Sean Markeson

[zdubbya13]

I've seen others post about noteworthy players in their games and I thought I'd share the story of SP Sean Markeson, arguably the most dominant player of his era.


As GM of the first-year expansion Portland Beavers I drafted Markeson first overall in the 2022 amateur draft. Based on how his career developed it might seem like he was an easy choice as the #1 overall pick but I actually went back and forth between Markeson and SP Chris "Digger" Daniel. Both had great potential and ultimately my decision came down to Markeson's injury proneness which was "Iron Man" while Daniel's was "Durable."


After parts of two seasons in the minor leagues Markeson debuted with the Beavers in 2024 and the rest is history. Markeson has played 23 seasons in the major leagues and shockingly has only been injured twice during that span - once with back spasms (1 day dtd) and once with the flu (3 days dtd). Markeson is still playing and has amassed 373 wins against 185 losses and he has won twelve Cy Young Awards.



For comparison here's what Chris Daniel's career looked like:



And here's what Sean Markeson's career ended up looking like:

[BirdWatcher]

I love that at some point this guy was considered the #93 prospect in MLB. I'm guessing that most (if any) of the 92 ahead of him did not exceed these career numbers.
Oh what I wouldn't give to draft a starting pitcher like this for my Denver Brewers!

[zdubbya13]

Originally Posted by BirdWatcher

I love that at some point this guy was considered the #93 prospect in MLB. I'm guessing that most (if any) of the 92 ahead of him did not exceed these career numbers.
Oh what I wouldn't give to draft a starting pitcher like this for my Denver Brewers!

I looked back through the league history and noted that only a few of the 92 prospects ranked ahead of Markeson had careers worth mentioning. OF Sam Selby, ranked as the #1 prospect that year did have 415 home runs for his career, but given his career batting average (.267) and high strikeouts he was never more than a borderline HoF candidate. Selby was it for the positional players - not a single one other than him had a career even worth mentioning. On the pitching side things were a little better. Chris Daniel (#46 ranked prospect) had 170 wins for his career (again another borderline HoF candidate) and the #47 prospect SP Brendan Syvertson had 172 wins with a 3.68 career ERA. In all the OOTP games I've played Sean Markeson has been far and away the best player I've ever drafted.