Dodgers: Who is LA’s Biggest Prospect Bust of All-Time?
The Dodgers have a long history of drafting and developing young talent. However, even a premier franchise like the Dodgers swings and misses on a few prospects. A couple of weeks ago, we posted a poll asking who fans believe is LA’s biggest prospect of all-time.
Which one of these former Dodgers top prospects was the biggest bust?
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) February 4, 2022
Joel Guzmán
Back in 2001, the Dodgers paid the Dominican prospect a then record $2.15M signing bonus. The 6’7″ third baseman posted a .826 OPS between Jacksonville (Double-A) and Vero Beach (High-A) in 2005. Unfortunately, that’s as good as things ever got for Guzmán. He was called up in 2006 and played just eight games in the majors (.211 BA) before being traded to Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays for infielder Julio Lugo that same year.
Blake DeWitt
DeWitt was LA’s firs-round pick in the 2004 draft. Four years later, he was LA’s Opening Day starter at third base. The front office thought so highly of him that he started all eight of the Dodgers playoff games in 2008 where he hit .167. DeWitt played 230 games for the Dodgers (94 OPS+) before being traded to the Cubs in the deal that brought starting pitcher Ted Lilly to LA.
Andy LaRoche
The Dodgers didn’t spend a first-round pick on LaRoche. Far from it – LaRoche was LA’s 39th round pick in the 2003 draft. That being said, expectations were sky-high for LaRoche once he became the number two overall prospect in the system behind some guy named Clayton Kershaw.
The third baseman was supposed to be a power bat. He wound up hitting three home runs and six doubles in 184 PAs in the bigs. LaRoche was shipped to Pittsburgh in the three-team trade that brought Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers.
Darren Driefort
The editor’s pick, and the people’s choice, for biggest prospect bust of all-time for the Dodgers. Driefort was selected second overall in 1993 – one spot behind shortstop Alex Rodriguez. The promising pitcher was supposed to be the Dodgers ace for the next decade. Instead, Driefort underwent a reported 22 surgeries over his nine-year career and finished with a 4.36 ERA.
Let us know in the comments who you believe is the Dodgers biggest prospect bust!
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Of the players listed ( and I cannot think of another name to enter) hands down the biggest bust was Dreifort. BTW my roots with the Dodgers go back to 1940 I note way back there was no such thing as free agents so we are looking at a multigeneration of ball players
dreifort was also resigned because of his potential..he could also hit
Greg Brock.
How much did we hear about Joe Thurston in the 2000s?
Billy Ashley was the all time bust. He was minor league player of the year and dodgers minor league player of the year two times. Home run King in Minors garbage in the Bigs. Biggest Bust Ever
By far the players were not, “prospects” BUT, any former GNAT and thanks to N.C. there was a plethora of them, was a terrible acquisition. The same N.C. who was still wearing his GNATS ring during Fan Fest.
Yasiel Sierra 6 years/30 million
Not to minimize other flame outs as commented upon, let’s not lose sight of the fact we heard year (not just 2 or 3) after year for several that Dreifort was going to be an elite pitcher and the number one ace. He certainly would not be a landslide winner but would certainly hold the longevity slot for a star in the making who wasn’t. He is also probably one heckava nice guy
How can you forget Greg Brock?
How about the top prospect combo of Edwin Jackson and Greg Miller. Ranked #4 and #8 in 2004 mlb top prospect list. Valued so highly that the Dodgers would not trade them for Randy Johnson at the deadline. Neither of them ever lived up to their potential. Greg Miller never pitched in the majors.
Just about anybody from Cuba : Yadiel Sierra, Alex Guerrero, Erisbel Arreobuenna.
This is no contest, I’m quite shocked he wasn’t even listed, and his name has been mentioned a few times already: Greg Brock. Brock came to the bigs as a “Can’t Miss Power Hitter”. He missed. Terribly.
Honorable mention, again he has been named already as well, is Billy Ashley. Wow was he a bust. He made me doubt the Dodger’s farm system for a while. Luckily Piazza, Karros & Mondesi brought me back into the fold.
As for pitchers, Ted Power was supposed to be the next Don Sutton. He was not. I remember him doing kinda OK for the Reds, but not us – he couldn’t make the rotation and was traded. Also, Shawn Hillegas. Big headlines in the minors, but flopped in the majors.
Zach Lee
For me, I would say Zach Lee. Dude was the next coming so much that they gave him a huge bonus and, well, at least we got CT3 so maybe it wasn’t such a bust after all? Hmmm…
Not exactly a bust, but I would put José Offerman up for consideration. Years of hearing he was unquestionably the next great player in Dodger history, and he never approached anything close to that. Couldn’t field, had to move to second, and wildly inconsistent offensively.
As for Darren Dreifort, gotta give a tip of the cap to Tommy Lassorda, who at that particular point in his managerial career, never met a young arm he couldn’t destroy.
cody Bellinger – trade him now while you can get something for him. He’s lost at bat needs to be sent down or traded soon- everyday he gets worse, and you can see his frustration. I was a big fan of cODY’S BUT the truth is evident.