Around these parts there has been a lot of talk about our pitching depth in the big league and in the minors. Should we trade some depth next off-season, convert someone to a reliever, etc? The same day I read a Keith Law chat where he hit the nail on the head.
John (St. Pete): With Hellickson, Davis, Niemann, McGee, etc., etc., at what point will the Rays make moves to get something for those guys or make room for them? The big-league rotation is pretty well set and locked in for the near future.Keith Law: That's downright cocky. Pitchers get hurt. They also can fail to develop, or just go backwards without any obvious explanation. And you don't think that a full-potential Davis is an upgrade over Sonnanstine?
John (St. Pete): Sure, a couple of those guys could replace Sonnanstine, but Shields, Kazmir and Price are signed and Garza isn't getting bumped out. Obviously McGee's already been hurt as well as Niemann, but there's going to come a breaking point even if a couple of guys don't pan out.
This is the issue. Pitchers get hurt or flame out. The same can befall prospects. With this in mind I compiled a list of all the pitchers that appeared in Baseball America's Top 100 prospects from 1996-2005. We will start by looking at all those that cracked the top 10.
This table lists the players, their rank, their IP as a starter and reliever, their FIP and their career WAR (so far).
| Year | Rank | Name | Pos | Team | SIP | RIP | FIP | WAR |
| 2002 | 1 | Josh Beckett | rhp | Marlins | 1184.6 | 4 | 3.61 | 24.92 |
| 2000 | 1 | Rick Ankiel | lhp | Cardinals | 225 | 17 | 4.38 | 2.82 |
| 2002 | 2 | Mark Prior | rhp | Cubs | 657 | 3.41 | 15.26 | |
| 2005 | 2 | Felix Hernandez | rhp | Mariners | 666.3 | 3.7 | 13.33 | |
| 1996 | 2 | Paul Wilson | rhp | Mets | 912 | 29.6 | 4.73 | 7.73 |
| 1997 | 3 | Kerry Wood | rhp | Cubs | 1116.6 | 102.6 | 3.79 | 22.02 |
| 2004 | 4 | Edwin Jackson | rhp | Dodgers | 414.3 | 41.6 | 4.92 | 2.48 |
| 2001 | 4 | Jon Rauch | rhp | White Sox | 47.6 | 293.3 | 4.05 | 2.23 |
| 1999 | 4 | Bruce Chen | lhp | Braves | 628 | 179 | 5.2 | 0.70 |
| 1997 | 4 | Matt White | rhp | Devil Rays | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| 2001 | 5 | Ben Sheets | rhp | Brewers | 1428 | 3.56 | 30.78 | |
| 1999 | 5 | Brad Penny | rhp | Diamondbacks | 1457.3 | 3 | 3.95 | 25.12 |
| 1996 | 5 | Alan Benes | rhp | Cardinals | 426 | 68 | 4.47 | 4.90 |
| 2003 | 5 | Jesse Foppert | rhp | Giants | 117 | 5.3 | 5.27 | 0.25 |
| 2003 | 6 | Jose Contreras | rhp | Yankees | 931.6 | 20.3 | 4.4 | 11.41 |
| 2002 | 6 | Juan Cruz | rhp | Cubs | 196.3 | 318.6 | 4.13 | 4.30 |
| 2001 | 7 | C.C. Sabathia | lhp | Indians | 1659.3 | 3.62 | 34.66 | |
| 2005 | 7 | Scott Kazmir | lhp | Devil Rays | 730 | 3 | 3.74 | 14.30 |
| 1998 | 7 | Kris Benson | rhp | Pirates | 1207.3 | 4.48 | 13.68 | |
| 1999 | 7 | Ryan Anderson | lhp | Mariners | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| 1996 | 8 | Livan Hernandez | rhp | Marlins | 2528 | 3 | 4.44 | 29.78 |
| 2004 | 8 | Greg Miller | lhp | Dodgers | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |
| 1998 | 9 | Carl Pavano | rhp | Expos | 1057 | 26.3 | 4.21 | 15.24 |
| 2003 | 9 | Gavin Floyd | rhp | Phillies | 360.6 | 24.3 | 4.77 | 2.85 |
| 1999 | 10 | Matt Clement | rhp | Padres | 1410.6 | 2 | 4.24 | 19.75 |
| 2003 | 10 | Francisco Rodriguez | rhp | Angels | 451.6 | 2.84 | 8.33 | |
| 2000 | 10 | John Patterson | rhp | Diamondbacks | 438 | 16.3 | 4.25 | 6.13 |
A quick run-down of the pitchers:
| C.C. Sabathia | Arguably the best pitcher in baseball. |
| Ben Sheets | Utterly dominant when healthy. When healthy is the key. |
| Livan Hernandez | Kind of a joke these days, but once a very effective pitcher. |
| Brad Penny | Largely healthy, largely effective. One time 4 win pitcher, three time 3 win pitcher, and 1 time 2 win pitcher in 7 seasons. |
| Josh Beckett | In his 8 seasons, Beckett has proven to be one of the best starers in baseball. His great stuff, when on, is nearly unhittable; as evidenced by his frequent playoff heroics. |
| Kerry Wood | Dominant at the beginning then oft-injured. After a succesful campaign as a closer we'll see where it leads him. |
| Matt Clement | Solid starter with one great year, but a line-drive to the face seems to have done him in. |
| Mark Prior | Utterly dominant to start his career. We all know the rest. |
| Carl Pavano | Pitched 200 innings twice (effectively) before the yanks threw a ton of money at him to sit at home with Alissa Milano. |
| Scott Kazmir | YAY! Hopefully avoids injury bug. |
| Kris Benson | Hot wife. Decent starter. |
| Felix Hernandez | One of the most highly tauted young pitchers in the game today. He uses his electric stuff effectively and has been worth 14.1 wins before his 23rd birthday. |
| Jose Contreras | 32 YO prospect number 6 prospect. The ageless wonder. |
| Francisco Rodriguez | One of the most dominant relievers in recent memory. Set the saves record last year and got paid. |
| Paul Wilson | Journeyman starter who has had a couple of successful years (one as a Devil Ray), but he never fulfilled his draft or prospect status. |
| John Patterson | Showed glimpses before injury derailed his career. |
| Alan Benes | One good season followed by injuries. 70 career starts, 115 games, 4.47 FIP. |
| Juan Cruz | Decent minor-league starter turned decent minor league reliever. Career FIP of 4.13 primarily as a reliever with a few spot-starts mixed in. |
| Gavin Floyd | Traded with Gio Gonzalez to the Phillies for Freddy Garcia. Finally started to make some strides this year in an Edwin Jackson sort of way. |
| Rick Ankiel | Ankiel is one of the stranger cases in recent memory. A pitcher with great stuff who had some success at the major league level, Ankiel could not find the strike-zone. In his career in the bigs he had 4.8 BB/9. He's now a big-league RF with some potential. |
| Edwin Jackson | No need to rehash this… |
| Jon Rauch | Never cut it as a starter. Has been a pretty good reliever, but he's only been worth more than a win once. |
| Bruce Chen | Another journeyman, although Chen only made more than 30 starts once. Swing-starter who rarely posted a FIP under 5. |
| Jesse Foppert | One bad year as a starter. |
| Matt White | Never threw a pitch in the bigs. Ugh. |
| Ryan Anderson | Check out the USS Mariner piece. He gets a few shout-outs. Never made a big-league pitch. |
| Greg Miller | Last year in AAA, he posted a 7.71 ERA and 2.22 WHIP in 53.5 relief innings. Injuries. |
As you can see, even among the top 10 pitching prospects very few turn out to be what is expected. It is as likely that they have 0 career WAR as becoming a star. Of the 26 prospects that reached the top 10, more recorded less than 5 WAR than recorded more than 15 WAR.