Orioles 2003 Top 10 prospects

[Tony-OH]

https://web.archive.org/web/20031203175600/http://www.orioleshangout.com/Wilt/Top10.htm

This list was missing for many years as it was the first list where someone else (Jon Wilt better known as the famous @DrungoHazewood) helped write and collaborate since I was in Hawaii training to go to Afghanistan the following spring. Unfortunately 11-25 is probably missing forever since it was "plus content" and the way back machine could not access it since it was protected.

I almost forgot about the hype surrounding Denny Bautista and that we actually named him the #1 prospect in the system that year. In retrospect Nick Markakis (#4) should have been #1 and Erik Bedard (#6 coming off Tommy John surgery) #2. 

 

 

 

[Hank Scorpio]

It's bad luck just seeing Matt Riley. 

Ugh!!!!!!!!!

[Frobby]

One guy on these lists I really liked was Val Majewski.  I think he could have had a respectable career, but he tore his labrum in his 9th major league game and never really recovered.  

[OriolesMagic83]

6 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

https://web.archive.org/web/20031203175600/http://www.orioleshangout.com/Wilt/Top10.htm

This list was missing for many years as it was the first list where someone else (Jon Wilt better known as the famous @DrungoHazewood) helped write and collaborate since I was in Hawaii training to go to Afghanistan the following spring. Unfortunately 11-25 is probably missing forever since it was "plus content" and the way back machine could not access it since it was protected.

I almost forgot about the hype surrounding Denny Bautista and that we actually named him the #1 prospect in the system that year. In retrospect Nick Markakis (#4) should have been #1 and Erik Bedard (#6 coming off Tommy John surgery) #2. 

 

 

 

I was convinced that Loewen would be the O's ace for years to come with Riley the #2 starter.  Guys like Maine, Bedard and Erbe (right time period?) could fill out the rotation. 

[Gurgi]

What guys would be on the current Orioles top ten list?  The easy ones are Markakis and Bedard.   Any others?  Loewen I guess.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Gurgi

[LookinUp]

1 hour ago, Gurgi said:

What guys would be on the current Orioles top ten list?  The easy ones are Markakis and Bedard.   Any others?  Loewen I guess.

I just wonder what some of these guys turn into under this player development system. Probably a bunch of studs.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, Gurgi said:

What guys would be on the current Orioles top ten list?  The easy ones are Markakis and Bedard.   Any others?  Loewen I guess.

I think Loewen was on his way to becoming a pretty good pitcher when he got hurt.

[DrungoHazewood]

14 hours ago, Frobby said:

One guy on these lists I really liked was Val Majewski.  I think he could have had a respectable career, but he tore his labrum in his 9th major league game and never really recovered.  

I liked following and rooting for him because he is exactly 10 years younger than me. Which means he's old now...

[DrungoHazewood]

17 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

I almost forgot about the hype surrounding Denny Bautista and that we actually named him the #1 prospect in the system that year. In retrospect Nick Markakis (#4) should have been #1 and Erik Bedard (#6 coming off Tommy John surgery) #2. 

 

 

 

I never forget Denny Bautista. He didn't end up with much of a career, but that Angelos-forced trade (that has to be the story) for Jason Grimsley was one of the worst trades in franchise history. Doesn't look like much on the surface, but it was the team's #1 prospect who had two bad outings as a 23-year-old rookie and was immediately traded for a 36-year-old middle reliever with a 4.81 career ERA. Just a completely nonsensical trade on playing terms, and then Grimsley went on to rat out half the team for PEDs. It would be like if, a year ago, they'd traded DL Hall for, like... Aaron Loup and then Loup somehow got the team tied up a massive scandal.

I guess that episode was a perfect symbol of the chaos, disorganization, and lack of direction of the 1998-2011 Orioles.

Edited December 15, 2023 by DrungoHazewood

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I never forget Denny Bautista. He didn't end up with much of a career, but that Angelos-forced trade (that has to be the story) for Jason Grimsley was one of the worst trades in franchise history. Doesn't look like much on the surface, but it was the team's #1 prospect who had two bad outings as a 23-year-old rookie and was immediately traded for a 36-year-old middle reliever with a 4.81 career ERA. Just a completely nonsensical trade on playing terms, and then Grimsley went on to rat out half the team for PEDs. It would be like if, a year ago, they'd traded DL Hall for, like... Aaron Loup and then Loup somehow got the team tied up a massive scandal.

I guess that episode was a perfect symbol of the chaos, disorganization, and lack of direction of the 1998-2011 Orioles.

Yep, that along with trading Jayson Werth for John Bale. 

[Frobby]

39 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Yep, that along with trading Jayson Werth for John Bale. 

Like many other guys in that period, Werth was a good prospect who wasn’t being developed well by the folks running our farm system.  We really had piss-poor player development in those days.  That’s why I sometimes refer to Nick Markakis as “The Boy Who Lived.”

[Tony-OH]

36 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Like many other guys in that period, Werth was a good prospect who wasn’t being developed well by the folks running our farm system.  We really had piss-poor player development in those days.  That’s why I sometimes refer to Nick Markakis as “The Boy Who Lived.”

There is no doubt Werth was given a disservice being in the Orioles system back then. Obviously I wrote about the issues in my Syd Thrift article but dysfunctional was a kind word to describe how the system was run. 

 

[Frobby]

11 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

There is no doubt Werth was given a disservice being in the Orioles system back then. Obviously I wrote about the issues in my Syd Thrift article but dysfunctional was a kind word to describe how the system was run. 

 

That was an amazing article.   Unfortunately the next few GMs kept promising to “fix the wiring” (Mike Flanagan’s words) but nobody was really able to do it until Mike Elias came along.  

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Like many other guys in that period, Werth was a good prospect who wasn’t being developed well by the folks running our farm system.  We really had piss-poor player development in those days.  That’s why I sometimes refer to Nick Markakis as “The Boy Who Lived.”

Markakis was good because he got through the farm system so quickly they didn't have time to screw him up.

[DrungoHazewood]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Yep, that along with trading Jayson Werth for John Bale. 

Werth had 20 homers in four years in the O's system, then 20 homers his first year in the Jays' system. The Orioles were 180 degrees out from today, they were today's Royals and Werth was the Ryan O'Hearn.