Update: Brien Taylor sentenced to 38 months in prison
ByNov. 11th: Taylor has been sentenced to 38 months in prison after pleading guilty according to ESPN.
Nov. 3rd: Via Willie Weinbaum: Former Yankees prospect Brien Taylor is facing up to 40 years in prison on drug charges. He was indicted in June on three counts of selling crack to undercover police officers and has been incarcerated since.
Taylor, 40, was the first overall pick in the 1991 draft and remains arguably the best high school pitching prospect in history. He spent two full years in the Yankees’ farm system before infamously wrecking his shoulder in a fight, never to be the same pitcher again. Earlier this year I wrote about Taylor, who has had on-and-off legal problems after his playing career ended. Such a sad yet stupidly self-inflicted story.
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Goddamn. What could have been.
If it weren’t for steroids this probably would have been Aroid’s fate.
Embarrassing.
Alex Rodriguez and I grew up at the same time in the same town. I’ve followed him since high school. I don’t think so.
If it weren’t for this obsession of yours actually this probably would be your fate.
Steroids saves one from dealing drugs?
Who knew?
Would have been better off getting really drunk and driving his car into a family.
What the hell is wrong with you?
He was making the pt, that the dude is facing more time in prison for selling drugs than if he had killed someone
Really have to spell everything out these days, huh?
The U.S. is ranked seventh in the world in high school graduation rates, trailing countries like Germany, Japan and Great Britain.
Better for who? Tasteless comment, mista.
I was at a bar with a buddy of mine who is a huge Rockies fan. He knew about Taylor and he grew up out West. It seems like the legend has outstripped the truth out there. He was telling me how Taylor threw low 100′s easy and how he was the best pitching prospect ever before he got hurt.
I saw Taylor pitch in AA. Threw around 95 (was sitting with some scours who had guns). Fastball also seemed kind of straight and command was only fair. He wou;d have made the bigs. But I’m not so sure he’d have been all that good.
A lefty who can hold 95 mph is a solid bet to be good.
He was 21 in his second pro season in AA… No one can say what would have been, but there’s a good chance he would have improved on his second pro season.
40 years for dealing drugs? This country is nuts.
40 years just for crack. Damn!
-Thurgood Jenkins
+10,000,000
Crazy that people can get quite a bit less for manslaughter.
Feel better now? He can be back out selling, maybe he’ll even advance to trafficking, large amounts of crack and cocaine in less than 3 years.
“I want a Todd Van Poppel contract.” To this day, definitely Gene Michael’s least favorite sentence. Back then, draftees couldn’t hire agents to represent them, they simply could consult with them. Boras consulted Mrs. Taylor to reply with that sentence to anything Michael said.
Anyway, what a shame. I’ve said it before though and I’ll say it again. If Taylor didn’t go down with the fight induced injury, the Yanks would have traded Pettitte before his ML debut. I’ll take history the way it unfolded.
Agreed 100%,plus even if he hadn’t injured his arm,with his personality,sooner or later he would have done something that would have put his Yankees career down the toilet.
Give me Andy any day.
P.S. Seeing this doesn’t give me as much glee as seeing the fact the ultra jerk Mark Grace will be facing prison time.
Not sure the personality would have been an issue if he would have continued down the path of success and prosperity. I don’t want this to become a Mortimer and Randolph Duke debate, but people are more prone to make bad decisions when they are driven by desperation.
A week late on this, but agreed. Most of the reports on Taylor did not indicate he was a bad kid at all, although he grew up in a very poor area. A different path leads to very different life decisions and life outcomes. If he never shows up at the bar that night they might be preparing a plaque out in CF one day along with the Jeter’s, Pettitte’s, Posada’s, etc.
Boras has been quoted saying Taylor has the best fastball he’s ever seen in a prep pitcher.
Two Brien Taylor stories from Keith Olbermann:
http://keitholbermann.mlblogs......os-closer/
http://keitholbermann.mlblogs......cardboard/
Olbermann stopped being a Yankees fan the day they relieved him of his Old Timers Day gig as color commentator of the game (on the field with Bob Wolff). Supposedly it was in retaliation for him tweeting photos of a Yankees employee relaying opposing teams signs. More likely they just thought he was too much of a political lightening rod. OTOH, do you think they would’ve fired Trump if he had the same gig?
You are right about the punishment for Taylor. He is getting basically the same sentence as Sandusky the boy raper. That is NUTS!!!!
Just think he is basically getting the same punishment as Sandusky the boy raper. That is NUTS!!!!
I believe the article states..up to..40 years, it doesnt say he is getting 40 years.
Oh and by the way, anyone wanna buy some of his rookie cards, I have 100 of them
Baseball America ranked him the #1 prospect in baseball In 1992 and second in 1993. He was in fact reputed at the time to throw 100. I remember this very well. He was definitely hyped back then as one of the top prospects of all time. I don’t know if he was really that good, but this is not a case of the legend growing over time.
He was being clocked upper 90s and even 100 in high school, although lived more around 95 once in the minors. I asked Law once why many high school kids don’t seem to throw as hard as reported once signed and his answer made sense. They are throwing far more innings against tougher competition and are in the process of learning how to pitch, not just throw hard on every pitch. Still, a lefty starter who can sit mid-90s is pretty rare. Not surprisingly he was dealing with mastering his control in AA. He probably would have returned to AA in ’94 for at least part of the season, but he me might have been contributing to the Yankees at some level by ’96. Perhaps a lost member of those dynasty teams. Or maybe he would have been traded for Randy Johnson!
“What if” scenarios are usually fun, but not so here considering how poorly this young man’s life turned out.
I remember reading about some guy in Vermont who raped a baby and got six months. Brian Taylor gets three years. Our court systems really do a good job.
If you get sentenced to more time for selling crack to a consenting adult than raping a baby, something is wrong.
*Brien. Oops.
I hope he gets the chance to clean up in prison and be a better father.
Hope he is able to clean up in prison and come out a better father.
I arrested Taylor for Child Abuse in Wake Forest, NC. He was an arrogant bastard until the cuffs went on him. Who leaves a two year old unattended for almost 12 hours anyway? Good luck to him in prison. He might as well get used to it.
Taylor’s troubles got me to thinking about other players with legal issues. Found this slightly funny take on minor players with major problems. Troy Neel owned his own island where he escaped to? Who knew. (He also has a link to the the ten ugliest players at the top of the article underlined as “one of these.” The guy at #2 should have been the winner. Looks like he should be in a cartoon.)
http://www.hallofverygood.com/.....mmons.html