The Wrong Rookie

Look, Ben Grieve was fine. But also, not really, because the expectations were incredibly high and he didn’t meet them.

He was the second overall pick in the 1994 draft, the son of Tom Grieve, who had a nine-year big league career before becoming the Rangers’ general manager and then one of their broadcasters. Ben Grieve was tall and had a ton of power, and less than a year after being drafted he was ranked as the #10 prospect in all of baseball. Three years later he was #1, on the strength of a minor league season that saw him bat a combined .350 with 31 homers and 136 RBI in only 127 games. Then he was called up to the A’s at the end of the 1997 season, handed the starting right field job, and spent the month of September batting .312/.402/.473. He was expected to be a star.

That fit exactly into the A’s plans. As the 1998 season was about to begin, Oakland was putting together a decent core. Jason Giambi was now the regular first baseman, Miguel Tejada was won the shortstop job, and Rickey Henderson was brought back and would lead the league in steals and walks despite being 39 years old. Eric Chávez was set to make his debut, and Matt Stairs was a surprisingly effective DH and corner outfielder. The pitching wasn’t there yet, but Tim Hudson wasn’t far off and the team was on the brink of using their next two first round picks on Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. Grieve looked like he’d be a central figure in the franchise’s resurgence, a staple in the outfield and the center of their lineup.

And then he was just fine.