Which Angel player should have been better?

[jsnpritchett]

6 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

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.

You are correct.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-aug-09-sp-1366-story.html

[Angel Oracle]

Jason Dickson was ruined through being overused his rookie season (1997).

[Brandon]

57 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

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.

You are correct, but I was actually thinking of them both and it brings up your second point and pitcher I thought of for a sec. They were both right after each other, if memory serves me correct, Santana was one of the kids that would replace him.

Both are the same to me and both were first thoughts. If he would have just said "What Angel Did You Expect More Of?" We'd all say Brandon Wood or Jo Adell, but because there was some verbiage in there about removing busts and just simply, "Who Should Have Been Better?" I interpretted as simply, "Who did you have high expectations for?" (regardless of career and example of Kotchman who was decent/serviceable in his career). I thought the world of both and that they would make ace status. Just never happened.

I knew I was missing someone when I posted the three and he is the other.

[ScottT]

Dallas McPherson.

[Docwaukee]

I felt like Garrett Richards should have had a better career.  

[jsnpritchett]

34 minutes ago, Docwaukee said:

I felt like Garrett Richards should have had a better career.  

[greginpsca]

12 hours 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.

According to his stat sheet, GA played in A + for one season. And that was in Palm Springs. That was before the PS team moved to Elsinore. I remember watching him play in Palm Springs.

[Rico]

JT Snow was really good for a few seasons and then kind of sucked the rest of his career. 

[Dtwncbad]

I like the Garret Richards answer.  I had really high hopes for that guy.

And Chris Knapp popped into my head.  6’5” dude looked like he could have been dominant and he just wasn’t.

[AngelsLakersFan]

21 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?

Kotchman was the first guy I thought of. For whatever reason when he got his shot he was hit with a string of terrible luck health issues. There was always the concern that he'd never develop enough power so it's hard to say if it was health that did him in, but damn, it's rare to see a guy peak so young and at such a high level.

[Revad]

5 hours ago, Rico said:

JT Snow was really good for a few seasons and then kind of sucked the rest of his career. 

That’s part of why Kotchman getting hit by that throw hurt, in my mind he was the new and improved Snow including a potential doubles machine.  Oh my fantasies…

[TempeAngel]

Tyler Skaggs.

[happybat4]

34 minutes ago, Revad said:

That’s part of why Kotchman getting hit by that throw hurt, in my mind he was the new and improved Snow including a potential doubles machine.  Oh my fantasies…

Similar to Wally Joyner

[happybat4]

1 minute ago, happybat4 said:

Similar to Wally Joyner

On second thought Joyner had a pretty good career. 35 BWAR. I guess I just thought he wasn't as good since he never made all star teams 

[Dtwncbad]

21 minutes ago, TempeAngel said:

Tyler Skaggs.

ItS nOt HiS fAuLt He WaSnt BeTtEr

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Kendrys.  In 2009 when he's 26 he finished 5th in MVP voting and it looked like the Angels had a 1B/MOTO bat for the next decade.  Two months into the 2010 season he breaks his ankle celebrating a walk off grand slam, misses all of the 2011 season and the Angels sign Pujols in the off season.  Maybe the Angels sign Pujols regardless but the optimist in me likes to think that if Morales doesn't suffer that injury he produces and the Angels avoid Pujols. 

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 1/1/2023 at 3:04 PM, TooCool said:

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.

Conger was supposed to leave us set at catcher for years. Dallas McPherson was another (ironic that he hit a game-winning home run in the tenth at a game I attended against KC, in which the Royals blew a five-run lead in the bottom of the ninth making just about every mistake imaginable).

[ten ocho recon scout]

Trumbo.

Still had a good one. But he was bounced around for his bat, but nowhere that had an open 1B spot. 

It sucka that between him, Morales and Cron we had in house guys who could have manned 1B for a fraction of the cost of Pujols, who would have given us at worst the exact same numbers, more or less.

[AngelsLakersFan]

16 minutes ago, Vegas Halo Fan said:

Conger was supposed to leave us set at catcher for years. Dallas McPherson was another (ironic that he hit a game-winning home run in the tenth at a game I attended against KC, in which the Royals blew a five-run lead in the bottom of the ninth making just about every mistake imaginable).

Conger is a good pull. He was a pretty big let down. Always thought he'd at least end up a starting caliber catcher.

[ten ocho recon scout]

What about Erstad here?

[Brandon]

9 hours ago, greginpsca said:

According to his stat sheet, GA played in A + for one season. And that was in Palm Springs. That was before the PS team moved to Elsinore. I remember watching him play in Palm Springs.

I never watched him play for Lake Elsinore, just that he was one of the hot prospects talked about when I would go to games. I was around 11 back then in 1993 and didn't even know any of the minor league players. Just heard people talk about both players with Todd Greene also on the cover of the team program I got at the first game which meant to me that he must be the star of the team to be on the cover and everyone kept calling him The Greene Monster.

[greginpsca]

25 minutes ago, Brandon said:

I never watched him play for Lake Elsinore, just that he was one of the hot prospects talked about when I would go to games. I was around 11 back then in 1993 and didn't even know any of the minor league players. Just heard people talk about both players with Todd Greene also on the cover of the team program I got at the first game which meant to me that he must be the star of the team to be on the cover and everyone kept calling him The Greene Monster.

Todd Greene was such a pull hitter, pitchers knew not to throw inside. Nothing but curves and sliders that looked like they were right down the middle of the plate, then broke away would get him out. If they threw inside, it would be in enough to make  him pull it foul. His whole career he never adjusted.

[ThisismineScios]

Seth Etherton 
Dallas McPherson
Kendrys
Bourjos. 

They moved Torii to RF for Bourjos and he just never took it and ran with it. 

Kaleb Cowart, our big 3B of the future (to be paired with Trout)

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, ThisismineScios said:

Seth Etherton 
Dallas McPherson
Kendrys
Bourjos. 

They moved Torii to RF for Bourjos and he just never took it and ran with it. 

Kaleb Cowart, our big 3B of the future (to be paired with Trout)

Etherton. Forgot all about that guy. Off the top of my head it was him, Dickson and Cooper that were supposed to be our new wave of Finley, Langston and Abbot. And never happened.

Saw the post above about Todd Green, that's another good pull.

 

[HanfordGuy]

15 hours ago, Rico said:

JT Snow was really good for a few seasons and then kind of sucked the rest of his career. 

It seemed he was never the same hitter after he was hit in the face with a pitch.