Which Angel player should have been better?

[Second Base]

I'm not talking about busted prospects necessarily, I'm talking about major leaguers that never really developed. I know of a couple, but I thought you guys might be able to help me identify more.

To me, the one guy I thought really should've been better was Casey Kotchman. Big, athletic first baseman, drafted in the first round, son of Tom Kotchman, longtime Angels coach and scout. Just look at what he did in the minors.

.390 OBP as a 19 year old in A Ball, with more walks than strikeouts. If any of us saw a first rounder doing that today, we'd collectively lose our shit, and the hype machine would lose control. 

As a 21 year old, Kotch hit .368 in AA and .372 in AAA. No, that wasn't his OBP. That was the dude's batting average. That's insane! Again, a big strong athletic first round pick just demolishing every level of the minor leagues. 

Casey Kotchman should have developed into one of the best 1B in baseball. He had an ok career, logging a few seasons as a starter for the Angels, Braves and Rays, but he just never came anywhere close to where many thought he would end up. 

Anyone else you guys can think of?

Edited January 1, 2023 by Second Base

[TooCool]

Brandon Wood and Hank Conger are the ones that immediately pop up in my head. I don't know their stats but all I remember was their "potential" and how they never came close to living up to it.

[Stradling]

Zach Borenstein. He had Daniel Nava written all over him. 

[mmc]

Jo Adell

[Revad]

12 minutes ago, mmc said:

Jo Adell

Ouch.   It I’ll go with Second Base on Kotchman.  Rick Reichardt?

Edited January 2, 2023 by Revad

[TempeAngel]

What did happen to Kotchman? Was it injury? Inability to hit MLB breaking balls?

You're right, I thought he was going to be our 1B for a decade.

[TempeAngel]

Dallas McPherson.

[Lazorko Saves]

This guy had some really good years for the White Sox.  Those years should have been with the Angels.

Also should have had more good years than he did, really dropped off quickly after age 28.

[Lazorko Saves]

Kevin Jepsen had a good long career, but I thought he should have become 30-40 save type of near-elite closer.  Never really was that, career high in saves was 15 for Tampa Bay + Minnesota in 2015.

[greginpsca]

2 hours ago, Second Base said:

I'm not talking about busted prospects necessarily, I'm talking about major leaguers that never really developed. I know of a couple, but I thought you guys might be able to help me identify more.

To me, the one guy I thought really should've been better was Casey Kotchman. Big, athletic first baseman, drafted in the first round, son of Tom Kotchman, longtime Angels coach and scout. Just look at what he did in the minors.

.390 OBP as a 19 year old in A Ball, with more walks than strikeouts. If any of us saw a first rounder doing that today, we'd collectively lose our shit, and the hype machine would lose control. 

As a 21 year old, Kotch hit .368 in AA and .372 in AAA. No, that wasn't his OBP. That was the dude's batting average. That's insane! Again, a big strong athletic first round pick just demolishing every level of the minor leagues. 

Casey Kotchman should have developed into one of the best 1B in baseball. He had an ok career, logging a few seasons as a starter for the Angels, Braves and Rays, but he just never came anywhere close to where many thought he would end up. 

Anyone else you guys can think of?

Casey was not the same player after that concussion.

[Lazorko Saves]

This guy was born 30 years too late.  I think he would have had a better career if had come up to the majors in 1980 instead of 2010.  Back when slap hitting and stolen bases were still cool.  Still, he had a decent 10 years in the bigs.  But I feel like he could have been a borderline star in the 1980s.

[Brandon]

There are a few, but it could also just be expectation and not on the player...but the question is subjective.

Ervin Santana. Great middling career with two all-star games, a no-hitter, and probably what makes this mention was that duel versus Pedro Martinez where everyone became super high on the kid. He was inconsistent when I thought he would be an ace.

McPherson was one I thought would be Troy Glaus 2.0 and hold down 3rd for a long time.

When I was a kid I'd go to a few Lake Elsinore Storm games and the two hot prospect names were Garrett Anderson and Todd Greene. GA obviously is a legend here, but Greene didn't amount to shit. He was a complete miss.

[happybat4]

Todd Greene for sure 

Jason Dickson 

George Arias 

Ramon Ortiz 

Howie Kendrick

Matt Wise 

Ben Molina 

Rob Quinlan 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Revad]

2 minutes ago, happybat4 said:

Todd Greene for sure 

Jason Dickson 

George Arias 

Ramon Ortiz 

Howie Kendrick

Matt Wise 

Ben Molina 

Rob Quinlan 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A true fan post.

[Second Base]

1 hour ago, TempeAngel said:

What did happen to Kotchman? Was it injury? Inability to hit MLB breaking balls?

You're right, I thought he was going to be our 1B for a decade.

Concussion, and just the general lack of power from a power position. We figured it would develop and he'd be a .300/.400 hitter with 40 DB and 20 HR. Kind of like Freddie Freeman. But the power never came and that concussion really affected him. 

[Second Base]

44 minutes ago, Lazorko Saves said:

This guy was born 30 years too late.  I think he would have had a better career if had come up to the majors in 1980 instead of 2010.  Back when slap hitting and stolen bases were still cool.  Still, he had a decent 10 years in the bigs.  But I feel like he could have been a borderline star in the 1980s.

Bourjos would've been a very solid player from the time baseball started to probably the year 2000. That was a very good point on your part. 

[Second Base]

53 minutes ago, Lazorko Saves said:

Kevin Jepsen had a good long career, but I thought he should have become 30-40 save type of near-elite closer.  Never really was that, career high in saves was 15 for Tampa Bay + Minnesota in 2015.

He took a long time to develop any consistency, and he came up in an era where the Angels had a series of relievers that were excellent. So the save opportunities never came. 

[Brandon]

8 minutes ago, Second Base said:

Concussion, and just the general lack of power from a power position. We figured it would develop and he'd be a .300/.400 hitter with 40 DB and 20 HR. Kind of like Freddie Freeman. But the power never came and that concussion really affected him. 

Yeah, people or "baseball experts" were saying he was going to be the next Paul Molitor. High praise for a prospect.

[Second Base]

14 minutes ago, happybat4 said:

Todd Greene for sure 

Jason Dickson 

George Arias 

Ramon Ortiz 

Howie Kendrick

Matt Wise 

Ben Molina 

Rob Quinlan 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only ones I really disagree with are Kendrick and Quinlan. Howie may not have won a batting title, but he came close, has a 15 year career, won a world series, made the all star team, gathered some down ballot MVP votes. Not a bad career at all. 

Quinlan, with that guy's swing he had no business playing professional baseball. Duck footed too. The fact that he played at all is a major victory. 

[Stradling]

Kendrick had a VERY good MLB career. He had 1700 hits, batted .294, had a 109 OPS+ as a second baseman, and had 35 career WAR. 

[Angelsfan1984]

Joe madden

[jsnpritchett]

16 minutes ago, Angelsfan1984 said:

Joe madden

Totally agree.  I thought he'd be something more than an expert on the wireless communications industry.

https://www.fiercewireless.com/person/joe-madden

 

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

Sean Rodriguez

Casey Kotchman

Brandon Wood

[Angel Oracle]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

There are a few, but it could also just be expectation and not on the player...but the question is subjective.

Ervin Santana. Great middling career with two all-star games, a no-hitter, and probably what makes this mention was that duel versus Pedro Martinez where everyone became super high on the kid. He was inconsistent when I thought he would be an ace.

McPherson was one I thought would be Troy Glaus 2.0 and hold down 3rd for a long time.

When I was a kid I'd go to a few Lake Elsinore Storm games and the two hot prospect names were Garrett Anderson and Todd Greene. GA obviously is a legend here, but Greene didn't amount to shit. He was a complete miss.

I might be mistaken, but I thought it was Ramon Ortiz who out-dueled Pedro in the early 2000s.

Speaking of which, Ortiz qualifies for the OP’s question, as he went 44-33 in 2001-2003, and then fell off the map.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Angel Oracle

[Angelsfan1984]

21 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Totally agree.  I thought he'd be something more than an expert on the wireless communications industry.

https://www.fiercewireless.com/person/joe-madden

 

Exactly. Who would have thought!?