Boston Red Sox players who can’t miss and did
By Rick McNair
Number One
Sam Horn – DH (1987-95)
MLB Stats: 389 G, 1040 AB, .240/.328/.468, 62 HR, 179 RBI
Quite possibly the most disappointing player I can remember. I thought Horn, a first-round pick, would have a plaque at Cooperstown. A huge left-hand batter that was David Ortiz like in build and power. Horn could put on a BP display that would rock. In games some of his shots were magnificent to watch.
At Pawtucket in 1987, I saw Horn play many games and he totaled 90 games with the PawSox hammering out 30 home runs and accounting for 84 RBI. Horn was hitting rockets and batted .321 before he got the call to Boston.
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The arrival of Horn was a big deal in 1987 as the Red Sox were coming off a World Series and had another solid club. Horn just dazzled with 14 home runs and 34 RBI in just 46 games while hitting .278. Then disaster struck.
In 1988 Horn just lost the magic and was hitting .148 before being sent down. At Pawtucket it was more of the same. This is similar to Allen Craig where talent just evaporated. The power was gone at Pawtucket with only 10 home runs in 83 games. The process was repeated in 1989 with similar results and Horn was released and signed by Baltimore.
With the O’s Horn managed a few seasons with some pop with back-to-back seasons of 14 and 23 home runs in limited action, but the average was deplorable and the K’s were mounting. The O’s released Horn, who then made the rounds with the Indians, the Yankees, Texas, the Pirates and some overseas time before retiring.
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Horn now has the honor of a web site being named after him, but in the late 1980s the buzz on Horn was as strong as any prospect in Sox history and it only escalated after the taste of power that was witnessed in 1987.
Sources:
The Baseball Biography Project
Baseball-Reference