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

Goo Punch

By Goo Punch
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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,258

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8 hours ago, Bear19 said:

Joe Lovitto

Billy Sample, Dave Hostetler, Bump Wills, Nelson Norman, Curtis Wilkerson, George Wright, Oddibe McDowell, Edwin Correa, Jose Guzman, Dean Palmer, Jeff Kunkel, Monty Farriss, Roy Howell, Roy Smalley, Mike Cubbage, Pat Putnam, Jim Umbarger

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Bear19

Bear19 82

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16 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Billy Sample, Dave Hostetler, Bump Wills, Nelson Norman, Curtis Wilkerson, George Wright, Oddibe McDowell, Edwin Correa, Jose Guzman, Dean Palmer, Jeff Kunkel, Monty Farriss, Roy Howell, Roy Smalley, Mike Cubbage, Pat Putnam, Jim Umbarger

Beau

Sounds like you’re an old fart Ranger fan. Like me. I was living in Arlington the first year they arrived and attended many games their first three years.

I would add Tom Grieve as a player who never lived up to his early potential.

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capnamerca

capnamerca 571

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Brent Clevelen. Played ball in HS with his older brother (WWHS holla), watched him just DESTROY people through his prep career. We had one Alumni game at Westwood when Ryan Langerhans and Kelly Johnson both came back, and Brent was more physically talented than both of them. Brent was stuck behind three established pros in the OF in detroit for a while, and just basically missed his window. Cruel game. He had several cups of coffee in the pros, but couldn't stick. Still a crazy nice kid, crazy nice family - he's back in the centex area coaching.

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youdunnf'dup

youdunnf'dup 2,147

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There was a catcher for LSU that played against us in the national championship named Micah Gibbs that I thought for sure was a sure fire future stud. So many guys from that 2009 national championship game have made it to the big leagues (DJ Lemehieu, Brandon Belt, Mahtook, Cameron Rupp, Taylor Jungman, the list goes on), and I thought he was the best prospect of everyone in that game. Switch hitter, hit cleanup, widely regarded as an elite defensive catcher. He got drafted in the 2nd or 3rd round by the cubs and retired after never making it to the big leagues.

 

Also, with that being said, I thought Taylor Jumgmann would be a lot better. For how dominant he was at Texas, and the way he shut down LSU during the national championship as a true freshman, in an elimination game, I thought he would be around for longer than a cup of coffee in the big leagues. 

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SuingToGetAMessageBoard?

SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,861

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Jeff Frye.

12 minutes ago, youdunnf'dup said:

Also, with that being said, I thought Taylor Jumgmann would be a lot better. For how dominant he was at Texas, and the way he shut down LSU during the national championship as a true freshman, in an elimination game, I thought he would be around for longer than a cup of coffee in the big leagues. 

And I thought Huston Street would be a lot worse.  He was an absolute terror in college, but I feel like I remembered him topping out around 92.  I figured it just wouldn't play as a closer in the bigs.  Ended up being excellent.  I did have Teagarden pegged though.

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closetojumping

closetojumping 62,747

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I’ll never understand how Jim Pankovitz never seriously contended for the MVP. 

Cameron Drew was going to be next Terry Puhl. That one stung. 

Robbie Wine was going to be the next Mark Bailey and that never happened. 

In all seriousness, Eric Anthony was one I was excited about that never found his footing in MLB. 

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Viper

Viper 12,109

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4 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

In all seriousness, Eric Anthony was one I was excited about that never found his footing in MLB. 

I remember how psyched I was as a kid when his first hit was a monster homerun. I thought that meant he'd for sure be a star. But hey, at least it got us Mike Hampton (who probably has a better BA than Anthony)

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Pogo

Pogo 284

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36 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

  I did have Teagarden pegged though.

I got to see Taylor hit 3 home runs one night a few years ago in Round Rock.  Got plunked first pitch of his 4th at bat if I remember right.

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Hank Chinaski

Hank Chinaski 6,315

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37 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

In all seriousness, Eric Anthony was one I was excited about that never found his footing in MLB. 

This was the first one that came to mind. Eric Anthony had a lot of power but just couldn't put it together. 

Also, Corey Patterson, Rocco Baldelli, Jon Singleton

These guys "made it," but I would have loved to see what Darryl Strawberry could have done without a drug/alcohol problem, and what Bo Jackson would have done without the hip injury. Healthy/sober Strawberry could have had some huge seasons in the mid-90s offensive era, and how Bo progressed as a player would have been fascinating, as he was so raw but so damn talented (and seemed to be getting better). I guess you could throw Deion in there too, but his career wasn't cut short by injury, and he deferred to football (probably rightfully so, as he was such a fabulous player). But he was a good baseball player and could have been really good if he'd focused on baseball. 

Edited by Hank Chinaski
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Blotto

Blotto 23,559

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Cant say that I "followed" him prior to the draft, but as a Texas fan and Braves fan, I had a lot of interest in Todd van Poppel. He told everyone that he wanted to play at Texas, so the Braves decided on Chipper instead. Worked out pretty well for Bobby Cox. Dude had some hype, for sure.

https://www.foxsports.com/south/story/chipper-jones-todd-van-poppel-012418

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54,258

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2 hours ago, Blotto said:

Cant say that I "followed" him prior to the draft, but as a Texas fan and Braves fan, I had a lot of interest in Todd van Poppel. He told everyone that he wanted to play at Texas, so the Braves decided on Chipper instead. Worked out pretty well for Bobby Cox. Dude had some hype, for sure.

https://www.foxsports.com/south/story/chipper-jones-todd-van-poppel-012418

He kind of fucked himself by demanding a major league contract, which limited the amount of time he could spend in the minors.  MLB doesn't allow that any more for draftees, and he's a big reason why.  

I saw him pitch several times in Tacoma when I lived in Seattle.  His fastball was straight as an arrow,  and worse, his command sucked, so even AAA hitters weren't having trouble.  But they promoted him anyways, and he predictably got lit up.  

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Dewey

Dewey 3,286

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He kind of fucked himself by demanding a major league contract, which limited the amount of time he could spend in the minors.  MLB doesn't allow that any more for draftees, and he's a big reason why.  
I saw him pitch several times in Tacoma when I lived in Seattle.  His fastball was straight as an arrow,  and worse, his command sucked, so even AAA hitters weren't having trouble.  But they promoted him anyways, and he predictably got lit up.  
SI jinx
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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4,275

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12 hours ago, capnamerca said:

Brent Clevelen. Played ball in HS with his older brother (WWHS holla), watched him just DESTROY people through his prep career. We had one Alumni game at Westwood when Ryan Langerhans and Kelly Johnson both came back, and Brent was more physically talented than both of them. Brent was stuck behind three established pros in the OF in detroit for a while, and just basically missed his window. Cruel game. He had several cups of coffee in the pros, but couldn't stick. Still a crazy nice kid, crazy nice family - he's back in the centex area coaching.

our district was so stacked back then. for reference, pflugerville was third behind Round Rock and Westwood, and our 2001 team was stacked:

Pitchers: Marcos Ramos- Rice, Ryan "Goose" McKellar- drafted by Baltimore, Dom Ramos- Texas State.

Fielders: Dom Ramos (also a SS)- Texas State; Miles Franklin- Ole Miss (ended his career vs Texas in Oxford!), Phillip Moss- UTEP, Clay Reichenbach- Rice (best him in the Minute Maid Classic *and* Omaha!), Landan Kelso- went to MCC then some D-1 school, I forget- hell, we had two or three more D-1 guys i can't even remember.

Point being, district 14-5A baseball was seriously awesome in the early 2000's. I remember we (PHS) played Cy Woods or wherever Kazmir played and we beat them 1-0 on a Dominic Ramos no-no va Kaz, and again, we were the third best team in the district. CenTex baseball was awesome when I was in HS. 

Also, watching Clevelen take BP in HS was something special. 

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Goo Punch

Goo Punch 4,275

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12 hours ago, youdunnf'dup said:

There was a catcher for LSU that played against us in the national championship named Micah Gibbs that I thought for sure was a sure fire future stud. So many guys from that 2009 national championship game have made it to the big leagues (DJ Lemehieu, Brandon Belt, Mahtook, Cameron Rupp, Taylor Jungman, the list goes on), and I thought he was the best prospect of everyone in that game. Switch hitter, hit cleanup, widely regarded as an elite defensive catcher. He got drafted in the 2nd or 3rd round by the cubs and retired after never making it to the big leagues.

 

Also, with that being said, I thought Taylor Jumgmann would be a lot better. For how dominant he was at Texas, and the way he shut down LSU during the national championship as a true freshman, in an elimination game, I thought he would be around for longer than a cup of coffee in the big leagues. 

Gibbs was a member of another loaded Pville team. SS Blake Kelso went to U of H and was awesome there. He hit a lead off triple off Brandon Workman in the MMC, then stole home in a 1-0 U of H win vs UT. Rusty Roberts was the district pitcher of the year and led CenTex in strikeouts (more than Jungmann even) but had off the field issues and flames out at Texas State. Jason Krizan was the best player on that DBU team that went to Omaha, and he is the current NCAA record holder for doubles in a season- kid rakes, and is still in the Tigers farm system. And then of course you had Gibbs who, because of some selfish and petty adults, wasn't allowed to play his senior year at PHS. Next year he's starting in the CWS final against Texas. Another what-could-have-been from Pville.

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Victor Lazlo

Victor Lazlo 1,777

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34 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

our district was so stacked back then. for reference, pflugerville was third behind Round Rock and Westwood, and our 2001 team was stacked:

Pitchers: Marcos Ramos- Rice, Ryan "Goose" McKellar- drafted by Baltimore, Dom Ramos- Texas State.

Fielders: Dom Ramos (also a SS)- Texas State; Miles Franklin- Ole Miss (ended his career vs Texas in Oxford!), Phillip Moss- UTEP, Clay Reichenbach- Rice (best him in the Minute Maid Classic *and* Omaha!), Landan Kelso- went to MCC then some D-1 school, I forget- hell, we had two or three more D-1 guys i can't even remember.

Point being, district 14-5A baseball was seriously awesome in the early 2000's. I remember we (PHS) played Cy Woods or wherever Kazmir played and we beat them 1-0 on a Dominic Ramos no-no va Kaz, and again, we were the third best team in the district. CenTex baseball was awesome when I was in HS. 

Also, watching Clevelen take BP in HS was something special. 

Yeah, Kazmir was Cy-Falls and was the 2nd pitcher drafted from that high school that year.

Clint Everts was drafted #5 and Kazmir #15. 

 

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Crusher

Crusher 127

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Chris. I won't say his full name because Surly but, he was a monster of a pitcher on my high school team. He threw 90-92 in high school. Was drafted by the Mets. Never made it but it was amazing to bat against a guy who had MLB stuff.

You could hear the fast balls before it even got to the plate. Then he would throw a curve that started right at your head and dropped in for a strike. I didn't know whether to duck, fuck or up chuck.

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