Dennis Raben
Orleans 2007
Outfielder
Miami
In retrospect, I think Dennis Raben sometimes got lost in the shuffle. His was a summer of stars like Gordon Beckham, Yonder Alonso, Conor Gillaspie and Aaron Crow. Raben belongs right alongside them.
In terms of production, there are only a handful of players on this list who had a better summer than Raben did.
He came to Orleans without a ton of fanfare. He hit .280 as a sophomore at Miami with 12 home runs. Good numbers but not spectacular. Once he put on a Cardinals uniform, though, he turned himself into one of the league’s biggest power threat, and in the process, turned himself into a major prospect.
For the season, Raben batted .298 with six home runs, 18 extra-base hits and 35 RBI. He tied Beckham for the league lead in RBI and was among the top five in three other offensive categories — slugging percentage, extra-base hits and runs scored.
He may have made his biggest splash in a game that didn’t count. A starter for the East squad in the all-star game, Raben blasted a home run that ultimately proved to be the difference in the East’s 3-2 victory. Raben was named East MVP.
After the season, Raben was tabbed by Baseball America as the seventh-best prospect in the league.
After the Cape
While players like Beckham and Buster Posey built on their summers with enormous junior season, Raben didn’t deliver an overwhelming performance when he got back to Miami. He still had solid numbers, though, and got picked in the second round by the Mariners. He hit .275 in his debut season but missed all of 2009 after knee surgery. He is expected to be ready for spring training in 2010.
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