Who is Your Team's/Save's Davis Schneider?

[MathBandit]

For those who don't follow current MLB news:
Davis Schneider was a relatively unknown prospect- I can't find a pre-season farm ranking that has him in the top 20-30 of the Jays middling farm system- who was called up to the big leagues at the beginning of August without any real fanfare or expectations. His first MLB AB was a home run over the Green Monster, and since then he has continued the unprecedented offensive explosion to start his MLB career: through his first 21 games he is hitting .403/.535/.881 with 7 HRs, good for a 1.415 OPS and 282 OPS+, along with tying the modern-day MLB record (1900-present) by getting on base 46 times in his first 21 games.

So now I'm curious- who are the random prospects who had no hype in your leagues who ended up taking the entire baseball universe by storm? Did they crash and burn, go on to have reasonable major-league careers, or turn into bonafide unlikely stars?

[kq76]

I don't recall ever having a player like Babe Schneider in OOTP. I think it would take a lot to see one in OOTP. He'd have to be seriously mis-scouted and outperform his ratings.

I think a lot of us are just holding our breath that he doesn't turn into a pumpkin. After his unearthly first series in Boston he had a hitless series vs Cleveland so it seemed like he was coming back down to earth, but since then he's been pretty solid. Surely this won't keep up forever, but the encouraging thing is he seems like a pretty smart guy who has already identified his weaknesses and continually works on them. So if pitchers figure out a new weakness, I think he might have a good chance at adjusting once again.

[snepp]

He put Bob Hamelin to shame.

[Pelican]

I am looking back to various saves to respond. I know it has happened, and it’s good to know that it can happen IRL as well. [Maybe someone jacked up the TCR figure for MLB 2023??]

Two more examples are pitching for Atlanta. Strider and Freid were unheralded pitching prospects. They had mediocre - to be kind - minor league stats. (I am no Braves fan, so don’t know if they had injury problems. The various years with minimal innings pitched suggests that.) There was no reason to expect that they would have any success as SP in the major leagues. If they had performed as expected, Atlanta would not be crowned already by the media as the “best team in baseball”. [Apparently, to be a baseball writer, it helps to have a very short memory - goldfish! - say, of what happened to the Braves in last year’s playoffs.]

[CobaltJays]

I can't recall anyone quite like Schneider with my team. One of my current starting pitchers was a waiver claim but had a sudden jump in his third pitch in spring training. He basically went from being relief pitching depth to a very good starter overnight. I didn't even notice his talent change until I was pruning my roster at the end of spring training.

I've had the occasional late-round draft pick turn into a star over the years. Larry Kittel is one of my more recent ones (see attached screenshot). He was a 16th rounder, but steadily improved and eventually turned into the league's #10 prospect. He won the award for the league's best pitcher in his first two full seasons before becoming a solid mid-rotation starter and innings eater. Right now he's more of a fifth starter, but I hope to get a couple more effective years out of him.

For anyone wondering, his run support in 2153 was an absurd 6.6 runs/game:

[BaseballGOAT]

for me, it was Ryan Holgate. Cardinals drafted him back in 2021 from Arizona. in real life, before being released this year before appearing in a minor league game he had a grand total of 51 games above the FCL. way too many strikeouts in real life to have any real chance to get to his huge natural power. In one save, he finally managed to cut down on his strikeouts and got a chance when we had a bunch of injuries, he went on to finish 2nd in the national league in homers in 2027 for the Cardinals. never came close to doing it again and was traded in 2030. but it was still a fun story to see unfold

[GoPedro99]

Ryan McMahon in a past rockies save I had. While he wasnt quite a nobody, it was before he really became a good prospect. he was projected to be a AAAA type guy in game. Then the offseason between his age 22 and age 23 season he had a massive dev boost. He proceeded to light up the league for years, hitting 600+ HR, and finishing top 10 all time in OBP, SLG, OPS, RBI and a few other stats. He anchored a team that went to the playoffs for 20+ straight seasons

[NoOne]

miscout or TCR. run a sim long enough, it has to happen.