Angels' Brandon Wood Designated For Assignment

The long, tortured Brandon Wood era has come to an end for the Los Angeles Angels. Tuesday, the club designated the former top prospect for assignment, meaning they'll have to work out a trade with another team or put him on waivers. If no one claims the third baseman, it's possible that he'll accept an assignment to Class AAA. The move was made to get Erick Aybar back on the roster upon his return from the DL.

It wasn't always like this.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2005	20	Rancho Cucamonga	CALL	A+	130	595	536	109	172	51	4	43	115	48	128	.321	.383	.672	1.054

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/19/2011.

That was a shortstop. A 20-year-old shortstop. Sure, it was the California League, which is a hitters' league, but you can understand why people were giddy about him. According to Baseball America, he was the #3 prospect in the game heading into the 2006 season. He was a sure thing. He had some more good years in the minors, albeit with some serious strikeout concerns, and no one -- no one -- saw this coming:

Year	G	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
5 Seasons	172	493	463	78	9	0	11	33	13	153	.168	.197	.259	.456	22

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/19/2011.

That is Brandon Wood's major-league career. Just for comparison, here's a link to Carlos Zambrano's career batting line. It's like comparing Alex Cora to Barry Bonds.

Some prospects make it, and some don't. Few don't make it as spectacularly as Brandon Wood didn't make it. He is still only 26. Someone will give him another chance, and now we'll see if that someone will trade a player to the Angels for the privilege.