Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 20 Casey Kotchman

I don't follow his playing career as closely, but it is nice to see former Angels first baseman Casey Kotchman enjoy some early success with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2011 - he was the blue chip prospect out of the Angels system in the mid 2000s, expected to be some sort of Mark Grace / Keith Hernandez hybrid.

However illness dragged down his first few years with the Angels and inability to hit for power made him an expendable player - these days Kotchman looks more like Dave Magadan rather than an All-Star first baseman, but an off-season operation has cleared his vision and it looks like he is hitting for average again.

Disappointment

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 19 Adam Miller

Injuries have derailed Adam Miller's professional career and while the Cleveland Indians are still trying to get something out of the first round pick - making a living as a professional baseball player has been a painful experience for Miller.

DISAPPOINTMENT

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 18 Brandon Wood

Brandon Wood may still carve out an decent Major League career at 26, but he's got a lot of work to do - I still kind of hope he finds success, even though he isn't an Angel anymore, just because it would really be a waste if his once prodigious potential translates into nothing but MLB futility.

BUST

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 17 Jeff Mathis

As an Angels fan, I don't know what to think about Jeff Mathis - he has played in parts of seven seasons in the Major Leagues and has a lifetime batting average is .199.

What position player hits .199 for their Major League career - maybe there was once hope that the 28-year old Mathis would do so much better with the bat once he was given an opportunity to play every day, but it hasn't happened yet.

I'd labeled him as merely a disappointment because he has stuck around with the Halos all these years - but his toothpick bat is just too hard to ignore otherwise.

BUST

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 16 Clint Everts

Clint Everts was the No. 5 overall pick in the 2002 MLB June Amateur Draft - he was supposed to be something good for the Montreal Expos years ago but hasn't played in the Major Leagues with any team.

Everts is just one of many examples that shows why there is no such thing as a pitching prospect - they can be held in such high regard coming from the amateur ranks, through the minors, but their next pitch could be their last.

BUST

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 15 Adam Piatt

Adam Piatt was an up-and-coming prospect for the Oakland Athletics at the end of the 1990s and made his Major League debut in 2000 - as he was trying to establish himself with the A's, I remember some kind of illness bogged him down, besides not really being that good in the first place.

After his MLB career was done, he was mentioned in Mitchell report, featuring 'who's who' of professional baseball players - who have been supposedly been associated with PED use.

In 2009, it looks Piatt got into a scuffle with the law - his mugshot is featured on this Web site.

BUST

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 14 Corey Patterson

Corey Patterson was supposed to be a poor man's Barry Bonds coming through the minors, though Patterson's No. 1 problem - was not being able to sustain the ability to get on-base when he wasn't getting hits left and right.

A bust of a top prospect, his journeyman career may not be unique - but he has been productive in small spurts [even with a .293 lifetime on-base percentage] and shown flashes of the talent that at least keeps earning him a MLB paycheck.

DISAPPOINTMENT

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 13 Ryan Wagner

I don't know what to say about Ryan Wagner, a college relief ace whose professional career came up quite short of expectations - he never developed into closer material and whileh he played in parts of five years in the Major Leagues, his last full season was in 2005 when he posted a 6.11 ERA in 42 games.

BUST

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 12 Sean Burroughs

From Little League World Series star in the early 1990s to uber prospect for the San Diego Padres in the early 2000s, Sean Burroughs was supposed to be the real deal - he settled into the Major Leagues for a couple of years but his lack of power was apparently disappointing and his last MLB season was in 2006.

The son of 1974 American League MVP Jeff Burroughs - I think there was more to why Sean couldn't stick in the Major Leagues, even as a guy who wasn't going to be play everyday because of the lack of power.

Sean is back in professional baseball and is currently playing for the AAA Reno Aces in the Arizona Diamondbacks system - reading this story about his comeback this season, it sort of goes into the reasons why his playing career sort of floundered.

DISAPPOINTMENT

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 11 Wily Mo Pena

Once traded for Drew Henson, Pena is still young enough that he should get another opportunity to play in the Major Leagues - or at least in end up in Japan to put up some video game numbers.

He's playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks AAA team in Reno and so far in 2011 - he is hitting .366 with a slugging percentage of .777 and an on-base percentage of .429 in 112 official at-bats.

I think there is some curiosity with professional athletes who never quite to get to the top - especially when you had a 'physical specimen' like Wily Mo, who would have been labeled a 'toolsy' player with lots of work to do besides just show up ready to play.

I just had a handful of Pena's early cards during his prospect days with the New York Yankes and was hoping he'd turn out to be Sammy Sosa lite - unfortunately, he turned out to be Frankenstein's monster.

Wily Mo got a chance to play in the Major Leagues from the mid 2000s but it seemed like there were some issues in just letting the guy play - maybe it was lack of conditioning, maybe it was lack of baseball aptitude and just inability to put it together, but he kind of washed out of the Major Leagues two or three years ago.

DISAPPOINTMENT

Baseball busts and disappointments - No. 1 Drew Henson

Here is my retrospective on 10 busts and disappointments over the last 10 years - Drew Henson was an easy choice for No. 1, since he managed to flop in two professional sports after being highly touted super-athlete in high school/college.

1.) Drew Henson - played one too many sports and had one too many holes in his swing. He was destined to be either John Elway as a quarterback or perhaps Scott Rolen as a third baseman.

In the minor leagues, Henson was exposed as having too many holes in his swing and after bouncing back-and-forth between the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds - he decided professional football was his true calling.

However, Henson washed out as a second or third string clipboard holder in the NFL as well - never really becoming a very good professional baseball player or a decent professional football player.

When he was initially a hot commodity back in the late 1990s - his hottest card was a 1999 SP Prospects Minor League card, which was perhaps a $10-$20 card at one point.

It is hard to believe a minor league base card that was available in packs would command some value - I don't recall the furor over the card, though part of the hype was due to Upper Deck releasing the card while Henson was still playing football at Michigan.

Now the card is worth about a quarter or less and is a reminder why hobby hype over two-sport stars simply isn't warranted - over a comparable player who focuses on one sport, whether you are a football card collector or a baseball card speculator.

BUST

Baseball busts and disappointments - Part III

Here is my retrospective on 10 busts and disappointments over the last 10 years - it really isn't my point to make fun of these players' accomplishments, but as a baseball fan who at times likes to speculate on the future stars, sometimes I wonder what happened to these guys that were supposed to be at least perennial all-star talent.

4.) Jesse Foppert - was the next Tim Lincecum, several years before Lincecum was drafted by the San Francisco Giants. Foppert was bigger and had the ideal projectable pitcher's body, but injuries [i.e. Tommy John surgery] apparently derailed his promising career. He ended up bouncing around in the minors, unsuccessfully trying to regain his footing as a professional.

BUST
3.) Eric Munson - he was the No. 3 overall pick out of USC in 1999 and while his rookie card was actually in the 1999 Upper Deck Ultimate Victory product, it meant a little something to me when I pulled a 2000 Upper Deck card since I thought he was a future star. Now I just look at his career and think as perfect of a life this guy may have being paid to play professional baseball and all the fringe benefits playing in parts of nine Major League seasons has brought him, the journeyman catcher still has a lifetime batting average of .214 and little to show for his high draft pedigree.

BUST

2.) Joe Borchard - another two-sport star, I was excited when I sent him an autograph request through the mail back in 2000 and he sent me a signed minor league card. It is too bad, he never quite figured things out with his Major League 'slash lines' at .205/.284/.352 in 716 at-bats, covering 301 games in parts of six seasons from 2002-2007.

BUST

Baseball busts and disappointments - Part II

Here is my retrospective on 10 busts and disappointments over the last 10 years - I'll label the guys who weren't outright busts as disappointments, particularly if injuries seemed to be the biggest factor in them not being able to have successful Major League playing careers.

7.) Austin Kearns - Kearns and Adam Dunn were supposed to form some kind of duo with the Cincinnati Reds. Kearns was seemingly the better all-around player and Dunn could hit for crazy power. However, Kearns really filled out too much at some point in his career and became more of a one-dimensional plodder, never really quite fulfilled his potential.

While he still has some skills and maybe still be useful player - he has been dinged by injuries the last couple of seasons and his numbers have suffered.

DISAPPOINTMENT

6.) Alex Escobar - a five-tool outfield prospect, he was supposed to be the next New York Mets' superstar. However, after moving onto some other teams, a rash of injuries derailed his promising career and he couldn't stay on the field for a prolonged period of time to put up some decent numbers.

DISAPPOINTMENT

5.) Ruben Mateo - he was looking like a future all-star performer, but after he broke his femur in 2000, was never the same player and ending up being a journeyman.

DISAPPOINTMENT

Baseball busts and disappointments - a Top 10 list from the last 10 years

Congratulations to Andre Dawson and his election to the Hall of Fame - for us fans and baseball experts who debate whether or not a player of his caliber is worthy of induction, it doesn't matter because Dawson is in the Hall of Fame.

On the other hand, there are talented players who don't have one-third a career Dawson has enjoyed - it is kind of fun to poke around and see the once highly touted players coming up the professional ranks, only to hit a wall at the Major League level.

My original definition of a bust is a player who fails to reach the Major Leagues after having some sort of hype thrown at his direction - if a particular player reaches the Major Leagues, then the player should be considered a professional success. On the other hand, if he did little once he got to the Majors, then he has to have the label of a 'bust.'

However, if the player never really fulfilled any sort of expectations after reaching the Major Leagues - I'd like to believe the player is still a bust.

However, there are certain players who didn't live up to expectations after being hyped up as top prospects - being labeled a disappointment isn't the worst thing if a player has had at least a useful three or four year Major League career and has survived to play in the Major Leagues for a period of time.

Here is my retrospective on 10 busts and disappointments over the last 10 years - I've got a small stack of their cards filed away just to remind me not to believe the hype, whenever a hotshot baseball prospect [Stephen Strasburg in the pros or in the amateur ranks, Bryce Harper] is being bandied about as the next all-star or superstar.

10.) Dallas McPherson - as Angels fan, McPherson leaves a bitter taste because of the injuries ravished his career. He a 'country strong' hitting prospect, who tore through the minors and was supposed to be Troy Glaus' replacement. On the other hand, even though he was a crown jewel of the Angels' system, he was sort of an 'older prospect' who had holes in his swing. Regardless, if healthy, I thought he could hammer any flaws out and don't see him as a complete flop.

DISAPPOINTMENT

9.) Adam Johnson - the second overall pick in the 2000 draft, the Cal State Fullerton product's lone cup of coffee in the Major Leagues in 2001 included allowing 23 earned runs in 25 innings. I remember Phil Nevin and Mark Kotsay as the most highly decorated and touted CSUF baseball players in the last 20 years, but I don't know if I actually followed Johnson at CSUF to even consider him in the same class with the two.

Maybe he snuck up on people and turned out to be a guy who'd be easier to sign than others available - the Minnesota Twins had better luck in 2001 when they picked a guy named Joe Mauer No. 1 overall, who was also tabbed an easier sign, than the consensus No. 1 talent in Mark Prior.

BUST

8.) Kenny Kelly - a two-sport star, his athleticism never translated into something decent as a pro baseball player and he never got a prolonged opportunity to stick in the Major Leagues after making his MLB debut with Tampa. I remember trying to pick up a couple of his cards on eBay, thinking he might actually some kind of good player.

BUST