From a fantasy baseball perspective, the prospects we invest in who go on to become stars are the guys who help us build reputations of being astute talent evaluators. Everyone else is “a bust” or “a waste of a roster spot”. But once you’ve tracked and interacted with hundreds of prospects, it’s hard to maintain that kind of mentality. A human interest element will inevitably leave you wondering what the bulk of professional baseball is like.
I’ve played beer pong with a pair of Division- baseball players who both dreamed of turning pro but went undrafted. I’ve talked to guys who spent time in Independent Leagues just hoping to earn a chance to play in the minors. And I’ve interacted with a number of prospects who now appear unlikely to ever reach the big leagues.
The truth is, the ratio of genuinely good people who wind up falling short of achieving their big-league dream is the same as those who get to live it out. There are great people and stories spread all across the baseball spectrum, few of which the typical baseball fan will ever hear.
John Wolff’s tale is one that’s well worth reading. A college shortstop who earned the honor of being drafted by the White Sox – despite the fact that he didn’t get to play regularly at Harvard – Wolff made sure to chronicle his first professional season, as his father, Rick, also did 30 years before him. The younger Wolff was a 47th round draft pick (1,407th overall) in 2005.
While he said his teammates would likely call him, “Good. Not great, not bad,” Wolff describes himself as a baseball player who makes a great hockey player. He said one of his coaches with the White Sox once called him as a sure-handed shortstop with a plus arm and good but inconsistent pop.
Harvard Boys is John’s day-to-day diary from his first season in pro ball. His father, who also attended Harvard before going on to play pro ball, offers his own thoughts at the end of many of John’s entries. John’s pro career is far from the relatively pampered lifestyles many bonus-baby prospects have. I believe it’s a unique, honest, and accurate description of what many pro ball players go through. Stuck in Extended Spring Training as a 22-year-old, John said he crashed into the harsh reality that he wasn’t getting better fast enough; he saw 17-year-olds succeeding around him all the while.
I enjoyed John and Rick’s depictions of what life is like for so many minor leaguers. Intelligent and charismatic, they bring the reader into a world that’s challenging to grasp from a fan’s prospective. A brisk, rainy-day read that’s a perfect bridge to Spring Training, Harvard Boys is a book that true minor league fans will enjoy. I also suggest it to baseball fans who are looking to add another dimension to their knowledge of the game.
And before you get too interested in the human element of baseball, John said he’s not the type of player you should consider adding to your fantasy roster.
Harvard Boys is available on Amazon.com. Want to know more? Send an email to adamf@projectprospect.com.