Brandon Wood might just be the worst young position player of my lifetime, at least among those who were given the chance to play significant time in the majors. What I looked for on Baseball-reference.com's play index is non-pitchers age 25 and under, with at least 300 plate appearances, who played post-integration (1947-2010). I ranked them by worst OPS+.
Brandon is actually not the absolute worst, that would be John Vukovich. Vukovich was primarily a third baseman, and in 1971 at age 23 he got 217 at bats and hit a mighty .166, with zero homeruns, and a .211 OBP. He might have been expected to hit something, as in AAA he hit .275 with 22 homers and 96 RBI. For some reason he stuck around for a 10 year career, even picking up a world series win in 1980, but hit only .161 in 559 career AB.
Wood is the second worst, and the player on the list with by far the best minor league resume of hitting. Rounding out the top 10 are:
3. Terry Humphrey
4. Angel Salazar
5. Luis Gomez
6. Luis Ordaz
7. Rob Picciolo
9. Mario Mendoza
10. Tommy Dean
These guys are all catchers or middle infielders, none of them made the majors because of their offensive potential. Take Mario Mendoza, he was a terrible minor league hitter, brought to the majors for his glove, had a line named after his futility, and even he was a better hitter than Brandon Wood has been. Willie Harris is the only one who went on to have some value, getting his batting average near .250, taking a decent number of walks, and showing some pop for a little man and turning into a good utility player.
Some other notables:
16. Sparky Anderson went on to a great managing career
23. Danny Ainge couldn't hit, but could hit the 3 pointer
29. Brandon Inge turned into a decent MLB third baseman, but his excuse for not hitting early was the demands of catching. Wood does not have that excuse.
30. Harold Reynolds became a useful player once he learned to take a walk now and then, hit the ball on the ground and use his speed.
86. Our own Jeff Mathis. Not even close to as bad as Wood.
90. Kimera Bartee. We had him and traded him for a minor leaguer named Figgins.
118. George Arias. I thought Arias, a failed Angel 3B power prospect, was the lower limit of what Brandon would do. Brandon wishes he could hit like Arias did.
Looking over the list, Brandon Wood will probably go down in history as the worst prospect bust ever.
5 recs | 41 comments
Makes me sad Brandon and Jeffy suck ass
They had premium minor league #’s!!!! What happend
mathisrocks5 - September 9, 2010
I have nothing to base this on except my own personal opinion.
When a player performs so well in the minor leagues, and struggles so desperately in the major leagues, I can only look to the athletes mental toughness. The talent was never in question. Perhaps everyone’s hopes for him surpassed his ability to mentally adjust to the majors. Isn’t that what separates stars from average to below average athletes?
I’m still stupid enough to believe that Brandon can be successful in the majors, just not here in Anaheim. There has been too much damage done. He needs a fresh start somewhere without all those expectations that have done in so many “can’t miss” prospects.
His skills were promising, he just didn’t have it upstairs.
sheisalovelyladyandmyapologiestoher - September 9, 2010
The mental part is the great unknown.
1) Scioscia didn’t show any confidence in playing Wood through his 3-4 call-up’s last year from SLC. Did this affect his confidence?Maybe…but then if it did, it doesn’t say much for his mental toughness.
2) I didn’t see any change in his approach to hitting. He looked like the same awkward dude, at bat after at bat after at bat. There simply comes a point where a guy has to look in the mirror and figure it out on his own. Either you got it or you don’t.
I suspect there just wasn’t nearly as much there as we had all hoped.
sothball - September 9, 2010
Autopsy?
If only we were to be so fortunate. Considering how long the organization has stuck with Mathis, we might be in for another “experiment” at the beginning of next season.
Suboptimal - September 9, 2010
Alien autopsy maybe.....
Ed@northridge - September 9, 2010
If we were to take a scalpel to that cadaver once known as Brandon Wood
we’d find that his veins were filled with marshmallow creamy goo instead of blood.
Quad Fin Rider - September 9, 2010
So
I guess our prospects are making history. At this rate instead of renaming the Mendoza line, we have to make the Wood line. Maybe we can designate somewhere near .150 the Wood line.
phoenix15 - September 9, 2010
One common thing I notice between Mathis and Wood
is that their swings are horrible. Somehow they were able to do well in the minors with them but the holes have been exposed badly in the majors.
Chzburger Jones - September 9, 2010
Do you have video examples that those swings were the same between minors/majors?
Stirrups - September 9, 2010
Here
is Brandon Wood at Salt Lake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_wQPhcOdvM
-His swing looks the same then as it does now
I can’t find a video of Mathis but I have no reason to believe the swing would be any different. If something works for you in the minor leagues, naturally you wouldn’t change it.
Chzburger Jones - September 9, 2010
Wood's swing has changed.
They made a big deal out of it in ’08. His hands were dropped six inches and more recently they have said in interviews that they are opening up his stance.
Hatcher and Sosh are treating the kid like his play doh, and it’s not working.
halofan4life - September 10, 2010
Yeah but he wasn't any better in the majors before that change.
And at the time, he did show immediate improvement, although not a huge amount. He had that stretch where he was playing nearly every day with S-Rod and he hit around .250 or something in that time, which is amazing compared to the rest of his big league career.
Chzburger Jones - September 10, 2010
I don't really buy that stuff
Has anyone noticed that Mike Napoli also changed his hand positioning at some point in the last two years? Well, he has. He used to hold the bat over his head, now he holds it perpendicular to the ground. Hasn’t changed the results one bit. When he swings the bat, he’s still Mike Napoli.
Suboptimal - September 10, 2010
I thought he had changed his hand positioning at some point. Good to know I'm not crazy.
~MMP~ - September 10, 2010
shirt is buttoned higher up lately
as well…
Rev Halofan - September 10, 2010
Well in the long run it obviously hasn't helped.
But hand-positioning aside, Brandon Wood’s swing was bad and still is bad. I’m no scout but when I see his swing, I can tell it’s not up to par.
I’m not saying his swing is his only problem, but I think it certainly is a big part of his struggles.
Chzburger Jones - September 10, 2010
Not sure any of us are really qualified to judge swing mechanics
I’m actually not convinced that anyone is. Wood was once praised for his “sweet” swing, but now that we know he’s horrible, the praise has turned to scorn. As you say, his swing hasn’t really changed, it’s just the results we see that are different. This leads me to believe that swings are judged entirely by batted balls, and not any physical motion inherent in the swing itself.
On the other hand, I remember some people being really skeptical about Ichiro when he first came over. They said his swing would never work in the major leagues. Same deal with Guerrero in the minor leagues. There’s good technique, but in the end, there will always be freaks who defy it.
Suboptimal - September 10, 2010
Add Youkilis to the freak column.
sothball - September 10, 2010
Yeah, but we're talking about swings, not looks
red floyd - September 10, 2010
That is a fair point.
But I’m not criticizing his swing as a result of his lack of production. Mainly, I’m suggesting it’s the other way around. To me, when he swings it just looks like he flails helplessly but in a mold opposite of a Vlad Guerrero type.
Again, I’m not a scout or a hitting coach so I could be wrong but it’s just what I think.
And also, it is my belief that there wouldn’t be so many reports coming out of the Angel camp that Wood and Hatcher are working together to fix things if the Angels didn’t see something they didn’t like in his swing.
Chzburger Jones - September 10, 2010
Arias might not have been as bad as he seemed at the time
He was handed a starting job, struggled, but not nearly as bad as others younguns we’ve given jobs too, then we immediately gave up on him (and I think played in Japan).
mattwelch - September 9, 2010
Vukovich
Like Wood, was a first round draft pick apparently (10th overall; I think Wood was something like 18th). Was anyone else on this list a first rounder?
jjackflash - September 9, 2010
The list does not include high picks who never made it to the majors
Matt Bush Overall first pick by the Padres, career minor league average of .219, never played in the bigs. Many, many others, but Matt Bush is the most recent first overall total bust.
VPBOB - September 10, 2010
Didn't Bush have plenty of off-field problems, too?
cath619 - September 10, 2010
Brandon Wood's shot at next year's roster is solely dependent on Fall Ball and Winter Ball
If he flounders, I think the Angels will jump in the Beltre bidding, unfortunately. Should he succeed, we might be given another shot to take 3B next Spring and the Angels will try to land Crawford. Good luck Brandon, I’m still rooting for ya.
Halowood - September 10, 2010
Poor Vukovich
Sparky Anderson called him “Balsa” because whenever he made contact it looked as though his bat was made of balsa wood. Great defense though. At lease Wood isn’t Balsa.
Teixeira Who? - September 10, 2010
Yeah, because he doesn't make contact. What's his K rate?
red floyd - September 10, 2010
Didn't realize Vukovich was a first rounder
Good thing for the Phillies, right after Vukovich they had another 3B prospect come up and fail to hit .200. They stuck with Michael Jack Schmidt though and he turned out OK.
When Brandon had his 43 homer year in Rancho people compared him to Mike Schmidt. We can still say that his career compares to an early 70’s Phillie 3B. Sadly it’s not Schmidt, it’s the other guy.
RallyMonkey5 - September 10, 2010
funny, i would have thought that Terry Humphrey was a slightly better hitter than Wood
tanana40 - September 10, 2010
He was
Humphrey was 3rd worst, Wood is 2nd worst. He’s before my time, but I see Humphrey went to the Angels and had significant playing time for a few years. He must have been the Jeff Mathis of the 70’s.
RallyMonkey5 - September 10, 2010
indeed, although my memory was that Humphrey really was a pretty good defensive catcher
tanana40 - September 11, 2010
NOBODY is this bad
Even career journeyman minor leaguers. That’s why I believe he is ruined at this point. Somewhere, somehow he changed his stance, swing, approach etc. The video link above is helpful, but I would be interested in seeing video from 2005. Whether it was Scioscia, Hatcher, Eppard or Wood’s uncle, Brandon made an adjustment or two and has never recovered. Nobody, but nobody, could be that extreme from success to failure.
johnnyangel101 - September 10, 2010
Long swing, no pitch recognition or mental toughness
it’s the trifecta of minor league failure. So just how did he rake up those huge numbers in minors? Because he also generated (past tense) a ton of bat speed which made up for his week spots when the competition was lesser. The Angels staff did a hatch job to his swing and made a swing and miss power hitter (think Dave Kingman) into a judy hitter consumed with contact. We will never know if his old swing would have eventually got him through the growing pains (ala Mike Schmidt) or if he would have failed anyway because he looks to be toast mentally. It would be interesting to see him land somewhere where there’s no pressure with a good hitting coach.
grahams98 - September 10, 2010
somewhere where there's no pressure?
Wouldn’t that be a co-ed adult softball league?
Downing Rules - September 11, 2010
He's better than this - if Scioscia had half the hard on for Wood as he does Mathis he just might show us something
Bottom line, the management thought they could fix this guy, back when his numbers suggested there wasn’t much that needed fixing. They bring him up off and on, decide he can’t handle major league pitching when he wasn’t getting regular reps, and all of a sudden he’s a different guy. Instead of trading him while his stock was high and he was considered a top prospect, they tried to fix him. I believe half of his problem is based entirely on the sporadic play he got over the last 2 years. Ultimately, the front office missed their chance to get something out of a kid that I feel they ruined. Be it a trade, true everyday play, or employing someone who correct whatever issues warranted changing a swing and miss power guy into the limp dick guy we see every 6th day, they dropped the ball.
Quinlan's Goofy Swing - September 10, 2010
I'm glad they're not repeating that mistake with Fleet Pete.
red floyd - September 10, 2010
I dunno, but if you ask me, I say his minor league numbers were fluky
I mean, yeah, he definitely shouldn’t be as bad as he is. But I don’t think he was ever a projectable average-to-good major league hitter. Just because he came out of nowhere and hit 54 home runs doesn’t make him a good player, it makes him a lucky one, and the problems he had that season (lack of plate discipline and a fondness of the strikeout) never changed.
I think anything below .225 is fluky for Wood, but expecting .275 was probably unreasonable, particularly given his weak numbers in the AVG and OBP departments in an extremely hitter friendly minor league system.
It’s just as likely that I, nor any of us, have any idea what we’re talking about.
Carl Johnson - September 10, 2010
This post is awesome and horrifying at the same time.
Well done.
Match Day 5 - September 11, 2010
the machine....
First off, Wood and Mathis do not belong on a major league field in uniform with the expectation they put bat to ball. How did they get there? Could it be: the Mead Machine?
Let’s use the term to convey the PR Angels sell fans…“WE have an entire barn full of Hall of Fame minor league players. Relax.” The lie, by itself, is just part of selling tickets and maintaining a fan base. Now and then, a minor league player comes up and plays decent ball at the ML level. Bourjos is still adjusting, but shows he understands the PR machine is not going to keep him in center field in Anaheim. Morales and Howie also understood. Let us hope Trumbo and Conger understand it as well.
The point of all this is not what the Angels tell their fans but what it does to each individual player. Do some AAA players come to believe they really are the Second Coming? Wood might be an example. Add the timing issue. If Wood were as good as we have been told all these years, why didn’t they bring him up sooner? Someone should study the rate of assent [from A-AA- AAA to ML] of other clubs and see if the Angels string out their prospects tooooooo long.
Woods may be past his prime if he ever had any prime. Why protect Wood? [a “dow jones” decision, I’ve lost my ass for years on this stock, why not reinvest, maybe I can break even?….doesn’t work]. Good money after bad.
This brings us back to management. Why is Nap a catcher without and arm? Why does GM Scioscia keep a guy like Mathis? Who the hell is Bobby Wilson?
All the while…“Conger”, “Conger”, “Conger”.
We play 9 men on the field at one time. I really could give a shit what someone can do at A, AA, AAA. When the stand in the batters box it doesn’t make a bit of difference. So…Angel fan’s…why not give up on the PR Machine? Simply look to who puts the 9 men on the field and how they are performing. Any one of us could come up with over 110 different lineups in about 140 games and end up in third place. Third place…is Houston, Florida, Colorado, Detroit and Boston. None of us like Boston.
angelmike - September 12, 2010
wow.
instead of a simple “-1” I will just give you a big:
“MINUS SEVERAL”
PR machine. That’s funny. Maybe “Halowood” is secretly Tim Mead posting here at HH! HAHA!
Downing Rules - September 13, 2010
Brandon Wood IS #1 Worse Player in Angels 50 Year History
I have been a fan of the Angels since 1961. I have NEVER seen a player as bad as Brandon Wood. The other day he gets a HR an wins a ball game, then the next day he makes a bad throw and cost us the game. Since September 1 he is 3 for 25. That is a .120 ave. In 207 AB he has struck out 65 times and has walked just 6 times. His current batting avearge is .159. This is not Major League numbers. Do you know that he was sent home from Winter Ball in the Dominican Republic after just 2 weeks because he couldn’t hit. Now he will play against college players and A and AA players this Winter. That will really help him, NOT. I say cut him loose and find a backup 2nd and 3rd baseman that can at least hit their own weight.
Angelintlove - September 21, 2010
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