How Were You as an Unofficial Scout and Evalueater of Baseball Talent?
 

Have you ever seen a player who appeared so polished, you were sure he was a can't-miss but did?

Mine was the Braves' Ryan Langerhans.


I'm just glad I didn't try to curb his RC market.


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No one else got totally fooled by a particular player's potential?

Me as a Cubs fan in November of 2003:

“Okay, that just happened, but we’ve got Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, and with those horses we should dominate the division for the foreseeable future.”

Not sure this meets the criteria but David Clyde pitched at my high school while my younger siblings were there. I watched many of his games and he was dominant beyond belief. His mechanics were those of a professional pitcher and if you didn't know better you'd have sworn it was Koufax out there.

Of course, the Rangers rushed him to the majors days after the draft and he never became the player he should have been, for multiple reasons.

It took a couple of decades but his life finally turned for the better.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GFJe0dhMy...0/IMG_0003.jpg

That's where my nickname 'Clydepepper' originated. I was a local southpaw at the same time.


He pitching briefly and brilliantly here in 1981, but I was working a job that never allowed me to see him.


I did get to see Floyd Bannister when he had a short stay on the way up...his delivery was so, so smooth and polished...like Cliff Lee.

That's pretty neat, Robbie. I had just finished at UH when he graduated from Westchester. People would line up 2 or 3 deep around the ballpark there to watch. I was still a few years from coaching but I ended up seeing countless high school kids pitch and I never saw anything like him.

The night he debuted for Texas I went to watch a summer league game and brought my radio since they were broadcasting the game in Houston. But it turned out I didn't need it as they piped the broadcast through the sound system for everyone to listen to.

I thought the Astros mishandled Bannister and then gave up on him too quickly.

It's obvious that the movie, 'Talent for the Game', was based on Clyde's rookie experience...but it ended better...good movie IMO.



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1990 score, anyone with a rookie designation

I had 100s of Carlos Quintanas, Scott coopers, milt Cutler's etc