ESPN is doing a list? The hell you say! As if the repeats of Who's Number One and its inimitable theme song ("we'll be right back, like your hairline"), the currently running "The Best" NFL countdown, and today's "Best NBA Finals teams" weren't enough, Jerry Crasnick chimes in with his "Starting 9 of overlooked draft picks."
The names - Mike Piazza, Albert Pujols, Jim Thome, Jose Canseco, Kenny Rogers, Jeff Conine, Oral Hershiser, Brett Butler, and Mark Grace - are pretty impressive. But once you read the list, you begin to understand why each player was so undervalued - or underscouted - at first glance.
Piazza was a backup first baseman at the U, Pujols was "chunky" and "heavy legged," Thome grew up in Midwestern oblivion, Canseco hadn't fallen in love with the needle yet, Rogers was a 135-pound shortstop, Conine was a collegiate racquetball champion, Hershiser wasn't full-grown until his 20th birthday, Butler played at Southeastern Oklahoma State, and Grace didn't make his high school varsity team until his senior year.
We'd like baseball fans everywhere to keep this mind while they're tuning into the first televised MLB draft, tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Oh, that and the guy your team picks will most likely never wear your team's uniform in a big league game.
Starting 9 of overlooked draft picks [ESPN]
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