I was absolutely beside myself with glee after watching the Rays/Marlins game Monday night. The Rays were behind 3-2 late in the game when a walk, a (rare) bunt single and a Seeing Eye infield hit loaded the bases. At that point the Marlins brought in a pitcher who couldn’t come close to finding the plate and eventually walked in two runs. Evan Longoria came up and promptly hit a double down the right field line, plating two and putting the Rays up 6-3.

Troy Percival came in to pitch in the ninth to close out the game but had his own problems finding the plate. Longoria made an absolutely incredible diving catch of a sure hit to save the game for the Rays. I was thrilled. However in two short months I have grown accustomed to Evan Longoria making plays like that.

I remember last winter when the Rays first started to talk about bringing Longoria up to play third base for the ’08 season and moving Akinori Iwamura to second. I wasn’t happy because I thought that Aki was a fine third baseman and why would you want to mess with something that worked. Well it seems that I either have no imagination or no ability to see a finished product from its inception because Aki has turned out to be the best defensive second baseman in the league and only Mike Lowell and Scott Rolen may be better at third than Longoria.

This post was originally intended to be a tribute to “Evan Almighty” (who just hit his 14th home run against the Marlins as I am writing this). But after doing some research on the subject the direction has changed. It changed because as I researched the progress of Rays’ rookie Evan Longoria I discovered that he is not the only rookie in major league baseball that is having an impact with his team.

Joey Votto is hitting .289 with 12 homers and 37 RBIs while playing first base for the Reds.

Jacoby Ellsbury is covering a lot of ground in the Red Sox outfield and leads the league in stolen bases with 34. Justin Masterson is 4-1 with a 3.43 ERA in 7 starts.

The Cubs have Kosuke Fukudome hitting around .300 and scaring the hell out of pitchers with his bat control. Geovany Soto is hitting .280 with 12 homers and 46 RBIs and a .506 slugging average.

The Rangers have David Murphy (a former Red Sox first round pick acquired in the deal that sent Eric Gagne to Boston). He has 10 homers and 51 RBIs and whomever Josh Hamilton doesn’t drive in, he does.

The Braves have Jair Jurrjens with a 7-3 record and a 3.20 ERA.

The Yankees boast Joba Chamberlain and Edwar Ramirez. Chamberlain has been effective out of the bullpen setting up Rivera and has recently shown he can be an effective and dominating starter. Ramirez has been one of the most effective pitchers the Yankees have coming out of the bullpen.

The Orioles have Jim Johnson in the bullpen with a 1.29 ERA in 30 appearances.

The Blue Jays have Jesse Carlson in the bullpen with a 1.73 ERA in 35 appearances.

The Cardinals have Kyle McClendon in the bullpen with a 2.45 ERA in 37 games with 16 Holds.

The Athletics have Joey Devine and Greg Smith doing fine work with Devine coming in from the pen and Smith a regular in the rotation.

Aaron Laffey has started 11 games for the Indians and has a 2.83 ERA. Masa Kobayashi has been the workhorse out of the bullpen with 37 appearances and a 3.23 ERA.

The Twins have started Nick Blackburn 15 times this year and he hasn’t disappointed with a 6-4 record and a 3.68 ERA.

How does Longoria compare with all these guys? As I write this he is hitting .262 with 14 homers and 43 RBIs. His fielding percentage is right behind Scott Rolen and just ahead of Mike Lowell.

I get to watch Evan Longoria every day. He has made an incredible difference to the Tampa Bay Rays this season and he seems to get better every day. If you get to watch Fukudome or Ellsbury or Votto or Murphy or Soto every day then I would assume you have the same feelings about them as I have about Evan “Almighty”, and I don’t blame you. These are all players that you can base your hopes on.

It may be my imagination and that may be because I never really paid any attention to it but it appears to me that this is the best crop of rookies that MLB has seen in quite some time.