There have been plenty of top draft picks selected by the New York Mets who haven’t panned out exactly the way they wanted them to. In my opinion, one of the biggest busts in franchise history (if not the biggest of them all) is former outfielder and 23rd overall pick in the 1980 amateur draft, Billy Beane.
The right-handed hitting outfielder was a physical specimen (6’4″, 195 lbs), and Mets scouts envisioned him being a five tool player by the time he made it to the major leagues. They were able to convince him to leave a full ride to Stanford University on the table in order to begin his professional baseball career. New York had three first round picks in ’80, and selected Los Angeles native Darryl Strawberry with the first overall pick in the 1980 draft. They had visions of both Beane and Straw manning the outfield for the next World Series championship team to come out of Flushing.
Well, they got half of that right. In baseball terms, hitting .500 isn’t all that bad.
Beane’s first experience in pro ball came in the New York Penn League with Little Falls, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience for someone who had nothing but success beforehand. In 148 at-bats, Billy hit .210/.252/.283 with one homer and 14 RBIs. The organization felt he was more polished than his high school counterpart. Instead of starting him in Rookie Ball like Strawberry, he dealt with short-season A-ball. He moved up to A-ball in 1981 and in his first full season (403 at-bats), posted a respectable .268/.331/.412 line. The 1982 season was his first of three in Double-A with Jackson, but eventually worked his way up to a career year in ’84, hitting .281/.352/.490 with 20 homers and 72 RBIs.
He was on his way to getting to the big leagues, and his solid performance in Jackson earned him a September call-up. In 10 at-bats, he was able to collect his first hit in the majors, but that was it, hitting .100 in his first cup of coffee with the Mets. The 1985 season saw him begin in AAA with Tidewater, having a similar season to the one before in Jackson.
Beane got called back up to the big leagues in ’85, but only got eight more at-bats, registering two hits. As was portrayed in the book, Moneyball, he continually questioned whether he had the intestinal fortitude to be a successful baseball player. He was constantly reminded of that question, as he watched his old roommate Lenny Dykstra, who was not nearly as naturally gifted as Beane, experience much more success on the field.
After just 18 at-bats, a .219 average, and one extra base hit for the team that drafted him with a first-round pick, the Mets traded him as part of a package to the Minnesota Twins for Tim Teufel, Pat Crosby, and a minor leaguer. The Twins wanted to give Beane a chance to immediately be one of their starting outfielders, but injuries and general ineffectiveness prevented that from ever truly happening.
The 1986 season was the most consistent play Beane would get in the major leagues, playing in 80 games and getting 194 plate appearances. While old teammates Dykstra and Strawberry were celebrating a World Series win, Beane was wondering if he’d ever make it in the majors after posting a .213/.258/.295 line with three homers and 15 RBIs in Minnesota.
From there, he played sparingly with the Detroit Tigers after the Twins gave up and traded him away, then signed as a free agent with the Oakland Athletics. After having to accept multiple assignments to the minors and suffering to a .219 career batting average in parts of six MLB seasons, Beane decided to approach then-Oakland GM Sandy Alderson about becoming an advanced scout. He did that from 1990 to 1993, then began his front office career by being named Assistant GM.
As we all know, he eventually became the general manager of the A’s in Alderson’s place in 1997, and he’s experienced a lot of success for a team with no real payroll to speak of. Following great success with the teams from 2000 through 2003, he eventually had some tough years until 2012, when the A’s came out of nowhere to win the American League West. He’s considered one of the best GMs in the game, and I think he’s the best.
It’s great to see someone like Beane be able to make a career out of baseball despite his playing career not going as planned. All too often, we see highly touted prospects just fade into the background when things don’t go according to script. I wonder what could have happened if the Mets decided to let Beane start his professional career in Rookie ball instead of the NYPL. It could’ve have given me a different story to tell today, but we’ll never know.