In the decisive fifth game of the NLDS between the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals on Friday night, 22-year-old Trevor Rosenthal once again melted faces and missed bats with his third straight dominant appearance out of the Cardinals’ bullpen.

A 21^st-round draft pick in 2009, the right-hander truly came into his own this season for Double-A Springfield, posting a 2.78 ERA, 6.4 H/9, 7.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 17 starts spanning 94 innings. The Cardinals promoted Rosenthal from Double-A to the major leagues in mid-July, where he worked as a reliever exclusively. As a starter, his fastball consistently sits in the mid-90s with considerable sink, and he’s adept to cutting it, as well. His secondary offerings consist of a sharp, late-breaking downer curveball and solid-average changeup, though he’s rarely thrown the latter given his role. During the regular season, Rosenthal registered a 2.78 ERA, 5.6 H/9, 9.9 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9 in 22 2/3 innings over 19 appearances with the Cardinals. He thrived during the final two weeks of the season, even tallying seven consecutive scoreless outings headed into the postseason. Most importantly, his late-season success carried into the NLDS, where allowed only one hit over three appearances (3 1/3 innings). Not only did the right-hander get crucial outs with the game on the line, he did it in style by fanning six of the 11 batters he faced. Out of the bullpen, Rosenthal’s arsenal is simply electric. His average fastball during the regular season was 98.71 mph, which ranked fourth among all relievers. (He trailed Kelvin Herrera, Carter Capps and Aroldis Chapman, in that order.) In Game 5, facing the heart of the Nationals’ order, Rosenthal needed only 16 pitches to retire Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman and Adam LaRoche. Amazingly, seven of those pitches (all four-seam fastballs) registered at 100 mph—Ryan Zimmerman’s three-pitch strikeout is pictured above via MLB.com’s GameCast. There’s no other way to put it: the Nats’ best hitters were utterly helpless against Rosenthal. Here’s a GIF of the unhittable breaking ball that he threw to strikeout Harper: And here’s a look at the final triple-digit fastball he threw to Ryan Zimmerman for the second out of the inning. While the images above clearly highlight his future as a big league reliever, the majority of his value will come as a starter. After their respective seasons across both the minor and major leagues, I honestly believe that Rosenthal has a higher ceiling than Shelby Miller as a starting pitcher.

I play in a couple of fantasy baseball leagues, and with just a third of the season left, my team in the Denslow Cup, a league that Mike, Griff, and I play in alongside many of our friends from college and high school, is tied for first place.  Because the last two pieces I have written have been a little intense, and since I’m about to head to Opening Night at Ricketts, I think something a little more light-hearted is in order.  So, without further ado, here is the CMWS fantasy team that I’d like to own if there ever was a CMWS fantasy league and the only restriction on eligibility is that players have to have played in at least one CMWS.

Catcher: Mike Matheny

Matheny won a national title with Midland in 1989 after which he took his talent to the University of Michigan, where he captained.  He played 13 Major League seasons and is currently the manager of the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.  He won four Golden Gloves and an N.L. pennant.

1B: Eric Hosmer

Hosmer played in three CMWS (with Florida in 2006 and Midland in 2007 and 2008) and won the 2007 MVP following the Redskins earning of yet another title.  He was taken third overall and is currently starting at first for the Royals in his second Major League season.

2B: Jemile Weeks

This one is tricky because a rule that I just made up is that the player must have played the position during the CMWS.  That comes into play here as certain players have played short in the CMWS and now are at second professionally or collegiately.  Weeks was a member of the 2004 Florida Bombers and was taken 12^th overall by the A’s after a stellar career as a Miami Hurricane.  He debuted with Oakland 13 months ago and should stick around the Big Leagues for along time.

3B: Sean Burroughs

Burroughs was a member of the Orange County Dodgers, 1997’s runner-up.  He went 9^th so San Diego the following year, won an Olympic gold medal in 2000, and debuted in the show in 2002.  He was one of baseball’s top prospects for years, had a lot of off-field trouble, and has recently been released, but he was really, really good as an amateur.

SS: Stephen Drew

Drew was a member of the East Cobb Yankees in 2001, the eventual champions.  Because of his bloodlines, there was a tremendous amount of hype surrounding him.  Shortstop is a tough position to really select just one guy.  Even in recent years, Manny Machado, Deven Marrero, Gordon Beckham, and Danny Espinosa have played short at Ricketts.  Drew went 15^th overall, was an All-American at Florida State, and is currently in his seventh season with Arizona.  Cal Ripken Jr. was left off of the team primarily because he went in the second round and was not regarded as highly as a teenager as he is now.

OF: Ken Griffey Jr., Cameron Maybin, Manny Ramirez

Griffey is arguably the best outfielder of the last 50 years, so he needs no explanation.  Ramirez is the same way but for left fielders.  Maybin won an MVP with Midland and went 10^th overall.  He currently plays for the Padres and is in his 6^th MLB season.

Utility: Gordon Beckham

Beckham won the MVP at the 2005 CMWS as East Cobb’s SS.  He was an All-American at Georgia and went 8^th overall in 2008.  Since this is a fantasy team, and since he currently plays 2B for the White Sox, the added positional flexibility he gives my team makes him all the more valuable.

P: Roy Halladay

P: Barry Zito

P: Dylan Bundy

Since he’s the only one without a long and illustrious MLB career on my list, I think this video says where he’s headed pretty clearly.

P: Zack Greinke

P: Duane Ward

Had to get a local guy in somewhere.

I think I’d win with a team like this.

In celebration of Mike Trout‘s 21st birthday, here is a video of him playing on a god-awful field as a high school senior:

Courtesy of my employer.