel MIL 3B 1 Double-A .382 13 51 57 4 .454 .668
Austin Jackson NYY OF 1 Double-A .279 3 33 34 8 .367 .420
Jose Tabata NYY OF 1 Double-A .239 1 25 27 7 .319 .284
Elvis Andrus TEX SS 1 Double-A .268 0 19 31 19 .322 .316
Max Ramirez TEX C 1 Double-A .365 14 42 40 1 .449 .672
Josh Vitters CHC 3B 1 Low A .214 0 1 1 0 .214 .429
Michael Moustakas KC 3B 1 Low A .241 8 28 25 4 .295 .407

Rookie watch

Top AL rookies to date

  1. OF Jacoby Ellsbury, BOS -- David Ortiz's DL stint makes him a full-timer with Manny Ramirez at DH.
  2. OF David Murphy, KC -- We keep thinking he will cool off, but he has been great in that lineup and hitter's park.
  3. 3B Evan Longoria, TB -- Strikeout rate has kept his average low, but that power is as good as expected.
  4. SP Aaron Laffey, CLE -- Yet another Indians injury solidifies his longer-term spot in their rotation.
  5. SP Justin Masterson, BOS -- Clearly he needs to stick around in the majors even if it is as a setup man.

Top NL rookies to date

  1. C Geovany Soto, CHC -- If there is a future 30-homer catcher in baseball, it has to be this guy.
  2. OF Jay Bruce, CIN -- He has set the world and NL pitching on fire, but can a 21-year-old really sustain this?
  3. OF Kosuke Fukudome, CHC -- He looks more like a table-setter than a base-clearer, but there is a place here for his type.
  4. SP Jair Jurrjens, ATL -- He has proven a little more hittable of late, but you can't expect dominance every time out.
  5. SP Johnny Cueto, CIN -- His ERA will come down to the 4.00 level and he has the most value among NL rookie pitchers.

Newbie needs

Robert: Why hasn't Seattle brought back Jeff Clement yet? What are they waiting for?

Emack: Well, Clement is a catcher and the Mariners committed three years to Kenji Johjima. Clement needs to move to first base or DH in the big leagues, unfortunately. The Mariners have to be sick of 1B Richie Sexson and DH Jose Vidro, though, and manager John McLaren had an outburst Wednesday night, so it might not be long before the Mariners just decide to go young at 1B/DH. Clement will remain a part-time catcher, too, which makes him a Ryan Doumit-like sleeper in the second half.

Kevin: I just picked up Chris Davis for my short-term keeper league. His numbers are outstanding and they just sent him up to Triple-A Oklahoma. When do you expect the not-so-great Rangers to call him up to replace struggling first baseman Chris Shelton?

Emack: Davis was a June 1 mover to Triple-A, so we could see him in the big leagues before the All-Star break. His power potential makes him a strong AL-only sleeper, but the stigma of the Jason Botts and German Duran's failures in Texas will likely keep him from being a great mixed league target. Davis is bigger prospect than those guys, though, so don't be turned off -- expecially for a power prospect in that lineup and home hitter's park.

Brian: You are KILLING me. You single-handedly take the fun out of Fantatsy Baseball and let the idiots that don't have a clue back in the game. I understand your job is to report on Fantasy, but announcing David Price as right now is crazy. I have been watching this guy with a very close eye, pretty confident only a few of the top owners in my league know about him. Now the guy in last place is going to pick him up and keep him for the next eight years. Thanks again. Can't wait till next week to cross another name from my must have young stud list.

Emack: Glad to help.

A Long Time Fantasy Player: You guys do nice work, but because of all the public articles based on scouting you guys do, there is no way to outmaneuver the other Fantasy coaches any more. You make knowledgeable coaches out of everyone so it is no longer fun spending time scouring the minor leaguers, looking at emerging players and new players who quietly enter the bigs. Because of these articles, I was forced into adding Max Scherzer before I wanted to, and have had David Price on my radar, so he will also likely get grabbed by someone before I'm positioned to pick him up. There are countless other examples related to emerging players (I picked up Joey Votto just before the site started raving about HIM. Had someone picked him up after reading about him, it would have interfered with a trade I was working (Ryan Howard for some pitching). This isn't a knock on you guys at all, but I think you need to be a little more cognizant of what Fantasy sports are all about. We really don't need "scouts" in the field who identify good prospects for every coach to consider. Finding that diamond-in-the-rough is part of the fun. Doing so should be left to us -- the Fantasy coaches who enjoy devoting the time.

Emack: Thanks for reading.

Neven, Queens, N.Y.: I was just wondering what sort of projection do you have for Edinson Volquez's workload this year as far as whether he should be relied upon to pitch 200 innings successfully, or if we should expect him to hit the proverbial rookie wall considering he has barely crossed 150 innings in any year in the minors?

Emack: Volquez is technically not a rookie and has been building up his arm for the past three seasons on the shuttle from the minors to the majors. He went around 150 pro innings in 2006 and around 180 in 2007. He is currently on pace for 205 2/3 innings, which is right about what he could be expected to reach in his first full season. He will slow down, sure, but Mario Soto has done an outstanding job getting this elite talent to live up to his immense potential.

You can e-mail Emack your Fantasy Baseball prospect questions to DMFantasyBaseball@cbs.com. Be sure to put Attn: Prospects in the subject field. Please include your full name, hometown and state. Be aware, due to the large volume of submissions received, we cannot guarantee personal responses to all questions.