Cord

Sandberg

The 19-year-old has now hit safely in each of his first 10 games to begin the season, and he’s batting .395/.435/.628 with five extra-base hits, nine RBI and three steals during that span. Selected in the third round of the 2013 draft, Sandberg struggled last summer in his professional debut in the Gulf Coast League, as he batted .207/.313/.272 with six extra-base hits in 48 games and a respectable 36-24 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Phillies lured him away from a football scholarship with a well above-slot signing bonus, so it’ll be interesting to see how he fares over the rest of the season now that he’s focused only on baseball.

Sandberg, the Phillies third round pick in the 2013 draft, has the potential to hit 20-plus home runs while hitting .280. He is raw, as is common with multi-sport athletes coming out of high school. He has at least three years before he has a chance to see the major leagues, but hopefully the Phillies won’t trade him for the son of Ivan de Jesus.

He went 2-for-4 with four RBI. The 20-year-old has been a different hitter in the second half with a .318 average and 30 RBI in 176 post All-Star at-bats. Before the break, he was hitting just .217 with an ugly .283 slugging percentage. Nine of Sandberg’s 47 RBI have come in his last seven games.