Its always great to say on top of the game, for two reasons. One is to perform admirably in fantasy sports; if you think you can guess who is going to be the next hot rookie, it’s usually a guaranteed steal unless some jerk like me hypes them up out of control. The other is so that you can be the expert in the room when guys want to know who this new kid is and you of course think back to my wonderful good mediocre website.

David Price - Pitcher, Vanderbilt

Left-handed pitching always carries with it a bit of a premium, so its no wonder that Baseball America has a lefty as their top prospect in this year’s draft. Its probably also not going to be a shocker when I tell you that the team the top prospect plays for, Vandy, is currently first place in the following polls: Baseball America, Sports Weekly/ ESPN Coaches Poll, Collegiate Baseball, National Collegiate Baseball Writers, and Rivals.com.

The 6′-6″ lefty has a mid 90’s fastball plus a decent change and slider. But what pops out are his stats. In 15 games this year, he has 10 wins, 4 complete games, a 5.66 K/BB, and a 0.991 WHIP. The K/BB is possibly the most important stat because control is something that is hard to tech and typically that is a stat that if its not impressive at this level, it never will be.

Given that Tampa Bay, who has the first pick in the draft, has everything BUT good starting pitching in their farm systems, it would be a safe guess to pencil in Price as the first overall pick, especially since college players typically can be major league ready sooner… a big plus for Tampa. If not Tampa, the next two picks belong to Kansas City and the Cubs who also might be interested in building up their minor league pitching.

He also, according to the link placed in Yahoo!’s article about him, voted for the National Defense Authorization Act and is a 10-term Democratic Representative from the 4th District of North Carolina. How does he find the time?

Nicklas Backstrom - Center, Washington Capitols

This is definitely the name to know for the 2007-08 NHL season. Actually, I would be willing to bet on this kid right now as the rookie of the year. The reason for my confidence is this kid’s resume to date. As a 19 year old, Backstrom has been playing with adults for a few years now and is considered to be the best player to come out of Sweden since Peter Forsberg. His game is also compared to Forsberg’s; namely their ability to protect the puck and pension to pass first.

This means that Backstrom is not going to be a natural goal scorer for the Caps, but should fit in very well on either their first or second lines which have Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin respectively on the left wings.

Of course Backstrom is not big news like Price is… there is no speculation where he will end up. He was the 4th overall draft pick in the ‘06 draft, but did just ink his deal with Washington, which is a great place for him. Of course he will be all assists, no goals, but Backstrom has the skills and the perfect opportunity to excel in his first season in the NHL.

The only thing he is going to have to work on is being a little more photogenic; his first photo opp with the Caps and he looks like he is worried that he may have just sharted.