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In December of 2043 16 year old OF Fred Demirel was a throw in piece from Las Vegas to Montreal in a trade for a big time pitcher. When all is said and done Demirel could become the best player involved in that particular trade. Due to the complicated rules regarding trades involving international complex players, Demirel was forced to report to the Blazers' rookie ball team. His first year in rookie ball he did not play well when given the chance which didn't come very often. He hit just .190 and slugged less than .600 in 295 plate appearances. He thought about quitting baseball and going back to Istanbul but his parents convinced him to give baseball another shot.
Dimerel took personal instruction during the offseason instead of opting for winter ball. That seems to helped him a lot. He was playing so well in rookie ball that he got promoted to Short A and so far he's done even better there. In 229 combined plate appearances Fred is hitting .330 with an OB% well over .400. "Walks are up and strikeouts are down," said Montreal General Manager Herb DeSpain. "That's a major part of what we look for in development. The kids have to be able to improve in that area if they want to keep moving up." Demirel is hitting more balls to the gaps this year but he's been told to concentrate on getting the bat on the ball and taking more pitches. "The power will come naturally," said one Montreal scout. "He's killing right handed pitching right now but he's gonna have to learn to hit lefties if he wants to play all of the time." Currently he sits at ninth on the Blazers prospect list and 240 in the BBA. He's not expected to make the jump to the BBA until 2048 unless breaks out in a big way before then.