5 replies to this topic

[Robbo]

Can a prospect in his late 20's breakout and succeed in the majors?

Bryan LaHair is 29 and this season should be his 1st FULL-TIME shot at the big league level. I was wondering if any other prospects in the past had come up in their late 20's and still been able to be significant contributors. The list of those late-blooming prospects that failed is probably much longer than the list of those that succeeded, but I'm hopeful LaHair can be a nice surprise this season.

Here are a few of the late-blooming prospect types that make me hope LaHair can join this list. If you know of others, do share...


Henry Rodriguez - no full time play until joining Expos at age 28.
5 seasons of 20+ HR's, 6 seasons of OPS+ over 100, and even an all-star
appearance

Kevin Youilis - 27 years old when he first played 100+ MLB games. OPS+
topping 100 every season since then, consistently among best in league
OBP and averaging 20 HR's a season, and a WS champion

Jeff Conine - no full time chance til 27, wound up in 2 all star appearances
WS champion almost 2,000 hits and 200+ HR's, played til age 41

Nelson Cruz - 28 years old when first playing 100 MLB games. All Star, 25 HR/year in past 3 seasons, and middle of order bat for a team that made back-to-back WS appearances

[Tommy]

Great list, Robbo! Thanks for sharing that - good stuff.

[Brett]

If you were going to go this route, you could probably add Michael Morse (didn't get a full-time shot until he was 28/29, and was ridiculous last year).

[dabynsky]

Depending on your definition of breakout, Ryan Roberts would fit as well. He didn't get a full time shot with Arizona until age 28. His numbers aren't amazing, but last year he was an above average 3B.

The point remains though that the number of guys to break out as hitters at this age with virtually no playing time in the major leagues is a far shorter list than the guys that haven't in the same situation.

[Robbo]

If you were going to go this route, you could probably add Michael Morse (didn't get a full-time shot until he was 28/29, and was ridiculous last year).

True story. I was at a Cubs-Nats game last August in and he hit a towering shot into the bleachers off of Garza. Morse has a strange pre-AB routine but the dude can mash.

[ced landrum]

Can they break out? Sure they can contribute to a club and even be really pretty good. But and this is a big but, there success is short lived. They are reaching the bigs in the peak years of a players career or at the end depending on how you see it.