Before I get started with Tagg Bozied's story, I'd like to give a shout out to El Lefty Malo, at www.leftymalo.com, for a great interview with a writer named Dan Fost who has recently written a book on the Giants called Giants Past and Present. Go over and take a look!
When Kendry Morales broke his leg in a celebration at home plate Saturday, it brought back memories of an almost identical incident that happened to a San Diego Padres prospect name Tagg Bozied several years ago. Bozied is one of those players who are living proof of just how hard it is to make it to the major leagues of baseball, let alone be a star player at that level. He's also living proof that one fateful moment can make all the difference in the world between ultimate success or failure in a career.
Robert Tanios "Tagg" Bozied originally hails from Sioux Falls, SD, my wife's hometown. He was originally drafted out of high school by the Minnesota Twins in the 50'th round in 1997. Rather than sign, he chose to play college baseball at the University of San Francisco where, as a sophomore, he won the Big West Conference Triple Crown with a .412 BA, 30 HR's and 82 RBI's.
The next season was good, but not as spectacular at .359 with 14 HR's and 52 RBI's. The Twins again drafted him this time in the second round. Again, he did not sign and returned to school for his senior year. His stat line regressed a little more to .335 with 12 HR's was drafted in 2001 in the third round by the San Diego Padres. He eventually signed with the Padres and played well for the High A Lake Elsinore Storm in 2002 putting up a .298/.377/546 line with 15 HR's. A midseason promotion to AA did not go as well where he hit .214/.268/.389.
The Padres must have liked what they saw in his bat, because Tagg was promoted to the AAA Portland Beavers for the 2003 season where he hit .273/.331/.431 with 14 HR's. Back at Portland for the 2004 season, Bozied started off red hot with a .315/.374/.629 line with 15 HR's in 57 games. Tagg was starting to get national attention as a top prospect and looked like he was headed for a MLB call up with the Padres when disaster struck on July 19.
The Beavers were playing Pacific Coast League rivals, the Tacoma Rainiers and Tagg hit a game winning walk-off grand slam HR. As he came around to score, he jumped on home plate and was mobbed by his teammates. During the celebration, he somehow tore the patellar tendon in his left knee which required surgery and a long rehab to repair.
Tagg missed the rest of 2004 and only played in 26 games in 2005. The Padres released him after the 2005 season. Since then, he has played for a series of organizations including the Mets, St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins. He's put up decent numbers with each organization, but not quite good enough to induce a MLB call up. For one thing, he is now considered to be too old for a prospect and organizations would rather give their opportunities to younger players who they perceive as having more potential. Tagg Bozied is now 31 years old and playing in the Phillies organization still chasing the dream that has eluded him, largely because of that one fateful moment of celebration after hitting a game winning grand slam home run, now all those years ago.
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Good chronicaling of Tagg Bozied's (so far) unfortunate path to seeing his first major league pitch. But I think you may have overlooked an interesting fact...
ReplyDeleteBozied has actually posted better numbers since the injury.
Slash stats before: .280/.341/.482
Slash stats after: .285/.358/.510
Not only that, although it's a tiny sample size, Bozied looks to have improved his speed.
SB before: 8-14
SB after: 15-23
He was a better player aged 25-30 than he was aged 21-24.
Perhaps Bozied was blackballed because of his two-time refusal to sign with the Twins and his rookie contract hassle with the Padres, but the same issues didn't seem to affect J.D. Drew's path to the majors.
Maybe Bozied is just one of those poor souls who inexplicably falls through the cracks.