A week or so ago, Baseball America’s JJ Cooper published subscriber-only a piece that discusses Pedro Alvarez. An American League scout opined that if he didn’t know Alvarez’s pedigree, he’d be tempted to call him a non-prospect. Jim Callis follows up on that today by discussing some of the biggest position player draft busts and concluding:
Perhaps if Alvarez can get himself into better shape, he can reclaim the bat speed and hitting ability that made him the No. 2 choice just four years ago. If not, you could argue that he’s the biggest waste of hitting talent in draft history.
Callis qualifies his words carfeully (IF he can get himself into shape …) but it’s pretty alarming to see Alvarez discussed alongside the biggest draft busts in history in the present tense. Of course, it’s also alarming to see him not be able to catch up to a Kyle Lohse fastball, and I suppose those two things go hand in hand.
