A little time capsule...

[Sportsforever]

This past weekend I was organizing some things and came across an old Athlon Sports Baseball mag from 1996. Flipping through the team sections, it was neat to see who they had pegged as the next can't miss prospects, and how they actually turned out. These are all players who were in the minors at the start of the 1996 season:

Atlanta- Andruw Jones (most likely a HOFer)

Florida- Edgar Renteria (solid All-Star)

Montreal- Vlad Guerrero (most likely a HOFer)

New York- Rey Ordonez (an overhyped Rafael Bellaird)

Philidelphia- Wendell Magee (Journeyman)

Chicago- Brooks Kieschnick (Journeyman)

Cincinnati- Eric Owens (Journeyman)

Houston- Billy Wagner (Devloped into a stud closer. In the mag they are talking about how Houston hasn't decided whether to leave him as a starter, or move him to the pen. They made the right move.)

Pittsburgh- Charles Peterson (who?)

St. Louis- Alan Benes (This guy had talent, but couldn't stay healthy. I remeber him having a no-hitter against the Braves with 2 out in the 9th before losing it.)

Colorado- Derrick Gibson (Bust)

Los Angeles- Chan Ho Park (Had some solid years, but overall dissapointing)

San Diego- Derrek Lee (finally turned into the stud he was predicted to be)

San Francisco- Jamie Brewington (who?)

Baltimore- Rocky Coppinger (Bust)

Boston- Nomar Garciaparra (Looked like a HOFer in the late 90s, hasn't had a good year in about 5 seasons)

Detroit- Justin Thompson (Injuries ruined what looked like could have been a solid career)

New York- Derek Jeter (A sure fire HOFer)

Toronto- Carlos Delgado (A stud, and if he keeps it up for a few more years a possible HOFer)

Chicago- Luis Andujar (bust)

Cleveland- Bartolo Colon (Solid major league #1)

Kansas City- Jim Pittsley (bust)

Milwaukee- Jeff D'Amico (Injuries kept him from reaching his potential)

Minnesota- Todd Walker (I'd have to consider him a bust given the hype, but he has turned into a solid role player)

California- Todd Greene (bust)

Oakland- Steve Cox (bust)

Seattle- Alex Rodriguez (Stud. Sure fire HOFer)

Texas- Andrew Vessell (bust. This guy drew comparisons to Dave Winfield)

Anyway, I enjoyed looking it over and thought I'd throw the list out there. Of all the teams, I would say the East Divisions ended up seeing the best development. I count 7 of 10 teams who ended up getting a solid major leaguer or star.

[cjonesfan921]

Re: A little time capsule...

Just goes to show that prospects in baseball more then likely don't end up being what they were hyped up to be. Some that is. Anyway Andruw has a ways to go before he is a HoFer. He needs to prove he can be a .300 hitter. In the end I think he will be one but it is still to early to say and anything can happen. Still pretty interesting to see how these mags end up.

[Sportsforever]

Re: A little time capsule...

Just goes to show that prospects in baseball more then likely don't end up being what they were hyped up to be. Some that is. Anyway Andruw has a ways to go before he is a HoFer. He needs to prove he can be a .300 hitter. In the end I think he will be one but it is still to early to say and anything can happen. Still pretty interesting to see how these mags end up.

I think it will help him if he does hit .300, but he turns 29 this year and will probably have around 340 career HR's. Give him another 4 or 5 years of the same production and I can see him making it having never hit .300 with a .260 career average, 500 HR's, and all the Gold Gloves.

[BGarrett7]

Re: A little time capsule...

St. Louis- Alan Benes (This guy had talent, but couldn't stay healthy. I remeber him having a no-hitter against the Braves with 2 out in the 9th before losing it.)

Wouldn't have mattered anyways, as both teams were scoreless at that point. If memory serves me correctly, Andruw won that game on an infield hit in the 13th.

[slickdtc]

Re: A little time capsule...

That's really cool. Thanks for sharing.