Thanks for those!
Toolsy Tracy Sanders (not the Tracy Sanders who backed up Deion at Florida State, and no relation to either) was a AA-stud in five systems (Cleveland, San Diego, Mets, Texas, Pittsburgh) but only got to sniff AAA with Norfolk in 1995. His fantastic walk rate got his OBP over .400, but the Mets were less than impressed with the .227 batting average. Same thing for the 40 HRs he hit in the KBO in 1999…nobody cares when you're only hitting .247. And so it goes.
(Many cards available for Sanders, at least in his early years. Apparently the companies thought he was going somewhere…other than Korea, I mean.)
Dan Cholowsky had a long run as a defensive-first catcher in the Cardinals chain, getting not one, but two, Bowman cards out of the deal. But they never could teach him how to hit, and a Gold Glove can only carry a Tin Bat so far, it seems.
Andy Nezelek was such a prospect with the Braves that he went to big-league camp in 1988, and got major-league Donruss cards in both the '89 and '90 sets. (In fact, I remembered Nezelek from those sets so well that I was surprised to learn he never got a call-up.) After missing 1991 due to shoulder troubles, he came back with his best season yet in 1992…and then lost both '93 and '94 to the shoulder problems and was done.
Good thing then that, after being optioned out to Greenville in '88, Nezelek had chosen to delay the start of his season and finish his Engineering degree at Bucknell. (Christy Mathewson would be proud. Go Bison!)
Tim Barker was able to put up good OBP and speed numbers at a variety of AAA stops, but his batting average was ordinary (.272 MiLB career), his power was almost non-existent, and his glove work was troubling. Still, no worse than many who got the chances he didn't.
