With the 12th overall selection in the 2003 MLB Draft, the New York Mets selected a high school athlete named Lastings Milledge. You recall the name because of how unique it is. Create-A-Player A.I. wouldn\u2019t dare come up with anything close to represent a player bound for greatness and a lengthy career in the majors.<\/p>\n
Reaching as high as number 9 on Baseball America\u2019s Top 100 prospect list <\/a>in 2006, it took only two years in the majors for the Mets to realize there was a ceiling on their once-prized prospect.<\/p>\n An outrageously poor defender without a bat to keep up, the Mets ended up trading him away prior to the 2008 season. It was on November 30, 2007 when the ball club decided they had seen enough and were willing to send him to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider.<\/p>\n Was there an actual winner in this Mets-Nationals trade?<\/p>\n Milledge\u2019s lasting moment (I swear, pun totally not intended) in the majors didn\u2019t end up with a speech in Cooperstown like many thought. A 2006 incident where he high-fived fans<\/a> after returning to the field following his first big league home run caused controversy in a way that almost 20 years later feels like baseball just wasn\u2019t fun for anyone back then.<\/p>\n Lastings hit well for the Nationals in 2008, clobbering 14 home runs with a .268 batting average. His nearly 600 plate appearances would account for a good percentage of the ones he\u2019d have in his career. He wouldn\u2019t make it through the 2009 season with Washington. They traded him midseason to the Pittsburgh Pirates.<\/p>\n