BBA Alternate History: What if Manuel Aguilar Was In the 2062 Draft Pool?

[lordtoffee]

Yes, you read that correctly. Manuel Aguilar is the BBA player who sadly never got to write his proper ending, and the ending to his story happened back in spring training of 2004. But what if he was able to come back into the BBA as a rookie in this year's draft? How high could he go with the OOTP tools that we have? But before we go back to answer this question, it's best to look back at Manuel's story to understand why he is so important in BBA history.

Manuel Aguilar was drafted in 1999 with the 21st pick overall, and ended up in the Carolina Kraken organization. After spending a couple of years in the minors, he ended up coming up to Carolina late in the 2001 season. He had gone from 0.3 WAR to a 0.9 WAR in his first full season with the Kraken. 2003 ended up being a season for the record books for Aguilar. He ended up hitting .417, smacking 50 home runs, collecting over 400 total bases, and achieving a WAR of 10.3. You read those numbers correctly, and I am not pulling them out of thin air. Looking at all of the great years by position players we have had, Aguilar is able to answer every challenge. It was almost like he was playing a different game. Going into 2004, the question was what would Aguilar do for an encore? Would he live up to his own standards? Would he go for an even higher WAR?

It was a dive in the last spring training game that ended up answering the question. For on that one fateful play, Manuel tore his labrum. He would never play in the BBA again, and at only 26. I wasn't in the league at the time, but based on what I have read from those that were in the league, this was one of the most heartbreaking events in the history of the league. How good Aguilar would have been remains an open question, and one that can only be answered in another universe.

But what if Manuel Aguilar was in the 2062 draft pool? How would he look today? And would he benefit from the tools that we have?

Starting off, Aguilar had demonstrated hitting for a high average in college without having a high number of home runs. I would imagine that a team picking in the draft would figure that he would grow into being the power hitter that he became. Also, his personality and mentals would work pretty well with the development lab. I could see him being a good prospect for a team looking to pick the best player available in the first round. If durability was a concern, I could see Aguilar likely be developed into spending some time at DH as well as in the outfield, though of course it is hard to say if Aguilar gets his injury in this timeline as it seemed to come out of nowhere.

So my verdict would be that he would be a top 5-top 10 pick in this years draft. He would be a very good hitting prospect, and depending on how teams would approach his signing, would probably be able to go at pick 4-pick 8. But what say you?

[RonCo]

Fun question.

[bcslouck]

If I know he has that type of season in him, 1st without question. If I don't know that, I'm sure a Top 10-15 pick depending on the draft. Not sure how his ratings would look in 25.

[7teen]

I'd take 83 year-old Manny top 5 and hope he could give me 5 good years before having both hips and knees replaced.

[trmmilwwi]

Seems like the biggest risers fall somewhere in the early teens. But him, top 10 maybe.

[trmmilwwi]

19k's in 600+ atbats. Wow.

[JRamirez]

19k's in 600+ atbats. Wow.

Brings to mind Joe Judge, and maybe the developers mentioned him in particular as an example of why they felt the need to overhaul the ratings, beginning in v25.

[Dington]

Would've bene a great Bluebird.