Brien Taylor’s Fall From Grace

Has any number one draft pick been hyped – and fallen – harder than Brien Taylor? Taylor was drafted out of high school by the New York Yankees on June 3, 1991. And if you were a baseball fan or collector at the time, everything was Brien Taylor, Brien Taylor, Brien Taylor. And his minor league performances with Fort Lauderdale and Albany in 1992 and 1993 gave fans reason to expect that we’d see Taylor debut with the Yanks as soon as 1994. Sadly, most of us know how Taylor’s story went from there. Taylor tore muscles in his pitching arm during an offseason fight and missed all of 1994 while recovering from surgery. Despite lingering in pro ball until 2000, his dominant fastball and deadly, pinpoint curve were gone, and he would never pitch effectively again. Things did not improve for Taylor after baseball, and he suffered additional setbacks in his personal life due to poor decisions. We see Taylor’s story as a cautionary example of what can happen to very young people who are suddenly handed a huge paycheck (at age 19 he signed for $1.55 million, which was huge in 1991) but not given adequate instruction in how to live life with significant wealth and fame. Even Ken Griffey Jr. – the epitome of the perfect ballplayer and man both on and off the field – struggled significantly under the pressure of being the most highly touted star prospect in the game. And of course, the name Johnny Manziel is always in mind when we think about athletes who were given too much, too soon, and didn’t live up to the hype. We hope teams will make more progress in creating better support systems and mentorship opportunities for all of their athletes who could benefit from them.

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