The 5 biggest busts in MLB Draft history

The Detroit Tigers made headlines last week when they selected Spencer Torkelson first overall in the 2020 MLB Draft. The 20-year-old third baseman hit .340 with six home runs and 11 RBIs for Arizona State this season, and had scouts salivating over his tremendous power and plate discipline.

The Tigers have high-hopes for Torkelson, but there’s no guarantee he’ll ever become a star, yet alone even play in the major leagues. Only 66% of first round picks make it to The Show, and only 47% of first rounders last three seasons or more.

Drafting is still more of an art than a science, which explains why so many major league teams have swung and missed over the years. Join us now as we rank the top five busts in MLB Draft history.

5. Todd Van Poppel

Anyone who grew up in the late 1980s can remember the thrill of finding a Todd Van Poppel card in a freshly opened wax pack. The six-foot-5 right-hander was viewed by fans and scouts alike as a surefire star after posting an 11-3 record with a 0.97 ERA and 170 strikeouts in his senior year of high school.

The Oakland A’s liked Van Poppel so much they nabbed him with the 14th pick in the 1990 MLB Draft and then rushed him to the majors one year later. Their enthusiasm was understandable, but Van Poppel simply wasn’t ready for primetime. The Arlington native was rocked in his lone big league appearance that year, and posted an 18-29 record with a 6.22 ERA over five seasons before being waived by the A’s in 1996.

Van Poppel pitched for five different franchises over the next nine years, but never recorded more than four wins in a season and retired with a lofty 5.58 ERA.

4. Billy Beane

If you’ve seen Moneyball then you already know all about Billy Beane’s baseball odyssey. The high school prodigy was taken by the Mets in the first round of the 1980 MLB Draft after the club fell in love with his smooth stroke and impressive athleticism.

Beane fared well in the minors, launching 19 homers at Triple-A Tidewater, but experienced an alarming power outage upon being called up to the bigs in 1984. He logged just 18 plate appearances with the Mets over two seasons and flamed out in subsequent stops in Minnesota, Detroit, and Oakland. 

Although Beane was a bust as a player, he’s been a huge success as a front office executive. The San Diego native has led the cash-strapped A’s to the playoffs 10 times since 2000 despite having one of the smallest payrolls in baseball.

3. Donovan Tate

Few prospects have ever received more hype than Donovan Tate. The Georgia native was a two-sport All-American who could drive balls to the gap, run like a deer, and throw the ball 95 miles per hour. Scouts ran out of superlatives trying to describe his game, so it came as no surprise when the San Diego Padres chose Tate third overall in the 2009 MLB Draft and lavished him with a $6.25 million signing bonus. 

San Diego thought they had the next Andruw Jones, but what they got instead was the next Billy Beane. Tate missed significant time over the next two seasons due to a litany of injuries ranging from a broken jaw to a sprained shoulder. Adding insult to injury, he was suspended for 50 games in 2011 after violating baseball’s drug policy.

Tate never advanced beyond Single-A and quit baseball in 2016 in an ill-fated attempt to play quarterback for the Arizona Wildcats.

2. Danny Goodwin

Plenty of players have gone first overall in the MLB Draft over the years, but Danny Goodwin is the only prospect to be selected first on two occasions. The St. Louis-born slugger was taken with the No. 1 pick in 1971 by the Chicago White Sox, and again in 1975 by the California Angels, after spending four years at Southern University and A&M College.

It’s easy to see why both franchises were so high on Goodwin at the time. After all, the powerfully-built catcher could hit the ball a country mile and was a three-time All-American and the 1975 College Player of the Year.

Unfortunately, it’s one thing to pound pitches from college kids and quite another to go yard on the likes of Nolan Ryan and Ron Guidry. Goodwin never hit more than five dingers in a season and was drummed out of the majors after just 252 games.

1. Brien Taylor

Brien Taylor is the ultimate cautionary tale. Taken first overall by the New York Yankees in the 1991 MLB Draft, the six-foot-3 southpaw was Baseball America’s No. 2 prospect in 1993 after posting a solid 13–7 record with 150 strikeouts at Double-A Albany.

Taylor likely would have been called up to the Bronx the following season had he not been involved in a life-changing bar brawl in Dec. 1993. Taylor tore the labrum in his left shoulder during the incident and ended up missing the 1994 season.

Taylor tried to return the following year, but was never the same again. He went just 2-5 with a 6.08 ERA against teenagers in Rookie ball and failed to progress beyond Single-A ball in subsequent stints with the Indians and Mariners.

If that’s where Taylor’s story ended it would be sad enough, but the former ace made front page news again in 2012 when he was caught distributing crack cocaine. Taylor was sentenced to 50 months in prison and was released in Sept. 2015. His current whereabouts are unknown.

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