From the Collection: Brett Wallace, of, Toronto Blue Jays

Brett Wallace was the 13th overall pick of 2008 draft, taken by the Cardinals out of Arizona State. In 2009 he was traded twice:

• July 2009: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Oakland Athletics in a package for for Matt Holliday.
• December 2009: Traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays for Michael Taylor.

He was a well thought of prospect, ranking both the Cardinals and Athletics #2 prosopect. While he was defensively limited to a corner spot, he was a professional hitter who I thought was going to have a good career. I am not sure that  being traded twice in one year was a good sign. But it was the A’s, and they traded everybody. I wasnt too worried.

But it never worked out. He spent parts of six seasons in the majors with Houston and the Padres, hitting .238/.316/.389 with 40 HR. Good for a career 93 OPS+. Certainly not the worst career ever, but I really thought he was going to be great. I remember thinking that he was going to be a younger, slower version of Matt Stairs, for some reason.