Oscar Taveras: Fans and team should not give up on prospect just yet

Back in May, prior to the St. Louis Cardinals promoting hot prospect Oscar Taveras the first time, I wrote an article over at CardinalsFarm.com warning fans not to place too high of expectations on the youngster and that fans, media and the Cardinals themselves should learn from past experiences with hot-shot outfield phenoms.

Both J.D. Drew and Colby Rasmus were run out of town rather quickly even though neither were particularly bad with the Cardinals.  But neither of them lived up to expectations either.

So far, Taveras has underwhelmed to say the least in a small sample size.  But even though the sample size is small (OT has just 85 plate appearances after singling in a pinch-hitting role in the ninth inning of Tuesday night's loss to Tampa), some fans, and possibly even the manager, are already giving up on this talent.

There have been some unruly fans that have already proclaimed that Taveras is not worth the hype, and of course that is a short-term, knee-jerk reaction that is typical of the new-age of Cardinals fans that can be as annoying as our "friends" in Boston.

Other fans (I think a majority based on the reaction to an ill-advised Matheny quote prior to Tuesday's game) get it. It may take some time for Taveras to work out the kinks and adjust to MLB pitching.  It will also take some regular playing time.

Hopefully the manager gets it too and jumps on board.  Hopefully he will become as patient with Taveras as he is with some others (no need to name any names, we know handful of guys I am speaking of) and get Taveras involved more often.

Taveras had no chance to live up to the expectations placed upon him by everyone involved (myself included), but he does deserve a chance to at least try and get there before fans want to run him out of town.