Quote:
Originally Posted by Déjà Bru
If you Google "baseball flashes in the pan", you can compile a list of names as shown below. These are players who, not just had a single good season and then disappeared (coffee cup players) but who actually showed the signs of greatness for a while, only to decline due to injury, or the league catching up with them, or maybe it was all a fluke and they were not that good to begin with. Here are ten names: - Mark Fidyrch
- Eric Gagne
- Chase Headley
- Ubaldo Jimenez
- Tim Lincecum
- Kevin Maas
- Ubaldo Jimenez
- Mark Prior
- Dontrelle Willis
- Kerry Wood
Will Nick Kurtz be on this list someday? Who knows. But it seems that whenever there is excitement like this over a new player, usually it all comes crashing back down to earth. The path to greatness is a slow grind over time, not a meteor streaking across the sky. |
I would take issue with some of these. Gagne as mentioned had a half decade run where he was one of the best relievers in baseball.
Lincecum was a back to back Cy Young winner.
If you went into every draft and could identify a 2x CY Young winner even if you were assured his career would fall off by age 30, that guy would go #1 overall pick every single time.
The same could be said for Denny McLain.
I am not going to guarantee the success of any athlete, things happen.
But Kurtz does have some things going for him that point to long term success.
High pedigree, he was a top 10 or top 5 HS player out of Chattanooga and maintained that all through HS.
He was highly sought after by D1 programs and then went to Wake Forest where he produced a nice college career.
This led to him being taken #4 overall
Then he has hit everywhere he has been in the minors.
No history of serious injury up to this point.
And he just turned 22 in late April.
I would say those are pretty good signs of future success.