Quote:
Originally Posted by D. Bergin
Hopefully he reaches his goals this year (hits aren't a given), and retires, or the Tigers buy him out.
What a shell of himself he's become.
First other player I thought of was Don Mattingly after the back issues, but Donnie Baseball was still winning Gold Gloves and hitting for a decent average until his retirement.
Miggy went from one of the greatest pure hitters of the modern generation, to basically a negative WAR player, for 5 years straight.
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It's a shame when you see a player that was more or less destined for the Hall of Fame have his career absolutely destroyed by an Injury. Miggy put up some stellar offensive numbers to the point where both the people that buy into analytics and the traditional stat group, will look on him favorably and he will get into the Hall.
I'm pretty sure if you asked anyone after 1989 if Mattingly was going to make the Hall of Fame, the resounding answer would've probably been a "yes" He averaged at least 200 hits, 27 homers and batted to the tune of .327 during the six years leading up to the 1990 season when his back really started taking a toll on his numbers. And then five short years later, he's out of the league. Narrowly missing out on a World Series ring as well.
David Wright is another guy that I feel the same way about. Hell of a player, even though I'm a Yankees fan, I always loved watching him. Played a great third base, put up great numbers at the plate, only for him to suffer a similar fate as Donny Baseball. Once the back injuries start for these guys I feel like it's all over. Again we were robbed, of another guy that was a few seasons away from being bound for the Hall.
I get worried when I see someone like Tatis nowadays. Absolutely electric ball player, his fielding errors aside, he hustles, plays the game hard, hits the hell out of the ball. His all or nothing mentality is starting to bite him though. Reinjured his shoulder again last night, dislocated the same left shoulder that he did earlier in the season. I admire the tenacity he has, I love watching the guy play, I hope he reigns it in a bit though. I would like for him to have a long and productive career, and hopefully not have to play the "What if" game with him years down the road.