Knuckle Curve - Baseball News

March 27th, 2008

Where Are They Now: Top Prospects of ‘98, #21-30

Previously…

#91-100
#81-90
#71-80

#61-70
#51-60
#41-50
#31-40

J.D. Drew and Ila Borders were playing in the Northern League. Kevin Mench led the NCAA in home runs, while Brian Roberts led in stolen bases. You guessed it, we’re back in 1998 for our latest look at baseball’s best prospects from that year. Sit back, relax, and enjoy…
Tags: baseball, eric chavez, eric milton, prospects, […]

By Geoff Young -- 0 comments

March 20th, 2008

Where Are They Now: Top Prospects of ‘98, #31-40

Previously…

#91-100
#81-90
#71-80

#61-70
#51-60
#41-50

I think 1998 is right around when I first started to realize how difficult it is to develop a big-league catcher. Five backstops made Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects that year, and none of ‘em did much. Still, this latest batch includes a former home-run champion and a Cy Young Award winner…
Tags: baseball, braden looper, […]

By Geoff Young -- 3 comments

March 13th, 2008

Where Are They Now: Top Prospects of ‘98, #41-50

Previously…

#91-100
#81-90
#71-80
#61-70
#51-60

California bans smoking in bars and restaurants, 19 countries in Europe forbid human cloning, the Unabomber enters a guilty plea — and that’s just in January! You guessed it, we’re looking back at 1998 again. In this installment, we enter the top half of Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects. Sit back, relax, and try not […]

By Geoff Young -- 3 comments

March 6th, 2008

Where Are They Now: Top Prospects of ‘98, #51-60

Previously…

#91-100
#81-90
#71-80
#61-70

America was listening to Fuel, Everclear, Creed (noooooo!!!!), Barenaked Ladies, and the dulcet tones of Rammstein. Lethal Weapon 4 was playing in theaters, because if ever a movie franchise screamed out for a fourth movie, it was Lethal Weapon. Or maybe Police Academy.
Meanwhile, baseball’s best and brightest young prospects were working their way up the […]

By Geoff Young -- 1 comment

March 4th, 2008

Talkin’ Padres Prospects

For the Padres fans in the house, I’ve posted a Q&A with the folks at MadFriars.com over at Ducksnorts (Part 1, Part 2). Actually, even if you’re not a Padres fan, there’s some good stuff here in terms of strategies for evaluating prospects and what-not.
Por ejemplo:
There are a lot of factors that go into comparing, […]

By Geoff Young -- 0 comments

February 29th, 2008

Prospecting the Names

What’s in a name? According to the Baseball Crank, a lot:
Having a great baseball name is important. For example, lots of people remember Drungo La Rue Hazewood (who was 0-for-5 in the major leagues) and Van Lingle Mungo, but almost nobody has heard of Bobby Wallace even though he played 25 seasons in the majors […]

By Geoff Young -- 0 comments

February 28th, 2008

Where Are They Now: Top Prospects of ‘98, #61-70

Previously…

#91-100
#81-90
#71-80

Where were we? Ah yes, Terry Kennedy was being named Minor League Manager of the Year; Jay Gibbons was busy winning the Pioneer League MVP; and 41-year-old Dave Stieb, after a 5-year layoff, was making a comeback and earning “best control” honors in Baseball America’s “best tools” survey.
It must be 1998, the year that neither […]

By Geoff Young -- 5 comments

February 21st, 2008

Pacific Coast League Prospects from 1988

I don’t know why I’ve become so fascinated with prospects from years gone by, but I have. My latest article at Hardball Times looks back at the Pacific Coast League circa 1988: names like Craig Biggio, Terry Francona, Edgar Martinez. Good times…
Tags: baseball, craig-biggio, edgar martinez, hardbal times, mlb, pacific coast league, pcl, prospects, terry […]

By Geoff Young -- 0 comments

February 21st, 2008

Where Are They Now: Top Prospects of ‘98, #71-80

Previously…

#91-100
#81-90

Welcome back to 1998. Dante Bichette led MLB with 219 hits, Jose Offerman led with 13 triples, and Mike Piazza signed a record-setting 7-year/$91 million deal with the Mets. Our latest re-examination of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects from that year shows yet again how few of the best minor leaguers convert their potential into […]

By Geoff Young -- 4 comments

February 8th, 2008

Downtime, Family Trees, Hardball Times Book

First off, I apologize for the recent downtime we had around here. There aren’t many things worse in life than suffering through a New York/New England Super Bowl, but a withdrawal of baseball blogginess might be one of them.
Anyway, thanks to our crack staff, we should be good to go, which means… more stuff!
Okay, that […]

By Geoff Young -- 0 comments