Fantasy Baseball Fanatics Salivate As Royals Recall Eric Hosmer

“Eric Hosmer has been summoned from Class AAA, and will join KC on Friday,” chirped Buster Olney from my TweetDeck yesterday.

It was a moment long awaited by the fantasy baseball community, and like every addict I rushed to open my league’s transaction page to scoop up Hosmer. He’s one of a select group of hotly anticipated minor leaguers that fantasy baseball junkies dream of snatching midseason.

The first reason is obvious; Hosmer could have a game-changing impact on fantasy leagues. The second is an underlying truth; fantasy baseball fans love to be the guy that got “the guy” that’s the next big thing in the sport.

Often mid-year call ups of top prospects fizzle out and disappoint, but for a dozen 2009 Matt Wieters there’s occasionally a 2007 Ryan Braun. Called up on May 25th, Braun looked like the winner of multiple MVP awards en route to an enormous rookie season in which he posted a .324 average with 34 homers and 97 RBIs in just 113 games with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Performances like Braun’s are rare, but Hosmer has the potential to have that kind of impact. Or so I’m told, because I’ll readily admit I hadn’t seen a second of video footage of Hosmer until yesterday. My opinion of him is based solely on the opinions of others that have seen him (I think) and know what they’re talking about.

Ninety-five percent of fantasy baseball players are with me, because it’s just not that easy to follow Omaha of the Pacific Coast League with so much else going on in life. But that won’t stop them from heading straight to their league’s site to try to grab Hosmer before it’s too late (and by the time you’re reading this, it probably is in most competitive leagues).

If you missed out on Hosmer, don’t fret. There will be a couple more super rookies getting the call sooner than later. In fact, Sam Fuld has been slumping horribly for the Tampa Bay Rays…Desmond Jennings, you’re on deck.