Feature Photo: Andrew Stevenson, OF, Nationals
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The lazy hazy days of summer that have been with us here at the Debutantes Ball since the All-Star Break continue.
After a tumultuous 20-debut week to wind up June, the debutantes have been trickling up more like molasses in July.
We saw just three players come to the show in Week 14, two in Week 15, and a whopping five in Week 16.
Your ever-vigilant (except when she’s on vacation in Italy) scribe has often as not had an empty dry-erase board (which she keeps over her desk to track active players “on deck” to make their debuts.)
Despite the lull, we remain five debuts ahead of where we were last year at this time (158 as opposed to 153) when we finished the 2016 season with 258 debuts.
Of course, your scribe is also quick to remember that we are only five weeks out from September 1, the date when active major league rosters expand to 40 players, so I’m ready to welcome an abundance of debutantes to the majors then just like swallows to Capistrano.
Until then she waits and tracks and cleans the house and tries out new recipes (she is a kick-ass ice cream maker) and works her way through a 16-book (each one minimum 500 pages) historical fiction series about the Plantagenets and Tudors. On deck: She’s about to actually START watching “Game of Thrones.”
Attention: farm directors and GMs, you can save her from this fate by, say, EACH of you sending up one newcomer this week. (Boston Red Sox, you are exempt from this notice since you’ve already announced you’re bringing up third baseman Rafael Devers to debut on Tuesday in Seattle – and for that we salute you!)
And hey, Baltimore Orioles, can we make a special request that when September comes you promote Norfolk outfielder Sharlon Schoop? He’s been in the minors for 13 YEARS and the closest he’s come to the majors was when you brought him to town for a day in case you had to put someone on the DL. His baby brother is having an MVP-caliber season, and I bet this would be a great little “bonus” for him that wouldn’t cost that much, but would make him very happy! I’m thinking about trying to get #BringUpSharlonSchoop trending on Twitter.
Click here to view our running table of major league debuts this season!
(Reminder! The MLB Debut table is also found by clicking the Spotlights Tab on our home page, and scrolling to the top sub-menu selection.)
