Cut4 Prospect Guide: The lightning quick, Billy Hamilton-esque Wes Rogers

The world of the Minor Leagues is fun, strange and endlessly entertaining. Like a lost C.S. Lewis novel, the lower ranks of pro baseball are filled with the craziest food, weirdest uniforms and, oh yeah, the future All-Stars and Hall of Famers. But while the top prospects get plenty of love over at MLB.com/Pipeline, there are lots of players who don't quite get their due. Today we aim to change that, at least for Wes Rogers.

While we tend to focus on 100-mph fastballs and 400-foot dingers, it's easy to forget about the sublime excitement in watching a speedy ballplayer fly around the bases. It's like watching the world on fast-forward or, my favorite scene in "X-Men: Days of Future Past."

It's also the closet thing that baseball has to the story of David vs. Goliath. After all, isn't watching the diminuitive (by baseball standards, not real-life standards) Billy Hamilton fly around the bases with the pitcher and defense powerless to stop him not the most fun you can have from your couch?

Which is why you may have your new favorite prospect: The Rockies' Wes Rogers. A fourth round draft pick by the Rockies in 2014, the 6-foot-3, 180 pounds Rogers, ranked 26th in the Rockies system with shades of Dexter Fowler attributed to him, has been an unstoppable force on the basepaths this season. After stealing 15 bags in 30 games in his professional debut last season, the 21-year-old Rogers has stepped it up with a torrid 44 in 68 games. That's a 105 stolen base pace in a 162 game season.

Compare that to Hamilton, the Major League stolen base leader, who has 41 stolen bases in 72 games this season. 

Of course, you may be saying: "That's the Major League level. The pitchers are better. The catchers are better. And the bases are all booby trapped." And fine, you may have a point -- except for that last one, which isn't a thing. 

So let's look to 2012, when Hamilton was also 21-years-old and he split the season between Class-A Advanced and Double-A. That year, Hamilton stole 155 bases while capturing the hearts and minds of Americans who had forgotten how beautiful the stolen base could be. At the same time, he was caught 37 times, good for an 81 percent stolen base success rate. 

Compare that to Rogers' this year. With 44 steals in 48 attemps, Rogers is successful in 92 percent of his attempts. In Major League history, only five players have stolen 50 or more bases with a higher success rate. He's somehow been even better in June, going 13-for-13 in stolen base attempts.

However, there are stolen bases and then there is game speed. Like when Rogers tripled on a line drive to the shortstop. 

And if you're wondering just how low to the ground that liner was, watch as the umpire has to bail out: 

Of course, he has some power, too. While his frame is slight, just watch how he muscles up on the ball. With six home runs over the first 98 professional games, he has shown more than enough power to keep pitchers honest and infielders from bunching up around home plate. 

With offense on the decline and teams like the Royals realizing the value that speedy, basestealing outfielders have, if Rogers can keep motoring around the bases, we should hopefully see him burn through the Minors soon. After all, speed never slumps.