IT'S UNLIKELY THE NEW YORK METS will find Number 7 as lucky in the 2002 major league rookie sweepstakes as the Seattle Mariners did in last year's competition, but you've got to credit them for "rolling the dice."

The Mariners, of course, hit the jackpot in 2001 when they took a chance on Ichiro Suzuki, a Japanese baseball veteran with seven consecutive batting titles in his homeland. All Suzuki did was extend his string of hitting championships to eight in succession by leading the American League with an average of .350 as he captured both the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards.

Now it's the Mets' turn to cash in on a "numbers game." Among their highly-regarded rookie hopefuls is pitcher Satoru Komiyama, a seven-time all-star in Japan who was 12-9 with a 3.03 ERA at Yokohama last season. He has a chance to duplicate Suzuki's additional feat of becoming an all-star in his first U.S. major league season and run his own string in that category to eight. That might not rank with a batting title as an achievement but it would be impressive enough.

At 36, Komiyama may be a bit long in the tooth for a rookie--if he does happen to top N.L. newcomers in 2002, he'll become by far the oldest player to capture the award--but there's no doubt of his eligibility, potential and versatility.

Mets general manager Steve Phillips is exceptionally high on Komiyama who has the dual advantage of being able to succeed in either the starting rotation or the bullpen. He has been effective in both roles during a long career.

"Over there, he's known as the Japanese Greg Maddux," Phillips said. "He has tremendous control and works both sides of the plate. He rarely falls behind in the count."

Yet, even if Komiyama makes good in a big way with the Mets this season, he's sure to have stiff competition for rookie of the year honors. There are many other potential gems among the couple of hundred hopefuls who're displaying their talents--or shortcomings--in spring training in each major league. That becomes clearly evident on studying the team-by-team section of this 2002 edition of Baseball Digest's annual scouting report on top prospects.

Among the most touted novices on rosters are the following: