Angel players you thought would become stars

[Claude]

7 minutes ago, Stradling said:

The guy the Yankees never wanted or needed. 

They’re going to regret it 

[Claude]

Patrick Corbin. 

[failos]

Mike Trout

[Taylor]

Jerry Dipoto's answers:

Taylor Ward

Roberto Baldoquin

[Claude]

37 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Jerry Dipoto's answers:

Taylor Ward

Roberto Baldoquin

The Angels thought that they had hit the lottery when they drafted Taylor Ward. 

[Brandon]

Man, a good and fun thread that turned into jokes and bullshit. Well done, gents.

[Chuck]

Kotchman

Wood

McPherson

Arias

Greene

Stevens

 

[Mark Jones]

Kendrick

Ortiz

Todd Greene

[Kurt Z]

I remember Al Conin, Steve Physioc & Mario Impemba really getting excited about some of these guys.

Derrick Turnbow

Bobby Rose

Dave Frost

Ron Romanick

Junior Felix

Jason Dickson

Bobby Clark

 

[Brandon]

10 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Kotchman

Wood

McPherson

Arias

Greene

Stevens

 

Oh man, I thought George Arias was going to be really good.

Same with Todd Greene. He was one of the first minor leaguers I followed. Used to watch him at Lake Elsinore when I was a kid. He was all the rage there with posters, shirts, etc. that all said "The Greene Monster"

[Second Base]

I've actually kept track of these. The highlights include...

Grant Green - Not enough glove.

Taylor Ward - Wrong disposition for catcher.

Brandon Wood - Headcase.

Michael Kohn - Lots of movement and velocity, but no outpitch.

Kyle Kubitza - I honestly don't know what happened. He was impressive in person and on Milb.tv

Trevor Reckling - Lost velo, never regained it. Couldn't succeed in baseball without it.

[Tank]

I don't know about being a star,  but I had high hopes for Trevor Bell.

[vlad27]

Wood 

Reckling 

Richards 

i hesitate to include Kendrick - while He hasn’t become a huge star -although with  the way things went last year for him and looking at his career numbers - he’s had a successful career as a major league player 

[Keener]

Never been a huge minor league guy, generally learn of prospects here.  Before the internet, when i saw them in Anaheim. 

Back in the day, my cousin had me convinced Pete Janicki was the chosen one.  Lol.

I watched Kotchman put on a bp power clinic in Oakland the first time I ever saw him.  Gave me unrealistic expectations. 

[Chuck]

9 hours ago, Brandon said:

Oh man, I thought George Arias was going to be really good.

Same with Todd Greene. He was one of the first minor leaguers I followed. Used to watch him at Lake Elsinore when I was a kid. He was all the rage there with posters, shirts, etc. that all said "The Greene Monster"

Yeah man. Greene struck out, but he walked a lot and for a smaller guy (I believe he was 5'9 or 5'10) he had a ton of power. Big forearms. He just couldn't stay healthy. 

Both he and Arias I was really excited about. Bummer they didn't turn out. 

Greene's minor league numbers in High A and AA/AAA in 94 and 95 were SICK.

[Stradling]

8 hours ago, Second Base said:

I've actually kept track of these. The highlights include...

Grant Green - Not enough glove.

Taylor Ward - Wrong disposition for catcher.

Brandon Wood - Headcase.

Michael Kohn - Lots of movement and velocity, but no outpitch.

Kyle Kubitza - I honestly don't know what happened. He was impressive in person and on Milb.tv

Trevor Reckling - Lost velo, never regained it. Couldn't succeed in baseball without it.

Welcome back. 

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yeah man. Greene struck out, but he walked a lot and for a smaller guy (I believe he was 5'9 or 5'10) he had a ton of power. Big forearms. He just couldn't stay healthy. 

Both he and Arias I was really excited about. Bummer they didn't turn out. 

Greene's minor league numbers in High A and AA/AAA in 94 and 95 were SICK.

No doubt dude. There was no internet and message board back then, but people literally used to go just to see him. The only other person that got this kind of treatment when I was a kid at Lake Elsinore was some random kid by the name of Garret Anderson....he was also hyped and I over heard people in the stands talk about how he was going to be a star in the bigs.

[eligrba4ever]

The Original Angels Disappointment: Rick Reichardt

[Claude]

Jack Fimple is all I could come up with in all my 45 years of following the team. 

[aznhockeyguy]

A few to come to mind...

G. Richards:  Threw mid-upper 90s, thought he was going to be an ace especially after 2013 and 2014, but those devastating injures took a toll. 

Dallas McPherson: Put some monster numbers in the minors, but couldn't stay healthy and washed out. 

Kendrick:  He had a great career no doubt and many people would kill for his career, but people were forecasting for him to win multiple batting titles and even a possible 3000 hit candidate since he was hitting ~.360 in 3-4 minor league seasons. 

 

[nando714]

Chris Ellis

Patrick Corbin (before traded)

Jose Guillén 

[halomatt]

Kotchman

McPherson

Wood

 

Bummer...

[ten ocho recon scout]

Some good choices here. 

Off the top of my head, the best name mentioned so far was Ortiz. He definitely did feel like he was going to be a stud for us.

Along the same lines, Ervin Santana. Still one of my favorite pitchers. His good years were always a tease.

[Stradling]

This is slightly off topic but at one point in Garret’s career I thought he was going to be a Hall Of Famer. I thought he’d get to 3000 hits.  Then the arthritis hit, at least I think that was the cause of his slow down.  

[happybat4]

39 minutes ago, Stradling said:

This is slightly off topic but at one point in Garret’s career I thought he was going to be a Hall Of Famer. I thought he’d get to 3000 hits.  Then the arthritis hit, at least I think that was the cause of his slow down.  

Yeah Garret racked up hits and stayed healthy. He definitely had trajectory to 3000 hits for a while. Finished with over 2500. He also rarely walked which helped.