The deep thinkers who select the rosters for the All-Star break's showcase Futures Game - the intelligentsia of Baseball America, MLB Scouting Bureau and 30 big-league clubs - will lose the political agendas and select the best talent available . . . I know a lot of you follow minor league baseball religiously. And why not? Baseball is the only professional sport with a development system that often takes longer to produce a big-leaguer than the length of the average career in The Show.

So, I hope a lot of you are as steamed as I am at the backhanded slap being delivered to Michael Taylor, the Reading Phillies' massive and massively talented corner outfielder. The Eastern League All-Star is a Triple Crown candidate there and a legitimate five-tool prospect. That's a rare chest of tools for a 6-6, 250-pound athlete having one of the greatest Double A seasons in organization history. This guy is not only knocking on the door, he's about to kick it in.

I've gone over the credentials of the five outfielders selected for the U.S. squad that will take on a team of international prospects. They range from very good to "say what?" None matches Taylor's prolific season for length, breadth and diversity. Just a quick rundown of the numbers of a guy hitting well over .300 on his third straight rung of the minor league ladder: Entering last night's games, Michael led the Eastern League with a .350 average. He was No. 1 in hits (96), runs (53), slugging percentage (.606); No. 2 in homers (15), RBI (58), total bases (166); No. 4 in OBP (.414), No. 2 in triples (four) and No. 6 in stolen bases (14). Oh, and he bobbled a ground-ball single Wednesday for his first error of the season. Double-Oh. He had struck out just 44 times in 274 at-bats. No reports on whether the Stanford alum does the team's taxes, drives the bus or caters the postgame spread. He does, however, lead the Reading Phils in hours spent signing autographs for fans. When I wrote a column on Taylor, I got a thank-you e-mail from the scout who signed him and from a Reading club official praising his interaction with the fans and community. So why would the Phillies want to showcase somebody like this?

When I'm King of the World . . .

It will be fair game to mention Jimmy Rollins in the same breath as Steve Blass, Joe Cowley, Mackey Sasser and others whose muscle memory went on permanent vacation . . . Blass went from 19-game winner in 1972 to Pirates starter who in '73 couldn't hit a 20-foot picket sign if it had the word "strike" written on it. The malady, which ended his career prematurely, became known as "Steve Blass Disease." Joe Cowley pitched a no-hitter for the White Sox. After the Phillies acquired him, Joe lost all concept of the strike zone. He was released with a 33-25 record after going 0-4 for the 1987 Phils and walking 17 hitters in 11 2/3 innings. Mackey Sasser was a Mets catcher who could not throw the ball back to the pitcher without looking like one of Art Carney's routines as Jackie Gleason foil Ed Norton.

It appears Rollins, an athlete who should be virtually slump-proof, is locked in the unforgiving grip of muscle-memory necrosis, beyond coachly help and beyond clueless as to how to break through the one-way mirror that has ensnared his once-considerable batting skills. People ask how I would handle a crisis that has had a profound ripple effect through the struggling ballclub. Do anything but lose his defensive ability, which remains at Gold Glove level. So, I would bury him in the No. 8 hole and let him work it out down there. I didn't realize how serious this was until Charlie Manuel put the Phillies and a victory at risk Saturday in Toronto by failing to insert Rollins for defense with a late lead. An error by jack-of-all-positions, master-of-none Eric Bruntlett put Manuel's bullpen at risk and could have cost them a rare June victory . . .

I'm not quite ready to rub anybody's face in my "wasted pick" implication after the Phillies led their June 2008 draft with multitooled, cathedral-ceilinged Brooklyn infielder Anthony Hewitt. But I cautioned that the prep-school baseball level Hewitt starred in was so bad that even I hit .500 in it 57 years ago with a wood bat. And I was no prospect. Hewitt, who played for Salisbury School, rang up huge numbers against future options traders from the likes of Trinity Pawling, Pomfret, Taft and Hotchkiss. Hewitt foundered in the Gulf Coast League last summer. In March, he was whisked from his big-league spring-training contractual entitlement to the minor league complex. He was held back in extended spring training, joining the injury rehabbers and slow adapters. Well, Hewitt is swimming in the deep end again, playing third at short-season Williamsport. He is batting .140 with seven errors after 12 games. He has one RBI and 16 strikeouts in 43 at-bats. Makes you wonder how much the kid picked up in 4 months of Pro Ball 101 in Clearwater. *

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