Nelson Cruz is a perfect example of if you aren’t an organization’s top prospect you will wallow in the minors for a long time. He started is career in the Dominican Summer league. In 2000, he was signed by the Mets as an international free agent at the age of 20. He never played in the Mets minor league system, instead he was traded to the A’s for fellow prospect Jorge Velandia.
Under the guidance of the A’s minor league coaches, he developed into quite a decent power hitter. In 2003 he put up 20 homeruns for class A Kane County and in 2004 he slugged 26 between high A, AA and AAA. At this point in his career, he was finally labeled a prospect and . . . was traded. This time he landed in Milwaukee in exchange for Keith Ginter. In 2005 he had another productive year hitting 27 homers for AA and AAA teams. FInally getting a cup of coffee in the majors at the end of the 2005 season.
2006 should have been his coming out party, instead the Brewers sent him to the minors where he had yet another great season this time hitting 20 homers for AAA Nashville, here he was on top of the minors, ready to explode onto the MLB scene and . . . he was traded again, this time to the Rangers along with Carlos Lee for Laynce Nix, Kevin Mench, and Francisco Cordero. Finally he got to see some playing time. he finished the season hitting 0.223/6/22, which meant he was heading back to the minors in 2007, in 152 at bats he hit 0.352/15/45, got the call up again and promptly bombed going 0.235/9/34. So it was back to the minors in 2008.
2008 was a major year for Nelson, because he made the jump from a 20 home run hitter to a 35+ home run hitter. Plus he finally became more patient at the plate. His stats for the AAA team of the Rangers was a robust 0.341/37/100. The Rangers called him up again this time he didn’t choke, instead he went 0.330/7/26 and locked up a starting spot for 2009. As many of you know this season has been fantastic for him. He is already at 0.262/20/50 and has shown some speed (13 stolen bases).
I guess what this long winded post is trying to explain is that his statistics are not a fluke, he is a 0.280/25/100/10 guy in the majors. It took a very long time to get there but he is a prime time player now and should be for at least the next 3 years. I am glad that the Rangers are reaping the reward for sticking with him, when most other organizations would have thrown in the towel. His cards on the secondary market are remakably cheap. You can find autographs for as low as $1.50 in auctions and games used around the same price. He will never make the Hall of Fame but you have to repsect a guy that spent so much time in the minors and really worked his tail off to make it to the pros. Below are a few of his autograph cards I found on eBay for a dollar.
I too am glad the Rangers are “Cruz”ing along. I hope he can help them stay in first place now that they are on their way to Seattle. Thanks for the post!
Is Ben Zobrist still under the radar?? during the off-season I bet he was a cheap auto? not so sure anymore.
He is still relatively cheap but before this season you could have had him for under a buck for an auto card.
Great post. It’s fascinating how the people who stand the most to gain from objectively evaluating talent (MLB teams) will sometimes pay more attention to sports writers, ESPN, and fair-weather fans than statistics.
For example, there are TONS of young, cheap replacement-level players in AAA who could potentially pan out into something better but teams would rather sign up guys well-past their prime or flash-in-the-pan free agents that make for better press. For example, Nomar and Andruw Jones in LA, or Zito in San Fran. If you follow the stats you could see how those were going to turn out.
Meanwhile guys like Carlos Pena and Nelson Cruz bounce around waiting for a legit shot in the majors. Incredible.