2001 Top 50 in Review

by John Sickels on Feb 8, 2026 4:00 PM EST in News

Top Prospects of 2001

Reviewing the Top 50 prospects list from 2001, here is what we find:

Corey Patterson, OF: 69 career win shares.
Ryan Anderson, LHP: Career ruined by injuries
Hee Seop Choi, 1B: 26 career win shares before heading back to Asia. Worthy of a Failed Prospect Profile, a new feature upcoming
Ben Sheets, RHP: 69 career win shares.
Josh Beckett, RHP: 73 career win shares
Josh Hamilton OF: 13 career win shares, career still developing
Carlos Pena, 1B: 71 career win shares.
Jon Rauch, RHP: 23 career win shares, was slowed by injuries
Roy Oswalt, RHP: 125 career win shares
C.C. Sabathia, LHP: 101 career win shares.
Sean Burroughs, 3B: 38 career win shares. Another Failed Prospect Profile guy.
Jose Ortiz, 2B: Never got untracked in Oakland or Colorado, went to Japan and had strong '03 and '04 seasons. Another guy for a Failed Prospect Profile. Overrated on this list.
Bobby Bradley, RHP: Career ruined by injuries
Austin Kearns, OF: 84 career win shares
Kevin Mench, OF: 58 career win shares
Chin-Hui Tsao, RHP: Injuries, could still do something
Marcus Giles, 2B: 112 career win shares
Albert Pujols, 1B: 251 career win shares, Hall of Fame talent
Vernon Wells, OF: 122 career win shares
Ben Christensen, RHP: Injuries and bad karma
Jovanny Cedeno, RHP: Injuries
Wilson Betemit, INF: 22 career win shares, still young at 26
Abraham Nunez, OF: Age-Gate, was never as good as he looked due to wrong birthday
Adam Johnson, RHP: Topped out in Triple-A, huge disappointment
D'Angelo Jimenez, INF: 67 career win shares
Nick Johnson, 1B: 80 career win shares
Matt Belisle, RHP: 11 career win shares
Joe Borchard, OF: Football Player Tools Bust
Drew Henson, 3B: Football Player Tools Bust
Adam Dunn, OF: 144 career win shares
Juan Cruz, RHP: 24 career win shares
Nick Neugebauer, RHP: Injuries
Matt Kinney, RHP: 9 career win shares, control problems
J.R. House, C: Injuries, but hits great in Triple-A and could still have a career
Chris George, LHP: Lost velocity and command
Tim Redding, RHP: 12 career win shares, control problems
Aubrey Huff, 3B: 98 career win shares
Ben Broussard, 1B: 52 career win shares
Dee Brown, OF: Never adjusted to majors
Pablo Ozuna, 2B: 11 career win shares, hit .328 for the White Sox in `06
Keith Ginter, 2B: 24 career win shares, had moments of success
Jesus Colome, RHP: 20 career win shares
Joe Crede, 3B: 65 career win shares
Antonio Perez, SS: 13 career win shares
Bud Smith, LHP: Threw a no-hitter, injuries
Alex Escobar, OF: Injuries
Milton Bradley, OF: 80 career win shares
Luis Rivas, 2B: 33 career win shares. Disappointing.
Hank Blalock, 3B: 78 career win shares.
Jack Cust, OF: 23 career win shares, finally got a chance

Pitcher Breakdown

Ranked By Win Shares
Roy Oswalt, 125 (junior college pitcher)
C.C. Sabathia, 101 (high school pitcher)
Josh Beckett, 73 (high school pitcher)
Ben Sheets, 69 (college pitcher)
Juan Cruz, 24 (free agent, Dominican Republic)
Jon Rauch, 23 (college pitcher)
Jesus Colome, 20 (free agent, Dominican Republic)
Tim Redding, 12 (junior college pitcher)
Matt Belisle, 11 (high school pitcher)
Matt Kinney, 9 (high school pitcher)
Chin-Hui Tsao, 3 (free agent, Taiwan)

Busts
Ryan Anderson (injuries, high school pitcher)
Bobby Bradley (injuries, high school pitcher)
Jovanny Cedeno (injuries, free agent Dominican Republic)
Ben Christensen (injuries, college pitcher)
Chris George (sucked, high school pitcher)
Adam Johnson (sucked, college pitcher)
Nick Neugebauer (injuries, high school pitcher)
Bud Smith (injuries, junior college pitcher)

Hitter Breakdown
Ranked by Win Shares

Albert Pujols, 251 (junior college)
Adam Dunn, 144 (high school)
Vernon Wells, 122 (high school)
Marcus Giles, 112 (junior college)
Aubrey Huff, 98 (college)
Austin Kearns, 84 (high school)
Milton Bradley, 80 (high school)
Nick Johnson, 80 (high school)
Hank Blalock, 78 (high school)
Carlos Pena, 71 (college)
Corey Patterson, 69 (high school)
D'Angelo Jimenez, 67 (Dominican Republic)
Joe Crede, 65 (high school)
Kevin Mench, 58 (college)
Ben Broussard, 52 (college)
Sean Burroughs, 38 (high school)
Luis Rivas, 33 (Venezuela)
Hee Seop Choi, 26 (Korea)
Keith Ginter, 24 (college)
Jack Cust, 23 (high school)
Wilson Betemit, 22 (Dominican Republic)
Josh Hamilton, 13 (high school)
Antonio Perez, 13 (Dominican Republic)
Pablo Ozuna, 11 (Dominican Republic)
Alex Escobar 9 (injuries, Venezuela)
J.R. House (borderline case, injuries, could still have a career, high school)

Busts
Joe Borchard (tools bust, college)
Dee Brown (bust, high school)
Drew Henson (tools bust, high school)
Abraham Nunez (Age-Gate, Dominican Republic )
Jose Ortiz (Dominican Republic, played well in Japan)

Thoughts:

A) Be very skeptical about football players
B) Injuries kill pitchers
C) Talent can come from anywhere. The two best players on this list, Pujols and Oswalt, both came from the junior college ranks and were low-round picks (13th for Pujols, 23rd for Oswalt
D) Some tools guys pan out, others don't. Some sluggers pan out, others don't. Obvious, but true.
E) Even now it is too early to fully evaluate this list. We don't know what will happen with Cust, Hamilton, and Betemit in particular.

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Comments

re

How in the world does Nick Johnson have 80 win shares?

by bootsy on Feb 8, 2026 4:40 PM EST reply actions

re

My guess would be that the defense factors in a lot.

by hockey4001 on Feb 8, 2026 5:36 PM EST up reply actions

He can hit

He had an OPS+ of 125 in 1973 PAs, it was 149 the one year he cracked 500 ABs-

He's no Hee Chop Soi, he can play when he takes the field

by Johnny Ruin on Feb 8, 2026 6:08 PM EST up reply actions

re

FTR, I wasn't questioning his ability when healthy, just that he racked up so many with so little time. I didn't take a close look but it appears that he has the second highest Win Share per PA to Pujols.

by bootsy on Feb 8, 2026 6:42 PM EST up reply actions

re

I don't know about being skeptical about football guys. You could write a book with names of football guys turned good in baseball. I would say skeptical over high profile football guys that need a big bonus to sway them into baseball (Henson, Borchard, Jeff Smarj).

by ScottAZ on Feb 8, 2026 4:41 PM EST reply actions

football players

Sure, Borchard and Henson didn't turn out so well, but there's another guy who chose baseball over football listed directly below them who turned out to be pretty good...

by JeffersJV on Feb 8, 2026 10:20 PM EST up reply actions

And of course

Darin Erstad gave up a career as a punter to be the grindiest guy from Dakota to ever play the sport.

by thejd44 on Feb 10, 2026 3:19 PM EST up reply actions

re

Thats my point: Carl Crawford, Quinton McCracken, Erstad, etc, etc, etc.

Yeah, there are Josh Booty's, Borchards, etc, too, but a number of these guys pan out.

My point is to avoid the high profile ones that cost you $5-$10 mil just to quit football

by ScottAZ on Feb 11, 2026 9:54 AM EST up reply actions

Another thought after seeing 3 of these lists

Be wary of Asian prospects - Hee Seop Choi, Chin-Feng Chen, Chin-Hui Tsao

by NYCRoyal on Feb 8, 2026 4:55 PM EST reply actions

Garbage

You've got a slugging first baseman who had some injuries, got traded around by teams looking for something more experienced, and was generally mismanaged and not given a real shot. If you look at Choi's stats, it doesn't really make sense that he ever left the States. He was never given a chance.

Chen got hurt. It happens.

Tsao got hurt. It happens. Especially to young pitchers. The Rockies pushed him hard, having him throw 145 innings in his first professional season as a 19 year old. Add in the fact that Colorado has typically been the worst place in the league to break in young pitchers, and it makes sense he didn't succeed.

I don't think that your statement is very fair.

by MontrealMets on Feb 8, 2026 6:39 PM EST up reply actions

was john's comment fair to football players?

i imagine the ethnic aspect of the poster's assertion is part of what drew your response. i think one should always examine and re-examine their assumptions and assessments. perhaps there is something to the fact that these particular players were overhyped and not least because teams/scouts/writers were looking to find the next [insert successful asian player] or break into the [insert asian country] market.

by larry on Feb 8, 2026 7:06 PM EST up reply actions

it has

nothing to do with ethnicity, so you're "not very fair" statement is what is not very fair.
If we can break guys down based on Latin signings, high school draftees and collegians why is it unfair to look at the performance of guys who came from the Asian system?

by nms on Feb 8, 2026 8:11 PM EST up reply actions

I actually think my statement is fair

There have been a lot of successful Asian players in the MLB, but almost all of them proved themselves in overseas professional leagues prior to being successful in the MLB.

On the other hand, almost all of the former high profile Asian minor league prospects have definitively failed to live up to expectations at the MLB level. Only Chien Ming Wang, Byung Hyun Kim, and Chan Ho Park can be considered successes, and the latter two have not lived up to people's expectations.

Without even doing the exhaustive research, here are the disappointments who come to mind:

Chin Feng Chen - Bust
Hee Seop Choi - Bust
Kazuhito Tadano - Bust
Jae Seo - Bust
Mac Suzuki - Bust
Cha Seung Baek - Disappointing, still has a shot
Chin Hui Tsao - Bust, injuries, concede he could still have a career
Shin Soo Choo - Can't label him a definitive bust yet but no one seems to think highly enough of him to give him a chance at the MLB level
Jae Kuk Ryu - Bust
Hong Chih Kuo - Bust

Here's to hoping that Chin Lung Hu doesn't add his name to the latter list.

by NYCRoyal on Feb 8, 2026 10:27 PM EST up reply actions

I wasn't disagreeing with you

I think you made a fair point

by nms on Feb 8, 2026 10:34 PM EST up reply actions

about your list though

Kuo probably needs the same "Bust, injuries, concede he could still have a career" disclaimer Tsao has.

As Tadano, Baek and Seo, I'm not sure if they were really busts, since I'm not sure what the expectations were.
Were they expected to be impact pitchers? Theyve had some success in bigs, but also plenty of struggles

But, in general I agree with you. You have a raised a valid point

by nms on Feb 8, 2026 10:39 PM EST up reply actions

Yep

Seo, Tsao, and Kyo all struggled with injuries. As John pointed out, Choi was never really given a chance. Too early to call Ryu a bust. Tadano wasn't even a prospect.

If there were twenty players that had ever played in the minor leagues, and a bunch of them were failures, would that be enough of a sample size to really say anything? Because I don't think 20 players is ever enough to really make a judgment call. There haven't been enough Asian players in the American system to make much of a judgment call about that.

by MontrealMets on Feb 9, 2026 9:45 AM EST up reply actions

but yet

we are making judgement calls about the high schoolers, collegians and football players in this set?

Seo's injuries didn't really make him what he is. His lack of stuff did though.
And maybe we should look out for foreign pitchers getting injured more.

And give up on the Choi thing. He washed out. Period. He never had more than a half season of being a decent 1b.
If you say he "wasn't given a chance" then you could say that about almost any player who isn't very good.

And while Ryu could still be a major league pitcher it is clear so far that he has been a bust in that he has not lived up to what was thought of him. Right now he isn't much better than tons of AAAers

by nms on Feb 9, 2026 11:01 AM EST up reply actions

Seo

Seo had great stuff until injuries ruined it, forcing him to become a control guy. As for Choi, the reason he never had more than half a season as a decent first baseman is that he was never given a whole season to try.

And we're discussing about 20 Asian guys to ever come stateside to play in the minors, over a period of fifteen years. That's a hell of a lot different than the thousands of high schoolers, football players, and Latin players to come to the states.

Moreover, a discussion of football players is focusing on the idea that these guys, though they may have had a ton of athleticism, were developing skills in two sports at once, and thus missed out on some of the baseball development.

It's not that I think it would always be inappropriate to judge Asian prospects on the whole as being risky propositions. My issue is that when you're talking about such a small number of players over a relatively long period of time, it's easy for one guy being mismanaged to make it look like they're all risky.

If you want to tell me that Japanese players who participate in that crazy high school tournament are high risk, fine. Maybe this is the case with Asian pitchers in general. But there aren't nearly enough Pacific Rim players that have made it to the States to really make any across the board judgment about them.

Essentially, with high schoolers, collegians, and football players we have a lot more guys to work from in establishing a baseline of potential problems than with the five or so position prospects and maybe 15 pitchers that have signed with MLB teams as amateurs and played in the minors. I'm not saying that these guys weren't busts, I just think this is an issue of sample size, which people here usually pay very close attention to, but are ignoring in this case. With the high schoolers, collegians, and football players on the list you're talking about just a few of all of the players of those types over time. With the Asian players on the list you're accounting for a huge percentage of the Asian talent to ever play here. Where's the baseline?

by MontrealMets on Feb 9, 2026 12:19 PM EST up reply actions

Jesus

Choi got almost 1000 at-bats in 363 games and hit 240/349/437 and then hit .201 in AAA in his final stateside year.

That is not a starting first baseman. Period.
Give it up.
The guy got a chance and didn't do anything.

The reason he never got a "full-seasons chance" was because he was NOT..VERY..GOOD.

I know it is very fashionable to think major-league managers, scouts and GMs are morons but when we several different organizations go to have a look at him and decided he wasn't worth starting shouldn't that tell us SOMETHING when combined with the fact that he was a below-average bat and glove for his position?

You need to actually earn a chance to get one..and Choi didn't.
Well, I'll correct myself, at one time he did deserve a chance. After coming off a huge year in the PCL he deserved a chance and got one. And was pretty mediocre and then had the bad luck to get a concussion on a nasty infield fly collision.
Then the Cubs saw a chance to upgrade and flipped him for D-Lee.
He got three years of chances based on his year in Iowa and didn't do anything with those chances.

You could make a list 5,000 long of players who didn't get chances because THEY WERE NOT VERY GOOD. Thats how the system works and that is how it is supposed to work

by nms on Feb 9, 2026 1:00 PM EST up reply actions

Concede that we're dealing with a sm sample size

My only point is that in general, Asian minor league prospects have for whatever reason from whatever perspective (injuries, overhype, lack of a fair chance, whatever your point of view) have definitively failed as a whole at the MLB level.

Second, although we're dealing with a small sample size, I think you're blowing your comparisons to other prospect types out of proportion, i.e "thousands" of football tools players? I think that's a gross overstatement.

by NYCRoyal on Feb 9, 2026 9:50 PM EST up reply actions

Fair enough

Fair enough on all points. Once again, my issue wasn't with the racial orientation of the statement, just that we're talking about so few guys. With the football guys I might've been overshooting a bit, but there are still a ton of football players who sign every year, and there is certainly a baseline to be established.

by MontrealMets on Feb 10, 2026 12:21 AM EST up reply actions

Carlos Pena

falls into Category E too. He washed out as a youngster...now the question is will he prove to be a late-blooming slugger or a one-hit wonder

by nms on Feb 8, 2026 5:04 PM EST reply actions

from the 2000 and 2001 lists

It is clear as night and day that even the best pitchers should not be ranked in the top 20 of prospect lists. First because they bust so much more and secondly because they just aren't as valuable as position players.

Unless the pitcher turns out to live up to every bit of his potential even an above average regular is worth more. Josh Becket will sign for over 100 mil 2 years from now and Corey Patterson will likely go year to year for the rest of his career.73 to 69 in winshares.

My first mistake was assuming you knew what I was talking about.

by Shamus on Feb 8, 2026 6:30 PM EST reply actions

Win shares

do not tell the whole story there and you know that.
Do you really think Corey Patterson is Josh Becketts near-equal?

by nms on Feb 8, 2026 8:12 PM EST up reply actions

I know

that pitching is valuable beyond winshares. In the playoffs it increases in value 10 fold but when looking at something like this it makes you realize that even the greatest starters only help you every 5th day while a position player laces up every game.

It makes me think that the next moneyball in baseball should be position player upgrades, made more significant by this offseason when several teams upgraded pitching by trading many prospects.

Also, the last two 100 reviews show that closers are also way overvalued.

My first mistake was assuming you knew what I was talking about.

by Shamus on Feb 8, 2026 8:46 PM EST up reply actions

Escobar

Alex Escobar could still come back. He's got some talent. He might prove valuable as a fourth outfielder if he could stay healthy for a whole season. Alas, I'm doubtful that's going to happen.

by MontrealMets on Feb 8, 2026 6:33 PM EST reply actions

Choi too

never got a fair shake.

I also thought Betemit could be a really good regular at 3B or even 2B but has been jerked around.

Todd Frazier for President

by FrazierFan on Feb 8, 2026 7:02 PM EST up reply actions

How about Sheets and Beckett

I was stunned that Beckett is only ahead by 4 Win Shares. I really cant believe that. I know they both got injured, But I always assumed Sheets was the more injury prone guy. Hence his value in Win Shares would be much lower to to less playing time. I guess I was wrong. Did this shock anyone else?

by Maxima231 on Feb 8, 2026 7:56 PM EST reply actions

Being in H-Town

And therefore having a lot of past Beckett media following, and watching the 'Stros get stoned by Sheets, I'm not surprised. But I could see the rest of the country being so. Sheets, when he's pitched, has been downright filthy for several years now. Whereas, during the regular season, Beckett was not REALLY anything exceptional until this past year (especially in that former home park). He was good for his age, you could project him to be something special, but he didn't really fulfill it until this season. He has been phenomenal in the post season, which is probably what most people knew him for, and presumably think of him as "being" all the time.

by joeficarra on Feb 8, 2026 8:09 PM EST up reply actions

Choi

While he certainly qualifies for a "Failed Prospect" review, to my mind he's more of a "Failed Management of Your Team's Talent" type of player. It's like every team he played for thought of him the way the aughts Pirates thought of their prospects - they all focused on his negatives, and ignored the positives he brought to the table...

I don't know of any socialization/homesickness types of issues he might have had, but I fully believe that if one team had just put him in the lineup and left him alone, he's still be here in the states, and he'd be a solid 1B, though agreed not a "star".

by joeficarra on Feb 8, 2026 7:56 PM EST reply actions

Jesus

what is with the Choi apologizing.
The guy was a below-average first baseman.
And if you really think it is the fault of EVERY team he played for you're nuts. A guy goes from team to team and is mediocre at every stop (minus that Marlins stint) and its the fault of every damn team he was fat and couldn't handle heat?

Keee-rist

by nms on Feb 8, 2026 8:14 PM EST reply actions

His failure

Has ALOT to do with what happened after he was traded to Dodgers. What I have heard is that the coaches tried to remind him too much about importance of strikezone and he went too cautious. Oh, and his bat is slow too

by shakezula on Feb 8, 2026 10:37 PM EST up reply actions

I've never seen

a player's stuggles be blamed more on various teams than Choi's.

You could say things about it being the fault of coaches or organizations when almost any prospect shows he isn't a quality major leaguer.

The most likely explanation is that the guy simply isn't a quality major league.

It is one thing if a guy washes out of one org and finds success elsewhere but when a guy's only stint of being a solid or better player is a half-season three or 4 years ago that isn't the case. Hes had his chances and hes been a below average player. It happens.
Hell, the last time he played in the states in could barely crack the Mendoza line in PAWTUCKET

by nms on Feb 8, 2026 10:44 PM EST up reply actions

+1

as a Dodger fan, i've seen Choi and Betemit quite a bit in my life.

it's great that everyone who just looks at their stats think they're remarkably undervalued and that they were unfairly dismissed. i would have thought that that was true too. but, if you've seen these guys at all, you know that neither has a chance to produce more than they already have.

seriously. no room for growth. it's remarkably obvious if you've watch them. but i think it's great that people who don't really know them think they've still got a shot.

by bleedjaxblue on Feb 9, 2026 3:24 AM EST up reply actions

Choi

Having watched Choi quite a bit, and having followed his career closely, I think it's pretty obvious what happened to him, and the answer is not "he just sucked". The answer is that he -- like many young ballplayers -- needed consistent at-bats to hit well. When he got them, he did hit well, when he didn't, his performance struggled.

This can be seen in his performance record. Through June 2003, Choi had played in 56 of his team's games, starting 47 of them. He hit well. Then he had his collision with Wood, sat out more than a month, and returned to find that Dusty Baker wasn't interested in letting him play much anymore: he played in 13 games in July, 12 in August, and five in September, starting less than half of those. By the end of the season, he was essentially a pinch-hitter. His performance plummeted.

The pattern repeated itself in 2004. He started out the season with the Marlins, playing nearly every day. When he left Miami, his OPS+ was 132. He arrived in Los Angeles, had a slump, and immediately lost playing time. The Dodgers showed no patience with a player who had actually hit well to that point in his career, and appeared to be in the middle of the breakout campaign. By September, he was pinch-hitting again, and once again, he sucked at it.

In 2005, he was again given more regular playing time, but at the first sign of a slump, he again lost playing time. Despite recovering nicely in July and August -- for the first time showing facility for hitting well in part-time play -- he never found any more playing time, hit badly in September, and then was gone.

By that time he was 27 years old, and had been repeatedly given playing time only to see it vanish the instant he slumped at all. Sent to the minors, he failed. The reasons for this could be many, but it strikes me as distinctly likely that a guy who had been in the majors for years -- who had not hit that poorly the year before -- found it more than a little discouraging to be back on the bus.

To assert that watching him play would make his limitations obvious is either disingenuous or just flat crazy. I watched him play quite a bit. He did have limitations: he had some difficulty making contact, and struggled against lefties. This describes many very fine players at the major-league level. But he also had strengths: He was big, strong, and didn't swing at bad pitches. This skillset is not condusive to productive part-time play.

I think it's foolhearty to suggest that Choi should be brought back to the States and given regular playing time now, because I think it's pretty clear that he was done by the time his days had Pawtucket had wrapped up. But it's completely fair to suggest that his failure was brooked by teams -- not "so many" teams, but two specific ones, the Dodgers and the Cubs -- who didn't know how to handle him, or if they did, didn't want to handle him in that way.

Where Anne hath a will, Anne Hathaway.

by woodstein52 on Feb 9, 2026 3:58 PM EST up reply actions

his "limitations"....

....also involved him being unable to hit any pitch that was 93 MPH or more, up in the strikezone, on the inner half of the plater, or especially any combination thereof.

these are not problems that work themselves out with a little more practice -- his bat was simply too slow to deal with major-league caliber pitching.

when he first got to the Dodgers, i thought he was mishandled and needed to be given more opportunities. as he was given opportunities, it became clear that he would never come close to his ceiling because of the limitations he had.

i'd agree with you that, because his style is so frustrating, he wasn't given the same opportunities other people are, and that he actually played with enough value to be a platoon first baseman on a bad major league team (still better than being waived or put in the minors). but i don't think for a second that he would have been a much better player had he been given regular playing time. he was who he was, and, in my opinion, that is exceedingly obvious if you've watched him at the plate.

by bleedjaxblue on Feb 9, 2026 4:17 PM EST up reply actions

Off topic, but...

Any Canadians received their book yet? Just wondering, this is the first time I've ordered it and I'm eager to check it out!

by Subversive on Feb 8, 2026 10:10 PM EST reply actions

Ben Christensen?

What's with the "bad karma" quote? Is this by any chance the college guy that beaned an on deck hitter and ruined his career (then got drafted by the Cubs)?

gogotabata: "I'm like the biggest Walden fan around here (adult division)..."

by siddfynch on Feb 8, 2026 10:44 PM EST reply actions

yup

sure is.

As a Wichita State Shocker, normally a pretty clean and sporting program, he nailed Evansville 2b and leadoff hitter Anthony Molina in the head with a fastball. Molina was standing outside the dugout taking practice cuts while Christensen was warming up to start the game.

by nms on Feb 8, 2026 10:46 PM EST up reply actions

I remember that

I was winding down my "career" as a leadoff hitter who ALWAYS tried to see as many pitches as possible, and did things like timing from the on deck circle.

I know Molina was outside the circle, but still...I thought about that a lot at the time.

Christensen is scum. I lost a lot of respect for the Cubs brass when they drafted him. Glad to see John remembers.

gogotabata: "I'm like the biggest Walden fan around here (adult division)..."

by siddfynch on Feb 9, 2026 10:54 AM EST up reply actions

hey

pitchers who ruin other's lives by smashing baseball into their skull when they aren't looking are the new market inefficiency...

by nms on Feb 9, 2026 11:03 AM EST up reply actions

pujols

Wow, never realized that he was THAT far ahead of the rest of his prospect peers of 2001 in win shares... he has nearly double what Dunn has produced up to this point!

by blinkshot on Feb 8, 2026 11:37 PM EST reply actions

Question

Did you not do letter grades yet? Looking at some prospect retros, it looked like you did. Because honestly I would rather see them to compare and rate, instead of or in addition to just win shares.

by AucklandGM on Feb 9, 2026 12:06 AM EST reply actions

Pujols

Way to go John for putting Pujols in the top 20 following the 2001 season.
I think BA had him in the 40-50 range.

I think its a pretty safe bet that after one more year in the minors Pujols would have been the top prospect in baseball. I'm glad the Cardinals didn't give him an extra year, though. LaRussa was going to send him down after spring training was over until Bobby Bonilla got hurt, but I think every manager would have sent a 21 year old with just 14 ABs above High A back to the minors.

by UncleBuck44 on Feb 9, 2026 9:44 AM EST reply actions

Pujols

Pretty much every prospect writer didn't see Pujols coming. He was jacking out 500 foot bombs in the AFL yet at the symposium Jason Romano and Antonio Perez were stated as better prospects. There was some talk that he must be much older than his stated age. Despite St Louis trading away Tatis and naming Pujols the starter 6 months before his debut, the was almost a denial that he could possibly be this good. There is this belief that baseball executives are morons, and baseball writers are brilliant. That we need to mock the mistakes of baseball executives but not mention the mistakes of the analysts. But nobody saw Pujols for what he was until after he started putting up 120 RBI seasons, except for the baseball operations people in St Louis.

Even now, there is a belief by some that the prospect writers could not have been wrong about Choi, that it must be the fault of baseball men that his career was awful.

Let's face it, in the baseball prospect writer community in 2001 there was a consensus about prospects that was generally inaccurate.

by LindInMoskva on Feb 11, 2026 12:05 PM EST up reply actions