MLB: Did You Know These 5 Players Were Former Top Prospects?

Players often do not reach their maximum potential. Especially in baseball. And when you have MLB superstars like Kris Bryant, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado that end up being successful, it’s easy to forget about the others.

Scouting for baseball is different than any other sport. The players a team draft’s are almost never called up to the majors immediately. So it takes significant time to develop the player in the minor leagues. But recently, the MLB seems to be getting younger and younger. The stars of today are in their mid-20’s rather than their 30’s. They also all started out in similar ways. Many were scouted as teenagers, drafted out of college, and thrown into the minor leagues for development. But, less than 11% of college players even get drafted by an MLB team. However, those lucky few are often great athletes with incredible potential.

Many prospects don’t make it to the major leagues and far more don’t reach their potential. There are those highly rated prospects that do reach their potential such as Kris Bryant, Bryce Harper, Carlos Correa and Manny Machado (and many more). But what about other former top prospects that have made it? Those former prospects that are now overshadowed by the superstars.

The following is a list of some former top prospects that made it to the bigs but didn’t quite reach their potential. Or at least, not yet. These players have been performing well recently and many have forgotten that they were previously top prospects with unlimited potential.

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