From MLBtraderumors.com comes the notice that Bubba Starling has retired:
Outfielder Bubba Starling, a former two-sport star and top prospect, has announced his retirement via Facebook post, reports Alec Lewis of the Athletic. Mooted as a potential top overall pick in the 2011 draft, Starling never quite blossomed after the Royals nabbed him with the fifth overall selection. Starling retires with a career line of .204/.246/.298 line across 261 plate appearances in parts of two big league seasons.
Starling was long touted as a future building block for the Royals. Also a star quarterback in high school who’d committed to the University of Nebraska, he was seen as a raw bundle of virtually unparalleled athleticism in his draft class. He ripped through the Rookie-level Appalachian League in his first pro season (2012), and for the first two years of his pro career was widely considered among the game’s most promising farmhands......Starling’s bat began to stall out in the low minors, however, and his offensive output never fully caught up with his off-the-charts raw tools.
Those of us who followed Notre Dame recruiting will remember the name of Bubba Starling. He was one of the top high school quarterbacks in the 2011 cycle. Notre Dame went after him very hard and ND fans were very disappointed when he committed to Nebraska. Of course he never played college football as he was the 5th player taken in the MLB draft and signed for $7.5 million with the Royals.
The kid supposedly had all the tools to make it big in MLB. He could run, field, had a big arm and could hit for power. I remember reading at the time how some scouts saw Starling as potentially being another Mickey Mantle.
Starling's failure to succeed at the MLB level is just another example of how hard it is to scout baseball players - you just have no way of being 100% sure how the bat will play as they ascend the minor league ladder.
But I would like to think that that $7.5 million signing bonus has cushioned the hurt.
Outfielder Bubba Starling, a former two-sport star and top prospect, has announced his retirement via Facebook post, reports Alec Lewis of the Athletic. Mooted as a potential top overall pick in the 2011 draft, Starling never quite blossomed after the Royals nabbed him with the fifth overall selection. Starling retires with a career line of .204/.246/.298 line across 261 plate appearances in parts of two big league seasons.
Starling was long touted as a future building block for the Royals. Also a star quarterback in high school who’d committed to the University of Nebraska, he was seen as a raw bundle of virtually unparalleled athleticism in his draft class. He ripped through the Rookie-level Appalachian League in his first pro season (2012), and for the first two years of his pro career was widely considered among the game’s most promising farmhands......Starling’s bat began to stall out in the low minors, however, and his offensive output never fully caught up with his off-the-charts raw tools.
Those of us who followed Notre Dame recruiting will remember the name of Bubba Starling. He was one of the top high school quarterbacks in the 2011 cycle. Notre Dame went after him very hard and ND fans were very disappointed when he committed to Nebraska. Of course he never played college football as he was the 5th player taken in the MLB draft and signed for $7.5 million with the Royals.
The kid supposedly had all the tools to make it big in MLB. He could run, field, had a big arm and could hit for power. I remember reading at the time how some scouts saw Starling as potentially being another Mickey Mantle.
Starling's failure to succeed at the MLB level is just another example of how hard it is to scout baseball players - you just have no way of being 100% sure how the bat will play as they ascend the minor league ladder.
But I would like to think that that $7.5 million signing bonus has cushioned the hurt.
