Reggie Taylor was a 1st Round pick in 1995. He was considered a 5-tool prospect, and was rated one of the Phillies Top 10 prospects for seven straight seasons. While he had plenty of potential, he had trouble translating that into on-field success. From 1995 until 2000, when he finally made the majors, he never had an OBP over .310. While he had power, the lack of on-base skills killed his production. He did have great defense–he would have probably been a perennial Gold Glove winner if he would have made the majors and gotten consistent playing time. But his lack of contact and plate discipline really undermined his game.
Carlos Castillo was a 3rd round pick in 1994. He would go 10-7 with a 1.39 WHIP over parts of four seasons.
Cesar King was a well thought of prospect, ranked the #31 prospect of the game entering the 1999 season. He has a great 1997; as a 19 year old in High-A and AA ball he hit .304/.373/.429 with 7 HR. Good numbers, at such a young age, while playing catcher…he looked like a legit prospect. But in 1998 he would struggle in his first full season of AA, hitting .222/.288/.313, and would never get any momentum after that. He would never make the majors.
Damon Minor was drafted in the 12th round by the San Francisco Giants in 1996. He put up some great numbers in the minors, showing power and getting on base. He broke out in 1997 while at High-A, hitting 31 HR with a .289/.391/.532 slash. He would continue to hit well in AA/AAA, and would make the majors in 2000. But he never really got any consistent at bats in the majors, would bounce between the majors and AAA, and eventually retire in 2006.
Jason Conti was a 32nd round pick in 1996. Twice he ranked as one of Arizona’s Top 20 prospects. He was a top notch defensive player, but in the majors struggled with both strikeouts and his lack of power.
Jesus Sanchez had a weird career. He was signed in 1992, had a very nice run in the minors, and joined the Marlins in 1998. He would stay in the majors until 2004, generally being fringe roster arm who spent a lot of time on the bus between the AAA and Major league team.
Despite not playing ball in the majors since 2004, he was still in organized ball until 2012, playing with a variety of foreign and independent teams.
Kevin Witt was drafted in the 1st Round of the 1994 draft. He was a minor league power hitter, hitting at least 20 HR in eight seasons. Despite his power, he struggled with the K’s. He would be rated one of the Blue Jays Top 5 prospects for the 1999 season, but he would never stick in the majors. He would spend parts of five seasons in the bigs, only getting more than 100 at bats once.
Mark Kotsay had a nice career. He was a 1st Round pick in 1996, and would go on to have a 17 season career. He would retire with a career .767 OPS.
Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | AB | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | 20 | FLA-min | A | 17 | 60 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 8 | .283 | .436 | .467 | .903 | |
1997 | 21 | FLA-min | AA | 114 | 438 | 20 | 77 | 17 | 5 | 75 | 65 | .306 | .405 | .514 | .919 | |
1997 | 21 | FLA | NL | 14 | 52 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 7 | .192 | .250 | .250 | .500 | 35 |
1998 | 22 | FLA | NL | 154 | 578 | 11 | 68 | 10 | 5 | 34 | 61 | .279 | .318 | .403 | .721 | 94 |
1999 | 23 | FLA | NL | 148 | 495 | 8 | 50 | 7 | 6 | 29 | 50 | .271 | .306 | .402 | .708 | 83 |
2000 | 24 | FLA | NL | 152 | 530 | 12 | 57 | 19 | 9 | 42 | 46 | .298 | .347 | .443 | .791 | 104 |
2001 | 25 | SDP | NL | 119 | 406 | 10 | 58 | 13 | 5 | 48 | 58 | .291 | .366 | .441 | .807 | 116 |
2002 | 26 | SDP | NL | 153 | 578 | 17 | 61 | 11 | 9 | 59 | 89 | .292 | .359 | .452 | .810 | 122 |
2003 | 27 | SDP | NL | 128 | 482 | 7 | 38 | 6 | 3 | 56 | 82 | .266 | .343 | .384 | .726 | 97 |
2004 | 28 | OAK | AL | 148 | 606 | 15 | 63 | 8 | 5 | 55 | 70 | .314 | .370 | .459 | .829 | 116 |
2005 | 29 | OAK | AL | 139 | 582 | 15 | 82 | 5 | 5 | 40 | 51 | .280 | .325 | .421 | .746 | 97 |
2006 | 30 | OAK | AL | 129 | 502 | 7 | 59 | 6 | 3 | 44 | 55 | .275 | .332 | .386 | .719 | 88 |
2007 | 31 | OAK | AL | 56 | 206 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 20 | .214 | .279 | .296 | .575 | 56 |
2008 | 32 | TOT | MLB | 110 | 402 | 6 | 49 | 2 | 4 | 32 | 45 | .276 | .329 | .403 | .732 | 92 |
2008 | 32 | ATL | NL | 88 | 318 | 6 | 37 | 2 | 3 | 25 | 34 | .289 | .340 | .418 | .758 | 100 |
2008 | 32 | BOS | AL | 22 | 84 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 11 | .226 | .286 | .345 | .631 | 62 |
2009 | 33 | TOT | AL | 67 | 187 | 4 | 23 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 21 | .278 | .327 | .390 | .717 | 84 |
2009 | 33 | BOS | AL | 27 | 74 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 12 | .257 | .291 | .324 | .615 | 59 |
2009 | 33 | CHW | AL | 40 | 113 | 3 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 9 | .292 | .349 | .434 | .783 | 101 |
2010 | 34 | CHW | AL | 107 | 327 | 8 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 32 | 36 | .239 | .306 | .376 | .683 | 83 |
2011 | 35 | MIL | NL | 104 | 233 | 3 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 21 | 27 | .270 | .329 | .373 | .703 | 91 |
2012 | 36 | SDP | NL | 82 | 143 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 14 | .259 | .314 | .357 | .671 | 90 |
2013 | 37 | SDP | NL | 104 | 155 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 25 | .194 | .253 | .226 | .479 | 40 |
17 Yrs | 1914 | 6464 | 127 | 720 | 98 | 64 | 554 | 757 | .276 | .332 | .404 | .737 | 96 | |||
162 Game Avg. | 162 | 547 | 11 | 61 | 8 | 5 | 47 | 64 | .276 | .332 | .404 | .737 | 96 |
Matt Karchner
Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 8th round of the 1989 amateur draft.
Year | Age | Tm | Lg | W | L | G | GS | GF | SV | IP | H | BB | SO | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 28 | CHW | AL | 4 | 2 | 1.69 | 31 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 32.0 | 33 | 12 | 24 | 269 | 3.63 | 1.406 |
1996 | 29 | CHW | AL | 7 | 4 | 5.76 | 50 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 59.1 | 61 | 41 | 46 | 83 | 5.99 | 1.719 |
1997 | 30 | CHW | AL | 3 | 1 | 2.91 | 52 | 0 | 25 | 15 | 52.2 | 50 | 26 | 30 | 152 | 4.44 | 1.443 |
1998 | 31 | TOT | MLB | 5 | 5 | 5.15 | 61 | 0 | 26 | 11 | 64.2 | 63 | 33 | 52 | 88 | 4.99 | 1.485 |
1998 | 31 | CHW | AL | 2 | 4 | 5.15 | 32 | 0 | 23 | 11 | 36.2 | 33 | 19 | 30 | 89 | 4.18 | 1.418 |
1998 | 31 | CHC | NL | 3 | 1 | 5.14 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 28.0 | 30 | 14 | 22 | 86 | 6.07 | 1.571 |
1999 | 32 | CHC | NL | 1 | 0 | 2.50 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18.0 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 182 | 6.13 | 1.389 |
2000 | 33 | CHC | NL | 1 | 1 | 6.14 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 14.2 | 19 | 11 | 5 | 76 | 7.36 | 2.045 |
6 Yrs | 21 | 13 | 4.21 | 223 | 0 | 81 | 27 | 241.1 | 242 | 132 | 166 | 109 | 5.17 | 1.550 | |||
162 Game Avg. | 6 | 4 | 4.21 | 68 | 0 | 25 | 8 | 74 | 74 | 40 | 51 | 109 | 5.17 | 1.550 |