I mentioned in Flashback Friday: 2007 MLB Draft that the Pirates have certainly had their fair share of "bad draft picks." The article was mainly about how the Pirates screwed up taking
Daniel Moskos over
Matt Wieters,
Madison Bumgarner,
Jason Heyward and others. If you think that pick was bad for the Pirates you may not want to read this weeks edition then.
The 2001 MLB Draft was worse than the 2007 one for the Pirates after selecting
John Van Benschoten with the 8th overall pick. Taking JVB out of Kent State was a great pick and a lot of people liked it. He had just come off a season in which he lead all of division-1 players in homeruns, as a Junior. Almost every Pirate fan was probably fired up that they finally had a power hitter that should be in their lineup in a couple years, but the Pirates decided to announce after the draft that Van Benschoten was going to be a pitcher for them. Yes, incase you think you read that wrong, the Pirates announced after the 2001 MLB Draft that they were taking the NCAA league leader in homeruns, and converting him to a pitcher. As many of you know, John Van Benschoten didn't work out the way they wanted him to. He posted an ERA around seven after being called up in 2004, and was, statistically, the worst pitcher the Pirates have had in over twenty years. He was called up again in 2007, the season he went 0-7 with an ERA over ten and had an ERA even higher than that in the 2008 season. I brought up how the Pirates passed on Wieters, Heyward, and Bumgarner in 2007 but I don't think any of the guys in that years draft will be as good as
David Wright,
Ryan Howard,
Dan Uggla and
Dan Haren are, the same guys that the Pirates passed on to take John Van Benschoten in 2002.
Here comes the part where I break down the big name guys that the Pirates turned down.
Ryan Howard, first basemen for the Philadelphia Phillies, is on track to become one of the best power hitters in recent memory, and might see himself in the 500 homerun club one day. He has been a Natonal League MVP (2006), World Series champion (2008), NLCS MVP (2009), Hank Aaron Award winner (2006), homerun leader (twice), RBI leader (three times), Rookie of the Year (2005), all star (2006, 2009, 2010), and the fastest player to ever to reach 100 career homeruns and 200 career homeruns. He also came to PNC Park for the all star game in July of 2006, and put on an absolute show, beating out David Wright in the final round, another guy the Pirates passed on. I think that's enough right there to say that Ryan Howard is arguably the best first basemen in the National League, right now.
Next comes Dan Uggla, who is almost the 100% definition of an "all or nothing hitter". He tends to strikeout a good amount, and bats for a pretty mediocre average, but is also the only second basemen in Major League history to have four consecutive thirty homerun seasons. He scrapped together one of, if not the, oddest hitting streaks in Major league history last year, as he went 33 straight games with a hit, but was batting under .200 during the streak at one point. He is the all time leader for homeruns by a Florida Marlin and is currently the second basemen for the Atlanta Braves. He's been an all star twice and silver slugger once, and is one of the top second basemens in the league heading into the 2012 MLB season.
Dan Haren was taken in the second round by the St. Louis Cardinals. Haren is one of the more underrated pitchers in the league today and has pitched with Oakland, Arizona, and is currently a Los Angeles Angel. He's only had one losing season in his career and is a three time all star. If the Pirates were to have somehow hung on to him through all the trades these past couple years, he would without a doubt be the Pirates ace today, and certainly have posted an ERA under ten.
The final player on the list is New York Mets third basemen, David Wright. This is the kind of guy who could win an MVP if he were to play on a winning team. He made the all star game five straight seasons from 2006 to 2010 and is a career .300 hitter. He's part of the 30-30 club and is the Mets franchise leader in doubles. He won both the silver slugger and gold glove in 2007 and 2008, and is a top five third basemen in the league today.
Incase you're wondering, Flashback Friday isn't going to be a weekly post in which I slam the Pirates for their draft picks, and give you all profiles on players around the MLB. I just figured I'd let all the fans know who the Pirates could have had over guys like John Van Benschoten and Daniel Moskos. Just think about where the Pirates would be sitting at today if they had some of these players, and how this 19 year old drought may have ended almost about five years ago. Moskos still has potential to be a solid pitcher, but John Van Benschoten days as a Pirate are over, and we should all be thankful for that.
