I've been trying to figure out the absolute earliest date that our 3B prospect Castellanos could be making his MLB debut. Based on how fast the Tigers brought up Alex Avila, who had just 151 minor league games under his belt, it has me thinking this crazy thought that it could be late in 2012. Is it possible that he'll be our starting 3B for the 2013 season? Would this be unprecedented? He'd only be 21 years old. I looked up some other players, mostly 3B's, that made their debut's at similar age.

1st lets take a look at :

Nick Castellanos, 19 years old, has played in 142 minor league games, has a .313 AVG, .369 OBP, and .805 OPS. At 3B in 132 games, he has made 25 errors, has a .912 Fld%, with a 1.95 Range Factor.

Miguel Cabrera, 3B/LF, debuted in majors at 20 years old on June 3, 2003. With just 69 AA games under his belt, he skipped AAA and went straight to the show. Well remembered for being the rookie that hit 3 Home Runs in 2003 NLCS vs the Cubs and the HR he hit off of Roger Clemens in game 4 of the World Series. Played in 368 minor league games, had a .286 AVG, .350 OBP, and .782 OPS. At 3B, played 161 games, made 31 errors, .934 FLD%, and 2.71 Range Factor. He wasn't a prospect watchers favorite because of his rather unimpressive numbers before AA.

Freddie Freeman, 1B, debuted in majors at 20 years old on September 1, 2010. Played 424 minor league games, and had a .301 AVG, .363 OBA, .835 OPS. Played a full-season at AAA, before getting a September call-up. One advantage that Freeman had is that he was 17 years old when he was drafted out of high school.

Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, debuted in majors at 20 years old on September 1, 2005, the same year he was drafted by the Nats. He played in just 67 minor league games at A and AA before being called up. Had a .326 AVG, .371 OBP, and .898 OPS. At 3B, in 59 games, he made 6 Errors, had a .964 Fld%, and 2.71 Range Factor. Excellent contact rates and solid defense, help make him be a polished product at this young age. Contact rate and defense are 2 things that Castellonos probably needs to improve upon while in the minors.

Adrian Beltre, 3B, debuted at 19 years old on June 24th, 1998. He had just 64 games in at AA when he made the jump to the majors. In the minors, he had played a total of 325 games, had a .306 AVG, .393 OBP, and .943 OPS. At 3b in 310 games, he made 80 errors, with a .912 Fld%, and 2.72 Range Factor. All those errors, who would of thought? Had some ridiculous range though.

Eric Chavez, 3B, debuted at 20 years old on Sept 8, 1998, after splitting a season at AA and AAA. He played a total of 267 minor league games, had .302 AVG, .358 OBP, and .885 OPS. At 3B, in 243 games, he had 53 errors, .927 Fld%, and 2.63 Range Factor.

So what does everyone think?