Hall of Scrubs

The 2009 baseball season is a week underway and fans are undoubtedly projecting the stats of all players based on the results of the first week.  For example, players who have hit 4 homers in the first week will certainly lead the league in homers by the end of the year.  Optimism is running high, but reality sets in by the end of the month.

 This calls to mind an extreme case of the opening week success story.  In 1994, Tuffy Rhodes won the starting center field job for the Chicago Cubs and amazingly hit 3 home runs on opening day.  He became an instant favorite among Cubs fans and he was subsequently picked up in every single baseball fantasy league.  Unfortuantely, he hit only 5 more home runs the rest of the year and eventually lost his starting job.  After struggling in minimal at bats in 1995, he ended his major league career.  In the US, that is….

The story and legend of Tuffy Rhodes grew outside of the United States.  He launched a Japanese career in which he has become one of the all-time great sluggers.  Still playing today, he has hit 444 homers in Japan and currently ranks 12th all-time.

That is certainly better than the 13 homers he hit during his major league career with the Cubs, Astros and Red Sox.

He did try to return to the major leagues in 2006, but retired after being released by the Reds during Spring Training.

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

Tuffy’s stats

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