GatewayRedbirds.com

I just found this on BA, it's several months old but interesting.

Matt Eddy took elite prospects (not top-100 players, but top-of-the-top-100 players: not guys, but Guys) who lost a full year or nearly a full year of development in the year they were ranked top of the heap. I'll summarize instead of copy/pasting the whole thing.

Alex Escobar, Mets, Ranked #5 Overall in 1999
Made 5 PA in 1999 while dealing w/ back problems and a dislocated shoulder
MLB: only a few hundred PA. Good performance, not great

Nick Johnson, Yankees, Ranked #4 among position players in 2000
Missed the entire 2000 season with a right hand injury
MLB: 3300 PA with a .400 OBP. 5 rWAR in his peak season.

Josh Hamilton, Rays, #1 Overall Prospect in 2001
Car accident during spring training, hurt his back, came back to soon, had a lost year.
MLB: MVP award.

Joe Mauer, Twins, Ranked #1 overall two years in a row (one of only three players to do that)
Torn meniscus in 2nd game of 2004, lost year.
MLB: MVP

Chipper Jones, Braves, Ranked #2 Overall in 1994
Torn ACL during spring training 1994, lost the whole year
MLB: MVP. Slam-dunk, sure-fire, no-doubt HOF player. Hopefully will not wear an Affliction tee on his plaque.

Those are the only five elite prospects who have lost a full year the year after their ranking per Eddy. Strasburg does not count b/c he was not a prospect entering 2011, but that was just barely. If you want to add him to the mix, feel free, and then you've got a sixth, and it's a guy with back-to-back 3-win seasons on a reduced workload.

Should we be worried about Taveras's ankle injury last year? Personally, I'm not. He had elite talent a year ago when we were excited about him, and he still has that elite talent now and we should still be just as excited about him.

The fact that he isn't even running yet makes me a little worried.

I hadn't heard that. Tried to find in on the web and came up empty. Hit me with a link.

Hmmm... can't find it. I know I heard it or read it somewhere recently, maybe on the Post-Dispatch page.

33anda3rd wrote:I hadn't heard that. Tried to find in on the web and came up empty. Hit me with a link.

From a Jan. 19, 2014 article:

A club physician evaluated Taveras’ surgically repaired right ankle Friday and gave the club encouraging news about his recovery from an injury that erased more than half of his 2013 season. Taveras has not been cleared to run at full speed, but he has been weightlifting with the leg without pain. Mozeliak said he should be ready or close to “100 percent” by the start of spring training.

“Good. Great,” Taveras said. “I’m 100 percent ready for spring training.”

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball ... dd736.html

Thanks champ, that was where I read it. I don't know how you can be 100% ready for ST if you haven't been cleared to run full speed.

Wouldn't Dylan Bundy count as well?

Yes, he sure would.

Seems like the right thread.

Miguel Sano to have Tommy John surgery, expected to miss 2014 season

Yep, another data point in this study. What a shame.