Kingdom

The other day, I saw a graphic on ESPN when they were discussing Andre Ethier's hitting streak. I noticed a random player with a random 30 game hit streak and wondered out loud, how completely out of the blue? The man was outfielder Willy Taveras. Now cue up the VH1 Behind the Music theme song.

In 2006, Taveras had a 30 game hit streak for the Houston Astros, a franchise record. In 2005, his rookie year, he was voted on by his peers as the rookie of the year (yes, Ryan Howard won the official rookie of the year award). That year, he hit .291. In 2007, he hit a career high .320 for Colorado. The following year, still with the Rockies, he stole a career high 68 bases. He never maintained a high OBP, and for his career it stands at .320.

Taveras was dealt along with Taylor Buchholz and Jason Hirsch to Colorado for Jason Jennings and Miguel Asencio. Turns out the Rockies didn't need Jennings all that much, they went to the World Series and Jennings disappeared. At the time, would anyone have guessed Buchholz would be the top player out of the deal? During the 2008 season, Taveras would set two dubious marks: the lowest fielding % by a centerfielder and the lowest slugging % in the Major Leagues by a starter. Not bad.

Those nice feats didn't stop the Cincinnati Reds from handing him a two year deal. In 2009, Taveras had the lowest slugging percentage, .285, and the lowest on-base percentage, .275, of all National League players with at least 350 plate appearances, which, naturally, prompted the Reds to trade him. He was dealt along with Adam Rosales to Oakland for Aaron Miles and a PTBNL. Epic trade. He was soon DFA'ed by Oakland, likely after Beane noticed that his OBP numbers weren't actual typos. Since then, he's had brief stints with Washington, Texas, Philadelphia, and is now back in Colorado's minor leagues. He hasn't made any kind of mark in the bigs since his trade to Oakland.