The brightest stars burn the fastest

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

UCF football turned 1 season into a Big12 invite

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Nadav Henefeld

 

[Viet Vet]

Danny Almonte

 

[controlfade]

Harold "Baby Jordan" Miner

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Lm

Danny Almonte

Lmao

 

[boog204]

Nadav Henefeld

Actually a great example... I was 10 years old when he burst onto the scene and made UConn basketball a thing. Then just like that, he was gone. We continued as a 20 win team and made the sweet 16 without him, but we would've been a championship-level team with Nadav for year two.

Danny Almonte

I know it was rampant cheating and everything else, but it was super fun watching that team of 14-year-olds lay the smack down. Think it's pretty much been determined that the dominant Chinese Taipei teams were using overage players, too, no?

 

[Tenspro2002]

Jacoby Ellsbury.

Ehh, I'm not quite feeling this one.

Yes, he came out of nowhere to hit 30+ home runs and have an MVP-caliber season in 2011, but he also had very good years in 2009 and 2013 around being hurt. He wasn't a flash in the pan.

He's mostly vilified because the Yankees were stupid enough to give him a massive contract for so-so performance (while also being hurt).

 

[HuskyHawk]

A recent one to consider is Jordan Spieth. Looked like the next great golfer and has completely fallen off.

 

[Tenspro2002]

This doesn't really fit the theme but I just thought of a guy who, for one season, was arguably the greatest closer of all time. (Eckersley's 1990 season is the only competition.) At the age of 38!

His name: Koji Uehara.

Now, he had a pretty good career. And the season before the Sox got him, he had a 1.75 ERA in 36 IP. But what he did in 2013 for the Sox, at 38, is downright incredible:

74.1 IP, 1.09 ERA, 0.565 WHIP,101/9 K:BB ratio (2 of the 9 were IBB)

But that was just the appetizer. In the playoffs, he was even better:

13.2 IP, 0.66 ERA, 0.512 WHIP, 16/0 K:BB ratio

He was excellent in his year 39 & 40 seasons for Boston, and then very good in his year 41 and 42 seasons for the Sox and the Cubs, respectively. But nothing like that 2013 season. He made batters look like they were swinging with toothpicks. I have never, in 40 years of watching baseball, trusted a player more than I trusted Koji in the 2013 playoffs.

Over the course of the season, Uehara faced 265 batters and only reached a 3-0 count four times. Two of those four were IBBs, and the other two he ended up striking out.

This actually undersells it.

He stepped into the closer role in late June, and allowed two (2) earned runs in the entirety of July, August, September, and October.

He had hitters absolutely bamboozled with basically two pitches -- a 90 mph fastball, and a splitter that fell off the table. And if the hitter guessed wrong (and they usually did), they were toast. You almost need a guy like that to come in out of nowhere and be unhittable for 4 months before hitters figure them out.

 

[Palatine]

Roy Batty, the Nexus-6 combat model replicant, was superior to humans in almost every way but only had a life span of four years.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Roy Batty, the Nexus-6 combat model replicant, was superior to humans in almost every way but only had a life span of four years.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off (the) shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

 

[Lafayette]

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off (the) shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

At least no one is asking Roy "What you mean 'you people' ??!?!?"

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Actually a great example... I was 10 years old when he burst onto the scene and made UConn basketball a thing. Then just like that, he was gone. We continued as a 20 win team and made the sweet 16 without him, but we would've been a championship-level team with Nadav for year two.



I know it was rampant cheating and everything else, but it was super fun watching that team of 14-year-olds lay the smack down. Think it's pretty much been determined that the dominant Chinese Taipei teams were using overage players, too, no?

I can’t believe Nadav wasn’t first on my mind TBH. He’s my favorite Husky of all-time and I was so disappointed when he left.

 

[nomar]

This actually undersells it.

He stepped into the closer role in late June, and allowed two (2) earned runs in the entirety of July, August, September, and October.

He had hitters absolutely bamboozled with basically two pitches -- a 90 mph fastball, and a splitter that fell off the table. And if the hitter guessed wrong (and they usually did), they were toast. You almost need a guy like that to come in out of nowhere and be unhittable for 4 months before hitters figure them out.

Insane. But he didn't come out of nowhere! That's what's crazy. He just had it that season.

 

[c29328]

David Duvall? I think he might make the list.

 

[my2cents]

Tony Conigliaro, until he got beaned.
( Tragically dying shouldn't count the same as "Flaming Out")

 

[Spaceman213J]

Kevin Maas. The next Babe Ruth… for two weeks

And his Boston counterpart Phil Plantier.

 

[Spaceman213J]

David Duvall? I think he might make the list.

He was Tiger Woods for about 2 years and outside of majors, were more shocked when he didn't win a tournament during that time.

 

[Spaceman213J]

As a Red Sox fan too young for Tony C., I remember Juan Pena who looked like a Pedro clone until he took a spring training line drive off his elbow and was never the same after the injury. I think the force of the ball actually tore the ligament off the bone and he had to have Tommy John surgery.

For UConn, Nadav and Toraino Walker. He was a force of nature with a bright future and just walked away.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

UCF football turned 1 season into a Big12 invite

I have a better one:

Rutgers turned one football game into a claim of athletic department credibility and ended up in the B1G.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Mets Matt Harvey. That guy was lights out at his best but some off the field stuff and ultimately injury did him in but man was he awesome to watch at his best.

 

[boog204]

And his Boston counterpart Phil Plantier.

Same vein, I remember seeing Sam Horn hit absolute bombs at Pawtucket and then break in with the Sox and hit like 15hrs in 50 games. Thought he would mash for years to come.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Was going to add Mark Prior in. He had all the makings of a hall of fame pitcher.

And completely forgot about Ickey! Good one.

Oklahoma RB Marcus DuPree.

He was the next Walter Peyton or Earl Campbell.

 

[Spaceman213J]

Same vein, I remember seeing Sam Horn hit absolute bombs at Pawtucket and then break in with the Sox and hit like 15hrs in 50 games. Thought he would mash for years to come.

I saw Horn hit a few at New Britain. It's been so long. I think it was Beehive Stadium. He hit one to center that just took off and I lost it the dark sky after a few seconds. I just remember the centerfielder at the warning track looking straight up like he was looking for a plane in the night sky.
A few years later, my dad took me to another game there and a guy started telling his kid about the homerun Horn had hit a few years earlier. And then another guy chimed in and another. People were still buzzing about it a few years after.

 

[Deepster]

How about Josh Hamilton? Granted it was due to addiction, but he won an MVP and had that iconic HR Derby performance. Looked like the next Mickey Mantle.