Brien Taylor sentenced to 38 months in prison

[Big_E]

From the file of wasted youth:

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/stor...ntenced-prison

[35Knucklecurve]

Taylor was the No. 1 overall selection in the 1991 draft and got a then-record $1.55 million signing bonus, but he never threw a pitch in the major leagues.

It's pretty sad when you can sum up your life in one sentence.

[Nome]

What a totally wasted life. This won't be the last time he gets a jail sentance. I see no redeeming features in his future.

Andy

[4bronxbombers]

That's terrible. Why did he never throw a pitch? I haven't researched it and don't remember the guy.

[dabomb2045]

That's terrible. Why did he never throw a pitch? I haven't researched it and don't remember the guy.

He injured his shoulder in a fight during the offseason in 1993. This coming off two very good years in A and AA. If you dont remember him at all, he was the #1 overall pick in the 1991 draft out of a high school in North Carolina. High 90's fastball with a devastating curve. He was definetly on the fast track to the big leagues before this injury. He came back after missing the entire 1994 season but was never the same...lost like 10 mph off his fastball and his ability to throw a curve. Never made it above A ball again.

[JL25and3]

What a totally wasted life. This won't be the last time he gets a jail sentance. I see no redeeming features in his future.

Andy

Judging not only his past but his entire future seems awfully harsh. Plenty of people have done worse things than Taylor did and managed to turn their lives around.

[4bronxbombers]

He injured his shoulder in a fight during the offseason in 1993. This coming off two very good years in A and AA. If you dont remember him at all, he was the #1 overall pick in the 1991 draft out of a high school in North Carolina. High 90's fastball with a devastating curve. He was definetly on the fast track to the big leagues before this injury. He came back after missing the entire 1994 season but was never the same...lost like 10 mph off his fastball and his ability to throw a curve. Never made it above A ball again.

Thanks for posting that. That's very sad that he never ended up pitching and won't. I hope he can turn his life around.

[Stick Michael]

Judging not only his past but his entire future seems awfully harsh. Plenty of people have done worse things than Taylor did and managed to turn their lives around.

True, but Taylor's track record doesn't exactly inspire confidence that he'll eventually develop into a productive member of society.

[Yankee Tripper]

That's terrible. Why did he never throw a pitch? I haven't researched it and don't remember the guy.

When in the low minors he got in a bar fight and screwed up his shoulder if I recall correctly. Was never the same pitcher again was soon out of baseball.

I see dabomb beat me to the punch on this one.

[Yankee Tripper]

Judging not only his past but his entire future seems awfully harsh. Plenty of people have done worse things than Taylor did and managed to turn their lives around.

I agree. He's getting time for dealing drugs not killing someone.

[penfold]

IMHO, he's an idiot. That's the main reason why he got into that bar fight. It's the reason why he used up his entire signing bonus. It's the reason why he decided to deal crack. And it's probably the reason why he got caught.

I wish he'd use the prison time to become a better person but I highly doubt it.

[Sixty one]

I wonder what happened to the million plus dollars he received from the Yanks?

[4bronxbombers]

I wonder what happened to the million plus dollars he received from the Yanks?

Most of it was probably blown up his nose.

[StingrayJG]

Definitely wasted talent.
From his wiki page:

Initially, the Yankees had hoped that like....Dwight Gooden, Taylor would be ready for the big leagues at the age of 19. However they found he needed a better move to first base to hold base runners. In 1992 he was 6-8 for the Class-A Advanced....Fort Lauderdale Yankees, but with a 2.57....earned run average....and with 187 strikeouts in 161 innings. The next year as a 21-year-old with the Double-A....Albany-Colonie Yankees, Taylor went 13-7 with a 3.48 ERA and with 150 strikeouts in 163 innings. He also led the....Eastern League....with 102 walks. Nonetheless,....Baseball America....named him the game's best prospect and he was expected to pitch for the....Triple-A....Columbus Clippers....of the....International League....in 1994, and start for the Yankees in 1995. The Yankees had asked Taylor to report to an instructional league so he could spend the winter of 1993-94 working on fundamentals. However Taylor declined the Yankees' request, claiming he was tired from the pressure of the season. He said he needed the rest and chose to remain near his North Carolina home.On December 18, 1993 the normally mild-mannered Taylor suffered a dislocated left shoulder and torn....labrum....while defending his brother Brenden in a fistfight.....The New York Times....reported that Brenden confronted a man named Ron Wilson, who he had fought with in Harlowe, North Carolina. Brenden suffered head lacerations in his fight with Wilson. Once Brien found out his brother had been hurt, he and a cousin went to Wilson's trailer home to confront him. There, Taylor got into an altercation with Jamie Morris, Wilson's friend, and Taylor fell on his shoulder.[5]....According to Wilson, Taylor attempted to throw a....haymaker....at Morris, and missed, which caused the injury.[1]In the hours following the altercation Boras told reporters the injury was a bruise.[1]....However when the Yankees had Taylor visit Dr.....Frank Jobe, he called the injury one of the worst he'd seen.[1]Jobe, a well-known orthopedic surgeon, repaired a torn capsule and a torn labrum in Taylor's shoulder.[1]....Initially Jobe told Taylor that he would throw again with similar velocity and that his shoulder might even be more durable.[6]....However, he was never the same pitcher again. When he returned after surgery, he had lost 8....mph off his fastball and was unable to throw a curveball for a strike. He was at Double-A before the incident but spent the bulk of the remainder of his professional baseball career struggling at Single-A. Taylor was able to get his fastball back into the low to mid 90's, and he had also filled out, gaining 35 pounds from when he first signed, however he had control problems.In 1995 he pitched for the Yankees....Gulf Coast League team, and walked 54 batters in 40 innings. In 1996 he pitched for the Single-A....Greensboro Bats, and walked 43 batters in....16....1⁄3....innings, going 0-5 with an 18.73 ERA. At Greensboro again in 1997, he walked 52 batters in 27 innings, going 1-4 with a 14.33 ERA.He was released by the Yankees at the end of the 1998 season, and pitched for minor league affiliates of the....Seattle Mariners....and....Cleveland Indians....until retiring in 2000. In his final stint with the Indians' Columbus affiliate in 2000, he gave up 5 hits, 9 walks, and 11 runs (8 earned) in....2....2⁄3innings.

[boog204]

IMHO, he's an idiot. That's the main reason why he got into that bar fight. It's the reason why he used up his entire signing bonus. It's the reason why he decided to deal crack. And it's probably the reason why he got caught.

I wish he'd use the prison time to become a better person but I highly doubt it.

That's a bit harsh, imo. If I remember correctly, he was involved in the fight defending his brother and a large portion of his $$ was spent buying his parents a big house after growing up in a trailer in NC. Neither of those things constitutes an "idiot" in my book. It sucks how his life has spiraled since then but he's certainly not the first "can't miss" guy to put all his eggs in the athletic basket, have that basket break, and then have nothing left to fall back on.

[Stick Michael]

If I remember correctly, he was involved in the fight defending his brother and a large portion of his $$ was spent buying his parents a big house after growing up in a trailer in NC. Neither of those things constitutes an "idiot" in my book.

Having five kids while making less than $12,000/year doesn't help his case, either.

[Nome]

Judging not only his past but his entire future seems awfully harsh. Plenty of people have done worse things than Taylor did and managed to turn their lives around.

If you remember Taylor at all you will remember that he was in constant trouble from the time he signed his contract with the Yankees. When the Yankees wanted him to report to a Winter League team for further development in 1993 he refused. After the fight and repair of his sholdier he allowed himself to get out of shape gaining 35 lbs. He married and had five daughters. The marriage broke up and he moved back with his parents where he is now earning $900/month. In 2005 he was charged with a misdemeaner child abuse for leaving his five kids (2-11) alone for 8 hours while he went out drinking.
I know I am harsh but my comments stand

Andy