In 1991, everyone outside the baseball world had heard of Nolan Ryan. Inside the baseball world, Ryan was a sure Hall of Famer best known for his SO feats and no-hitters. Even more inside baseball, (were talking scouts now) everyone had heard of Todd Van Poppel. The 19 year old Texas High school pitching flamethrower who seemed to emulate Nolan Ryans early days so well: Blazing fastball, Smooth delivery, and he came from the great Texas pitching lineage. Scouts knew this kid was going to be something special. Problem was however, Van Poppel made it known to all clubs that he intended to respect his intentions to go to the University of Texas and finish schooling; thus making the top prospect unavailiable in the annual free agent draft. With much discussion and $1.2 million later, Todd Van Poppel is an Oakland A and part of the rebuilding of the Oakland pitching staff along with 3 other high pitching Draft picks (quickly referred to as the Four Aces). The baseball card world went crazy and his main cards were the 1991 Upper Deck Top Prospects Rookie and the 1991 Leaf Gold Rookie. Holding one made you feel like every strike out and every win would your card that more great and powerful. You were holding on to the next great one and it was your generations version. Van Poppel actually made one start in the Major Leagues (remember, he was just a high school pitcher)in 1991. The A's coveted him that highly. By 1993, he was starting in the big leagues. Todd had a subpar rookie season with a record of 6-6 and a 5.06 ERA. In his second big league season, he seemed to actually regress to an average pitcher. Could it be, no way. Just him adjusting. I mean he was only 23 in his second season, he had YEARS to go to be great. His second year's numbers ended up at 7-10 and a 6.09 ERA. In 1995 (his third season), he showed progress, but maybe it was too late for the baseball world to believe he was the next great one and maybe Todd read too many headlines. The general feeling was that many thought he was brought up too quickly and was not given time to develop. By the end of 1996 (his fourth season) he was a Detroit Tiger and was considered a middle of the rotation starter at best. In 1997 he did not pitch in the big leagues and in 98 he was a Pittsburgh Pirate and a Texas Ranger as a spot starter spending a large part of that season in the minors. It was not until 2000 where Todd had started to show some consistency as a major league pitcher. The Cubs decided to use Todd as a middle reliever. He posted a 4-5 record with a 3.75 ERA. In 2001, he improved to 4-1 and a 2.52 ERA. He was a free agent at the end of 2001 and was the first free agent signed for 2002 with a three year $7.5 million deal. Enough to make any Van Poppel fan feel proud! In 2002 Van Poppel pitched in 50 games in his first year of the new contract and went 3-2 with 1 save and a 5.45 era as a middle reliever. In 2003 he pitched 7 games in Texas (where he even started one game) going 1-0, no saves and an 8.45 era before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds. For the Reds, Poppel pitched in 9 games of which he started 4 and went 2-1 with a 4.54 era. As bad as the Reds pitching is looking in 2004, expect Van Poppel to pitch frequently and hope that his early future star status comes through a little and he gives a 2004 performance of 12-10 with a 4.00 ERA. Thats not bad and its very reasonable!
Then comes the 1991 Baseball Draft. The Atlanta Braves have the first pick overall and have had discussions with the highly coveted prospect with no success. The only team considered to have a chance at Van Poppel is Texas. With his Van Poppel's intention, the Braves choose Florida high school SS Chipper Jones and Van Poppel falls to pick number 17, the Oakland A's. Nolan Ryan 324-292 3.19 ERA 5714 SO Todd Van Poppel 36-46 5.50 ERA 639 SO