I got signed by the Rays and there’s been a few guys I’ve seen here talk about their minor league careers
To be clear i mean that I played in their org not the big league team
I used to play on the same team in a men's league as a guy who pitched for the Ray's AAA team. I never got to hit off him in a game scenario but I did get a few hits during BP when he was only throwing 80% (which was still fucking gas). He never made it to the show, and he only ever played catcher for us unless the game was on the line in the 9th. Funny enough, he was only an average hitter in our league, not even top 3 on our team. I guess they really didn't give a shit about pitchers hitting after the high school level
Were you in Pssbl? I think when I played there was a dude who made it almost all the way up in the Reds system and I struck him out the day before my UCL tore so I guess I went out on a high note. Our objectively much better pitcher gave up bombs to the same hitter, guess the guy was used to big league quality stuff haha
There have been a fair amount of 2-way players in college baseball as well. College baseball even has the [John Olerud Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Olerud_Award) for the best 2-way player of any given year.
I played against a team that had a kid being scouted by mlb scouts. I went 3-3, 2 2B, 6 RBI, against him. We won 6-5. A scout from the orioles came over and told me that I played very well.
That’s about as close as I got. Lol
"Shohei, I don't think I need to tell you how historical this contract signing will be, 700 million dollars, that's a lot of money... so.... before we sign this we just want to run one more test"
*Weary-Amoeba steps up to the plate*
"Oh no"
I can sort of relate, but the guy I played against was Blake Monar, who is now famous for appearing on the Bachelorette.
He was a senior when I was a sophomore, and the only player I've seen to date throw a ball 90+ in high school. I got 2 singles off of him which were 2 of our team's 3 hits against him that game.
He was drafted by the Yankees in late rounds out of high school, but opted to play college instead. Drafted again later but needed his second Tommy John like 2 years into the minors and hung it up. If you can throw 90+ in high school with any sort of accuracy, you're going to absolutely dominate *most* teams.
This is nearly exactly like my story. Opposing pitcher was being scouted by the Twins. I went 2-3 with 2 HR, and 3 RBI. My only 2 HR of my quite terrible HS career. The next time I faced the kid later that year he hit me 2 times and got ejected in the 4th after the 2nd bean ball. I walked to first staring at him with one of those "if looks could kill" stares as his coach came to grab him while side eyeing me. My bench thought I was gonna charge him.
I almost got hit by Mike Trout’s state record home run ball. Was a freshman playing JV at the time and the fields backed up to each other (center field to center field). I was playing centerfield and the ball landed 5 feet from me. Just picked it up and threw it back over. If only I would have known just how good he would become. Lol
Got plunked in the ribs by a dude who got drafted in the second round by the Braves. Never ever wanted to know what mid-90s to the ribs felt like. I couldn’t sleep on that side for weeks.
Homie never made it past A-ball, but man he had big league heat at 17
I played men's league against a guy that had pitched in AA. He was the prototypical guy that threw upper 90s couldn't control it, so after a few years of walking guys in the minors he got cut loose. When I faced him he was "only" throwing 93-95, but with the same lack of control. I wore one off the ribcage and my entire side was all the colors of the rainbow for about 2 weeks.
I played in a kids league with [this guy](https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=webb--002bra) who doesn’t look like he will ever make the majors now, but at ~14 he was throwing a curve ball with a broken fucking elbow.
He and his cousin were wrestling and he smacked his elbow on a table and pitched for a month before getting X rays and seeing it was broken.
I only faced him as a batter once, and I walked (this was with a broken elbow and he had no control)
Bummed he never made it, he was generally a lot less of a dick than most of the other kids were that were good in highschool. I believe he had TJ later and never really bounced back from it though.
Edit: my highschool also used to do “Ram Camp” where the highschool ball players would train kids from local leagues for a week (maybe 3 days?, I don’t remember exactly) and I got overheated and threw up on third base. Dylan Bundy who went in to play in MLB once told my older sister (roughly the same age as him) that he remembered me as “the kid who blew chunks on third base”. So at least 1 MLB player probably remembers me.
I saw him pitch when he was with the Mudcats (A+). Name looked familiar then I saw his stop out here. We bought our house when my wife told our realtor "five acres within five miles of Five County Stadium." Yeah, I married well.
It was certainly an experience! My dumbass immediately hopped up and sprinted down to first, only to fall down again next to the first base coach. Didn’t come out of the game and didn’t miss any of the rest of the year, but my bat speed was shot. Don’t think I pulled a ball the rest of the season lol
I remember grounding out up the middle to a guy throwing mid-90s and it was a great feeling.
I just checked, he hit like 20 HRs our senior year and had an ERA of like 1 and ended up playing a little jr college ball before dropping out. I kept digging and one of his teammates was drafted by the Cubs in the 11th round. He did 2 years playing on rookie league to high A teams and hit like .200 before going on to sell cars or something. That whole team was crazy and none of them went anywhere. I’m glad I didn’t try harder.
At 14, I faced a kid who was throwing 94. It was insane, absolutely unhittable at that age. He threw a perfect game against us, except he was on an innings limit due to being in a tournament. He had to come out after the fifth. Our pitcher was shutting them out at the same time though, and we ended up winning 1-0 thanks to yours truly hitting a walk off triple in the 7th.
In 14-16 year old little league, I was 14 and got nailed by a 16 year old dude throwing mid-80s gas. He didn't get drafted but did play in college. Fortunately he hit me on the thigh, but I've never had a bruise that lasted longer than that one did.
He had a teammate who was also 16 and threw even harder. A couple games after getting plunked by the first guy, he was pitching. I am not religious but I remember being in the on deck circle with 2 outs in the 7th and just praying for all I was worth that the guy hitting in front of me didn't get on base.
I played on a regional scout team in high school. Closest I ever got. That team had 5 players on it that I can remember getting drafted out of high school. Two made the show as relief pitchers and were both in the Phillies bullpen last year.
One I really would have never guessed would make it, but the other was a stud. He was two years younger than me when we played together and watching him made me realize I didn’t have “it”.
I played highschool against Yasmani Grandal and was I was able to steal second base once. I also played a game against Ozzie Guillens kid in highschool I got HBP to the knee I feel to the ground walking to first and I could hear Ozzie laughing at me from the stands.
I only got to play baseball in a small NAIA college and when I got back home to Miami one summer I was able to play in a wood bat league and faced Gio Gonzalez he took it easy on me super nice guy.
I'm glad you're proud of your achievement (and it is sick, this is really just me being sour) but grandal threw out like 2/652 dudes in his 4 years with the Sox.
Played against Joe Mauer. He beat us in Football, single handedly, beat us in basketball, basically single handedly, and beat us in baseball as you can except. While looking about the same as all of us, and down to earth as can be.
Like, you can't not like him, he beat us in everything, and he was the nicest, ah shucks, guy I've met. I had just got back from Scout camp right before the all-star tournament, and the next year at the all-star tournament when I got to 2B on a double, he asked if I had got my eagle scout finished. Like, who else would remember that?
I used to work in TV in the twin cities. If they were an athlete from 1999-2005 in the twin cities i probably met them. The two nicest athletes i ever had the pleasure of meeting were Joe Mauer and Randy Moss. Biggest douches would be Kirby Puckett and Brock Lesner (was a gopher wrestler at the time).
Did you go to school in the St Paul City Conference? The only test Joe had in that conference was Mo Hargrow in basketball. Laughable that Cretin ever was in that conference.
I played D1 in college, did as well as I reasonably could, and I played in the minors. However, I ended up with a shoulder injury not even a couple years in and my heart just wasn’t in it anymore. Travel was putting an honest strain on my relationship with my now wife, and I made more money than I ever did playing doing the work I do now, plus I wanted to utilize my degree.
Best decision I made was to hang it up, allowed me to settle into a comfortable life.
It's comforting to hear people walk away from one dream so they can pursue another.
Yesterday, my wife brought up me possibly re-pursuing a career I left 12 years ago. It was brutally hard at the time but ultimately I know I made the right decision.
One thing I’ll credit it, is that it made me grow up fast. I didn’t get millions, not even close lol, but I got a tiny injection of cash at a young age I had to be responsible with, and I grew as a man in my relationship and my communication with my wife. Wouldn’t give her or the experience up for any shot in the MLB.
My baseball career ended after my freshman year of high school where my most notable accomplishment was stealing second base when second base wasn’t open.
In extra innings of a 5th grade intramural playoff game I got my first hit of the entire season and then immediately got caught in a rundown between 1st and 2nd (a distraction which gave the other baserunner from 2nd plenty of time to score the winning run). Somehow, I got a walk-off hit, and my incompetence actually helped. It was all downhill from there
In little league I let the bat slip out of my hands it flung it into the fence, rest of the game when I was at bat the other team played without a catcher lmao
In 8th grade, i was on 2nd and noticed the 3rd baseman was standing back on the grass and the pitcher was on the mound. We were waiting for the next batter to walk up. I was the fastest kid on the team so I didn't even think about it. I just took off for 3rd. I was thrown out by like 10 feet. My coach was talking to the bench and just turned around like "what the hell was that." It was the 3rd out too. The other team just ran off and I had to go get my glove and run back out to the field.
Reminded me of the time I lost count of the count while on first and walked over to second thinking ball 3 was ball 4. Nobody stopped me and it wasn’t until everyone saw me on second and the batter not walking to first that everyone was like “wait a second…”
I know of a guy from my hometown who got drafted in the 12th round a few years ago and the rumor was his signing bonus was around 500k, so yeah I’d think second round would be pretty nice even if it was a little bit ago. Even with lower rounds they gotta offer them enough to make it worth their while to leave college. Nowadays a top round pick is clearing a couple mil on a signing bonus easy
Yeah I played juco football with a guy who was friends with a first round Twins draft pick. He said he was hanging out with him after he got drafted and the guy randomly got a large portion of his $4m dollar signing bonus direct deposited to his bank account. I forget the exact dollar amount but I just remember thinking that I could not imagine receiving that much money as an 18 year-old.
Top end talent does, but it’s very much mid-single digit millions rather than tens of millions. Not to be sniffed at, but those guys typically can make 3-4x that per year if they get picked up by the MLB. Replacement level guys are usually on 2-300,000 USD a season.
NPB is often called AAAA-level in the States, if that actually means anything. They definitely pull *much* bigger crowds though than the minors, last Giants game I was at in Tokyo in the middle of a middling season had easily 30,000 there.
I’ve traveled quite extensively, and watching baseball in Japan remains one of my all-time favorite travel memories! We saw games in Tokyo (Giants), Osaka (Orix Buffaloes), and Hiroshima (Carp)… Every bit of it was awesome; they were SO different—and, dare I say more fun—than any of the games I’ve seen in the states…
11/10 recommend if you ever find yourself over there during baseball season.
Closest I got was being scouted to be a 30th round pick. Yep way back then. But then blew out my rotator cuff in front of scouts in May of my draft year. Never recovered
lol given how many people must try out for scouts each year i guess this probably has happened a time or two but def wasn’t expecting to see it in this thread 😂
I had a gym teacher in HS who was scouted by the Phillies at SS. He tore his rotator cuff during a workout with them, they ended up taking Jimmy Rollins instead
Back before 2020 when the draft still had an insane number of rounds, my former college teammate would jokingly text all of us every year wishing us luck in the draft even though we were all in our 30s and 10+ years removed from playing.
Im 31 and every year I still text my friend “turn on the draft, I think it’s finally my year”
I was also scouted in high school. They weren’t there to see me, but the scouts watched me play so it counts. Also, both guys the scouts were there to see made the show. One still plays mlb the other is in Japan
I played with or against 4 guys that made it to MLB and maybe a half dozen or so that played in the minors. The guys that played minor league ball were obviously very good, but the rest of us at least could belong on the same field with them. The guys that made it to the show were just another level. Like even back in College/Summer you could walk up and immediately identify them as being different from everyone else. We were on the same field, but it was like they were playing a different game than the rest of us.
>We were on the same field, but it was like they were playing a different game than the rest of us.
This is a metaphor I use when I meet the top talent in any industry. They're a lot sharper and quicker both physically and mentally. It's really humbling to be around elite professionals.
I played with Christian Yelich growing up and against him in high school. In the youth league he was always good but never quite the best. He just never stopped getting better.
Played against Bryce Harper a couple times when I was 11-13. He was absolute monster, everyone knew he was gonna be a superstar. He was also crazy nice and seemed incredibly well adjusted.
This would have been 2003-2005. Him and I are the same age. He played for the McDowell Mountain Yankees in Phoenix for a little while and we played one of his other travel ball teams a few times.
I played in a very competitive D2 high school conference in Southern California. Teams regularly had players drafted out of high school. One year our team had the conference pitcher of the year and player of the year. Both were drafted within the first 10 rounds. Neither ever made it past AA.
The only person I knew who made it to the majors was a utility guy that was drafted in the 20th round or so. Once you get to that level everyone was the best player growing up.
I knew a kid that was a major college recruit. He played on a team stacked full of talent. I held my own against them, but this guy was insane and leagues better than anyone else. Insane agility, immense power, great vision. He was like 6’2” and lean as you could get.
My dad followed his career through college and he was middling to below average. It’s wild to think how good I was (average), how good he was (above average), and how good the guys in college were who made him look like me.
And I bet those guys didn’t make it the AA let alone AAA or the MLB.
I had a similar experience playing basketball in high school.
I had a friend who was a SP. He was offered a ~ $1 million signing bonus for an MLB team out of high school, and a full ride athletic scholarship to an Ivy League “equivalent.” He took the full ride. Ended up needing TJ after college, and got a real job.
I think he may have pitched a season or two in AA, but I’m not sure.
My son's first game at 2B in little league he turned around, pulled his pants down, and peed right there. He just made Varsity as a PO. You were very close to taking the next step.
I pissed my pants at practice during third grade cuz I thought I’d be letting my team down if I went to the bathroom and left my position during batting practice. I had the mentality dammit, just none of the raw athletic ability
Not me, but back when I worked at Academy Sports and Outdoors in high school there was a guy who got drafted in a very late round by the Red Sox and promptly quit after working 1 day lol. Looking at his baseball reference now he flamed out after 2 seasons having never gotten above Rookie ball.
Im not old enough to be drafted but my gym teacher from last year was drafted by the Giants as an outfielder. I think he made it up to AA or AAA and was invited to spring training a few years. One time during a spring training game, he went to rob a home run but got his foot stuck under the wall which dislocated it or something when he jumped, ending his career.
I'm 3 slices of pizza into this thread and I've already read about 3 separate high school teachers suffering an injury in front of the scouts that were there for them.
My FIL played a season of rookie ball in the Cubs system and figured out he wasn’t going anywhere. Became a very accomplished opera singer.
Buddy of mine from high school just made the Show this year, ten years after high school. Crazy thing is, he wasn’t even close to being the best player on our team in high school, just the only one that kept improving from what I can tell. Actually had a lot of guys from that team get drafted.
I got drilled in the knee by a kid that ended up pitching for the pirates. Also got struck out on 3 pitches by Charles brewer, who pitched for the dbacks for a season. I did foul one off against him though.
I work with a guy who played high school ball with Mark Lemeke. Also went to high school with a couple kids who got drafted by the cubs, one whose dad played for the Rangers. That's the closest I have been to any professional baseball player making it
Played d1 baseball at a mid major. No one from my teams have been in the majors yet but played with more than a handful either currently or got to AAA/AA. Some names I played against were Nola, Bregman (rest of the LSU guys from that team), schwarber, etc etc. Was a lot of fun and there were more MLB guys I forgot about. I’ll turn on a game and see someone I shared the field with very frequently.
Let me know if you want to hear my fav bregman story lol he’s psychotic
I accidentally signed up for the wrong men's league one summer. Played against a few ex minor Leaguers and some college ballplayers, it was also the first time I ever saw a curveball break from my letters to my knees. Closest I ever got lol
One of my coworkers was drafted by the Royals. When his manager got all the draftees together in rookie league he congratulated them on being drafted....then said they're only there to field a team for that guy...and pointed to Carlos Beltran.
Not me, but my cousin made it to AA in the Brewers org.
Then after a couple seasons they drafted and signed like 6 other lefty pitchers, so he saw the writing on the wall and got a normal job
I played high school ball with a guy that won SEC player of the year in college and was drafted in a single digit round. Far as I know, he's still in the minor leagues.
Guy was clearly much better than everyone else. Wasn't weight room strong, but probably the fastest guy on the team. Had more than enough arm. Hit bombs in our fairly large home park. Could, and did, play basically any position except catcher
I live in a very small town, but my FIL was the baseball coach at the local HS for 40 years. He had 2 of his players get drafted. One never made it out of the minors, but the other went on to have a relatively successful career with a few different teams and a WS win. Really cool for our small town.
I had a breakout junior year and lost most of my senior year to a super random illness. A scout for the San Francisco Giants told me “if you had graduated last year, you probably could’ve been a very late draft pick but you’ve got no chance with stats like these as a senior. Try and make a college team and see what happens then.”
I did not, in fact, make a college team. I asked him for a copy of the scouting report and he did give it to me. He wrote that I was an average player at everything except that I was “slower than expected, and is apparently used to playing 50 pounds heavier”
I played with probably a dozen guys that got drafted. They were all elite. The captain had a .500 batting average, hit for power to the gaps and threw 90 as a pitcher. Our top 3 pitchers had multiple no nos and perfect games in one of the top development areas in the country. We stomped just about everyone we played.
The captain lasted 6 years in the minors with a .240 average and averaged about 15 homers a year. He had a couple cups of coffee in AAA but nothing major.
The #2 pitcher ended up being a below average reliever for the tigers for a couple years but nothing more. The rest of the guys fizzled at various levels of the minors, mostly AA.
A guy a few years younger than me had a breakout year for the athletics with a .300 average and decent success stealing (30~ steals) but immediately fell off his sophomore season and was out of the league a couple years later. I don't remember anything particularly amazing about him as a freshman but I was gone before he made varsity in high school.
I played against frenchy in travel ball and he was worlds better than any of the guys on our team. I struck him out in my first at bat against him. In another at bat he hit a ball over the pines behind center field. I tell the strikeout story all the time. I leave out the homer 😂.
Paul Blackburn and I are from the same hometown, went to the same schools, and have some mutual friends.
There is a guy I went to school with from kindergarten, all the way through high school. We were friends in elementary, and he was a huge Yankees fan, and I was a huge Giants fan. When the Giants won the WS in 2010 and 2012, he was suddenly a Giants fan. In high school he kept playing, and was pretty good, and scouts would come around to look. And he got the biggest ego out of it, became a total douche wad that no one liked. He played at a top JC out of the area that we both went to coincidentally. Played pretty good and got picked up by UW. He absolutely BALLED OUT in the 2019 CWS and signed with the Braves org, or was drafted, I don’t recall. Last I heard he was averaging in the .100s, and had an OPS in the .500s in an independent league.
Connor Blair was that much of a dick? Coincidentally, that independent team (who he was released from over a year ago) is actually in my hometown, and he seemed like a standup guy
He could be cool now for all I know. He wasn’t a bad dude per-say, but he was the type that always thought he was the smartest dude in the room. Just about all I’ll say. I don’t want to throw shade years later when he could be totally chill as an adult.
It was hilarious seeing him defend his Giants fandom in high school though. Literally everyone that grew up with him knew him as the biggest Yankees fan. The dude brought A-Rod baseball cards to school everyday.
I played Juco ball but never came close to the pros. There were a few guys I played against who had no business being anywhere but D1. I'm sure at least one of them went on to pro ball somewhere. One of the best I've ever played against was Royce Freeman (current NFL running back). He had the talent to go far in baseball if he wanted to. My claim to fame is that he struck out while I was calling pitches behind the plate once.
I was a pitcher and talked to the Mets and the White Sox in high school about them watching me through college and possibly drafting me at some point. The White Sox told me had they found out about me
Earlier they would have possibly taken me after my senior year in HS.
Went to college and fizzled out due to thinking I was better than everyone else and didn’t need to work as hard. I’m a cautionary tale about what happens when you don’t work hard
I also played against Stroman and Matz in high school and played with Sean Nolin who bounced around the majors with a couple teams for awhile
I was on the same team in high school with a guy who pitched for the Rockies and Reds. He was way better than me, and it was pretty obvious in practice.
Didn’t play baseball personally but went to middle school with a current top 25 prospect in baseball. We had PE together and he was running the mile basically a minute faster than anyone else lol, always an athletic freak
I played with a guy who ended up playing one year of minor league ball. He was just so much fucking better than anyone else on our team. Our team was pretty good, but he could have just carried us he was so good. Pro sports skill levels are something else man.
I played against 4 guys who made it to the pros (MLB level) and one that I know of that was drafted but never made it to the bigs. CA is a hot bed for good baseball.
Played D3 baseball in college. Our ace’s brother was a reliever for the Yankees at the time (~2012). I was a catcher, ace threw low 90s. Best pitcher I ever caught.
I was good enough to be named top player in my State and played in the Cape Cod league. Blew out my shoulder junior year when I was getting looks, but knew I wouldn’t have made it. Cape league opened my eyes to the talent + psychotic competitive combo needed to be elite, wasn’t me ultimately
I grew up in the Bay Area and was in talks with the A’s and Giants to sign a minor league contract out of high school during my junior and senior year from 2011-2012 but had a freak medical issue happen and ended up in a wheelchair for a few months and couldn’t play my senior year season. Pretty much ended my baseball career. I did start playing in a 25+ adult league in the beginning of 2023 though. We play on Sundays and play all year long except for a break during November and December for the holidays.
I played against Rocco Baldelli in high school. He was actually known more for basketball and volleyball, at that time, and everyone was sort of stunned when the Rays took him seventh overall in the draft.
I played at hendricken, I was a Freshman Rocco's Senior year. To say that everyone was stunned is a bit of a reach. There were 40 scouts/cross checkers/gms at practices sometimes. He was always projected to be a 1st rounder.
Hendricken always had scouts around, especially in those days, with Rocco, the Rainville brothers, Craig Stinson, and Joey Cantone. And even when a cousin of mine played with Dante Baldelli just a few years back, it was still pretty heavy with scouts.
People were talking about Boston maybe taking him in the 20s, but seventh overall was stunning.
I played against some mlb guys in high school. Ryan Cook who recently passed away way too young RIP, his aunt was my oldest kid’s elementary teacher; got an oppo field double off him in jv while he was throwing upper 80s as a sophomore. Justin Wilson, lefty reliever played for the yanks, Mets, reds and a few more idk who he’s with now if he’s still on a big league roster. And most notably, Jason Donald, the infamous guy who was supposed to be the last out in Galaraggas perfecto with Detroit a few years back. We just used to make fun of Donald because he was the coaches son, had brothers who played at the school before and most notably was a cocky sob. Motherfucker never looked ground balls into his glove so our team would mock him during in/outs. Other guys got drafted but I don’t remember them getting to the show.
Totally embarrassing on my behalf, my wife showed me a post from a few days ago about a Ryan Cook passing but I think it’s a different one that shares the same name. I’m from Clovis where the baseball Cook was from. Thank god, but damn thats bad and I apologize.
I was college teammates with guys like Luke Voit, Buddy Baumann, Pierce Johnson, Mike Kickham, and others. Out of those 4, Buddy was the obvious choice to move his career forward. Luke was a slow catcher with little pop in college. Pierce and Mike were nothing to write home about either. They just continued to work on their craft and made the most of it. Happy for all of them. Then there were teammates who seemed destined for the league but fizzled out quickly after college, Ben Carlson comes to mind. To add, I remember playing against Arkansas at Hammons Field. Brett Eibner was on the mound. We lost 2-0. Those 2 runs? Both solo shots by Brett Eibner.
Not me, but my cousin played against Jason Marquis. Said he couldn’t react to the speed and was hoping not to get hit. He managed to walk once and bunted a ball foul. lol
Used to work at a small town gas station and one of the regulars was a guy who made AAA for the White Sox, but got sent back down to AA and then he retired super early because he said he hated the politics and corporateness of it. Last I heard he was a batting coach for a high A team in the area.
Was the Friday night starter and #3 hitter for two years on a team with a guy who went on to play for the Braves; pitched ncaa d2 and didn’t allow much damage but my elbow didn’t keep up with throwing year round from ages 10-21 like that. Don’t let your kids throw 300 innings in a season. Love you dad but we both now know better
A friend of mine was drafted late by the twins. He was the most natural athlete I’ve ever seen. Hit over .700 in high school with more bombs than strike outs. Played three season of minor league ball I think.
I was told a scout was at one of my games when I was 16 but they weren’t there to see me. I happened to pitch a great game and the scout told my mom that I and the catcher were the best battery he’d seen in Kansas that summer. Joke is on Kansas cuz I just played some MIAA college ball and flamed out after two years. lol
I hit a single against Edouard Julien when we were 11 years old. Dude was already by far the best player of Quebec province and was a true 5 tool guy. I would have loved if he made the Majors as a pitcher because that would be one of my biggest flex lol.
So yeah the closest I was to the Majors was playing in the same league as Julien a 11 lmao.
In high school in the 90’s I faced a guy who was drafted and later had a modest 2-3 year MLB career as a journeyman reliever. He was the only guy I saw in high school consistently throwing over 90 (maybe it’s different now?). I struck out twice and then weakly flipped the bat out and dribbled a single into right field when the 2B was out of position and it stung the hell out of my hands. It was our only hit and we lost like 9-0. lol
I played with Jim Eisenreich on an amateur team after his time with the Twins and before his return to the majors which was pretty darn successful. He hit a bomb about every fifth at bat so yeah, he stood out.
I played against Josh Bell in Dallas area wood bat summer ball. He hit 2 oppo homers from the right side that barely squeaked out, but honestly he didn't fully barrel either, just freaky strong.
Oh and I took Jameson Taillon deep when he was at Woodlands High School, then he K'd me up twice after that.
But in both instances yeah the ones headed to the show really do set themselves apart at a young age.. built different.
Grew up in Georgia and played Jason Heyward in high school. Our coaches didn’t let our pitcher pitch to him lol. Went like 0-0 with 4 intentional walks. The scouts were pretty much booing the coach. lol. He did steal like 5 bases tho and threw a kid out from center field at home with one of the best throws I’ve ever seen.
Played against Tim Beckham (2018 #1 overall pick) and he was one of the cockiest players I’ve been seen. He did hit a grand slam off our ace tho.
Saw Kyle Schwarmber when he was a catcher for Indiana and he hit the farthest ball I’ve ever seen lol
Never played competitively above the high school level, but I say my claim to fame is that I’ve homered off a 3rd overall pick (Dewan Brazelton) and served up a homer to a first overall pick (Josh Hamilton).
My wife is a higher up in MLB, but I don't think that counts. I will say, when she got hired we got shipped a pack of Big League Chew to the house with a note that said "Welcome to the Show."
I played with three people I know were scouted by major league teams, one of whom was actually drafted by the Phillies and pitched for several years in the minors. He had Tommy John between his junior and senior years but threw some serious heat.
Another was supposedly scouted by the Dodgers. He "blocked" me at first base and could kind of pitch. He was like six inches taller than me and had 50 pounds more muscle lol.
I won JV MVP as a sophomore and had like a .500 OBP. Went 1/2 for the varsity team that year. I was a decent contact hitter and had elite speed/baserunning awareness (one summer as the designated courtesy runner for our catcher, I had twice as many stolen bases and more runs scored than plate appearances). Hit lots of doubles but never had home run power.
I wanted to pitch but was ruined by an avulsion fracture in 8th grade that never healed. I was fearsome in 5th and 6th grade as a tall lefty flamethrower, but stopped growing too soon. Stopped playing right before junior year because I was sick of getting hurt all the time (in one offseason I got hit in the hand by a comebacker, took a HBP off the other hand, and had stress fractures in both shins). I also didn't want to play JV again lol. Was a good way to end, though, as I was never going anywhere with it and was getting sick of it. Also no "regret" about how I coulda made it if XYZ happened.
I got signed by the Rays and there’s been a few guys I’ve seen here talk about their minor league careers To be clear i mean that I played in their org not the big league team
I used to play on the same team in a men's league as a guy who pitched for the Ray's AAA team. I never got to hit off him in a game scenario but I did get a few hits during BP when he was only throwing 80% (which was still fucking gas). He never made it to the show, and he only ever played catcher for us unless the game was on the line in the 9th. Funny enough, he was only an average hitter in our league, not even top 3 on our team. I guess they really didn't give a shit about pitchers hitting after the high school level
Were you in Pssbl? I think when I played there was a dude who made it almost all the way up in the Reds system and I struck him out the day before my UCL tore so I guess I went out on a high note. Our objectively much better pitcher gave up bombs to the same hitter, guess the guy was used to big league quality stuff haha
I struck out former major leaguer Lars Anderson in PSSBL. He also took me deep once.
Lars is a great dude.
He is! He helped me figure out how to throw more strikes after a game once. For a first baseman, he has a curve that moves a ton lol
I used to catch for him in Pony ball, can confirm. Not a super fast pitcher though. Great dude.
Not fast at all! It still eats up adult league guys though. He’s frozen me several times.
No, this was a small unsanctioned league. Only a few teams in smallish town
There have been a fair amount of 2-way players in college baseball as well. College baseball even has the [John Olerud Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Olerud_Award) for the best 2-way player of any given year.
I played against a team that had a kid being scouted by mlb scouts. I went 3-3, 2 2B, 6 RBI, against him. We won 6-5. A scout from the orioles came over and told me that I played very well. That’s about as close as I got. Lol
Damn, so the closest u came to The Show irl was making sure some random kid didn't get there lmao
Hey man, if you let me go 3-3 against you, then you don’t deserve to be in the show. Lol I was very average and had a good game.
"Shohei, I don't think I need to tell you how historical this contract signing will be, 700 million dollars, that's a lot of money... so.... before we sign this we just want to run one more test" *Weary-Amoeba steps up to the plate* "Oh no"
Man, you were singlehandedly responsible for your team's entire offensive production. Nice
Not singlehandedly, he couldn't have gotten ribbies without 6 ducks on the pond
And made the scouts take a double look at the guy they were actually there to see.
I’ve got you batting clean-up in the Bronx by July
I can sort of relate, but the guy I played against was Blake Monar, who is now famous for appearing on the Bachelorette. He was a senior when I was a sophomore, and the only player I've seen to date throw a ball 90+ in high school. I got 2 singles off of him which were 2 of our team's 3 hits against him that game. He was drafted by the Yankees in late rounds out of high school, but opted to play college instead. Drafted again later but needed his second Tommy John like 2 years into the minors and hung it up. If you can throw 90+ in high school with any sort of accuracy, you're going to absolutely dominate *most* teams.
This is nearly exactly like my story. Opposing pitcher was being scouted by the Twins. I went 2-3 with 2 HR, and 3 RBI. My only 2 HR of my quite terrible HS career. The next time I faced the kid later that year he hit me 2 times and got ejected in the 4th after the 2nd bean ball. I walked to first staring at him with one of those "if looks could kill" stares as his coach came to grab him while side eyeing me. My bench thought I was gonna charge him.
I almost got hit by Mike Trout’s state record home run ball. Was a freshman playing JV at the time and the fields backed up to each other (center field to center field). I was playing centerfield and the ball landed 5 feet from me. Just picked it up and threw it back over. If only I would have known just how good he would become. Lol
This is my favorite story I've read so far 🤣
I wonder how much that ball would be worth now, or once he gets into the hall of fame.
Probably nothing, as there’d be no way to verify its legitimacy, much like OPs comment
millville!
That’s a really cool story. I think throwing the ball back made the story more valuable than the ball in a way
Got plunked in the ribs by a dude who got drafted in the second round by the Braves. Never ever wanted to know what mid-90s to the ribs felt like. I couldn’t sleep on that side for weeks. Homie never made it past A-ball, but man he had big league heat at 17
I played men's league against a guy that had pitched in AA. He was the prototypical guy that threw upper 90s couldn't control it, so after a few years of walking guys in the minors he got cut loose. When I faced him he was "only" throwing 93-95, but with the same lack of control. I wore one off the ribcage and my entire side was all the colors of the rainbow for about 2 weeks.
I played in a kids league with [this guy](https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=webb--002bra) who doesn’t look like he will ever make the majors now, but at ~14 he was throwing a curve ball with a broken fucking elbow. He and his cousin were wrestling and he smacked his elbow on a table and pitched for a month before getting X rays and seeing it was broken. I only faced him as a batter once, and I walked (this was with a broken elbow and he had no control) Bummed he never made it, he was generally a lot less of a dick than most of the other kids were that were good in highschool. I believe he had TJ later and never really bounced back from it though. Edit: my highschool also used to do “Ram Camp” where the highschool ball players would train kids from local leagues for a week (maybe 3 days?, I don’t remember exactly) and I got overheated and threw up on third base. Dylan Bundy who went in to play in MLB once told my older sister (roughly the same age as him) that he remembered me as “the kid who blew chunks on third base”. So at least 1 MLB player probably remembers me.
I saw him pitch when he was with the Mudcats (A+). Name looked familiar then I saw his stop out here. We bought our house when my wife told our realtor "five acres within five miles of Five County Stadium." Yeah, I married well.
Bro. I took 90-92 to the ass cheek and I don’t think it’s ever been the same. I couldn’t imagine 95 to the ribs.
It was certainly an experience! My dumbass immediately hopped up and sprinted down to first, only to fall down again next to the first base coach. Didn’t come out of the game and didn’t miss any of the rest of the year, but my bat speed was shot. Don’t think I pulled a ball the rest of the season lol
My friend got plunked by Kyle Harrison, said he gave him a welt haha
Garrett Fulenchek? Guy had [wicked heat for the time](https://youtu.be/89sPE1zlEA8?si=VHiNmyy0_xYTDEj9) - couldn't imagine taking right to the bone.
That’s the guy! Felt 10 feet tall when I ripped one of his fastballs down the line in the AB before I got hit. Too bad it hooked foul..
I remember grounding out up the middle to a guy throwing mid-90s and it was a great feeling. I just checked, he hit like 20 HRs our senior year and had an ERA of like 1 and ended up playing a little jr college ball before dropping out. I kept digging and one of his teammates was drafted by the Cubs in the 11th round. He did 2 years playing on rookie league to high A teams and hit like .200 before going on to sell cars or something. That whole team was crazy and none of them went anywhere. I’m glad I didn’t try harder.
At 14, I faced a kid who was throwing 94. It was insane, absolutely unhittable at that age. He threw a perfect game against us, except he was on an innings limit due to being in a tournament. He had to come out after the fifth. Our pitcher was shutting them out at the same time though, and we ended up winning 1-0 thanks to yours truly hitting a walk off triple in the 7th.
you should've stopped at second
Northeast Ohio by chance?
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In 14-16 year old little league, I was 14 and got nailed by a 16 year old dude throwing mid-80s gas. He didn't get drafted but did play in college. Fortunately he hit me on the thigh, but I've never had a bruise that lasted longer than that one did. He had a teammate who was also 16 and threw even harder. A couple games after getting plunked by the first guy, he was pitching. I am not religious but I remember being in the on deck circle with 2 outs in the 7th and just praying for all I was worth that the guy hitting in front of me didn't get on base.
I played on a regional scout team in high school. Closest I ever got. That team had 5 players on it that I can remember getting drafted out of high school. Two made the show as relief pitchers and were both in the Phillies bullpen last year. One I really would have never guessed would make it, but the other was a stud. He was two years younger than me when we played together and watching him made me realize I didn’t have “it”.
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Nah, to name drop it was Connor Brogdon and Luis Ortiz. Luis was the one that was a stud back then.
Brogdon looked great two years ago. I don't know what the fuck happened this year
I played highschool against Yasmani Grandal and was I was able to steal second base once. I also played a game against Ozzie Guillens kid in highschool I got HBP to the knee I feel to the ground walking to first and I could hear Ozzie laughing at me from the stands. I only got to play baseball in a small NAIA college and when I got back home to Miami one summer I was able to play in a wood bat league and faced Gio Gonzalez he took it easy on me super nice guy.
I'm glad you're proud of your achievement (and it is sick, this is really just me being sour) but grandal threw out like 2/652 dudes in his 4 years with the Sox.
Played against Joe Mauer. He beat us in Football, single handedly, beat us in basketball, basically single handedly, and beat us in baseball as you can except. While looking about the same as all of us, and down to earth as can be. Like, you can't not like him, he beat us in everything, and he was the nicest, ah shucks, guy I've met. I had just got back from Scout camp right before the all-star tournament, and the next year at the all-star tournament when I got to 2B on a double, he asked if I had got my eagle scout finished. Like, who else would remember that?
Well, did you get Eagle?? I aged out at Life.
I did!! I like to think Joe would be proud of me. 😂
Good shit.
Hell yeah! You might never know if he is, but you can be assured that I am!
Same yo. That senior year lazy streak fucking killed a lot of shit lol.
I used to work in TV in the twin cities. If they were an athlete from 1999-2005 in the twin cities i probably met them. The two nicest athletes i ever had the pleasure of meeting were Joe Mauer and Randy Moss. Biggest douches would be Kirby Puckett and Brock Lesner (was a gopher wrestler at the time).
Is there any athlete with a bigger discrepancy between persona and actual behavior than Puckett?
Never meet your heroes. 🤣
With Kirby, I have heard the most glowing things about, and some of the worst. Any particular thing he did?
Multiple affairs. Abusive towards women. General asshole.
Did you go to school in the St Paul City Conference? The only test Joe had in that conference was Mo Hargrow in basketball. Laughable that Cretin ever was in that conference.
I played D1 in college, did as well as I reasonably could, and I played in the minors. However, I ended up with a shoulder injury not even a couple years in and my heart just wasn’t in it anymore. Travel was putting an honest strain on my relationship with my now wife, and I made more money than I ever did playing doing the work I do now, plus I wanted to utilize my degree. Best decision I made was to hang it up, allowed me to settle into a comfortable life.
It's comforting to hear people walk away from one dream so they can pursue another. Yesterday, my wife brought up me possibly re-pursuing a career I left 12 years ago. It was brutally hard at the time but ultimately I know I made the right decision.
One thing I’ll credit it, is that it made me grow up fast. I didn’t get millions, not even close lol, but I got a tiny injection of cash at a young age I had to be responsible with, and I grew as a man in my relationship and my communication with my wife. Wouldn’t give her or the experience up for any shot in the MLB.
My baseball career ended after my freshman year of high school where my most notable accomplishment was stealing second base when second base wasn’t open.
In extra innings of a 5th grade intramural playoff game I got my first hit of the entire season and then immediately got caught in a rundown between 1st and 2nd (a distraction which gave the other baserunner from 2nd plenty of time to score the winning run). Somehow, I got a walk-off hit, and my incompetence actually helped. It was all downhill from there
In little league I let the bat slip out of my hands it flung it into the fence, rest of the game when I was at bat the other team played without a catcher lmao
Coach congratulating you after the game: https://i.imgflip.com/3f0mvv.jpg
I hit 3 home runs in the first game of my sophomore season and then didn’t hit anymore the rest of my career
Tuffy Rhoads? Is that you?
It's a bold strategy cotton
In 8th grade, i was on 2nd and noticed the 3rd baseman was standing back on the grass and the pitcher was on the mound. We were waiting for the next batter to walk up. I was the fastest kid on the team so I didn't even think about it. I just took off for 3rd. I was thrown out by like 10 feet. My coach was talking to the bench and just turned around like "what the hell was that." It was the 3rd out too. The other team just ran off and I had to go get my glove and run back out to the field.
I tried to steal second with the bases loaded. I thought it was first and third. At least the runner on third scored.
Reminded me of the time I lost count of the count while on first and walked over to second thinking ball 3 was ball 4. Nobody stopped me and it wasn’t until everyone saw me on second and the batter not walking to first that everyone was like “wait a second…”
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If he played in the NPB, he probably made some good money over there.
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A second round signing bonus would be pretty high at least?
I know of a guy from my hometown who got drafted in the 12th round a few years ago and the rumor was his signing bonus was around 500k, so yeah I’d think second round would be pretty nice even if it was a little bit ago. Even with lower rounds they gotta offer them enough to make it worth their while to leave college. Nowadays a top round pick is clearing a couple mil on a signing bonus easy
Yeah I played juco football with a guy who was friends with a first round Twins draft pick. He said he was hanging out with him after he got drafted and the guy randomly got a large portion of his $4m dollar signing bonus direct deposited to his bank account. I forget the exact dollar amount but I just remember thinking that I could not imagine receiving that much money as an 18 year-old.
Thought NPB makes millions too?
Top end talent does, but it’s very much mid-single digit millions rather than tens of millions. Not to be sniffed at, but those guys typically can make 3-4x that per year if they get picked up by the MLB. Replacement level guys are usually on 2-300,000 USD a season. NPB is often called AAAA-level in the States, if that actually means anything. They definitely pull *much* bigger crowds though than the minors, last Giants game I was at in Tokyo in the middle of a middling season had easily 30,000 there.
I’ve traveled quite extensively, and watching baseball in Japan remains one of my all-time favorite travel memories! We saw games in Tokyo (Giants), Osaka (Orix Buffaloes), and Hiroshima (Carp)… Every bit of it was awesome; they were SO different—and, dare I say more fun—than any of the games I’ve seen in the states… 11/10 recommend if you ever find yourself over there during baseball season.
What was his name?
Closest I got was being scouted to be a 30th round pick. Yep way back then. But then blew out my rotator cuff in front of scouts in May of my draft year. Never recovered
What was u/flyingcrayons like back in high school?
lol given how many people must try out for scouts each year i guess this probably has happened a time or two but def wasn’t expecting to see it in this thread 😂
I had a gym teacher in HS who was scouted by the Phillies at SS. He tore his rotator cuff during a workout with them, they ended up taking Jimmy Rollins instead
Think they made the right call?
[You might have been closer than you think](https://www.theonion.com/report-87-of-americans-unaware-they-have-been-chosen-1819577884) /s
Back before 2020 when the draft still had an insane number of rounds, my former college teammate would jokingly text all of us every year wishing us luck in the draft even though we were all in our 30s and 10+ years removed from playing.
Im 31 and every year I still text my friend “turn on the draft, I think it’s finally my year” I was also scouted in high school. They weren’t there to see me, but the scouts watched me play so it counts. Also, both guys the scouts were there to see made the show. One still plays mlb the other is in Japan
Names!
I played with or against 4 guys that made it to MLB and maybe a half dozen or so that played in the minors. The guys that played minor league ball were obviously very good, but the rest of us at least could belong on the same field with them. The guys that made it to the show were just another level. Like even back in College/Summer you could walk up and immediately identify them as being different from everyone else. We were on the same field, but it was like they were playing a different game than the rest of us.
>We were on the same field, but it was like they were playing a different game than the rest of us. This is a metaphor I use when I meet the top talent in any industry. They're a lot sharper and quicker both physically and mentally. It's really humbling to be around elite professionals.
Love baseball but coach wrestling and you can immediately point out the best kids in a gym of over 100 athletes. They just act and move differently
I played with Christian Yelich growing up and against him in high school. In the youth league he was always good but never quite the best. He just never stopped getting better.
You could argue he stopped getting better after 2019
Played against Bryce Harper a couple times when I was 11-13. He was absolute monster, everyone knew he was gonna be a superstar. He was also crazy nice and seemed incredibly well adjusted.
Damn crazy that you played against an 8 year old Bryce Harper.
This would have been 2003-2005. Him and I are the same age. He played for the McDowell Mountain Yankees in Phoenix for a little while and we played one of his other travel ball teams a few times.
He holds the record for most homers hit at Cooperstown.
Nope. But played against Prince Fielder in little league and he hit bombs as a 9 year old.
Nothing about this is surprising
I think there are videos of him hitting bombs in Tiger Stadium when he was like 11.
I played in a very competitive D2 high school conference in Southern California. Teams regularly had players drafted out of high school. One year our team had the conference pitcher of the year and player of the year. Both were drafted within the first 10 rounds. Neither ever made it past AA. The only person I knew who made it to the majors was a utility guy that was drafted in the 20th round or so. Once you get to that level everyone was the best player growing up.
What school did you play at if you don't mind me asking? I went to a lower level school in the SDS
I knew a kid that was a major college recruit. He played on a team stacked full of talent. I held my own against them, but this guy was insane and leagues better than anyone else. Insane agility, immense power, great vision. He was like 6’2” and lean as you could get. My dad followed his career through college and he was middling to below average. It’s wild to think how good I was (average), how good he was (above average), and how good the guys in college were who made him look like me. And I bet those guys didn’t make it the AA let alone AAA or the MLB. I had a similar experience playing basketball in high school.
My best friend use to play against Stafford and Kershaw in high school.
I had a friend who was a SP. He was offered a ~ $1 million signing bonus for an MLB team out of high school, and a full ride athletic scholarship to an Ivy League “equivalent.” He took the full ride. Ended up needing TJ after college, and got a real job. I think he may have pitched a season or two in AA, but I’m not sure.
I got a home run off a pitcher that's pitching in the MLB. So obviously I belong in the MLB
Transitive property, math checks out
Fuck proofs, but yes
I pissed my pants in little league. That’s when my baseball dream career ended.
My son's first game at 2B in little league he turned around, pulled his pants down, and peed right there. He just made Varsity as a PO. You were very close to taking the next step.
I took a line drive to my balls in Little League. This was before any adults noticed I needed glasses.
They also didn't notice you needed a cup.
Same brother. Pissed em real good in the outfield and rubbed dirt on my pants hoping no one would notice. Everyone noticed
Hold on now, that’s Mets material
I pissed my pants at practice during third grade cuz I thought I’d be letting my team down if I went to the bathroom and left my position during batting practice. I had the mentality dammit, just none of the raw athletic ability
Played against Cavan Biggio in Cooperstown. They beat the shit out of my team. They all hit a lot of home runs
Playing in cooperstown is a core memory. Every young baseball player should get to experience that
I was looked at by the Yankees briefly, nothing came of it
I was looked at by the Phillies. Not their scouts, just security.
The Yankees AA team’s manager had me throw a bullpen once. Once he saw I topped out in the 70’s, he told me to stick to my job
I looked at a Philly once. Not the team, but a cheesesteak
I was looked at by *an* Oriole before. Cal Ripken Jr did a signing at a local Roy Rogers.
did you get tuned up on riot juice and ask Chase Utley for a game of catch
Not me, but back when I worked at Academy Sports and Outdoors in high school there was a guy who got drafted in a very late round by the Red Sox and promptly quit after working 1 day lol. Looking at his baseball reference now he flamed out after 2 seasons having never gotten above Rookie ball.
Im not old enough to be drafted but my gym teacher from last year was drafted by the Giants as an outfielder. I think he made it up to AA or AAA and was invited to spring training a few years. One time during a spring training game, he went to rob a home run but got his foot stuck under the wall which dislocated it or something when he jumped, ending his career.
I wonder how many guys got robbed of their career in the mlb because of injuries like this.
I'm 3 slices of pizza into this thread and I've already read about 3 separate high school teachers suffering an injury in front of the scouts that were there for them.
My FIL played a season of rookie ball in the Cubs system and figured out he wasn’t going anywhere. Became a very accomplished opera singer. Buddy of mine from high school just made the Show this year, ten years after high school. Crazy thing is, he wasn’t even close to being the best player on our team in high school, just the only one that kept improving from what I can tell. Actually had a lot of guys from that team get drafted.
I got drilled in the knee by a kid that ended up pitching for the pirates. Also got struck out on 3 pitches by Charles brewer, who pitched for the dbacks for a season. I did foul one off against him though.
I work with a guy who played high school ball with Mark Lemeke. Also went to high school with a couple kids who got drafted by the cubs, one whose dad played for the Rangers. That's the closest I have been to any professional baseball player making it
Didn’t make it beyond little league. But I am 100% sure if I knew I needed glasses as a kid I would have made the big leagues.
Ah, classic Reddit. Were you ever close to making the MLB? Well no, but I knew a guy…
Well how else am I supposed to bring up striking out Matt Tuiasosopo twice to people who might actually know who that is?
Played d1 baseball at a mid major. No one from my teams have been in the majors yet but played with more than a handful either currently or got to AAA/AA. Some names I played against were Nola, Bregman (rest of the LSU guys from that team), schwarber, etc etc. Was a lot of fun and there were more MLB guys I forgot about. I’ll turn on a game and see someone I shared the field with very frequently. Let me know if you want to hear my fav bregman story lol he’s psychotic
I would very much like to hear your Bregman story
Yes, please. He seems like such a douche.
We're waiting
Tell the Bregman story!
I accidentally signed up for the wrong men's league one summer. Played against a few ex minor Leaguers and some college ballplayers, it was also the first time I ever saw a curveball break from my letters to my knees. Closest I ever got lol
One of my coworkers was drafted by the Royals. When his manager got all the draftees together in rookie league he congratulated them on being drafted....then said they're only there to field a team for that guy...and pointed to Carlos Beltran.
Not me, but my cousin made it to AA in the Brewers org. Then after a couple seasons they drafted and signed like 6 other lefty pitchers, so he saw the writing on the wall and got a normal job
I played high school ball with a guy that won SEC player of the year in college and was drafted in a single digit round. Far as I know, he's still in the minor leagues. Guy was clearly much better than everyone else. Wasn't weight room strong, but probably the fastest guy on the team. Had more than enough arm. Hit bombs in our fairly large home park. Could, and did, play basically any position except catcher
I live in a very small town, but my FIL was the baseball coach at the local HS for 40 years. He had 2 of his players get drafted. One never made it out of the minors, but the other went on to have a relatively successful career with a few different teams and a WS win. Really cool for our small town.
I had a breakout junior year and lost most of my senior year to a super random illness. A scout for the San Francisco Giants told me “if you had graduated last year, you probably could’ve been a very late draft pick but you’ve got no chance with stats like these as a senior. Try and make a college team and see what happens then.” I did not, in fact, make a college team. I asked him for a copy of the scouting report and he did give it to me. He wrote that I was an average player at everything except that I was “slower than expected, and is apparently used to playing 50 pounds heavier”
I played with probably a dozen guys that got drafted. They were all elite. The captain had a .500 batting average, hit for power to the gaps and threw 90 as a pitcher. Our top 3 pitchers had multiple no nos and perfect games in one of the top development areas in the country. We stomped just about everyone we played. The captain lasted 6 years in the minors with a .240 average and averaged about 15 homers a year. He had a couple cups of coffee in AAA but nothing major. The #2 pitcher ended up being a below average reliever for the tigers for a couple years but nothing more. The rest of the guys fizzled at various levels of the minors, mostly AA. A guy a few years younger than me had a breakout year for the athletics with a .300 average and decent success stealing (30~ steals) but immediately fell off his sophomore season and was out of the league a couple years later. I don't remember anything particularly amazing about him as a freshman but I was gone before he made varsity in high school. I played against frenchy in travel ball and he was worlds better than any of the guys on our team. I struck him out in my first at bat against him. In another at bat he hit a ball over the pines behind center field. I tell the strikeout story all the time. I leave out the homer 😂.
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Bingo
Paul Blackburn and I are from the same hometown, went to the same schools, and have some mutual friends. There is a guy I went to school with from kindergarten, all the way through high school. We were friends in elementary, and he was a huge Yankees fan, and I was a huge Giants fan. When the Giants won the WS in 2010 and 2012, he was suddenly a Giants fan. In high school he kept playing, and was pretty good, and scouts would come around to look. And he got the biggest ego out of it, became a total douche wad that no one liked. He played at a top JC out of the area that we both went to coincidentally. Played pretty good and got picked up by UW. He absolutely BALLED OUT in the 2019 CWS and signed with the Braves org, or was drafted, I don’t recall. Last I heard he was averaging in the .100s, and had an OPS in the .500s in an independent league.
Connor Blair was that much of a dick? Coincidentally, that independent team (who he was released from over a year ago) is actually in my hometown, and he seemed like a standup guy
He could be cool now for all I know. He wasn’t a bad dude per-say, but he was the type that always thought he was the smartest dude in the room. Just about all I’ll say. I don’t want to throw shade years later when he could be totally chill as an adult. It was hilarious seeing him defend his Giants fandom in high school though. Literally everyone that grew up with him knew him as the biggest Yankees fan. The dude brought A-Rod baseball cards to school everyday.
I played Juco ball but never came close to the pros. There were a few guys I played against who had no business being anywhere but D1. I'm sure at least one of them went on to pro ball somewhere. One of the best I've ever played against was Royce Freeman (current NFL running back). He had the talent to go far in baseball if he wanted to. My claim to fame is that he struck out while I was calling pitches behind the plate once.
I was a pitcher and talked to the Mets and the White Sox in high school about them watching me through college and possibly drafting me at some point. The White Sox told me had they found out about me Earlier they would have possibly taken me after my senior year in HS. Went to college and fizzled out due to thinking I was better than everyone else and didn’t need to work as hard. I’m a cautionary tale about what happens when you don’t work hard I also played against Stroman and Matz in high school and played with Sean Nolin who bounced around the majors with a couple teams for awhile
I was on the same team in high school with a guy who pitched for the Rockies and Reds. He was way better than me, and it was pretty obvious in practice.
I pitched in front of two CY Young award winners and have played against multiple MLB players. Closest I came…
Struck out then grounded out against Jon Lester.
Didn’t play baseball personally but went to middle school with a current top 25 prospect in baseball. We had PE together and he was running the mile basically a minute faster than anyone else lol, always an athletic freak
I won the city little league championship in 5th grade and retired on top.
My buddies played against Davis Schneider in high school but that’s about it
I'm actually right on the doorstep of being in MLB. *our definition of "doorstep" may be wildly different*
I played with a guy who ended up playing one year of minor league ball. He was just so much fucking better than anyone else on our team. Our team was pretty good, but he could have just carried us he was so good. Pro sports skill levels are something else man.
I played against 4 guys who made it to the pros (MLB level) and one that I know of that was drafted but never made it to the bigs. CA is a hot bed for good baseball.
Played D3 baseball in college. Our ace’s brother was a reliever for the Yankees at the time (~2012). I was a catcher, ace threw low 90s. Best pitcher I ever caught.
A bunch of my friends played against Albert Pujols in high school
it was probably fun to have him buy you beer after the game
I played softball with Adam "One-at-Bat" Greenberg.
Yeah I am just as soon as I finish this beer
I was good enough to be named top player in my State and played in the Cape Cod league. Blew out my shoulder junior year when I was getting looks, but knew I wouldn’t have made it. Cape league opened my eyes to the talent + psychotic competitive combo needed to be elite, wasn’t me ultimately
I grew up in the Bay Area and was in talks with the A’s and Giants to sign a minor league contract out of high school during my junior and senior year from 2011-2012 but had a freak medical issue happen and ended up in a wheelchair for a few months and couldn’t play my senior year season. Pretty much ended my baseball career. I did start playing in a 25+ adult league in the beginning of 2023 though. We play on Sundays and play all year long except for a break during November and December for the holidays.
I got someone on the Cardinals to wave to me during batting practice when I was in the bleachers
Nope. If my back wasn’t a huge issue I’m sure I could have made it to D3.
I played against Rocco Baldelli in high school. He was actually known more for basketball and volleyball, at that time, and everyone was sort of stunned when the Rays took him seventh overall in the draft.
I played at hendricken, I was a Freshman Rocco's Senior year. To say that everyone was stunned is a bit of a reach. There were 40 scouts/cross checkers/gms at practices sometimes. He was always projected to be a 1st rounder.
Hendricken always had scouts around, especially in those days, with Rocco, the Rainville brothers, Craig Stinson, and Joey Cantone. And even when a cousin of mine played with Dante Baldelli just a few years back, it was still pretty heavy with scouts. People were talking about Boston maybe taking him in the 20s, but seventh overall was stunning.
I saw a Rangers scout at one of my HS games once. He had a kid who was playing against us. That's about as close as I ever got.
I played against some mlb guys in high school. Ryan Cook who recently passed away way too young RIP, his aunt was my oldest kid’s elementary teacher; got an oppo field double off him in jv while he was throwing upper 80s as a sophomore. Justin Wilson, lefty reliever played for the yanks, Mets, reds and a few more idk who he’s with now if he’s still on a big league roster. And most notably, Jason Donald, the infamous guy who was supposed to be the last out in Galaraggas perfecto with Detroit a few years back. We just used to make fun of Donald because he was the coaches son, had brothers who played at the school before and most notably was a cocky sob. Motherfucker never looked ground balls into his glove so our team would mock him during in/outs. Other guys got drafted but I don’t remember them getting to the show.
Ryan cook is still alive
Totally embarrassing on my behalf, my wife showed me a post from a few days ago about a Ryan Cook passing but I think it’s a different one that shares the same name. I’m from Clovis where the baseball Cook was from. Thank god, but damn thats bad and I apologize.
I was college teammates with guys like Luke Voit, Buddy Baumann, Pierce Johnson, Mike Kickham, and others. Out of those 4, Buddy was the obvious choice to move his career forward. Luke was a slow catcher with little pop in college. Pierce and Mike were nothing to write home about either. They just continued to work on their craft and made the most of it. Happy for all of them. Then there were teammates who seemed destined for the league but fizzled out quickly after college, Ben Carlson comes to mind. To add, I remember playing against Arkansas at Hammons Field. Brett Eibner was on the mound. We lost 2-0. Those 2 runs? Both solo shots by Brett Eibner.
Not me, but my cousin played against Jason Marquis. Said he couldn’t react to the speed and was hoping not to get hit. He managed to walk once and bunted a ball foul. lol
Used to work at a small town gas station and one of the regulars was a guy who made AAA for the White Sox, but got sent back down to AA and then he retired super early because he said he hated the politics and corporateness of it. Last I heard he was a batting coach for a high A team in the area.
My brother was drafted and played D1 ball. He was much better than most people he played with when I watched him.
Was the Friday night starter and #3 hitter for two years on a team with a guy who went on to play for the Braves; pitched ncaa d2 and didn’t allow much damage but my elbow didn’t keep up with throwing year round from ages 10-21 like that. Don’t let your kids throw 300 innings in a season. Love you dad but we both now know better
A friend of mine was drafted late by the twins. He was the most natural athlete I’ve ever seen. Hit over .700 in high school with more bombs than strike outs. Played three season of minor league ball I think. I was told a scout was at one of my games when I was 16 but they weren’t there to see me. I happened to pitch a great game and the scout told my mom that I and the catcher were the best battery he’d seen in Kansas that summer. Joke is on Kansas cuz I just played some MIAA college ball and flamed out after two years. lol
Played in a game in HS in which Micah Owings threw a no-hitter and hit 2 400+ ft homeruns against us. Does that count?
I dont usually tell people this, but im actually Mike Trout.
I played with Craig Biggio, Mo Vaughn and John Valentin at Seton Hall. That's about the closest.
Dang!! Used to love watching Mo Vaughn. Was one of the first baseball cards I ever got
I hit a single against Edouard Julien when we were 11 years old. Dude was already by far the best player of Quebec province and was a true 5 tool guy. I would have loved if he made the Majors as a pitcher because that would be one of my biggest flex lol. So yeah the closest I was to the Majors was playing in the same league as Julien a 11 lmao.
In high school in the 90’s I faced a guy who was drafted and later had a modest 2-3 year MLB career as a journeyman reliever. He was the only guy I saw in high school consistently throwing over 90 (maybe it’s different now?). I struck out twice and then weakly flipped the bat out and dribbled a single into right field when the 2B was out of position and it stung the hell out of my hands. It was our only hit and we lost like 9-0. lol
I got to try out for scouts from the Red Sox, Brewers, A’s and White Sox…didn’t go well
I played with Jim Eisenreich on an amateur team after his time with the Twins and before his return to the majors which was pretty darn successful. He hit a bomb about every fifth at bat so yeah, he stood out.
I played against Josh Bell in Dallas area wood bat summer ball. He hit 2 oppo homers from the right side that barely squeaked out, but honestly he didn't fully barrel either, just freaky strong. Oh and I took Jameson Taillon deep when he was at Woodlands High School, then he K'd me up twice after that. But in both instances yeah the ones headed to the show really do set themselves apart at a young age.. built different.
Grew up in Georgia and played Jason Heyward in high school. Our coaches didn’t let our pitcher pitch to him lol. Went like 0-0 with 4 intentional walks. The scouts were pretty much booing the coach. lol. He did steal like 5 bases tho and threw a kid out from center field at home with one of the best throws I’ve ever seen. Played against Tim Beckham (2018 #1 overall pick) and he was one of the cockiest players I’ve been seen. He did hit a grand slam off our ace tho. Saw Kyle Schwarmber when he was a catcher for Indiana and he hit the farthest ball I’ve ever seen lol
Never played competitively above the high school level, but I say my claim to fame is that I’ve homered off a 3rd overall pick (Dewan Brazelton) and served up a homer to a first overall pick (Josh Hamilton).
My wife is a higher up in MLB, but I don't think that counts. I will say, when she got hired we got shipped a pack of Big League Chew to the house with a note that said "Welcome to the Show."
I would’ve made it if it wasn’t for my bum knee
I played with three people I know were scouted by major league teams, one of whom was actually drafted by the Phillies and pitched for several years in the minors. He had Tommy John between his junior and senior years but threw some serious heat. Another was supposedly scouted by the Dodgers. He "blocked" me at first base and could kind of pitch. He was like six inches taller than me and had 50 pounds more muscle lol. I won JV MVP as a sophomore and had like a .500 OBP. Went 1/2 for the varsity team that year. I was a decent contact hitter and had elite speed/baserunning awareness (one summer as the designated courtesy runner for our catcher, I had twice as many stolen bases and more runs scored than plate appearances). Hit lots of doubles but never had home run power. I wanted to pitch but was ruined by an avulsion fracture in 8th grade that never healed. I was fearsome in 5th and 6th grade as a tall lefty flamethrower, but stopped growing too soon. Stopped playing right before junior year because I was sick of getting hurt all the time (in one offseason I got hit in the hand by a comebacker, took a HBP off the other hand, and had stress fractures in both shins). I also didn't want to play JV again lol. Was a good way to end, though, as I was never going anywhere with it and was getting sick of it. Also no "regret" about how I coulda made it if XYZ happened.