Gordon Beckham was recently awarded the Sporting News American League “Rookie of the Year” award after a pretty outstanding rookie campaign. Unfortunately for Sox fans, they have to feel a little queasy knowing the history of the “sophomore slump” curse. Well rest assured Sox fans, because Gordon Beckham is the real deal and a player to build the franchise around in the coming years.

Gordon Beckham was arguably one of the best players coming out of the draft after a monster year at Georgia leading the bulldogs all the way to the College World Series in Omaha. I personally had him in the top 5 and I didn’t see how teams could pass up not only the offensive ability, but being a strong defender, and an even better leader. He’s got all the tools of a superstar in the making, and it just didn’t make sense. Gordon Beckham fell to 8th in the first round of the 2008 amateur draft and the Sox were more than happy to select him. After the pick was announced, I turned to every White Sox fan I knew including my two brothers and father and said “Be grateful. The Sox just got the steal of the entire draft.” Beckham really came into his own in the prestigious Arizona Fall League where he lit up the best pitching prospects in baseball with a .394 average, .468 OBP, and 3 big flies. After that performance, he was named the top White Sox prospect (which I agreed with) by Baseball America and was obviously on the fast track to the Cell. He was sent to AA after a decent spring, but it was clear he wouldn’t be there for long and he wasn’t. On June 3rd, the White Sox, in need of some infield help, recalled Gordon Beckham who made his big league debut on June 4th against Oakland. Beckham struggled mightily early and many thought he was over matched and rushed to the big leagues. Starting 2-28 at the plate would probably overwhelm most rookies, but Beckham is a different breed. He hit his first homer in the civil rights game and never looked back. He finished the year .270/.347/.460 with an OPS of a very solid .808.

The reason why I don’t see this guy falling off is simple. His confidence. You can’t teach confidence and Beckham certainly has it. He knows he can play this game at a high level and slumps don’t seem to bother him all that much. Due to that, he’s never going to get anxious or uncomfortable or rattled which is going to come in handy as he gets older and takes over a more leadership role with the Sox. He obviously has some things to improve on such as staying through the baseball a little longer on the outside half and using that power to hit the ball to right field more. Beckham also needs to work on not trying to pull everything, but outside of that I believe he’s extremely polished for a 23 year old kid.

His defense was a little suspect moving to third base, but as the year went along he got more comfortable with his reads prior to the pitch and jumps off the bat, which was a real nice thing to see. He showed last year he’s a tremendous athlete and this will only improve as after all, he is a shortstop by trade. The White Sox don’t seem poised to move him back to short and move Alexei Ramirez, so I definitely can see Gordon Beckham as a Third Basemen come next year. If anything, a move to second base is much more likely depending on what the Sox want to do with another prospect, Dayan Viciedo. Unfortunately, I can’t make any sort of prediction with 100% certainty as only the White Sox truly know what they want to do with Beckham, but if Viciedo is more of a first basemen, which seems more likely everyday, Beckham is going to stay at Third and frankly, he has looked so good there last year why try to fix it what ain’t broke?

As the sox move forward, I can see them using Gordon Beckham as a David Wright-like face of the franchise for the next 15 years. And yes, I am drawing some comparisons between the 2 players because as I watched Beckham over the years, the name that kept coming to mind was indeed David Wright. The skill-set between the two of them are extremely similar except I think Wright will continue to hit for a higher average. I would look for a 25 home run 90 RBI 15 SB and a .285 average with a .355 OBP with a 476 slugging percentage, all of that to go with an above average year at the hot corner. Not to shabby from a second year guy.

Fantasy outlook- Consider Beckham a middle round sleeper. I have to believe that a lot of fantasy owners are going to be wary of the sophomore slump, so I can see him going as the 10th or 11th third basemen selected. Don’t be afraid to jump on him before guys like Edwin Encarnacion, Scott Rolen, Aubrey Huff who has third basemen status, or even Chipper Jones. When you see guys like Wright, Ramirez, A-Rod, Youkilis, Zimmerman, Michael Young, and Chipper Jones come off the board, jump on Beckham if he’s sitting there in the 7th or 8th rounds. I’ll get more into breaking down positions, sleepers, types of leagues and their draft strategies as we get closer to February….but don’t forget about “Lord” Beckham.

All deep Dynasty owners- TAKE HIM EARLY. He’s a guy you can build your dynasty team around for a long time. In a 16 team, 15 or 16 (interesting league rule) player keeper league, Beckham wasn’t available for draft in Yahoo leagues. Fortunately for me, he was the number 3 prospect on my board to jump on the second he became available and again luckily for me, he slipped past waivers in early May with no one noticing and ended up on my team. I have since made him completely off-limits in all trade talks as I was getting offers on him daily basis.