Knuckle Curve » baseball prospects http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve Major League Baseball News from Spring Training to the World Series Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:12:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Where Are They Now: Top Prospects of ‘98, #81-90 http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/where-are-they-now-top-prospects-of-98-81-90/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/where-are-they-now-top-prospects-of-98-81-90/#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:44:47 +0000 Geoff Young http://www.knucklecurve.com/where-are-they-now-top-prospects-of-98-81-90/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> The year is 1998. Alex Rodriguez and Roberto Alomar homer to help lead the American League to victory in the All-Star Game at Coors Field. Larry Doby and Don Sutton are inducted into the Hall of Fame. Pat Burrell is the first pick in the amateur draft, while the #50 pick is an outfielder out of New Caney High School in Texas who hit five home runs and stole 32 bases as a senior: his name is Adam Dunn.

In our first installment, we revisited the careers of Orlando Cabrera and Geoff Jenkins, as well as others who didn’t enjoy their level of success. This time we find a similar mix of studs and duds. To the names:

  1. Derrick Gibson, OF, Colorado Rockies. Dripping with tools, but lacking in skills need to use them, Gibson batted .286/.327/.449 over 52 plate appearances in 1998 and 1999. For as big and strong as he was, Gibson never put up monster numbers once he got out of A-ball. Lack of plate discipline was his primary downfall, as he averaged just 32 walks per 500 plate appearances in the minors. He last played in 2005 in the Atlanta Braves system and owns a .279/.325/.465 career line over 11 minor-league seasons.
  2. Gil Meche, RHP, Seattle Mariners. Regular readers know that I lampooned the Royals’ December 2006 signing of Meche, but the fact is, the guy has a big-league career. Between injuries and ineffectiveness, he’s had exactly one good season in seven. Meche owns a career record of 64-57 with a 4.44 ERA. His ERA+ is 101, or roughly league average, and his list of top comps through age 28 includes Jason Schmidt and a lot of mid-rotation types: Joel Pineiro, Jason Marquis, Todd Stottlemyre, etc.
  3. Javier Vazquez, RHP, Montreal Expos. I know some very smart people who looked at Vazquez’ 2001 season (particularly his gaudy peripheral numbers) and assumed that at age 24, he was on his way to even bigger and better things. It didn’t work out that way, of course, but he’s been a solid big-league starter for a decade now. Vazquez has made 32 or more starts every year except 1999 (when he had “only” 26 starts), and is 115-113 with a 4.28 ERA (105 ERA+) for his career.
  4. David Ortiz, 1B, Minnesota Twins. The Seattle Mariners traded Ortiz, then known as David Arias, to the Twins for Dave Hollins in September 1996. After a few decent years in Minnesota, Ortiz appeared to have a breakout season in 2002, at age 26, when he hit .272/.339/.500. The Twins did what any team starved for hitting would do and released Ortiz that December. The Boston Red Sox snatched him up and he’s been one of the best hitters of our generation ever since.
  5. Nelson Lara, RHP, Florida Marlins. Lara began pitching professionally in 1995, at age 16. Poor control (6.94 BB/9 over 349 minor-league innings) kept him from reaching the Show. Lara last pitched in affiliated pro ball in 2002, mostly with the High-A San Jose Giants. He also spent some time with Trois-Rivieres in the indy Canadian League the following year, before disappearing altogether.
  6. Juan Melo, SS, San Diego Padres. Wow, a young Padres shortstop who never made it. Those are hard to find, kind of like water in the ocean. On September 7, 2000, while with the San Francisco Giants, Melo singled to center against the Padres’ Carlos Almanzar to drive home the final run of a 13-0 victory over his former team. That was his only big-league hit. Now 31 years old, Melo spent 2007 playing for the Nationals’ Double-A club in Harrisburg. He owns a .282/.324/.409 career line in 4892 minor-league plate appearances, and has also played in Taiwan and the independent Golden Baseball League.
  7. Todd Dunwoody, OF, Florida Marlins. Dunwoody was a toolsy outfielder out of an Indiana high school who drew comparisons to Brady Anderson and Todd Hollandsworth. Unfortunately he had no concept of the strike zone and hit just .233/.277/.348 in 948 plate appearances from 1997 to 2002. In 2005, his final season as a player, Dunwoody batted .247/.290/.370 in 96 games with the Twins’ Triple-A club in Rochester. The following year he served as hitting coach for the Midwest League’s South Bend Silver Hawks, an Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate.
  8. Chris Reitsma, RHP, Boston Red Sox. What a long, strange trip it’s been for Reitsma. The former first-round pick missed significant chunks of time in the minors due to injuries, was taken by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1999 Rule V draft, given back to Boston the following March, traded to the Cincinnati Reds that August for an aging Dante Bichette. In Cincy, Reitsma was a decent starter for two years, then a decent reliever for one. He’s been hurt for much of the past two seasons. In 338 big-league games, Reitsma owns a 32-46 record, with a 4.70 ERA (93 ERA+) and 37 saves. His most comparable pitcher through age 29 is Dan Miceli.
  9. Valerio de los Santos, LHP, Milwaukee Brewers. A hard-throwing left hander with command and injury issues, de los Santos spent parts of eight seasons in the big leagues, mostly with the Brewers. He last pitched at Triple-A Charlotte (Chicago White Sox) in 2006. De Los Santos finished his big-league career with a 9-12 record and a 4.54 ERA (95 ERA+) over 233 career appearances.
  10. Jeff Wallace, LHP, Pittsburgh Pirates. Wallace was a more extreme version of de los Santos. Live arm, spotty command and health. In four big-league seasons he went 3-3 with a 4.20 ERA (108 ERA+) over 119 appearances. Wallace last pitched for Triple-A Pawtucket (Red Sox) in 2002, at the ripe old age of 26.

There you have it. Next time we’ll take a look at a late-blooming third baseman, a solid catcher and starting pitcher, and a whole lot of disappointment. Until then…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/where-are-they-now-top-prospects-of-98-81-90/feed/ 5 Where Are They Now: Top Prospects of ‘98, #91-100 http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/where-are-they-now-top-prospects-of-98-91-100/ http://www.everyjoe.com/knucklecurve/where-are-they-now-top-prospects-of-98-91-100/#comments Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:09:16 +0000 Geoff Young http://www.knucklecurve.com/where-are-they-now-top-prospects-of-98-91-100/ Post from: Knuckle Curve

]]> Ten years doesn’t seem so long ago. The Big Lebowski hit the silver screen, That ’70s Show debuted on TV, and Baseball America released its list of top 100 prospects for 1998.

Lebowski became a cult classic, while That ’70s Show has seen its share of success over the years. But how about those prospects? What ever happened to them?

Thanks to the magic of the Internet, we now have instant access to all BA top 100 lists dating back to 1990. Over the next several weeks, we’ll revisit the top prospects of 1998 and see how they fared.

Our first installment covers the bottom 10:

  1. Dennys Reyes, LHP, Cincinnati Reds. The stocky southpaw never made it as a starter, but has enjoyed sporadic success as a situational reliever. Reyes is 29-32 wth a 4.43 ERA in 460 appearances over 11 seasons, including a Murphy-esque fluke with the Minnesota Twins in 2006.
  2. Orlando Cabrera, 2B, Montreal Expos. Cabrera split time between second base and shortstop as a minor leaguer, but has been a full-time shortstop for most of his big-league career. He owns a .273/.321/.403 line in 5803 plate appearances and has won two Gold Glove Awards.
  3. George Lombard, OF, Atlanta Braves. Lombard has had several cups of coffee, most notably getting himself into 72 games with the 2002 Detroit Tigers. When a team that loses 106 games can’t find a use for you, that’s not a good sign. Lombard is a career .220/.281/.340 hitter in 388 plate appearances over parts of six seasons.
  4. Lariel Gonzalez, RHP, Colorado Rockies. Gonzalez worked a perfect ninth in his only big-league appearance on September 22, 1998, against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Gonzalez later spent some time in the Mets and Cubs systems before retiring in 2001 at age 25.
  5. Geoff Jenkins, OF, Milwaukee Brewers. Not only does the former first-round pick out of USC have a cool name, he’s had a pretty good career as well. In 10 seasons with the Brewers, Jenkins has hit .277/.347/.496 in 4932 plate appearances. He made the National League All-Star team in 2003 and ranks second only to Hall of Famer Robin Yount with 212 home runs in a Brewers uniform.
  6. Geoff Goetz, LHP, Florida Marlins. Hey, there’s that name again. It didn’t work as well for Goetz, who is probably most famous for being part of the package that brought Mike Piazza to the New York Mets. (For those scoring at home, Preston Wilson and Ed Yarnall were the other players who headed to the Marlins.) Goetz never made it past Double-A and retired in 2004 at age 25 with a 3.37 ERA over 350 minor-league innings.
  7. Daryle Ward, 1B, Houston Astros. The son of former big-league outfielder Gary Ward doesn’t have a defensive home, but his bat has been potent enough to give him a career that stands at 10 seasons and counting. Ward, who played with the Chicago Cubs in 2007, owns a .265/.321/.449 batting line in 2343 plate appearances.
  8. Jackson Melian, OF, New York Yankees. Believe it or not, Melian is still playing. And he’s only 28 years old. Melian, in case you missed it, was one of the most coveted amateur players ever to emerge from Venezuela. Unfortunately the toolsy outfielder never refined his game and was unable to meet lofty expectations. In 11 minor-league seasons, Melian has hit .259/.321/.403 in 4090 plate appearances.
  9. Kevin Witt, 1B, Toronto Blue Jays. Like Lombard, Witt has ties to a terrible Tigers team from the early 21st century. He got into 93 contests for the 2003 squad that lost 119 games. Witt owns a career .233/.267/.376 line in 424 plate appearances over parts of six seasons. He also has launched 269 home runs in the minor leagues. Now 32 years old, Witt spent 2007 playing for the Rakuten Golden Eagles of Japan’s Central League, where he batted just .174/.267/.348 in 40 games.
  10. Chris Enochs, RHP, Oakland A’s. A first-round pick out of West Virginia University in 1997, Enochs reached Double-A the next year and then stayed there until late 2002, when he finally reached Triple-A, where he remained until retiring in 2005 at age 29. Enochs went 45-52 with a 4.91 ERA in 250 appearances over nine minor-league seasons.

Next week, we’ll catch up with a man who once was released by the Minnesota Twins before becoming a perennial MVP candidate. Until then…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

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