Angel players you thought would become stars

[happybat4]

The thread about Bourjus and one hit wonders made me think of players that I thought would become perennial allstars. Here are a couple I can think of. 

Ramon Ortiz - I thought he was a younger Pedro Martinez in the making. Maybe more Ramon Martinez after all. 

Todd Greene - I remember him coming up from the minors and going on a tear until he broke his hand. I thout he would become an all star catcher. 

Lou Pote - I always thought he had good movement and was deceptive. He put up good numbers in his MLB career. Not sure why he never stuck around. Who can you guys think of? 

 

[Taylor]

Brandon Wood

Dallas McPherson

Kaleb Cowart

[Claude]

3 minutes ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

At AW it’s literally every single player making their major league debut. 

And don’t forget that all 16 year old prospects are destined for greatness. 

[kevinb]

Howie Kendrick

Dallas McPherson

Kendrys Morales

[Taylor]

16 minutes ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

At AW it’s literally every single player making their major league debut. 

Link?

[Lazorko Saves]

Chris Cron (yes, CJ and Kevin's dad).  Guy absolutely raked in AA and AAA.  Never really was given a shot in the majors (27 PA total).

Kyle Abbott.  Yes, the Angels took lefthanders named Abbott in the first round in consecutive years (Jim in 1988, Kyle in 1989).  Was looking forward to an Abbott & Abbott 1-2 punch in the rotation.

And then there's the entire 1986 first round for the Angels.  Five of the top 28 picks, but all after 16.  Unfortunately, it was a draft that only had about 12 good first round talents.  Roberto Hernandez (16th overall) had a good career.  Just not for the Angels.  Same with Lee Stevens (22nd overall) and Mike Fetters (27th).  Terry Carr (25th) and Daryl Green (28th) were busts.  Best thing about that was seeing all 5 land on the Salem's roster in the Northwest League in the summer of 1986, which was my local team.  It didn't translate to wins, but it was fun watching all that talent.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Lazorko Saves

[PattyD22]

Tom Brunansky 

Casey Kotchman

Kelvim Escobar

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Seconded on Kendrys. In 2009 at the age of 26 he hit 34 home runs, came in 5th in MVP voting and looked like he could play 1B for the Angels for the next 8-10 years.  In 2010 he broke his ankle on an injury no Angel fan and even some non-Angel fans won't ever forget then the Angels signed Pujols in the off season.  Now I'm guessing Arte would have still been interest in Pujols even if Kendrys was healthy but who knows if that would have changed the offer they made to him and if he would have ended up elsewhere.

[Lhalo]

23 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Link?

https://www.angelswin.com/forums/forum/11-la-angels-mlb-daily/

[Lhalo]

2 minutes ago, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

Seconded on Kendrys. In 2009 at the age of 26 he hit 34 home runs, came in 5th in MVP voting and looked like he could play 1B for the Angels for the next 8-10 years.  In 2010 he broke his ankle on an injury no Angel fan and even some non-Angel fans won't ever forget then the Angels signed Pujols in the off season.  Now I'm guessing Arte would have still been interest in Pujols even if Kendrys was healthy but who knows if that would have changed the offer they made to him and if he would have ended up elsewhere.

Can you imagine how much better off the org would have been if they had just kept Morales and not signed Pujols?

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, Vladdylonglegs said:

At AW it’s literally every single player making their major league debut. 

Says the Guy that wants the Angels to trade Trout for more prospects. 

[Stradling]

Lee Stevens

Kendrick

Ortiz

Todd Greene

Wood

[Capital_Dave]

Yeah, count me in as a Kendrick true believer too.  Smart guy, sweet stroke, and those minor leagues numbers.    Alas, didn't turn into the batting champ we hoped for.  Still, a quality guy.  Hope he's a future Angels manager.

[Taylor]

52 minutes ago, Lhalo said:

https://www.angelswin.com/forums/forum/11-la-angels-mlb-daily/

You should have just linked to Scotty's post history.

[nate]

Wood, Ortiz, Brian Anderson.

Plus Mike Trout, that schmuck.

[failos]

Reggie Willits

[mmc]

Roberto Baldoquin.  The floor that guy had was something else 

[Justin]

Joe Saunders. I was at Yankee Stadium in '06 when he looked awesome against the Yanks. I was influenced by how much fun it was to watch the Angels beat up on the Yankees in the Bronx (I was with my then-girlfriend and her family; there was 8 of us and I was the only Angels fan), but I thought he would become an All Star. I never imagined he would be a journeyman.

[Don]

On 4/17/2020 at 1:13 PM, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

Seconded on Kendrys. In 2009 at the age of 26 he hit 34 home runs, came in 5th in MVP voting and looked like he could play 1B for the Angels for the next 8-10 years.  In 2010 he broke his ankle on an injury no Angel fan and even some non-Angel fans won't ever forget then the Angels signed Pujols in the off season.  Now I'm guessing Arte would have still been interest in Pujols even if Kendrys was healthy but who knows if that would have changed the offer they made to him and if he would have ended up elsewhere.

Hadn't really thought about how much of a sliding doors moment that injury was. Yeah, if Kendrys stays healthy and has another good year in 2010 (which it seemed like he was on the way to when he got hurt), we quite possibly skip out on the Pujols contract, and have a likely better and cheaper 1B in Kendrys for another few years. Opens up all sorts of possibilities for other moves too. It really might be the single worst purely baseball-related moment for the Angels in the last decade.

[Don]

3 hours ago, happybat4 said:

The thread about Bourjus and one hit wonders made me think of players that I thought would become perennial allstars. Here are a couple I can think of. 

Ramon Ortiz - I thought he was a younger Pedro Martinez in the making. Maybe more Ramon Martinez after all. 

Todd Greene - I remember him coming up from the minors and going on a tear until he broke his hand. I thout he would become an all star catcher. 

Lou Pote - I always thought he had good movement and was deceptive. He put up good numbers in his MLB career. Not sure why he never stuck around. Who can you guys think of? 

 

Definitely thought so with Ortiz and Greene. Ortiz had the talent, but never really seemed to put it all together long term. And Greene... I remember being so excited about him when he went on that tear you mentioned first coming up from the minors. Dude was mashing. Then that injury. That was like the first time I was ever really devastated as a fan by a sports injury (I think I was like 12 at the time). 

It's weird how one injury at the wrong time can really derail a career. I feel like that kinda happened with Greene, and I feel the same way about McPherson. DMac started having so many back problems when he got called up, and just never seemed to get his career back on the right trajectory. I'm not sure if he would've been a huge star if healthy, but I could've seen a sort of Adam Dunn-lite career out of him.  

[Slegnaac]

Richards 

[Brandon]

2 hours ago, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

Seconded on Kendrys. In 2009 at the age of 26 he hit 34 home runs, came in 5th in MVP voting and looked like he could play 1B for the Angels for the next 8-10 years.  In 2010 he broke his ankle on an injury no Angel fan and even some non-Angel fans won't ever forget then the Angels signed Pujols in the off season.  Now I'm guessing Arte would have still been interest in Pujols even if Kendrys was healthy but who knows if that would have changed the offer they made to him and if he would have ended up elsewhere.

Still bugs me. I was watching the game in KC because they were playing the Royals when he hit the walk off. He had some good seasons after, but I always think what could have been as he was never the same after the broken ankle.

[Brandon]

I have a lot of the same guys that many have listed. The only two not listed, for me, was I thought Jose Arredondo would break out and be a top reliever. I wouldn't have bet the house on it, but he had moments the way Ramon Ortiz did. Another was Troy Glaus. He had good seasons with us, but I always thought he was going to be a perennial all-star type....maybe a Ryan Zimmerman type. When he won the 2002 WS MVP I thought he was going to take off.

[AngelsLakersFan]

Kotchman
Trout
Jo Adell

 

I was pretty high on Kendrick too but didn't expect him to be a star. Juan Rivera and Kelvin Escobar were two guys we brought in who I was high on. I think Kelvim was that guy he just couldn't stay healthy and Rivera was a notch better than most expected but probably a notch below where I thought he'd end up.

[stormngt]

Richards