Prospects You Were Wrong About

[TheBigLebowski]

Thread taken from the ORG....thought it would be fun to discuss here.

A name commonly kicked around on their thread is Alex Gordon, and I have to agree. He's been a colossal failure.

Matt Wieters is another. Although he still has time, he's been a huge disappointment.

Wladimir Balentin was also mentioned.....he was once one of the biggest names out there. I really liked what I saw out of him when we brought him up.

Delmon Young is one that really perplexes me. I thought he was a sure-fire superstar.

[TheBigLebowski]

And is it too soon to toss Philip Hughes in this discussion?

[redsfan1995]

Joba Chamberlin the Yankees messed him up and now hes getting tommy john.

[TheBigLebowski]

Joba Chamberlin the Yankees messed him up and now hes getting tommy john.

Ah, Joba is a good one. I fear we're doing the same with Aroldis.

[texasdave]

A ton of folks on this board loved them some Edwin Encarnacion.

[bounty37h]

Brien Taylor. My first high school at bat my freshman year was against him his senior year. Still the best pitcher I have ever faced, he struck me on 3 straight pitches-swung at last 2 but never even saw em.

[texasdave]

Brien Taylor. My first high school at bat my freshman year was against him his senior year. Still the best pitcher I have ever faced, he struck me on 3 straight pitches-swung at last 2 but never even saw em.

Can you even imagine him on those Yankees teams starting in the mid-90's? That would have been crazy.

[krm1580]

There are so many guys but for me in the last 5 years or so I would say

Hitters:

-Delmon Young - I thought he would be a Gold Glove version of Ryan Braun. he is a decent player, but a far cry from what I thought he would be.

-Alex Gordon - BA Player of the year. Monster numbers at every level. Career .740 OPS guy. Again he is decent but not what I thought he woud be.

-Andy Marte - Was OPSing almost .900 as a 20 year old in AA/AAA. .635 guy career in the bigs.

Pitchers:

-Andrew Miller - Polished college arm with big time stuff. I thought he would be what David Price is.

-Homer Bailey - Let me preface this by saying Homer Bailey was the most excited I was about a Reds draft pick. He was the highest rated high school pitcher, was supposed to be gone before the Reds even picked. I just had visions of a future Josh Beckett dancing in my head. Regardless of the reasons I just picture 2011 me, getting in a time machine and going back to visit 2004 me after the 2004 draft.

2011 Me: In 2011 Homer Bailey will have 19 wins
2004 Me: Yeah that sounds about right. Cy Young award too I trust?
2011 Me: No I mean is has 19 wins in his career, not in a season.
2004 Me: What the Hell!! Are you kidding me! I hate you 2011 version of me!!

[Krawhitham]

Brandon Larson

[nouseforaname]

I thought Austin Kearns was the next Paul Molitor with less speed but more power. Just a bit off on that one.

[bounty37h]

Can you even imagine him on those Yankees teams starting in the mid-90's? That would have been crazy.

Man, no kidding bad break-literally-for him.

[bounty37h]

I thought Austin Kearns was the next Paul Molitor with less speed but more power. Just a bit off on that one.

For the Reds Kearns and a pitcher-cant recall who now-were my first 2 thoughts for this thread.

[Vottomatic]

Jimmy Haynes and Willy Mo Pena. I really thought they were going to suck.


D'oh! Oh yeah, they did.

[Redeye fly]

The Reds had a pitcher for a brief time in the 90s I thought was going to be something named Johnny Ruffin who I thought was going to be nasty. I guess you could call him "nasty" since he's a registered sex offender.:dunno:

I thought Ryan Wagner would amount to more than what he did too. But the Reds fell into the trap of drafting a reliever way too high.

[webbbj]

scott williamson

[foxfire123]

The first time I saw CJ Nitkowski pitch I thought we were seeing the start of something great. Um, Yeah. I plead rookie fan on that one.....

[Vottomatic]

The Reds had a pitcher for a brief time in the 90s I thought was going to be something named Johnny Ruffin who I thought was going to be nasty. I guess you could call him "nasty" since he's a registered sex offender.:dunno:

I thought Ryan Wagner would amount to more than what he did too. But the Reds fell into the trap of drafting a reliever way too high.

I hear he's Ruffin it nowadays.

[mlh1981]

Honestly, when Kearns and Dunn, got started, I thought them, combined with Griffey, would give us an outfield capable of totalling 100-plus home runs.

Only Dunn lived up to his end of the bargain.

I kinda had Wily Mo Pena pegged from the beginning. A poor man's Sosa. A good excuse to get to batting practice early as a fan, but nothing more.

[Kiss the Baby00]

Homer Bailey

[Wonderful Monds]

I was infuriated when Felipe Lopez was traded. I thought after his all-star year, he'd put up a .300 average with ~25 HR every year and be one of the best shortstops in the league. I was so hyped up I even let his bat fool me into thinking he was an acceptable fielder at SS.

I thought Encarnacion would hit 30 HR a year and turn his raw skills into plus fielding talent. Looking back, I don't think he even ever had the range many saw in him.

[texasdave]

I was hoping Motorboat Jones made it big. Never really thought he would. But what a great name.

[gedred69]

After his 1st appearances in the Bigs I thought Ryan Wagner was the greatest, until I went to a game with a friend who pitched in the Minors. While Wagner was warming up, my buddy made the comment, "this guy has a horrible delivery". He told me to watch as Wagner came to the plate, "watch that little hop right before he releases. Any sucess he has will be short-lived". My buddy was right, I was wrong.

[gedred69]

I was infuriated when Felipe Lopez was traded. I thought after his all-star year, he'd put up a .300 average with ~25 HR every year and be one of the best shortstops in the league. I was so hyped up I even let his bat fool me into thinking he was an acceptable fielder at SS.

I thought Encarnacion would hit 30 HR a year and turn his raw skills into plus fielding talent. Looking back, I don't think he even ever had the range many saw in him.

Lopez was/is, a stoner. I know he traded his game used glove after his 1st season for a bag of weed.....

[Reds]

scott williamson

i'll second that one

[Kingspoint]

A ton of folks on this board loved them some Edwin Encarnacion.I'd have to put myself in that school.

[Redeye fly]

If I'm not mistaken injuries had as much to do with Scott Williamson's problems as anything else. Well, that and some less than precise control and command of the strike zone.

When it's all said and done Scott had a "decent" major league career.

3.36 lifetime ERA
6.7 H/9 in his career... that's close to unhittable.
10.4 K/9 in his career
1.297 WHIP, higher mostly because of the walks of 5.0/9 innings

Still though, I understand people saying they were wrong about him because he could have/should have done more. They would be right, but injuries happen.

As Reds fans we can at least count ourselves fortunate that we got the best of Scott Williamson. The Cubs and Padres certainly can't say that.

[izzy's dad]

I saw Drew Henson play AAA ball in Columbus, I thought he was gonna be a solid pro...

[Redeye fly]

I don't know if I really had any strong feelings about him, but I remember in the 90's Eric Anthony was hyped as a future superstar in the Astros organization and that didn't happen.

Brian Hunter (the fast one not the slugger) was another one who didn't pan out.

I remember Kevin Maas started out on fire with the Yankees and everyone wanted his card. I remember feeling pretty good about it when I pulled it out of a pack. Man did his career ever nosedive after that 15 minutes of stardom.

[SqueezeplayJS]

Ricardo Aromboles
Ty Howington (Still have a bunch of cards from him from when he was drafted)

[Grouse]

Volquez, after his first year with the Reds I thought it was a good trade. I thought we had our ace, boy I was wrong. I think we did get DRH in that trade also so that makes up for it. lol.

Jay Bruce is more streaky than I ever thought he would be also. When he goes cold he goes COLD. He great defense and great personality more than makes up for he cold spells.

[mu4103]

Darren Dreifort
Billy Ashley
Brien Taylor
Matt White (1st round draft pick in Devil Rays first year - I don' believe he ever made it to the majors).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_White_(minor_league_pitcher)

[HalMorrisRules]

I will go old school on ya. I thought Kurt Stillwell was going to be the Reds shortstop for the next 15 years instead of some guy named Barry.

[Redeye fly]

Going through some old cards and stuff and going down memory lane, here's a few more.

Willie Greene- Actually I was never that excited about Willie by the time the Reds had acquired him because a couple of organizations had already given up on him. JimBo was though and he was a highly touted prospect.

Jason Bere- I believe he had some injury issues as well.

Juan Guzman- Didn't have a bad career, but I thought he would dominate guys for a long time.

Dmitri Young- Had a pretty decent career, but I thought he'd do a little more.

Ben Grieve- had quite a few of his cards.

Chad Hermanson- Sports Illustrated did an article on him that made him look like a sure fire stud.

Jeffrey Hammonds
Preston Wilson
Daryle Ward
Ben McDonald
Lee Stevens

To be fair (at least to myself)- I don't know how many of them I was really wrong about personally. But they were all hyped prospects when I was younger, so I thought they all had a chance to do more than what they did.

I still remember how the Mets had 3 mega hyped pitchers all in their system at the same time. Their names? Paul Wilson, Jason Isringhausen, and Bill Pulsipher. Well, at least Isringhausen had a decent career... but not for the Mets.

Always thought Brandon Claussen would pan out better than he did for the Reds too.

[mu4103]

This link shows the first round of the draft for each of the years since 2000. It is amazing how many picks were busts and many names we have never even heard of (assuming you are like me, maybe you have heard of them).
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/draft/index.jsp?feature=decade2000s

Did anyone say Bryan Bullington? And I have not seen Jeremy Hermida. He has to be one of the biggest busts in the last 10 years.

[redlegs2370]

As far as a Reds prospect, I would say Willie Greene, I always thought he was on the verge of breaking out but he could never consistently put good games back to back.

Non Reds in the last 10 years would be: Ben Sheets has been a bust because of injuries, if healthy he was TOR. In the same boat Mark Pryor.

[texasdave]

At age 13 I felt my prospects were off the charts. I was just waiting for that phone call. I could not have been more mistaken. :)

[Z-Fly]

Brandon Claussen

[lonewolf371]

I haven't been around long enough to have a success/fail record for prospects. Right now I really like Mes and Domonic Brown. I'm also a huge fan of Ike Davis for when he gets back; I think he might be criminally underrated.

[tobttr]

Paul Householder
Gary Redus
Ryan Wagner

[bounty37h]

Paul Householder
Gary Redus
Ryan Wagner

It seemed like I couldnt open a pack of '83 Topps without getting a Householder rookie card.

[nux fan]

neil fiala