So we have reached that time of year again, when we enter the WPK Time Machine and find out the identities of some future WPK'ers who have relatives currently playing in the league.
For a bit more of a description of this process see this thread from some time ago:
https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...=288669&page=2
Our first journey this year is a short one, as we find out that current Milwaukee star first baseman Josh Schultz has a baby brother (baby as in the youngest- he is now 18 years old) who is scheduled to be in the amateur draft pool next year. Quincy Shultz profiles as a defensively gifted (Defensive Whiz player type) center fielder, who may or may not have enough offensive skills to ever make it onto a WPK roster. Only time will tell.
Getting back into the Time Machine, we head forward to the year 1994, when current Houston Cavalier's starting pitcher Tony Peres will have the honor of seeing his son Freddy, currently a two year old, enter the WPK universe through the amateur draft as a control pitcher who specializes in painting the corners of the plate (Control Pitcher Type 2).
This seems like a good time to take a look at the players who have already entered the WPK (through this relative player creation process) who had family members already in the league.
The first player to do so was outfielder Curtis Horah, who we learned about in 1967 and who entered the WPK universe in 1968. Horah, as we know, has become the best defensive player of his generation and has a good chance of Hall of Fame enshrinement when his career is over. His uncle, Dan Simmons, was a mediocre starting pitcher who pitched for nine different teams over his 12 plus year career, with little distinction. He did, however, earn 3 Gold Gloves during his career. Simmons retired in 1973.
The next player to enter the league this way was pitcher Owen Ballin, whose brother Fernando Ballin played shortstop for parts of 7 seasons with the Pittsburgh Roadrunners and who retired in 1975, having last played in the big leagues briefly in 1973. Owen, who is now 27, is still pitching, but currently at the AAA level, also as a member of the Pittsburgh organization. He has pitched in 135 games, all in relief, at the WPK level, 58 over three seasons with Boston, and now 77 in parts of four seasons with Pittsburgh. The submarining groundball pitcher is intelligent and has good control but overall his skills are limited and he is having a very poor season at AAA Laredo this year.
Also entering, like Ballin, through the 1969 draft, was pitcher Nathanael Alvarez, a control artist. Alvarez older brother Julio was a relief pitcher for the Milwaukee Cadets when we first learned of the existence of Nathanael. Julio retired in 1973, having pitched respectably in the league for seven seasons, and being part of two championship teams- the 1969 Columbus Whalers and the 1971 Washington Night Train. His younger brother Nathanael fared less well, only managing to get into six games in the WPK, all in 1975 as a member of the Pittsburgh bullpen. He retired in 1976 at the age of 29.
The next player to enter professional baseball was catcher Elvis Iniguez, whose older brother Jose Iniquez is an outfielder who is currently playing for the AAA club in the San Antonio organization at the age of 35. Jose last played in the WPK with the Keys in 1975 and he has put up just 5.9 WAR over his 6+ seasons in the big leagues. His younger brother Elvis, on the other hand, has become a star in the league and is considered one of the two or three best players at the position in the WPK currently, and almost surely the most defensively gifted catcher. (He was supposed to be a utility player. He and Curtis Horah are both examples for me of the need to tone down defensive skills for the players I am creating in this process as they have both become superstars, largely on the strength of their amazing defense, when that really wasn't the intention for these players.) At age 25, Elvis Iniquez has put up 22.8 WAR thus far in six seasons with the Boston Berserkers.
In 1974, Darian Burdzy, the younger cousin of outfielder Kenny White, was drafted by the Denver Brewers in the 2nd round of the draft. Burdzy is currently a member of the AAA Chester Big Stick and while he is very fast and a fine defender, he does not have the makings of a big league player and struggles with injury proneness. He may eventually earn a 5th outfielder job somewhere in the bigs, but it is unlikely to happen in a Brewers uniform. Burdzy is only 22, so it is too early to write his career off entirely though. As for his cousin Kenny White, at age 30 he is still hanging around, currently playing for the AAA Maybrook Knighthawks in the Chicago Fire farm system. He has played in 141 games at the WPK level, only 21 as a starter, and all but 7 of them were in a Phoenix uniform. He is durable and a likeable guy (prankster) so he might still find himself getting a bit more playing time at the big league level, but essentially he is just playing out the string on his professional baseball career.
Also drafted in 1974 was hard-throwing, control-challenged pitcher Lucas Hernandez, the brother of Angelo Hernandez. Angelo has mostly pitched in relief in his career although he did start 41 games for the Brooklyn Aces between 1968 and 1972. He is very durable (Iron Man) but only has 0.8 WAR in his 7 year big league career and currently finds himself toiling in the bullpen for the AAA West Concord Wild in the Portland Wild Things farm system. As for younger brother Lucas, well there is still some hope for him, but at age 24 he finds himself pitching for the single A Minneapolis Mastodons, also in the Portland system. While he has a big league fastball and great stuff, his movement is average at best and he still hasn't mastered his control. He hasn't come close to sniffing a WPK appearance and time is probably running out on that ever happening. This season he is 9-11 with 16 saves but also a 5.08 ERA at single A.
And finally, the most recent entry into the WPK through the relative player creation process, is slugging first baseman Toby Noguchi (he was originally a left fielder). Noguchi is the cousin of relief pitcher Tetsuhiro Noguchi, who was a pretty fine relief pitcher back in the late '60's for Phoenix, but at age 38 is considered fragile and has put up very poor numbers in his limited appearances in the WPK from 1974 onward. He is currently pitching in the Portland organization in AA and likely his career will soon be over. Toby, on the other hand, is a 21-year old playing in short season A-ball in the Pittsburgh farm system. He is thought to have 5-star potential (OSA, our guy says 4) and is the #76 prospect in the WPK. But his potential is mostly because of his prodigious power. He is not a great contact hitter, will strike out far too frequently, is very slow (though an average base runner), and, well, not terribly bright. Will he eventually become a big leaguer? Given his already tremendous power, probably. But will he be a star? Far more questionable. (He does have 19 HR's in 182 plate appearances this season and has hit 108 home runs as a minor leaguer from 1975 until the present.)