Senior Editor Mark Haverty's work has regularly appears in such places as FOX Sports and Sporting News, where Mark is one of TSN's lead minor league analysts. Mark has also been featured in multiple print publications and as a featured guest on multiple radio shows.
No ROY for Alex in a disappointing season for the top prospect heading in to this year.
Shannon McCarthy’s hard drive is still in the midst of its recovery process and she should be back for next week’s Farm Report, leaving it up to me to bring you another top ten report. This week, we look at my top five disappointments this year. For those that do not know, in addition to my work here at Sports Grumblings, I am also “the prospect guy” for Sporting News, both online and in print, and I contribute their annual top 50 prospects list for their Fantasy Source Owners Manual that comes out every Spring. Out of that group, here are the five players that have disappointed me the most.
Top Five Disappointments
Donald Veal, Starting Pitcher, Chicago Cubs – There was so much to like about Veal before this season, such as his stuff, his control numbers before this year, and the Cubs’ need for pitching in the system. Well, the latter one is the easiest to address first – the Cubs are doing just fine without Veal, even with Mark Prior still no closer to the big leagues than you or I. This season, Veal was just 8-10 with a 4.97 ERA, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio a joke at 131:73 in 130 1/3 innings – the strikeouts per nine is just fine, but that is way too many walks to be a quality prospect. This comes after last year posting a K/BB of 174:82 in 154 1/3 innings.
Joe Koshansky, First Base, Colorado Rockies – We touched on Koshansky yesterday in Waiver Worth, Waiver Waste, and he makes another negative list today. 21 home runs and 99 RBI should be a decent season for just about anyone, but when that player hit 31 the previous season and hit 21 in Colorado, it is disappointing. Koshansky’s .295 batting average is also rather pedestrian considering his league and team. Koshansky’s defense is nothing special at all, his on-base skills just slightly above average, and he did not even get any consideration in the majors until September. There is no longer any reason to believe that Koshansky is on the Rockies’ radar as an everyday player, especially with the re-emergence of Ian Stewart. Had Stewart not re-established himself this year, Koshansky’s chances as becoming a starter next year would have been slim; now, they are just about none.
Kory Casto, Outfielder, Washington Nationals – How can a player who was just about handed a starting position with a team as bad as the Nationals have completely blown his opportunity? Oh, he found ways. Casto would find himself in the bigs on two different occasions, but he would make just sixteen major league appearances, picking up only 54 at-bats. With those 54, he would hit just .130 with no home runs, three RBI, and one run scored. Spending most of the season in Triple-A, his numbers there were also disappointing, with a .246 batting average, 11 home runs, and 55 RBI in 411 at-bats. This is someone who had belted out 20 homers and 24 doubles in the previous season, making him at least appear to be a serious source of potential power, but instead he has killed any prospect buzz he might have had heading into this season.
Brandon Wood, Shortstop, Los Angeles Angels – The first three here this week have done serious harm to their prospect status, if not killed it outright. Wood and the next player, however, are on here not for how much, if any, harm they have done to their prospect status, but what they have failed to do this year. Wood had a respectable season in Triple-A this year, hitting .272 with 23 home runs, 77 RBI, and 73 runs, but there should have been so much more here. We have been waiting for two full seasons now for Wood to come up and establish himself as a major leaguer, and he has not done so. His times in the majors have been nothing but disappointments, and we still have no obvious spot for him on the lineup for 2008. I had ranked Wood once again in the top half of the rankings in my midseason updates, but maybe I should not have.
Alex Gordon, Third Base, Kansas City Royals – Gordon should have been a Rookie of the Year candidate. “Should have” does not make it so. Gordon was an offensive monster last year, hitting 29 home runs, driving in 101 RBI, and scoring 111 times. Gordon also showed impressive speed for a power hitter, with 22 stolen bases in 25 attempts last year. This season has been a bust. The original plan of the Royals was for Gordon to stay in Triple-A all of 2007, coming up when fully ready in 2008. Mark Teahen would have kept third warm for him, and Gordon could have worked on his defense while building confidence by succeeding with the bat. Instead, they threw reason out the window and he was rushed to the bigs. His first half was a mess, as he hit .232 with six homers, 28 RBI, and 34 runs in 293 at-bats. His second half showed significant improvement, as he has hit .286 with eight homers and 26 RBI since the break, but it does not excuse the mistake of bringing him up before he was 100% ready. For the Royals to take chances with the player that should be the new face of the franchise for the next decade is moronic, and the Royals have to hope and pray rushing him does not set him back. Unlike the others, where seeing them in the bigs would have been an improvement, it would have been better for Gordon to have never stepped foot into Missouri.
