One of my daughter’s favorite TV shows is the VH1 series “I Love the 90s” which makes sense since she was born in 1990 so the pop culture of that era contributed largely to her formative years (and my midlife formative years — yeah, I love the Spice Girls — wanna make something of it?).

The three most prominent blue chip prospects in this week’s crop of big league debuts were also born in 1990.

While I’m not sure that Atlanta Braves flamethrower Arodys Vizcaino, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Henderson Alvarez or Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez also grew up singing “so tell me what you want, what you really really want,” I still find this coincidence especially fitting since this week we are celebrating a huge milestone in the Palace.

Princess Dana, aka Dana Wells (http://www.danawellsmusic.com, check her out) is flying the palace coop and making the move 2000 miles west to West Hollywood to pursue her career as a singer-songwriter. So, yeah, that’s why the column is coming out a little bit earlier than usual. I’ve got a lot on my mind and my virtual plate.

Here she is, spanning the years as a baseball and Spice Girls fan, sometimes by choice, sometimes not so much:

In our backyard in Woodbridge, Va., a stone’s throw from the home stadium of the then-Prince William Cannons:



In Port St. Lucie, Fla., interviewing Mike Piazza for a Nickelodeon GAS feature on “Take Your Daughter To Work Day”:



Spice Girls 4-Evah! (Southern Maryland Blue Crabs fans may recognize one of her fellow Spice Girls, Laura Richards, the team’s assistant trainer in 2010!)



Finally won over to the ways of the majors just in time to leave an apartment walking distance from Fenway Park, Dana (in the Red Sox t-shirt) and her friend Lauren at a Boston Red Sox game this past June.



And now with no further ado, the players who really really wanna be a zigazag ah. Or whatever it is they’re singing there.

HENDERSON ALVAREZ
RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
B/T: R/R H/W: 6-0/190 BORN: April 18, 1990
ACQUIRED: Signed as a free agent out of Venezuela Oct. 17, 2006
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Double-A New Hampshire Aug. 9 when P Wil Ledezma was outrighted.
DEBUT: Aug. 10 in an 8-4 win against the Oakland Athletics: The starting pitcher, he did not factor in the decision, pitching 5 2/3 innings and allowing three runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out four. He gave up one homer.
NOTES: A two-time Futures Game participant, Alvarez repped his native Venezuela this summer and last, and came into his debut with an 8-4 record and 2.86 ERA in 15 games at Double-A New Hampshire, where he’d fanned 66 while walking just 17 in 88 innings. He’d begun the summer with a brief stop at Advanced-A Dunedin, where he appeared in two games. Throwing a fastball in the low-mid 90s which has gained heat as he’s matured, his stuff still needs a little more refining but at just-turned-21, that should come with time. He posted a 4.33 ERA at Dunedin in 2010 and a 3.47 at Class A Lansing in ’09, a summer during which he participated in the midsummer Midwest League All-Star Game.

SALVADOR PEREZ
C, Kansas City Royals
B/T: R/R H/W: 6-3/175 BORN: May 10, 1990
ACQUIRED: Signed as a free agent out of Venezuela.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Double-A Northwest Arkansas Aug. 10 when P Kyle Davies was released.
DEBUT: Aug. 10 in an 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays: The starting catcher, he batted seventh and went 1-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI, coming on a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.
NOTES: Considered the top defensive catcher in the organization, Perez threw out 42 percent of opposing baserunners in 2010 at Advanced-A Wilmington, where he hit .290 with seven homers and 53 RBI. This year, spent mostly at Northwest Arkansas (with a handful of games at Triple-A Omaha), he hit .283 with nine homers and 43 RBI before his promotion and batted a combined .283 coming into 2011. His addition to the amazing young Kansas City crop points more and more towards a potential juggernaut there for years to come, and with the Major League All-Star Game scheduled there for 2012, don’t be surprised to see several of this organization’s exciting young players get to shine on a national stage.

ARODYS VIZCAINO
RHP, Atlanta Braves
B/T: R/R H/W: 6-0/190 BORN: Nov. 13, 1990
ACQUIRED: Via trade from the New York Yankees in Dec. 09 with Melky Cabrera and Mike Dunn for P Javier Vazquez.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Double-A Mississippi Aug. 10 when P Scott Proctor was outrighted.
DEBUT: Aug. 10 in a 6-2 win against the Florida Marlins: The third of four pitchers, he walked two and fanned one in two-thirds of a shutout inning.
NOTES: Brought up to bolster bullpen down stretch but with “everyday Jonny” Venters and top NL Rookie of the Year candidate Craig Kimbrel (IMHO he should be a lock for the honor if people were voting today) anchoring the back end, look for Vizcaino to return to his accustomed starting role next year. Not that he doesn’t have the stuff to be a closer — he flashed his lively mid-90s fastball and hammer curve in the 2011 Futures Game. But back in July, after watching the Futures Game, I tweeted the prediction that Vizcaino and Texas Rangers shortstop phenom Jurickson Profar would be 2013 NL and AL Rookies of the Year, respectively. Could Vizcaino accelerate that progress by a year? His 2010 season was shortened by a torn ligament which limited him to just 17 games and a 2.74 ERA between two Class A stops at Rome and Myrtle Beach. This summer he started the year at Advanced A Lynchburg (2.45 in nine starts) and moved up to Double-A Mississippi (3.81 as a starter) before easing into a bullpen role at Gwinnett (1.29) for a combined 3.06 ERA and 100 strikeouts against 28 walks in 97 innings. In three pro seasons coming into 2011, he’d limited batters to a .228 average.

“Older” guys who also made their big league debuts this week:

JAMES DARNELL
3B, San Diego Padres
B/T: R/R H/W: 6-2/195 BORN: Jan. 19, 1987
ACQUIRED: Selected in the second round of 2008 out of South Carolina
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Triple-A Tucson Aug. 8 when 3B Chase Headley went on the DL.
DEBUT: Aug. 9 in a 5-4 loss to the New York Mets: The starting third baseman, he batted seventh and went 0-for-4
NOTES: Darnell, like Alvarez, played in the 2011 Futures Game as well as the Texas League All-Star Game this summer prior to his promotion. Hitting .333 at San Antonio and .272 after a promotion to Tucson, he combined between the two stops for 23 homers and 75 RBI. He’d struggled in his first move up to Double-A but came around due in large part to a great work ethic. Bringing a .298 average over three seasons into 2011, he hit .265 with 10 homers and 50 RBI for the Missions in 2010 after hitting .329 at Class A Fort Wayne and .294 at Advanced-A Lake Elsinore in 2009, combining between the two stops for 20 homers and 81 RBI. In his brief pro debut at short-season Eugene in 2008 after signing, he hit .373 in 16 games.

GARRETT RICHARDS
RHP, Los Angeles Angels
B/T: R/R H/W: 6-3/210 BORN: May 27, 1988
ACQUIRED: Selected in the supplemental first-round (42nd overall) of the 2009 draft out of Oklahoma.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Double-A Arkansas Aug. 10 when P Horacio Ramirez was sent down.
DEBUT: Aug. 10 in a 9-3 loss to the New York Yankees: The starting pitcher, he took the loss, giving up six runs on six hits in five innings, walking two and fanning two while giving up a pair of homers to Curtis Granderson.
NOTES: A Texas League All-Star this year and a Midwest League All-Star in 2010, Richards has shone since making his pro debut at short-season Orem in 2009 with a 1.53 ERA in eight starts, walking just four in 35 innings while walking 30. Those walk:strikeout numbers would be consistent the next few years with a 3.41 ERA at Class A Cedar Rapids and a 3.89 ERA at Advanced A at Rancho Cucamonga in 2010, combining for 149 strikeouts in 143 innings, walking 43, and a 12-2 record and 3.06 ERA to go with 100 strikeouts in 141 innings, walking 40, this year before his promotion. He also had three complete games to his credit. Richards throws a plus fastball in the mid-90s with good sink, a slider, a 12-6 curveball and an occasional changeup. … Oh, and I think it’s perfect that a player with the last name “Richards” made his debut since Dana’s best friends and fellow Spice Girls in crime are also named Richards.

JUSTIN SELLERS
SS, Los Angeles Dodgers
B/T: R/R H/W: 5-10/155 BORN: Feb. 1, 1986
ACQUIRED: Via trade from the Chicago Cubs in April 2009.
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Triple-A Albuquerque Aug. 12 when SS Dee Gordon went on the DL.
DEBUT: Aug. 12 in a 1-0 10-inning win against the Houston Astros: The starting shortstop, he batted eighth and went 0-for-3.
NOTES: Originally drafted by the Oakland Athletics out of Cal State-Fullerton in the sixth round of 2005 and dealt to the Chicago Cubs in February 2009, he was traded to the Dodgers just two months later but did not really hit the radar until last year when he started to flash his power at Albuquerque. In fact, after hitting just 17 homers total in his first five years, he has hit 28 in the last one-plus seasons with the Isotopes, batting .304 with 14 home runs and 49 RBI in his 89 games before his callup.

HENRY SOSA
RHP, Houston Astros
B/T: R/R H/W: 6-1/200 BORN: July 28, 1985
ACQUIRED: Via trade from the San Francisco Giants on July 19, 2011, for IF Jeff Keppinger
PROMOTED: Contract purchased from Triple-A Oklahoma City Aug. 10 when P Wesley Wright was sent down.
DEBUT: Aug. 10 in a 6-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks: The starting pitcher, he took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits in six innings, walking three and fanning four. He also gave up a homer and hit Miguel Montero with a pitch.
NOTES: Signed by the Giants out of the Dominican Republic in 2004, Sosa made four stops this year, two at Triple-A — Fresno and Oklahoma City — and two at Double-A — Richmond and Corpus Christi. Combined among the four, he went 10-3 with a 4.53 ERA and in his lone start for the Astros’ Triple-A Redhawks he tossed seven innings of shutout ball. He becomes the ninth player and fifth pitcher to make his major league debut with Houston this season, after bringing a combined 3.48 ERA over seven seasons into 2011. Known for his electric arm and plus fastball, he continues to work on refining his secondary stuff.