Hall of Scrubs

Our next inductee into the Hall of Scrubs is yet another example of why Spring Training performances mean nothing.  Scott Pose entered his first Spring Training in 1993 with the expansion Florida Marlins.  He was not one of the Marlins expansion draft picks.  They picked him up in the Rule 5 draft from the Reds system.  He was coming off a season in Double-A in which he hit .342 and had an OBP of .414.  He also stole 21 bases.

Despite his excellent minor league stats, Pose was not considered a prospect.  The centerfield and leadoff jobs belonged to Chuck Carr, whom the Marlins selected from the Cardinals with the 14th pick of the expansion draft.  But Pose had such a great Spring Training that manager Rene Lachemann handed him Chuck Carr’s position.  Along with that came  the honor of having the first at bat in the Marlins franchise history.

Unfortunately, once again, the realities of the regular season set in.  Pose fizzled out quickly after 15 games.  He hit .195 and was demoted.  Chuck Carr got his job back and finished the year with 58 stolen bases and was fourth in the voting for NL rookie of the year.

Pose did not appear in the majors again until 1997 when the Yankees called him up after he hit .308 on their Triple-A team.  Joe Torre used him quite a bit as a reserve outfielder, but he hit only .218. 

The Royals gave him another shot in 1999, and he seemed to finally get comfortable as a major league hitter.  He ended the season hitting .285 and he earned a spot on the Royals 2000 opening day roster.  It would be the second time in his 11 year career that he made an opening day roster.  He struggled again though by hitting .188 that year.  It was his last year in the majors.

 Despite his struggles in the majors, Soctt Pose will always be remembered fondly for  being the first man to bat for the Florida Marlins.

You can view Scott’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Scott’s stats

Image courtesy of CheckOutMyCards.com

Major League Spring Training camps are full of Triple-A sluggers who generally have no shot at making the team.  While scrappy mediocre prospects like Pittaro impress the heck out of major league managers, big sluggers from AAA rarely gain attention even though they hit monstrous homers during Spring Training games.  They show up as non-roster invitees and are shipped out when the regulars need to get more playing time.  Sluggers like Randy Ruiz of the Blue Jays and Joe Koshansky of the Rockies (now Rangers) are recent examples.

In 2005, Calvin Pickering bucked this trend.  He came to Spring Training with the lowly Royals and battled their All-Star incumbent at first base, Ken Harvey, for spot on the roster.  Kansas City was not happy with the lack of power from the hefty Ken Harvey and were delighted with the power and patience of the equally hefty Calvin Pickering.  To the surprise of minor league slugger fans everywhere, Calvin Pickering actually won the job with a great Spring season.

Unfortunately, as is the case with most Spring Training surprises, it did not last long.  Calvin was given only 7 games to retain his new job as the starting first baseman. Only 7 games?  It was simply not fair.  He did scuffle in those seven games, hitting only .143.  The Royals promptly demoted him in favor of Ken Harvey.  It was the end of Calvin’s major league career.

Calvin went to Korea in 2006 where he hit a ton of homers.  No surprise.  He returned to the U.S. to play independent league baseball in 2007.  A blogger for the Royals review (www.royalsreview.com) recently spotted him in the Atlantic League and is sharing a photo of Pickering that shows how the 6′5” slugger has grown considerably around the midsection.  He won’t be playing in the field anytime soon with that size.  You can view this picture at the following link provided by the Royals Review:

Gigantic Calvin Pickering playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish in the Atlantic League

Prior to his stint with the Royals, Calvin played in the majors for the Orioles, who drafted him in the 35th round out of the Virgin Islands, the Reds and the Red Sox.  He ended up hitting a total of 14 homers in 95 major league games.  In the minors, he regularly hit over 30 homers per season and was known as the Barry Bonds of AAA (back when that was a respectable comparison).

You can view Calvin’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:
Calvin’s stats

Let us set the record straight.  Onix Concepcion is indeed the cousin of a famous Gold Glove- winning infielder.  Can you guess who?  I am sure you are thinking about Dave Concepcion.  If so, you are wrong.  In fact, they are not even from the same country.   Dave is from Venezuela.  Onix is from Puerto Rico.  So who could it be?  There were only two Concepcions in major league history.  Give up? …..  Onix’s cousin is Jose Lind, the famous no-hit Pittsburgh second baseman.

 Onix was a shortstop for the Royals in the 80’s.  He was given  an opportunity to take over the job from U.L. Washington, but he never really hit enough to hold onto it.  His best year was in ‘84 when he hit .282 in 287 at bats.  After hitting only .204 the next year, he was released by the Royals.

Onix resurfaced in 1987 on his cousin’s team, the Pirates.  But the cousins never really got a chance to form the ultimate no-hit double play duo.  Onix only played one game that year and went 1 for 1 at the plate (1.000 BA).

You can view Onix’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Onix’s stats

In 1979, two rookies appeared in the American League with the same last name - Jones.  Few people realized that these 2 rookies were in fact brothers.  Lynn and Darryl debuted for the Tigers and Yankees respectively.  Lynn went on to be named Rookie of the Year (for the Tigers) while Darryl played sparingly for the Yanks and was never called upon again to play in the majors.

How did this happen?  It all started when the brothers were drafted out of college.  Darryl, the eldest, was drafted in ‘72.  Lynn was drafted in ‘74.  While Darryl worked his way up through the Yankees farm system, Lynn played in the Reds system.  In 1978, the Tigers plucked Lynn from the Reds system in the Rule 5 draft.  They were forced to carry him on the roster or lose him.  The gamble paid off as Lynn hit .296 with 4 homers. 

Not to be outdone, Darryl joined the the Yankees in June.  Unfortunately, he hit only .255 with no homers and never appeared again in the majors.

Lynn lived off his rookie year stats and hung on with the Tigers for 4 more years.  He was dumped before 1984, so he did not get a World Series ring in Detroit.  He did join the Royals and got a ring in 1985.

Lynn is still coaching in the majors.  Darryl is not and never was.

Together, the two brothers combined for 7 career homers.

You can view Lynn’s and Darryl’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Lynn’s stats
Darryl’s stats

Steve Hovley’s brief career is immortalized in the great baseball book, Ball Four by Jim Bouton. Had it not been for this spectacular chronicle of the Seattle Pilots’ only season, Steve would have been barely remembered.

He was the typical contact hitting outfielder with very little speed and very little power. This type of extra outfielder graces the roster of most teams. Once in awhile they get on hot streaks, but eventually end up with a .273, 3 HR, 4 SB type year.

In the Ball Four book, Jim Bouton made Steve out to be this extraordinary intellect (because he read books) who came up from the minors to hit .450 with 60 homers. Reading the book, you would think he was the intelligent version of Ted Williams. In reality, he only hit .277 that year with 3 dingers.

Steve moved with the team to Milwaukee and was later traded to the Athletics.  After struggling in Oakland, he was selected in the Rule 5 draft by Kansas City in 1971.

He finished his career in 1973 and returned to be an intellectual plumber in California.

You can view Steve Hovley’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Steve’s stats

As many of you know, Cale Iorg was recently drafted and signed by the Detroit Tigers in the 6th Round this year. Cale comes from a tremendous baseball family. His brother, Eli, plays in the minors and his father, Garth, and uncle, Dane, played in the majors.

Dane, the older brother, started his career with the Phillies, but was quickly traded to the Cardinals in a deal for Bake McBride. Dane made a name for himself as an excellent utility player in St. Lous. His scrubby play helped the Cardinals win the World Series in 1982.

Dane was sold to the Royals in ‘84. His numbers dipped in the American League. He went from a consistent .280-.300 hitter to a low .255. After scuffling for the Royals, he signed as a free agent with San Diego and finished out his career in 1986.

Dane was purely a contact hitter. He had no power or speed.

You can view Dane’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Dane’s stats