Baseball enthusiasts can become obsessed with prospects. For every group of fans, regardless of payroll or market size, the idea of a special young player making the jump to the big league club is tantalizing. Despite the number of prospects that flame out on a yearly basis, the pursuit of the next Mike Trout or Bryce Harper is never-ending.
When publications like Baseball America, MLB.com or Baseball Prospectus release prospect rankings, the experts in charge of charting, scouting and analyzing young, undeveloped players are simply making educated guesses.
Sometimes, those guesses are prescient. After all, some of baseball’s best and brightest stars were former highly touted prospects.
Of course, the guesses can also turn out to be very, very wrong. Due to a combination of natural regression, injuries and poor luck, prospects rarely take a straight path from the bottom of the minor leagues to the top of the majors.
Thus far in 2014, 10 well-known prospects are dealing with adversity and a noticeable dip in performance from last year. Six weeks of minor league statistics or poor play shouldn’t drastically re-shape the future of any of these players, but more information can become instructive for their respective parent clubs.
Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and MiLB.com, unless otherwise noted, and accurate as of May 8, 2014.