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Everybody loves prospects. These young up and comers breathe hope into a downtrodden fanbase of a bottom of the barrel team. And who could blame them? In the past few years we have seen young stars like Mike Trout, Bryce Harper and Jose Fernandez jump right to the big leagues and establish themselves as some of the top talent in all of the game. What is there not to love?
Well, sadly there is quite a bit not to love. Not all of these guys live up to the promise of stardom. Some players just fail to make the adjustments necessary for their talents to play up at the major league level. And that is where I turn to a player that Cubs fans have got to know all too well: Brett Jackson.
Jackson came up to much early fanfare. Baseball Prospectus ranked Jackson as the 44th best prospect in the game in 2012. John Sickels ranked him at number 25 and Baseball America ranked him at 32. It was safe to say people liked this kid.
Jackson showed superb athleticism at the minor league level, and he looked like he had the type of makings to become the type of power/speed threat that teams covet so much.
Sadly for Jackson, he was not one without flaws. He liked to swing and miss. A lot. Jackson whiffed at massive rates at just about every level in the minors, and as he approached AAA and the majors it only got worse. The athletic center fielder struck out at a rate of over 30% in his 2012 AAA tenure. That was a pretty haunting omen for the things that were to come for Jackson. Upon getting a cup of coffee in the big leagues the same year, he struck out at over 40%.
Prospect evaluators began selling their Brett Jackson shares quicker than a late 1920s stockbroker. In 2013 Jackson did not do much to try and lure the investors back in either. He was largely ineffective when he was on the field and then he suffered a calf injury that put the nail in the rest of his year.
Jackson’s days a top prospect are all but gone, but what should the Cubs do with him now? The 25 year old sits on one of the teams very valuable 40 man roster spots, but is he worth keeping on one? Other than strike out what has Jackson actually done at the highest level in order to keep his roster spot?
Not very much. Last season it was reported that the Cubs organization had worked with Jackson to do a complete overhaul of his swing. This is not the kind of thing you do for a player you have very much faith in. The odds of the 25 year old ever re finding his way and living up to his athletic talents are not very high.
So what case can be made to keep the failed prospect on the 40 man? Well, go take a look at the roster and tell me. The one thing Jackson’s strikeout happy tendencies couldn’t ruin was his ability to play the premium defensive position of center field. Is there anything else on the teams current roster that could even come close to being able to to man the position for the team? Right now, there is not.
So what lies in the future for the crestfallen young prospect? At least if he chooses to try and continue his career in the United States, probably not much. His defensive ability can probably keep him floating around the MLB as somewhat of a poor mans Drew Stubbs, but it is very hard to see the outfielders career being much more than that.
Thanks to playing for an organization currently void of talent at the highest levels, Jackson should retain his roster spot for the coming year. Barring some surprise big free agent signings they don’t really have much in the way of better options.
So this brings us to the hardest part. Saying goodbye. It is time to say goodbye to the Brett Jackson we wanted to see and hoped was coming up through the minors. That player is not coming. Instead, this is the player we got.
No matter what lofty expectations we had for him in the past, this is what we got. A strikeout machine and a constant reminder that baseball is cruel and unforgiving. It is a game where few succeed and even fewer live up to their potential. Let this serve as a goodbye to the Jackson we wanted to know, and as a hello to the new real Jackson as a harbinger of our disappointment and unfulfilled dreams..