Do you know me?

I'm T.J. Rumfield.

I was missing from the Yankees' Top 30 Prospects List the other day. Evidently, ranked behind even 16-year-old kids who have never left the D.R. And even though I ended up batting .292 and hitting 15 homers in just 114 games for the Scranton RailRiders last summer.

Don't believe me? 

Just listen to Jack Rotolo, who wrote this on the LWOS site last August 26th, in an article about the Top 5 players the Yanks were most likely to bring up for the stretch run:

The 24-year-old from Virginia has quietly put together a very solid season in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In 95 Triple-A games, T.J. Rumfield has smacked 12 homers with 59 RBI, not to mention boasting an OPS of .806. He’s also a defensive wiz at first base, winning a Minor League Gold Glove with Double-A Somerset last year.

When Anthony Rizzo fractured his arm in June, the Yanks could have called up Rumfield to replace him. But, they ended up choosing fellow first baseman Ben Rice, who has been on the MLB roster ever since. Both players are lefties with big frames, and they performed similarly in the minors. With Rice’s hot start long gone, the Yankees could very well take the opportunity to see how Rumfield fares at first base before Rizzo returns.

Huh. 

Rice ended up hitting .171 in 50 games, and didn't make the postseason roster, either. Of course, we don't know how T.J. might have hit, compared to Rizzo's 7-30 playoff run, with one double, no ribbies, and 10 Ks performance.

But I'd like you to try a little exercise. Warning: don't do this if you are alone at home.

Close your eyes, and picture that fifth inning in Game 5 of the World Series again. I know it's traumatic just going there—but try. 

Mookie Betts hits his slow roller to first and bursts out of the box. No question about it: he's going to outrun Gerrit "The Pointer" Cole to the bag.

But...a 6-5 "whiz" at first base—a guy who's maybe only hitting .000 in the playoffs so far but is not a walking invalid—charges the ball as he should, scoops it up neatly, and beats Mookie to the bag. 

Thunderous applause. Inning over. Soon, game over, with the Yankees winning handily. Back in LA, with Ohtani's sleeve pinned to his Jersey, the valiant, overextended Dodgers lose in 7. Maybe Anthony Rizzo smacks the Series-clinching homer in Chavez Ravine. 

After which he's replaced by fielding whiz T.J. Rumfield at first, for the bottom of the 9th. Where he gloves the final out for an ecstatic win that erases all the pain of this wretched century (at least when it comes to baseball).

Picture this...but do NOT do it without a loved one at home.  Otherwise, you will soon be picked up, screaming and naked on a street corner, trying to tear your hair out.

You have been warned.