After completing my weekly response to Reese' question about former Mets' prospects and whether they over or underachieved, it reminded me of a very sad situation regarding a former Mets' farmhand that did not get a chance to succeed or to fail due to a tragic accident.
Some of you may or may not remember Brian Cole, but he was a highly regarded outfield prospect in our minor league system from 1998 to 2001. He "tore up" the Grapefruit League during Spring Training in 2001 and had many fans and analysts thinking that the Mets had the second coming of Tim Raines on a fast track to Queens. Unfortunately, at the conclusion of Spring Training in 2001, Brian was driving from St Lucie to his families' home in Mississippi when he was forced off the road by another driver. Brian subsequently lost control of his vehicle and it rolled over several times which caused Brian to be ejected from the driver's seat in the process.
As you can imagine, he suffered significant injuries as a result and he later passed away at a local hospital at the age of 22. It was later determined that he was NOT wearing a seat belt at the time, which likely contributed to the severity of his injuries (wear your seat belts, folks).
To get a glimpse of what Brian had accomplished and what he may have become, consider some of his amateur and minor league statistics.
Brian was drafted out of high school by the Detroit Tigers organization in the 36th round of the 1997 MLB Draft, but he did not sign a contract. Instead, he opted to play a full season for Navarro Junior College instead where he hit .524 with 27 home runs, 82 runs batted in, 95 runs scored and 49 stolen bases in just 60 games! He was named the Junior College Player of the Year by Baseball America for his efforts, as you can imagine.
Despite his success, he was chosen in the 18th round of the 1998 MLB Draft by our very own New York Mets and Brian chose to sign a contract and start his professional career at the age of 19 years old. He proceeded to move up the chain, so to speak, while producing impressive statistics at every level.
1998 - Kingsport/Pittsfield - (.298/.315/.487) 5 HR/36 RBI/16 SB
1999 - Capitol City - (.316/.362/.522) 18 HR/71 RBI/ 50 SB
2000 - St Lucie/Binghamton - (.301/.347/.494) 19 HR/86 RBI/69 SB
***Named the Mets Minor League Player of the Year in 2000***
One could argue that Brian may have started the 2001 season in AAA, but I think he would have forced his way onto the Mets roster at some point during the year and he would have been a fixture in the outfield from that point forward. No one knows what would have happened after that, but he just seemed to have "it" and my gut tells me he would have been extremely successful.
As sad as it is that the Mets (and baseball as a whole) did not get to see Brian's full potential, it is even more sad that his life was cut short before it really began. Brian likely would have wrapped up his career in the last couple of seasons and he would have celebrated his 40th birthday later this year.
Despite my initial answer to Reese's question, the more I think about it, the tragic loss of Brian Cole has to be the biggest disappointment in recent Mets' history and a sad reminder that life is simply too short.
Hopefully, Brian is still doing his best Tim Raines impression somewhere on a magical baseball field in Iowa, perhaps?
11 comments:
Cole's death was a huge organization derailing...him with a young Reyes, Wright, and Piazza? Whew.
In 2008, I did a taped interview with David Wright right before the spring training intra-squad game (precedes first ST game) that was dedicated to Cole.
Cole was such a big loss to our system and could have developed into one of the top all time Mets players in the history of the team.
Great Great Great Article...
Yes I remember Cole and was expecting him to be Just like Tim Raines... He had Power and Speed... And we expected so much potential. Sad that he lost his Life in such a tragic way...
His lost totally changed the complexion of the Mets build. Instead of the Wright?reyes era it coould have been the Cole Era... Who know it may have been Brian Cole the Captain...
It is analogous to what happened with the Marlins and the loss of Jose Fernandez at just age 24, a pitcher around whom they thought they would build for the future.
Just a massive "gut punch" and something an organization never really gets over, I suppose. I think about Brian and what happened every Spring Training.....hard to believe that it was seventeen years ago (already).
Mike, the Yanks had Jeter/Posada/Rivera/Williams as a foundation to build around - if Cole had not gotten hurt, the trio of Wright, Reyes, and Cole, along with Piazza, would have been the Mets' similar foundation...he truly was the missing link.
Tom-
I remember musing that era (2001?) about a Bay-Cole-Escobar OF replacing the Agbayani-Payton-Shinjo trio.
Tom your probably spot on with that assessment
...saddest words, what might have been.
I remember the Cole tragedy well. Yes, he was killed for not wearing the belt, but the other side of the story is that his passenger (cousin) WAS wearing a belt, and was unhurt.
And I don't see Fernandez as a parallel. Brian was simply driving home in broad daylight. Jose was recklessly driving a boat at high speed very late at night, reportedly under the influence of various substances. Not equivalent at all IMO.
I remember the Cole tragedy well. Yes, he was killed for not wearing the belt, but the other side of the story is that his passenger (cousin) WAS wearing a belt, and was unhurt.
And I don't see Fernandez as a parallel. Brian was simply driving home in broad daylight. Jose was recklessly driving a boat at high speed very late at night, reportedly under the influence of various substances. Not equivalent at all IMO.
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