Third base solution?

Let's do a little prospect watching and rosterbation. I'm going to consider the cases of two top prospects.

Mr. 2007 is a 3B, drafted in the 1st Round (12th overall) of the 2007 draft as a high school graduate. He played a short stint in rookie ball during his draft year, but essentially, his first full season was the next year, where he played A-ball. Here's his line as an 18-year old kid in A-ball:

2008 (A ball): 345AB, 102H, 16 2B, 18 HR, .296 / .354 / .499 AVG/OBP/SLG

Three years later, Mr. 2010 is a 3B, drafted in the supplemental round (44th) overall of the 2010 draft as a high school graduate. Same story: He played a short stint in rookie ball during his draft year, but essentially, his first full season was the next year, where he played A-ball. Here's his line as a 19-year old kid in A-ball

2011 (A ball): 562AB, 158H, 36 2B, 7 HR, .312 / .367 / .436 AVG/OBP/SLG

The stories are very similar and the stat lines tell a similar story as well. Both players had good showings in their first full professional season. Mr. 2007 exhibited more HR power while most of Mr. 2010's extra base hits were doubles. Other than that, most of the other stats comp pretty well; good average with a little on-base ability to complement the average. Defensively, Mr. 2007 has historically been evaluated as a strong defensive player at 3B. Mr. 2010 is adequate defensively at 3B, but some scouts have theorized that he may ultimately move to the OF in the majors.

Let's look at the time frame. With very similar stories and stats, we essentially have two versions of the same player. Essentially, Mr. 2007 is Mr. 2010's ghost of baseball future. Maybe Mr. 2010 can look at Mr. 2007 and see what will come about if things go unchanged? Well, we can look at how Mr. 2007 has done; he probably hasn't developed quite as well as his parent club had hoped. His 2008 season is listed above. Here's the next three:

2009 (A+ / AA): 478AB, 118H, 32 2B, 13 HR, .247 / .325 / .400
2010 (AA): 504AB, 34 2B, 14 HR, .252, / .333 / .411
2011 (AA, AAA) 358AB, 89H, 18 2B, 12 HR, .249 / .309 / .405

Mr. 2007 has had some injury issues, but has essentially turned into a .250 / .325 / .400 sort of guy as he's advanced with a fairly systematic progression. He's headed into his age 22 season as a former top prospect who's still got a strong defensive reputation and still hits for decent power, but his average and (consequentially) OBP have dipped at the higher levels. The tools that got him drafted as a 12th overall pick are still there, but that low average has taken some of his shine off. He's pretty close to MLB ready.

In the Tiger's organization, I think he'd be a favorite to take over the job sometime in 2012. As fans, we'd be ready to hand him the job since even a .250 / .325 / .400 line with good defense is better than we're expecting out of Inge/Kelly. We'd assume that even if he didn't hit for a big average in 2012, he's certainly young enough to improve and the tools are all there. Given four or five years of team control, we'd be settled at 3B for a while.

Mr. 2007 is Matt Dominguez of the Miami Marlins, who have a new (sort of) 3B named Hanley Ramirez locked up for the next three seasons. Mr. 2010 is obviously Nick Castellanos. I bet the Marlins would love to have Castellanos, with an ETA of 2015 instead of Dominguez, who's now taking up a 40-man roster spot with nowhere to go. As for 2012 and 2013, I bet the Tigers parent club would rather have Dominguez, the older and more-ready version of Castellanos.

I know as fans, we have high hopes for our prospects, Castellanos in particular. During his first professional season, he did nothing to disappoint us except strike out a bit much (which we all assume will improve) and not hit for much power (which we all say will come when he fills out). I'm sure that many of us have visions of a player in 2015 that will be better than this 2012 projection of Matt Dominguez, but it's a swap I'd consider making 1-for-1. There's a chance that Castellanos could develop exactly as Dominguez has, where part of his game falls off instead of improves. There's a lot of development between Nick Castellanos and the majors. There's always a good chance of a roadblock when the path to the majors is so long. I love Castellanos, but I think I'd make the swap. Perhaps I'll get butchered, but what does everyone think?