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Name drop an MLB player who you liked that never "made it"


Goo Punch

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Sixto Lezcano faded to quickly.  Thought he'd be a prominent feature of the 1980's.  

Having grown up around Wrigley...I thought between Dwight Smith and Jerome Walton, one or both would hit it big.  Guys finish 1-2 in the ROY voting.  Lead the Cubs in the playoffs.  Within a few years, both are on other squads and then gone from baseball entirely.  I thought the Cubs outfield would be an empire for the 1990's.  Instead we got fucking Doug Descenzo.  

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I have followed the Astros farm system very closely since 2008.  3 guys from their farm I thought for sure would be good MLB players who turned out to be busts:

OF Andrew Aplin: left handed CF who was a 5th rd pick from UA who was an excellent defensive player and didn’t strike out much.  One of the best defensive CF I’ve ever seen in person.  Thought he’d be a fringey starting CF at worst but wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d become a star player.  In the end he couldn’t make enough quality contact to keep pitchers honest and flamed out in AAA.

IF Jonathan Arauz: versatile defensive player who the Astros acquired as part of the Ken Giles trade.  He held his own as a 20 year old in AA and looked like he had hidden power.  Got exposed to the rule 5 draft and was picked by Boston in 2020 and was up and down last season, but he’s been replacement level in the majors.  He’s only 23 so he might still break out but I thought for sure he’d be a good mlb player.

C JR Towles: Had gotten a September call up in 2007 and kicked ass.  Since the Astros farm was totally barren at the time he got a lot of hype.  I figured at a minimum he’d be a complement to Ausmus and one of the better hitting Astros catchers ever.   But he only played 155 mlb games and was below replacement level.

I also thought Brian Bogusevic would be very good in the majors.  He wasn’t.

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40 minutes ago, Ojo Rojo said:

Matt Anderson.  Former Tigers pitcher.  I happened to catch a couple of games he pitched in '98 and he hit 103 on the gun, which impressed me. He was never as good as his rookie season.

103, straight as an arrow, with no command.

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2 hours ago, Horn80 said:

This.  I called him The Natural and thought for sure he would have a major league HOF career.

Lulz.  I'm trying to think of college 2-way players who went on to have a ML career worthy of HOF consideration.  I got Posey and McGwire, and now I'm stumped.  Edit: Is it too early to add deGrom?

 

Edited by Beau Vine
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  • 3 months later...
On 3/20/2022 at 6:18 AM, Guest Lobo said:

Having grown up around Wrigley...I thought between Dwight Smith and Jerome Walton, one or both would hit it big.  Guys finish 1-2 in the ROY voting.  Lead the Cubs in the playoffs.  Within a few years, both are on other squads and then gone from baseball entirely.  I thought the Cubs outfield would be an empire for the 1990's.  Instead we got fucking Doug Descenzo.  

Well, ol’ Lobo won’t be around to see this. 

 

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^ And now look what he does. 

Quote

The idea as reinvented is to take four MLB “legends” (their term, not ours), Johnny Gomes, Geovany Soto, Adrian Gonzalez, and Nick Swisher, and form teams representing the scandalously underexposed Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, and Guardians … err, Cubs. Then you sign on “superstars” (their term, not ours) from the softball and women’s baseball fields: Paige Halstead, Erika Piancastelli, Ashton Lansdell and Alex Hugo (who is not, in case you were wondering, the burned-out Marseille cop in the eponymous French TV series). 

https://defector.com/mlbs-traveling-home-run-derby-is-very-dumb-possibly-fun/

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On 7/24/2022 at 8:30 AM, Pimphand said:

Dustin Majewski he was so boss for us I figured he has to make the show and nope not even a hint of a call up.

I remember back in ‘05 the commentators were making it seem as if Maroul would be on the fast track to the majors. He was fantastic during that run, but it was a bit over the top. I think it was those same commentators that force fed us hundreds of fucking “rudy” references in our two games against asu in ‘09..

Speaking of notable two-way players, I know Mike Leake didn’t do it much at asu but he was an outstanding college player and a solid pro, whom I believe skipped the minors altogether. I’ll never forget my utter disbelief when Texas chased his ass after spotting him a six-run lead early and Augie delivered his famous speech as the defense came off the field. He was arguably the best pitcher in the nation that year. 

Anyway, I’m not sure if he has been mentioned, or if he even qualifies, as I don’t think he was ever called up either, but Jason Stokes was the first name I thought of. That guy had serious power in high school and I think he got off to a decent start before injuries took a toll on his career. I could be totally wrong about that though.

  • Hook 'Em 1
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