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CF Elias Canady (201st Overall)
Acquired: Via Draft: 8th Round, 126th Overall (1932)
Alma Mater: Portland HS

"There was a time I thought Elias Canady was going to be a superstar and first round pick. Instead, he ended up an 8th Round pick and I don't see think about him being a superstar anymore. It took Canady two and a half seasons in La Crosse before his first promotion, and he did okay with San Jose. He hit .256/.350/.363 (90 OPS+) with 4 homers, 2 steals, and 37 RBI's in 311 trips to the plate. He's still young, just 21, and has great plate discipline and a decent contact tool. The big draw is the glove, however, with Canady compiling a +41.8 zone rating in his first three pro seasons. The glove makes him a favorite of mine, so expect him to at least end up a fourth outfielder."

A very talented defender, Elias Canady rather remarkably never had an efficiency below 1.000 at any level in center field. This helped him earn a callup in 1938 after hitting .313/.391/.463 (127 OPS+) in 83 games for the Blues. He got into 12 games for us, and hit a rather impressive .250/.357/.500 (139 OPS+) with 3 doubles, 2 homers, 6 walks, and 3 RBIs. This caught the attention of the Chiefs, as with Carlos Montes entrenched in center, Canady didn't have an obvious role on our club. We shipped him out for gloveman Bill Graham, and the Chiefs employed Canady in AAA to start the next season. He got into 30 games for the Chiefs, but hit just .236/.339/.326 (81 OPS+) with a homer and 14 RBIs. He did get into five games the following season, but spent a majority of the next two years in AAA Fort Wayne. After the 1941 season, the 26-year-old enlisted in the Army, which may have ended his big league career. Likely still a capable defender, that could help him stick around as depth, but at 31 in November, his best years may be behind him.

3B Phil McKenna (204th Overall)
Acquired: Via Draft: 5th Round, 76th Overall (1934)
Alma Mater: Coastal Carolina

"A 5th Round pick last year, McKenna was also someone I once expected to be an early pick. He played at three levels this season, topping out at AA Mobile. The best of the approximately even three stays was in Lincoln, batting .352/.469/.610 (157 OPS+) with 10 homers and 31 RBI's in 195 trips to the plate. The longest stay was his last, in Mobile, where he hit .312/.402/.428 (116 OPS+) with 4 homers and 21 RBI's in 251 trips to the plate. The cool thing was the walk increase at each level, from 21 to 29 to 33. He also didn't pass 10 strikeouts at any level, the closest call actually in San Jose where he did it nine times. He hasn't looked good defensively, so the bat has to be well above average. Not sure if he'll ever hit for much power, but he's a smart hitter and should find a way on base."

While it's not all said and done, Phil McKenna is one of three prospects from our top 30 list to not make a big league debut. A 5th Round Pick back in 1934, Phil McKenna had superb minor league hitting numbers, with a 115 WRC+ or higher at each minor league stop before we shipped him to the Dynamos prior to the 1937 season. McKenna continued to hit in the Dynamos system, with just a 101 WRC+ in 65 AAA games at 25 failing to surpass the 115 mark he set in our system. Playing time started to dwindle in '42 and '43, as despite WRC+ of 135 and 146, he started just 129 of his 204 contests. He was then drafted into the Air Force, making it tough for the 32 year old to fulfil his dream of playing FABL baseball.

1B Cuno Myer (238th Overall)
Acquired: Via Draft: 22nd Round, 351st Overall (1932)
Alma Mater: Norfolk HS

"I'm not the biggest fan of the switch hitter Myer, but part of that is because he's nothing compared to Leo Mitchell. Myer spent his first two seasons in La Crosse, but then started 140 games in San Jose this year. He hit just .289/.326/.404 (93 OPS+) with 7 homers and 86 RBI's. Myer cannot play defense, somehow managing a -19.4 zone rating and .858 efficiency this season. That means he'll have to hit like he did last season with his impressive 130 OPS+ in 323 plate appearances in La Crosse. Unfortunately for him, he can only play first, so he might see his playing time drop back down again."

Another guy who always hit, Cuno Myer endured nearly 11 seasons of minor league baseball before finally receiving the call to the manager's office he was looking for. A bat only first basemen, Myer owned an elite .333/.400/.447 (142 OPS+) batting line in 522 games with the Blues, walking (165) over 100 times more then he struck out (63). He added 86 doubles, 5 triples, 21 homers, and 263 RBIs, but despite the excellent offensive numbers, he didn't always play every day, with 86 starts in 1940 his most as a member of the Blues. Myer spent September of 1943 with the Cougars, and went 5-for-17 in 11 games. With Dick Walker entrenched at first, we didn't really have a spot for Myer, but the first basemen needy Dynamos sent us a 7th Rounder for Myer the following July. They instilled him right into the starting spot, and the 30-year-old vet hit .306/.371/.339 (110 OPS+) to finish the season. He appeared in 144 of the Dynamos games this season, leading the Fed with 35 doubles. He hit 5 triples, 5 homers, and 70 RBIs with 63 walks in 610 trips to the plate. His .269/.343/.379 (105 OPS+) batting line produced a 116 WRC+, and he was worth nearly 2 WAR despite awful defense at first (-7.6, .936). After acquiring Mack Sutton from the Minutemen, Frank Vance has seen more time at first, as at 43 he can't really do much defense. The Dynamos don't have any other obvious choices for first, so Myer still has a chance to start in the post-war game.

RHP Bill Scott (240th Overall)
Acquired: Via Draft: 7th Round, 111th Overall (1933)
Alma Mater: Holyoke HS

"It's been a little tough to find innings for Scott, but the 20-year-old looked really good in La Crosse this year. He was 8-4 with a 3.89 ERA (139 ERA+), 1.68 WHIP, 34 walks, and 43 strikeouts in 74 innings pitched. He was an excellent pitcher in high school and so far in the minors, so perhaps I need to be finding more ways to get him time. I have a lot of arms I really like, so I'm expecting a lot of rotation, but I don't think Scott will be pitching in the pen much anymore. He's increased his fastball to 91-93 and his curve and slider are already big league quality pitches. He's got great raw stuff and my scout actually thinks he'll be a back of the rotation starter. I guess I was sort of right about Scott, and after adding ten pounds he's already jumped up our system ladder:"

Remember Bill Scott? A 7th Round Pick in 1933, Scott started sparingly his first two seasons in our system, with a few more relief appearances (19) then starts (14). He made huge strides with his stuff during the season, adding muscle and velocity to improve his stuff. Injuries hampered his 1936 season, finally ending it in August with a strained forearm. This left him with 11 starts in La Crosse and 6 in San Jose, and while his ERAs were high, he had a 77 FIP- with the Lions and a 75 with San Jose. This vaulted him up top prospect lists, and he checked in at 74th in the '36 offseason list and the 47th on the 1937 Opening Day list.

Expected to be the next in a long list of productive big league starters, the 21-year-old started his season in Lincoln. His average production was impressive considering age, injury, and lack of experience, and he went 5-5 with a 4.69 ERA (98 ERA+) and 1.41 WHIP with 22 walks and 51 strikeouts in 14 starts. A herniated disc in his back ended his season in July, dropping him to 49th in the offseason prospect rankings. It turns out that injuries weighted to heavily on Scott, who was also a star basketball player at Holyoke High School. While most New Years resolutions aren't long-lasting, Scott's was, as he made the shocking decision to hang up the cleats and joined the upstart basketball league. This was a huge blow for us as the 22-year-old featured a blistering high 90s fastball and I thought him, Joe Brown, and Peter the Heater would make up a very high octane rotation in terms of velocity. Interesting enough, he broke our rotation, we would have had back-to-back 7th Rounders in the rotation as he was taken the draft before Harry Parker. It's an interesting "what could have been" scenario if Scott decided to stick with baseball, as we would have had yet another talented starter in our cupboard.

CF Orlin Yates (242nd Overall)
Acquired: Via Trade with the Gothams (1934)
Drafted: 9th Round, 131st Overall (1933)
Alma Mater: Travis College

"Rounding out our top 30 is the third pieces of the Tom Taylor trade, 24-year-old Orlin Yates. Yates is a brilliant defender, with a +17.0 zone rating and 1.112 efficiency this year out in center. He struggled with the AA affiliate of the Gothams organization, but in our system with Mobile he hit .321/.389/.397 (105 OPS+) with 2 steals and 15 RBI's in 177 trips to the plate. My scout thinks he's ready for the big leagues, but I'm not ready for Yates to skip AAA. He'll probably start the season there or in Mobile next year, but expect Yates to fight for a spot in camp too. I love the glove and my scout likes his hit tool, so even if there are a lot of guys ahead of him, I'm rooting for Yates. I don't think he'll ever hit that much in the big leagues, but potentially he can develop into a Cy Bryant type player. Just minus the chastising."

Well, there was no chastising, but Yates was definitely lazy and unmotivated...

Always an excellent defender, Orlin Yates made his big league debut in 1937, and has appeared in a game for each of the last nine seasons. Then 25, Yates didn't hit very much, just .200/.289/.225 (45 OPS+), but he did a great job drawing walks and his defense out in center was superb. Yates secured a bench role for the 1938 season, and hit an adjusted league average .265/.370/.336 with 5 doubles, a homer, 6 RBIs, and 18 walks in 98 games but just 137 trips to the plate. In the next four seasons, Yates played sparingly off the bench, functioning as Carlos Montes' replacement in center. When Montes was called into the Navy following the 1942 season, a job opened for the glove first outfielder.

At 31, Yates had his best season of his career, slashing a just below average .248/.324/.335 (98 OPS+) with 13 doubles, 4 triples, 2 homers, 34 RBIs, and 6 steals in 106 games. He was worth just shy of 3 WAR and accumulated a 12.0 zone rating (1.038 efficiency) patrolling center. Unfortunately for Yates, the bat disappeared the following season, and he hit just .204/.291/.270 (62 OPS+) in a career high 579 trips to the plate. As the season wound down, he ceded part of the starting job to Don Lee, but provided excellent defense to go with 17 doubles, 3 triples, 3 homers, 47 RBIs, 61 walks, and 9 steals. Since Lee didn't hit much last season, Yates started 1945 as the every day center fielder, but as he couldn't hit much better then most pitchers while "Rap" was launching liner after liner, he only got into 86 games with less then half (40) coming from the starting lineup. His .190/.267/.270 (55 OPS+) batting line was very similar to his pitiful triple slash as a rookie, but he still was effective (5.1, 1.042) out in center.

Now 34, Yates may have played his last game as a Cougar, as we have plenty of younger and better bats returning from the service, and he's both costly and out of options. For his career, the former 9th Round Pick has appeared in 676 FABL games, batting a well below average .225/.315/.298 (76 OPS+) with 388 doubles, 13 triples, 12 homers, 31 steals, 173 RBIs, and 221 walks. He has accumulated an impressive 49 zone rating out in center, which coincides to a 1.043 efficiency. His excellent defense may entice a team to hold a roster spot for him, but the Cougars clubhouse may be the only FABL clubhouse he'll ever occupy.