A few weeks ago I looked at the case of Tim Stauffer, a former Padres first round draft choice that until last year looked like a busted pick. Within that piece I mentioned the name of Matt Bush, a player selected first overall in 2004 but who never made it past Single-A ball. I implied, and many would likely agree, that Bush was the biggest draft bust in Friars history. However one other name comes to mind when it comes to notable Friar first-round flops: the name of Sean Burroughs.

Burroughs was the golden child of the Padres farm system in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. The son of former AL MVP Jeff Burroughs, Sean was selected 9^th overall in 1998 by the Friars out of high school. San Diego was able to convince Burroughs to forego a scholarship to USC and sign with the club.

As a kid, Burroughs first came to prominence as the hero of his back-to-back Long Beach Little League World Series championship teams in 1992 and 1993. Sean Burroughs seemed to have it all; pedigree, success as a youth. A hall-of-fame career seemed to be within his grasp. We now know his career stalled but why? Why did a kid with all of the talent, the winning background and MVP pedigree not succeed in the major leagues?

In many cases when a player doesn’t live up to high expectations it’s due to being rushed to the big show before the player is really ready. Every young player has flaws and while his raw ability can mask those flaws in the minors the quality of competition in the big leagues is too great to not expose those flaws in the majors. That’s why it’s a good idea to let the kid get plenty of AB’s in the minors. It’s also important to see progress from level-to-level. It isn’t uncommon for a kid making the transition from one level to the next to experience some struggles. The key is to see the player rebound from those struggles.

The Padres seemed to move Burroughs through their system at the proper pace. He began his professional career as an 18 year-old playing at low Single-A Fort Wayne. He tore Mid-West league pitching up to the tune of a .359/.464/.479 slash line in 521 PA. Burroughs earned a late-season call-up to high Single-A Rancho Cucamonga where he didn’t slow down any. He posted an OPS of 1.214 in just 27 PA.

Burroughs kicked off his second professional season at Double-A Mobile where he posted a very solid .783 OPS as a 19 year-old in 461 PA. Given his age, that was tremendous production.

The Friars promoted their prized prospect to Triple-A Portland in 2001 where he spent all of that season and part of the next. In 644 PA between 2001 and 2002, Burroughs recorded an OPS of better than .840 before he finally earned his shot in the big leagues at the ripe old age of 21.

Burroughs didn’t disappoint in the majors batting .271 in 206 PA. By 2003 Burroughs was the starting 3B in San Diego. He recorded OPS+ marks of 105 and 94 respectively in 2003 and 2004 as a 22 and 23 year-old. But it wasn’t enough for Friars brass who bought into the age-old and flawed philosophy that your corner players (1B, 3B, LF and RF) need to be power hitters. Burroughs had just 10 HR in roughly 1,350 big league PA to that point but that just wasn’t enough for the Padres brass.

The Padres tried to make Burroughs into more of a power hitter. At 6’2” and 200 pounds it wasn’t as if Burroughs didn’t have the type of frame power hitters have. What the Friars, like so many teams, failed to realize is that power can develop naturally and later in a player’s career. Statistical analysis has proven that one trait that is nearly impossible to teach or develop is not power, it’s on-base skills and Burroughs was already pretty good in that respect.

I recall a certain hall-of-fame 3B not noted for being a power hitter yet still recognized as the premier 3B of his era. That man is Wade Boggs. Boggs notched just 2 seasons of double figure HR totals. His single-season high for RBI’s was 89 and that was the only season in which he exceeded 80 for his career. Yes, Boggs was a great hitter; 5 batting titles in his first 7 seasons and just 3 sub-.300 batting averages in an 18 year career. His career major-league OBP was .406.

I’m not saying Burroughs was destined for a career along the lines of Boggs’ but why couldn’t he be considered a success as a high-average, low-power 3B. I mean he was just 25 when he was traded to Tampa. I don’t care what era you’re in, 25 is still considered very young. There was still time to develop some power.

San Diego tried to make Burroughs something he wasn’t; at least not yet. I fully believe that is what stunted Burroughs growth as a major league player. He would begin the 2004 season as the regular 3B but after hitting just .250 with 1 HR in 317 PA he was dealt to Tampa for another former top prospect; pitcher Dewon Brazelton. Burroughs would get just 25 PA that year with Tampa after the trade and hasn’t seen the big leagues since.

It’s hard to believe that a player drafted 9^th overall and who had achieved some success at the big league level could be done at 25. It wasn’t injuries that derailed his career. It was the mishandling of his development by the Padres brass.

On a side note, I am curious why he wasn’t given more of an opportunity by a team that appreciated what Burroughs brought to the table. Let’s take a closer look at what Burroughs did bring to the table. We’re going to do that by making a couple of comparisons. First, after searching the wonderful Baseball Reference website, I noticed one of Burroughs’ closest comparables through his age 24 season was hall-of-fame 2B Ryne Sandberg. Here’s a look at their stats through their age 24 season:

Burroughs

PA – 1,665

AB – 1.516

BA - .282

OBP - .340

Slugging % - .360

OPS - .700

K% - 11.9%

BB% - 6.7%

Sandberg

PA – 2,092

AB – 1,910

BA - .282

OBP - .328

Slugging % - .414

OPS - .742

K% - 13.0%

BB% - 6.7%

So aside from Sandberg’s higher slugging percentage and subsequently higher OPS, these stat lines are practically indistinguishable from one another. How about their minor league numbers? How do they compare?

Burroughs

PA – 1,950

Slash line - .312/.397/.434

OPS - .831

Sandberg

PA – 1,907

Slash line - .285/.334/.401

OPS - .734

Burroughs posted significantly better overall minor league numbers than the eventual hall-of-fame 2B Sandberg did. Granted these stats were accumulated roughly 20 years apart so that should be taken into account. I do think that the similarities between Burroughs’ and Sandberg’s numbers through their age-24 season plus Burroughs better minor league stat line suggests Burroughs had further room for growth and could have maybe even approached the career numbers Sandberg did if given the opportunity.

Of course Sandberg would develop more power as he aged but it’s at least possible Burroughs may have done the same. Sandberg hit 26 HR in his 1,907 minor league PA while Burroughs had 23 HR in 1,950 PA. Sandberg added more pop in his bat as he got older; is it unrealistic to believe Burroughs may have done the same in time?

Another pretty good hitting 3B, Kevin Youkilis, was not much of a power hitter as a minor leaguer (30 HR in 1,814 PA) but as a member of the Red Sox Youk has posted 75 HR over the last 3 seasons (1,644 PA). His minor league slugging % of .439 is just a few points higher than Burroughs’ .434. If Youkilis developed power then couldn’t Burroughs have done the same? Youkilis was still in the minors at 26 while Burroughs was out of baseball around the same age. It does make you wonder.

A look at the numbers shows Burroughs was on a similar career path offensively as Ryne Sandberg. We’ve seen another good hitting 3B, Kevin Youkilis, who posted a very similar minor league slugging % as Burroughs did. We’ve even looked at another 3B who carved out a hall-of-fame career without a lot of power (118 career HR, .443 slugging %).

Truthfully this piece depresses me. I see what could have been had Padres management handled a talented kid differently. It’s also both depressing and surprising no other MLB organization gave Burroughs more of a chance. After Tampa cut him, he signed with the Seattle organization in 2007 but just got a handful of PA at their Triple-A farm team in Tacoma before being released. Now he is trying to make a comeback in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization; ironically for the same GM that drafted him for San Diego. Hopefully Burroughs achieves some success with the D-Backs.