The Atlanta Braves had an outfielder who many thought was going to be one of the top ones in the game.
Atlanta signed Cristian Pache in 2015 and he quickly worked his way up the club's farm system and was one of the best defensive players in the minor leagues throughout the process. He eventually made his big league debut in 2020 with the Braves but only appeared in two games with the team. He followed up by appearing in 22 games in 2021.
Since then, he's bounced around with the Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, and Miami Marlins at the big league level. He's currently in Arizona Diamondbacks' farm system.
He had high hopes and Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter ranked him as the fifth-biggest "prospect busts" of the last 10 years.
"Peak hype: No. 7 MLB prospect in 2021," Reuter said. "Cristian Pache was supposed to be baseball's next great defensive center fielder, with enough offensive game to be a franchise cornerstone for the Atlanta Braves for the next decade. His stock reached its peak following the 2019 season when he hit .277/.340/.462 with 36 doubles, 12 home runs and 61 RBI in 130 games between Double-A and Triple-A, and he ended up on the Braves playoff roster in 2020.
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"Expected to take the starting center field job and run with it in 2021, he instead went 4-for-30 with 13 strikeouts through his first 11 games before being sent back to Triple-A where he would spend the majority of the season. The 26-year-old was traded to the Athletics that offseason as part of the four-player package to acquire Matt Olson, and he is now on his fifth team since leaving Atlanta after joining the D-backs during the offseason. All told, Pache is a .181/.243/.275 hitter over 610 plate appearances in the majors, good for a 46 OPS+ and minus-1.3 WAR in 251 games."
Hopefully, he can work his way back up to the majors and change the narrative.
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