The Fall of a 1st Round Draft Pick
The official C&A Chron. wife (and, by that time, the official C&A Chron. baby) are moving in June, so we’ve started to do some packing. In doing so, I came across the July/August edition of Cubs Quarterly, an official Cubs publication. It includes an article on Luis Montanez (Larry Mayer, “Destined to be a Cub"). The Cubs had just drafted Montanez in the 1st round (3rd overall) of the 2000 draft.
How things change.
Mayer writes: “Though Montanez likely will not advance to the major leagues for at least three years, he has the potential to be a star.”
For that first year, that still seemed likely. Montanez was sent to rookie ball in Mesa, where he hit .344 with a .531 Slg.% and a decent number of walks. Since then, he’s been not good and getting worse. A 716 OPS with low-A Lansing in 2001 was followed by a 686 OPS year with high-A Daytona in 2002. Which led the Cubs to keep him at Daytona in 2003. Where he put up a 638 OPS.
Things got so bad last summer that when Double-A West Tennessee needed a shortstop, the Cubs bypassed Montanez for Lansing’s second baseman, Ryan Theriot. Montanez himself ended up playing more second base than shortstop last year, demonstrating that his hitting isn’t the only thing that hasn’t progressed.
The Cubs Quarterly article also noted that “Montanez was ranked the fifth-best player in the draft by Baseball America. The publication reported that scouts “have compared him to Blue Jays shortstop Alex Gonzalez.” Which also shows that Gonzalez hasn’t turned out like it was once thought he would. Still, at this point, a Gonzalez-like career for Montanez may be too much to hope for.