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