Since the draft is behind us and the 2020 high school players are entering the heart of their camp season why not take a stroll down memory lane. Might bore the hell out of many but that has never stopped me before. Besides history is sometimes instructive.
Keep in mind in every baseball draft there are many ( dozen or so) speedsters who are essentially track types who never get above High A ball. They are way under the radar.
But there are also speedsters, white and black etc. who have a chance. And then there are the premium player/speedsters who are generally chosen in the first few rounds. Even on the top end only a handful of players make it big.
The 2000 draft was a joyous occasion for me but ultimately like so many others ended up as frustrating years later when all the dust had settled. This is something that often has happened. And still does to this day.
Five notable white speedsters stick out for me in the 2000 draft.
Tommy Murphy was a 6.51 runner who stalled after a few years in the minors.
OF Chris Morris was from Citadel and was drafted by the Cardinals. He stole 84 bases out of 94 attempts his senior year. That is
not a typo.
There is more. In 2001 he stole 111 bases at single A. Again not a typo. In high A he stole 67 bases in 2003. But white speedsters are avoided like the plague in general and Morris basically didn't have an MLB career. They just let him run himself into the ground.
OF Rich Thompson ditto. A similar flash runner, Thompson ended up stealing 486 bases in his long minor league career. One year he stole 58 bases and was caught just 8 times despite just batting .247.
As he
slowly moved up the ladder his BA improved but by the time he had a cup of coffee in the big leagues he was "too old" to be considered a prospect and like so many other white speedsters he was tossed aside.
But the two players I was most excited about were first round picks.
Before that I should point out 2B Chase Utley was drafted that year in the first round as was former Stanford QB Joe Bourchard. Utley became a star. Bouchard couldn't hit a lick and fell off in short order. Another two sport white player who mistakenly thought they were a better baseball player than football player.
Universally considered the best athlete in the draft among viable prospects, Rocco Baldelli was a four sport star in high school. Long, lean lithe and fast as a whistle he was a star basketball and volleyball player. I think he could leap 40 inches. He was also a sprint star on his track and field team. There are excellent athletes and there are guys like Rocco who are exceedingly rare. Super duper athletic! But baseball was where he settled and he had the blinding speed (6,38 in the 60) and overall hitting and fielding skills that had many scouts excited.
After a superb rookie outing for the Bucs in 2003 people were predicting big things from this speedster who a few thought might turn into a modern day Joe D. He was brought up here at CF back then. Sports Illustrated had a big feature. Then the trouble started. He eventually tore his ACL before the 2005 season but he had another rare medical disorder that truly hampered him and in the blink of an eye a few years later the promising Rocco was out of baseball. He is now the manager of the red hot Twins and has a brother playing for BC.
Below I have added an SI article on him while his star was still on the rise.
https://www.si.com/vault/2003/05/26...hittable-pitch--or-his-shot-at-stardom--go-by
Then there was CF David Krynzel. Considered the fastest player in the draft, Krynzel ripped a scorching 6.31 60 at the biggest showcase of the year. It was by far the fastest time there. Drafted in the first round by the Brewers I was looking forward to seeing this speedster at the big league level. He modeled his game after Steve Finley and nothing gets my attention more than a swift white CF with a lot of promise.
What happened? Not much. He slogged through the minors to no avail. He was briefly called up several years after being drafted but left no discernable mark. After that he was gone in a flash. To the nameless baseball graveyard where so many mostly unknown white speedsters are laid to rest.
