CBS Sportsline reports top Cardinals prospect Colby Rasmus has been reassigned to minor league camp.  Rick Ankiel will be the starter in Center Field.

While this is a huge blow to fantasy owners who drafted Rasmus expecting immediate production, he still warrants attention in deeper leagues with a lot of bench space.  Manager Tony La Russa must have thought he wasn’t quite ready yet, but that doesn’t mean he won’t get called up after a couple of months of solid production in the minors.

Cards prospect Colby Rasmus is only hitting .259 through spring, but his .556 slugging percentage, 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 9 walks, 3 stolen bases, and monstrous .444 OBP are a bit more encouraging. As the club’s top prospect, many baseball experts and fans alike expect him to make the jump to the Majors. The question is, “When?”

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, if the Cards keep Rasmus in the Minors for even part of the 2008 season they would gain an extra season with him before free agency. A player has six years of free agency, and the clock starts when a player begins a season in the majors. The incentive for the Cards would be to keep Rasmus in the minors to start this season so that they could have him for a full season at the age of 27, which is widely regarded as one of a baseball player’s peak years.

• Colby Rasmus did his best Albert Pujols impression and crushed a ball out of the park Friday, and on the very next pitch the real Albert Pujols did the same. The home run was Rasmus’ only hit in 5 at-bats, but at least he made it count. His principal competition for the starting center field job, Ryan Ludwick and Skip Schumaker, went a combined 3-for-5 in the game. Rasmus is batting only .222 so far this spring, but is still a good sleeper candidate at this point.

• The outfield competition in St. Louis isn’t limited to only Colby Rasmus, Brian Barton, Cody Haerther, Skip Schumaker, Ryan Ludwick and Juan Gonzalez.  Cards prospect Joe Mather, who last year hit .271 with 31 HRs, 80 runs, and 77 RBIs in AA-Springfield and AAA-Memphis, is getting some good experience in spring training.  Unfortunately he probably won’t get a chance to prove himself in the bigs this year because of the crazy depth chart.

St. Louis CF Colby Rasmus went 2-3 and hit his first big fly of the season off Baltimore lefty, Hayden Penn, in the Cardinals 10-2 beat down of the Orioles on Tuesday. Additionally, Rasmus had an RBI single with two outs in the second inning to spur the Cardinals to victory. This is just another step toward a big league starting job for Rasmus, who should unquestionably be owned in deeper fantasy leagues, if not every league.

• Keith Law has RHP Mitchell Boggs as the 2nd best prospect in the Cardinals’ organization, behind only budding star Colby Rasmus.  As Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reports, Boggs needs to work on his off-speed stuff before he can contribute at the big league level.
• In the same report, Mayo writes that LHP prospect Jaime Garcia has some calcification in his elbow that has prevented him from fully extending, but that he has been throwing without pain so far this year.  The pain in his elbow shut him down last year, but an MRI revealed that no surgery was required.
• Derrick Goold of BaseballAmerica writes that the Cardinals have decided to implement a new mechanics first approach to the development of their young pitching prospects.  As part of the new program they invited their top pitching prospects to attend a mini-camp this spring, including Chris Perez, Adam Ottavino, Jaime Garcia, Mitchell Boggs, P.J. Walters and Clayton Mortensen.
• Colby Rasmus went 0-1 in today’s game against the Marlins.  That brings his batting average this spring to .167.  The spring is still young, but Rasmus will have to start hitting to take advantage of the opportunity he’s been given in CF.

Here is the latest on a few prospects from around the league:

• As of Thursday Colby Rasmus, the Cardinals’ top prospect, was 3-for-3 with 3 walks and four runs scored in his 6 plate appearances so far this spring. For anyone who can’t do math, that gives him an on base percentage of 1.000.
• With Scott Spiezio about to be hauled off to jail and Albert Pujols’ elbow always a concern, Cards’ Manager Tony LaRussa is looking for a backup at first base, and may have found one in 25 year old prospect Joe Mather. Mather had was trying to make it as an outfielder after playing first and third in the minors where he hit 31 HRs in 2007.
• In the batting cages Thursday morning, Reds’ Manager Dusty Baker challenged top prospects Jay Bruce and Joey Votto to “see how many hits” they could get. Bruce went 3-5 with a HR and Votto was 2-5.
• Jay’s LHP prospect David Purcey could be one of the “first players considered for promotion” if the starting rotation has injury problems. The 6-foot-5, 16th overall First-Year Player Draft pick in 2004 could also help out in the bullpen.
• Jay’s top OF prospect Travis Snider made his Grapefruit League debut Thursday and received praise from Manager John Gibbons for his great approach at the plate and hitting ability. Serving as DH and batting 9th, the 20 year old Snider walked in his first at bat against Detroit’s Matt Mantei, and grounded out in his second at bat.

Brandon Funston of Yahoo Sports put together his list of the top 10 rookies to make a fantasy impact this year. We’ve summarized the basic information for you. He says he didn’t include Kosuke Fukudome even though he’s technically a rookie, and if he had Fukudome would be in his top 3.

• 1. Jacoby Ellsbury, Bos, OF
  If CoCo Crisp is out of the picture and Ellsbury bats lead off, could have 40 SBs and 100+ runs
• 2. Clay Buchholz, Bos, SP
  Will get babied by BoSox for 125-150 IP, 10 wins, and a k/ip
• 3. Joba Chamberlain, NYY, RP
  Will be starting in the bullpen, limited to 140 IP or less, probably will make the rotation at some point
• 4. Evan Longoria, TB, 3rd Base
  Funston predicts .280/20/75/75/0, if he starts
• 5. Geovany Soto, ChC, Catcher
  Probably won’t be a top 100 fantasy player, but could have good value if drafted late
• 6. Joey Votto, Cin, 1st Base
  Stuck behind 38 year old Scott Hatteberg but could get 20 HR and 10-15 steals with 450 ABs
• 7. Andy LaRoche, LAD, 3B
  It’s between him and Nomar Garciaparra for the starting 3B role, has 20-25 hr power if he gets the job
• 8. Jay Bruce, Cin, OF
  Norris Hopper/Ryan Freel will limit his chances of starting in the majors, but with the talent he has he should be up before the All-Star break
• 9. Colby Rasmus, StL, OF
  Could be a 20/20 guy if he surpasses one of the current outfielders: Chris Duncan, Rick Ankiel, or Ryan Ludwick
• 10. Ian Kennedy, NYY, SP
  Has held hitters to under .190 in 168 minor league innings. With the Yankees bat support he could reach double digit wins.

After hearing about the minor league exploits of Colby Rasmus for the last two years, St. Louis Cardinals fans may finally be putting a face with that name. According to MLB.com, Rasmus is ready to make an impact and St. Louis GM John Mozeliak foresees him cracking the starting lineup at some point this year, most likely before the flood of September call-ups. After the departure of fan-favorite Jim Edmonds, Rasmus came into spring training hoping to win the starting CF spot, and may do so with an impressive showing in Florida. At Double-A Springfield of the Texas League last year, Rasmus ranked in the top-10 in nine offensive statistical categories, including being the league leader in R and HR. Another former prospect who tore up the Texas League recently is Grady Sizemore, to whom Rasmus is often compared. With a skill set similar to Sizemore, its easy to see why the Cardinals think Rasmus will be patrolling CF as early as this summer.

We covered the pitching prospects below, now we’ll cover the hitting prospects. As mentioned before, MiLB.com put together a compilation of the best Q&A’s from recent MLB.com Mailbags. The answers are provided by beat writers for each respective team. We’ve summarize some of the more juicy prospect news below:

• Colby Rasmus’ call-up could be delayed for business reasons. A few days ago we discussed how Evan Longoria is in the same position. The Cardinals could gain an extra year of free agency with a short delay, and avoid Super-Two status with a mid-season call-up.
• Dodgers’ SS prospect Chin-Lung Hu will more than likely start the season at Triple-A. But with Rafael Furcal’s contract up after this season, look for Hu to compete for that position next Spring.
• Giants’ IF prospect Eugenio Velez could steal a whole lot of bases if given the opportunity. Velez has 122 stolen bases between the past two seasons.
• The MLB.com author argues that the Braves might be better off keeping BA’s 70th ranked overall Brandon Jones (OF) at Triple-A this season. The thought is that allowing him to play every day will be better for his development than sticking him in a major league platoon with Matt Diaz.
• Jesus Flores has not lost his status as the Catcher of the future for the Nationals; the future has just gotten a little further away. It seems he will spend at least a portion of the season at Triple-A due to the signings of Paul Lo Duca and Johnny Estrada.
• Nolan Reimold could see some playing time in Baltimore this season, just not in April. With CF and RF firmly occupied by Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, the only option for Reimold is in Left. Luke Scott will have to really struggle or get injured for the Orioles to make the call for Reimold this season.
• Look for Jed Lowrie to be this year’s version of Jacoby Ellsbury, a late season call-up with immediate impact. Lowrie is currently playing shortstop, but could probably play any infield position and “can flat-out hit”.

1. Evan Longoria (3B, Tampa Bay Rays)

2. Jay Bruce (RF, Cincinnati Reds)

3. Joba Chamberlain (RHP, New York Yankees)

4. Clay Buchholz (RHP, Boston Red Sox)

5. Colby Rasmus (CF, St. Louis Cardinals)