2005 Greeneville Astros - Who is still around?

Last week, we looked at the 2004 Greeneville Astros and what has happened to their baseball careers. Today, we will pull up the roster from the 2005 season.

The 2005 season was a season of hope. A bunch of high draft picks were sent to Greeneville: Eli Iorg (1st round Supplemental), Ralphie Henriquez (2nd round), Josh Flores (4th round), Brandon Barnes (6th round), Timmy Johnson (7th round), Koby Clemens (8th round) and Allen Langdon (10th round). Iorg was the son & nephew of major league players and had played college ball at nearby Tennessee. Koby's dad spent a great deal of time at the park and kept the buzz going all year long. One night, you had Eli's dad, Koby's dad & Frank Viola, whose son was on the Bristol White Sox, all in the park on one night.

Add to those guys two pitchers who made some noise, Ryan Mitchell who made the BA top 20 that season and Matt Hirsh whose older brother was a top prospect in the system at the time. It was an exciting year. Let's see what has happened in the five years since then. Was the buzz warranted?

First of all there were 35 players on the roster in 2005. Four of those players were repeats from 2004. Those repeaters were Brad James, Antonio Garcia, David Katy, & Ryan Reed. Of the 35 players who were on the roster at some point in 2005, eight of them are still current. That comes to 23% still active in affiliated ball. That is a lower percentage of players in affiliated ball than the 2004 team (28%) and the 2004 team has played one more year of ball.

Here is a list of the eight players and the level & system with which they finished 2010. Those in bold have seen MLB time.

Brandon Barnes - AAA (Hou)
Koby Clemens - AA (Hou)
Jhon Florintino - AA (Hou)
Ralphie Henriquez - High A (Seattle)
Victor Garate - AAA (Wash)
Sammy Gervacio - AAA (Hou)
Brad James - AA(DL) (Hou)
Polin Trinadad - AA (Hou)

Here are some nuggets on the rest of the guys. Eighteen of the 35 (52%) never made it higher than Lexington (Low A ball). By comparison the 2004 squad had 17 out of 36 (47%) whose careers stalled at Low A.

As you can see above, two guys made it for a cup of coffee in the big leagues, compared to five from 2004. Four others made it as far as AAA (Iorg, Trinidad, Barnes, & Henriquez)as the high point in their career, which is the same number as 2004.

For a class that started out full of hope, there has been some significant disappointments. Significant injuries played a part in some of them (Iorg, Flores & Jose Lopez) not making it further up the ladder. There have also been rumblings of personality issues that lead to some of the lack of success.But you can't take all the blame away from those who scouted and drafted the players. As we look back at this next year, I expect the 2005 class of Greeneville Astros will have fallen even further behind the 2004 class.