Players who skipped the minors on their way to the big leagues
From SABR member Wendy Thurm at Baseball Nation on February 2, 2012:
Baseball’s amateur draft began in 1965. Since then, twenty-one players have taken an unusual path to their first major league game: bypassing the minor leagues altogether.
Just over half of the fast-trackers were pitchers. Eight played in the majors for seven seasons or less. Two played for more than twenty years. Only one is in the Hall of Fame. Two are still active.
In Part I, we’ll tell the stories of the ten players who were drafted and debuted in the majors between 1967 and 1973.
In Part II, later this week, we’ll cover the remaining eleven players who saw their first big-league action between 1978 and 2010.
Part I
Mike Adamson
The Orioles drafted Adamson, a right-handed pitcher, on June 6, 1967, out of the University of Southern California. He signed a contract on June 27 and pitched in his first major league game just four days later, in relief. Adamson threw two innings, giving up two hits and two runs. He was 19. By 21, he was retired from professional baseball with a career record of 0-4 and a 7.46 ERA in eleven major league games. Adamson was the first player to go directly from the amateur draft to the a major league team without playing any games in the minors.
Read the full article here: http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/2/2/2761586/straight-to-the-majors-players-who-skipped-the-minors-on-their
Read Part II here: http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/2/4/2769203/straight-to-the-majors-the-players-who-skipped-the-minors-on-their
Originally published: February 2, 2012. Last Updated: February 2, 2012.