Seay was selected by the Chiacago White Sox with the 12th overall pick in the 1996 MLB Draft out of Sarasota High School in Florida but declared a free agent based on the technicality and signed with the Devil Rays. Seay was a more polished lefty than White, featuring a sinker in the low-90′s and a very good slider.

In 1997, Seay made his pro debut at Low-A Charleston, going 3-4 with a 4.55 ERA, a 9.4 K/9, a 5.4 BB/9, and a 0.3 HR/9 in 13 starts and 61.1 IP. His control was the big problem. In 1998, the Devil Rays sent Seay back to Charleston and the results were somewhat similar as he went 1-7 with a 9.7 K/9, a 3.8 BB/9, and 1.3 HR/9 in 15 starts and 69 IP. Then in 1999 between High-A and Double-A, Seay went 3-8 with a 4.14 ERA, a 7.4 K/9, a 4.6 BB/9, and a 0.2 HR/9 in 17 starts, a relief appearance, and 74 IP. Ironically (compared to White), Seay looked like a bust. He couldn’t manage good control or command, leading to either walks or home runs.

But Seay finally broke out in 2000. In 24 starts and 132.1 IP, Seay went 8-7 with a 3.88 ERA, a 7.2 K/9, a 3.6 BB/9, and a 0.9 HR/9 . His FIP was a solid 4.24. He also pitched for Team USA in the Sydney Olympics along with White, tossing 0.2 perfect innings as the Americans won Gold. Seay’s is best season was followed by a bizarre one. His performance was not great at all. He went just 2-5 at Double-A with a 5.98 ERA, a 6.8 K/9, a 3.6 BB/9, and a 1.3 HR/9 in 13 starts, 2 relief appearances and 64.2 IP. Yet at the end of the season, Seay made 12 big league appearances, posting a 1-1 record and 6.23 ERA. He actually struck out 12 while walking 5, but allowed 3 home runs. Taking out a couple of bad appearances, though, his ERA was a great 2.31.

Seay spent 2002 mostly in relief after inflammation in his left throwing shoulder, and he pitched well between Double-A and Triple-A, posting a 4.09 ERA, a 6.8 K/9, a 3.0 BB/9, and a 0.5 HR/9 in 25 appearances, 3 of which were starts, and 50.2 IP. Then in 2003 at age 25, Seay finally found his form, going 3-0 with a 2.10 ERA, an 8.7 K/9, a 4.5 BB/9, and a 0.3 HR/9 in 25 appearances and 30 IP. He ended the season in the big leagues, posting a 3.00 ERA in 12 appearances although he walked 6 compared to 5 strikeouts. In 2004, Seay’s experience was more of the same as he dominated at Triple-A, posting a 1.72 ERA, an 8.6 K/9, a 2.2 BB/9, and a 0.7 HR/9 in 29 appearances (included a save) and 36.2 IP. Then in the majors for the Devil Rays, Seay pitched legitimately well, posting a 2.38 ERA, a 6.8 K/9, a 2.0 BB/9, and a 0.8 HR/9 in 21 appearances spanning 22.2 IP. Bizarrely, though, lefties actually hit him better than righties, posting an .864 OPS compared to .591 against righties. The Rays cashed in on his value to acquire outfielder Reggie Taylor from the Colorado Rockies.

With the Rockies in 2005, Seay was a disaster in 17 big league appearances, posting an 8.49 ERA, an 8.5 K/9, a 6.2 BB/9, and a 2.4 HR/9. He missed quite a bit of time with a pectoral strain and an injury to his left pitching hand. He was a free agent after the season and signed with the Tigers. Seay struggled once again for the Tigers in 2006, posting just a 6.46 ERA, striking out 12 and walking 9 in 15.1 IP. Following the season, Seay re-signed with the Tigers. And the Tigers were rewarded for their trust in him.

In 2007, Seay finally broke through in the big leagues. (Credit: Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE)

In 2007, Seay was 29 year old. His career was at a crossroads. And he finally got his first extended chance in the big leagues. And he took advantage. Seay made 58 relief appearances spanning 46.1 IP in typical situational lefty fashion. And the results were outstanding. Seay went 3-1 with a 2.33 ERA, a 7.4 K/9, a 2.9 BB/9, and a 0.2 HR/9 in 46.1 IP. He held lefties to just a .209 batting average and a .545 OPS while righties posted a .250 batting average and a .707 OPS. His FIP was nearly as good as his ERA, coming in at 2.68. He registered 10 holds and a save. Seay would never be as good again.

In 2008, Seay was arbitration-eligible for the first time and his salary was bumped up to $450,000 to $780,000. But Seay went just 1-2 with a 4.47 ERA, a 9.3 K/9, a 4.0 BB/9, and a 0.6 HR/9 in 60 relief appearances and 56.1 IP. He recorded 13 holds, but lefties actually had a .770 OPS against him compared to .711 from righties. Then in 2009, with his salary up to 1.3 million dollars, Seay went 6-3 with a 4.25 ERA, a 6.8 K/9, a 3.1 BB/9, and a 0.6 HR/9 in 67 appearances and 48.2 IP. Lefties posted a .671 OPS against him compared to .721 from righties. He surpassed his previous career total with 28 holds. Following the season, Seay was arbitration-eligible for the third and final time and was signed by the Tigers for $2,475,000. But he would never pitch another game. Seay injured the labrum in his left shoulder and eventually required surgery that would end his career.

Bobby Seay has to be compared with Matt White. Their careers began in the same way and ended the same way: with shoulder surgery. Neither made it the way that the Devil Rays hoped. Cheaters never win. The Devil Rays tried to capitalize twice on a technicality and failed both times. But in Seay’s case, he managed to recover from his poor start and play out a nice career.

Paul Wilder seemingly had all the upside you could ask for from a prospect. Wilder was 6’4″, 246, but don’t let his large stature fool  you. He was as athletic as they come, being a highly-rated linebacker recruit for NC State. He combined captivating power from the left side of the plate with remarkable speed. He hit bullets at the plate with an extremely advanced approach, and he also moved well in left and although he wasn’t quite fast enough to play centerfield, he moved well in the corner spots with an excellent arm. He was going to be the Rays’ right fielder for a very long time.

In his first pro plate appearance in 1996 with the Rookie-level GCL Rays, Wilder stepped up to the plate against a rehabbing big leaguer, Jimmy Key. It was 18 year old hotshot versus 13-year MLB veteran, 4-time All-Star, and 2-time Cy Young runner-up. And Wilder won the battle. Wilder drilled a double to right-center and with the Devil Rays major league franchise not yet playing games, all eyes were on Wilder. Key was not washed up yet- he would win 16 games with a 3.43 ERA in 212.1 IP for the AL East-winning Orioles in their last year with a winning record to date. But Wilder went in the opposite direction. Bothered by nagging injuries, Wilder’s overall numbers were not great. But the potential was clearly still there. He posted a .207/.351/.332 line with 10 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers, 20 RBI, and 7 stolen bases in 12 tries in 53 games. He led the Gulf Coast League with 37 walks, showcasing his great approach at the plate, although he did strike out 66 times, 29.2% of his plate appearances. The D-Rays hoped he could stay healthy in 1997 as he moved up to Advanced Rookie Princeton and get his overall numbers up to respectability.

Instead, Wilder struggled through another injury riddled season. Playing just 44 games, Wilder posted a .202/.349/.387 line with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 6 homers, and 3 stolen base in 5 tries. He walked 33 times, but tallied 63 strikeouts, 32.8% of his PA’s. Wilder was hitting the ball hard when he made contact, but he couldn’t stay on the field and there was some bad luck involved as his BAbip was .277 compared to the league mark of .330 (not that anyone cared about BAbip back then). Wilder’s solid .736 OPS was definitely progress, and the Devil Rays hoped he was on the verge of a breakthrough.

Wilder's pro career got off to a rocky start, but he was still a hot prospect entering 1998. (Donruss Baseball Card)

The D-Rays aggressively promoted Wilder to the Low-A Charleston Riverdogs for his third pro season in 1998 despite his struaggles the previous two season. He remained as inconsistent as ever. He posted a .197/.326/.379 line with 9 doubles, 13 homers, 39 RBI, and 3 stolen bases in 6 tries in 76 games because of more injuries. His 13 homers were tied for 27th in the Sally League and he tied for the most home runs from any player who played a maximum of 80 games, tying with fellow Rays farmhand Aubrey Huff. He walked 43 times, but he struck out 119 times, a scary 37.3% of his PA’s. Wilder couldn’t get good reads on pitchers on the basepaths, but he grounded into just two double plays, showing his speed. Defensively, the D-Rays put Wilder in left field and he showed off his arm, registering 7 outfield assists. All the potential was still there. But because of injuries and an inability to make consistent contact, Wilder was going nowhere.

Wilder returned to Charleston in 1999 and his problems persisted as he played just 44 games, posting a .173/.287/.280 line with 4 doubles, 4 homers, and 13 RBI. He did steal 7 bases in 8 tries, but that didn’t make a difference. Wilder missed all of 2000 with injuries before going to the High-A Bakersfield Blaze in 2001 and posting a .265/.379/.378 line, going for a career-high .757  OPS, but that came in just 30 games. The Rays had seen enough. They promptly released Wilder, still just 23. Wilder appeared in 5 games for the independent Pennsylvania Road Warriors in 2002, a team that does not even have a home ballpark, and he went just 0 for 14, a .071 batting average. That would be the end of the baseball career of Paul Wilder.

Paul Wilder was not your typical upside pick. Wilder was a bigger guy built like a linebacker as opposed to the option quarterback or wide receiver-types that teams typical draft as upside picks (with Carl Crawford and Desmond Jennings immediately coming to mind). He was an experiment as the Devil Rays tried to innovate to get their then-embryonic franchise kickstarted. The experiment failed. Wilder had the athletic ability, the power, and the speed. He had the pure ability to be a great major league player. But between his inability to stay healthy and his struggles to make contact, his baseball career never got going. Every team makes great draft picks and terrible ones. Every team takes risks and many don’t work out. Paul Wilder was a calculated gamble that failed. Wilder and his pitching counterpart White set the tone for the early Devil Rays years. They tried hard, but none of their efforts came into fruition. But over time, the Rays have learned from their mistakes. If nothing else, the stories of Wilder and White teach us that nothing in baseball or in life can be taken for granted. But if we persevere through our failures, we give ourselves opportunities to achieve what is within our grasp. And sometimes, as the Rays have shown, your wildest dreams can come true.

Selected 7th overall in the 1996 MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants, Matt White was a highly-touted prospect. The 6’5″ right-hander was the USA Today’s National High School Baseball Player of the Year in 1996 at Waynesboro Area High School in Pennsylvania, and everyone knew he had an electric arm. But then something crazy happened. It was fifteen days after the draft and the Giants had not yet offered White a contract. As it turned out, Scott Boras, White’s advisor at the time, discovered a loophole in the draft rules that he believed allowed White to be declared a free agent because of Rule 4E which stipulated that a team offer their draft picks a contract within fifteen days of the draft. After much debate, Major League baseball acquiesced to Boras’ demands, and White was indeed ruled a free agent. The Devil Rays saw an opportunity. After finding little quality talent in the expansion draft, the Devil Rays saw the best high school pitcher in the country fall right into their lap. They had to get him. The Devil Rays ponied up a 10.2 million dollar bonus and got their man.

Prior to the 1997 season, Baseball America ranked White the 4th-best prospect in baseball. In 1997, the D-Rays sent White, then 18, to Short Season-A Hudson Valley to begin his pro career. White didn’t quite dominate, going 4-6 with a 4.07 ERA in 15 starts and 84 innings pitched. but he showed his great potential. He struck out 82, 8.8 batters per 9 innings, and he walked just 29 (3.1 BB/9) although he did hit 11 batters, and he allowed just 3 home runs (0.3 HR/9). All of that amounted to a nice 3.14 FIP. After the season, Baseball America ranked him the 6th-best prospect in baseball.

In 1998, White was promoted to Low-A Charleston and got off to a nice start to the season, going 4-3 with a 3.82 ERA in 12 starts and 75.1 IP, but striking out 59 (7.0 K/9), walking just 21 (2.5 BB/9) while hitting 5 batters, and allowing just 1 home run (0.1 HR/9) for a great 2.84 FIP. The D-Rays, even in the days before FIP, saw through his high ERA and sent him straight to High-A St. Petersburg. Or at least we wish that was the reason- they promoted him aggressively because they wanted to get their high-priced signing into the big leagues as soon as possible. The results of the quick promotion were disastrous. In 17 starts and 95.2 IP, White got absolutely hammered by High-A hitting, going 4-8 with a 5.55 ERA. And this time he struck out just 64 (6.0 K/9), walked 41 and hit 6 more (4.4 walks and hit-by-pitches per 9 innings- let’s call that BW/9 or bouts of wildness per 9 innings), and also allowed 10 home runs (0.9 HR/9), amounting to a bad 4.69 FIP. On the positive side he did have a nice complete game win, still showing that he had enormous potential. But worse than his struggles at High-A was how much he was overworked. White jumped from 84 innings in 1997 to an astounding 171 in 1998, more than you ever see from a minor leaguer who’s any sort of prospect. Baseball America noticed something was off, dropping White to #32 in their prospect rankings.

The Devil Rays had a rush of common sense and sent White back to St. Petersburg in 1999, and while the surface results were bad once again as he went 9-7 with a 5.18 ERA in 20 starts, 1 relief appearance, and 113 IP. But he tossed two complete game wins and his peripheral stats improved exponentially. He struck out 92 (7.3 K/9), walked 33 and hit 8 (3.3 BW/9), and allowed just 6 home runs (0.5 HR/9), which led to a 3.35 FIP. Having turned 21 in August, White was back on the fast-track to the big leagues.

2000 was the season that the Devil Rays were dreaming about for White. His surface stats finally came up to par with the Double-A Orlando Rays as he went 7-6 with a 3.75 ERA in 20 starts, 2 of which were complete games, and 120 IP. His ancillary stats were a little bit more alarming. He struck out 98, a solid 7.4 K/9, but he walked 58 and hit 15 more (a terrible 5.5 BW/9), and allowed 10 homers (0.8 HR/9), which amounted to a 4.48 FIP. Nevertheless, the D-Rays were impressed enough to promote him to Triple-A Durham. And luckily for everyone, White figured something out after his promotion. He went 3-2 with a 2.83 ERA in 6 starts and 35 IP to close out the season, striking out 28 (7.2 K/9), walking 15 unintentionally and hitting 3 more (4.6 BW/9) and allowed just 1 home run (0.3 HR/9). He was invited to be a part of the US baseball team for the Sydney Olympics, and despite already having thrown 155 innings on the season, he pitched well in exhibitions, including a perfect 2-strikeout inning versus Australia. But then everything changed. Along the way he suffered a shoulder injury and was not able to participate in the Olympic Games. But not participating in Sydney is only a side-point. His career was ruined.

White underwent shoulder surgery and only returned at the end of 2001, and got hammered to the tune of a 0-5 record, a 7.80 ERA, more walks than strikeouts, and a 1.2 HR/9 in 7 starts. The D-Rays sent White back down to Low-A Charleston for 2002 and he pitched well, going 3-4 with a 3.15 ERA, a 6.3 K/9, a a 3.2 BW/9, and a 0.8 HR/9 in 10 starts and 54.1 IP, but he was destroyed again after being promoted to Double-A Orlando, posting a 5.56 ERA in 7 starts, posting just a 1.05 strikeout to walk ratio and allowing a 1.9 HR/9. He was shut down with shoulder problems before he returned at the end of 2003 and being dismantled yet again as he posted a 7.47 ERA in 7 starts, and that was it. White underwent two more shoulder surgeries but never pitched another professional game. He finally retired in 2006.

Matt White was a very promising pitcher. But he was rushed through the minors and overworked and those mistakes proved costly. The D-Rays were foolish to throw 10.2 million dollars at a high school pitcher to begin with, but the way they handled him was downright reckless. Matt White will be remembered as a bust, and in truth he was. But there’s no way to say it was all his fault. White is just 33 years old now, an age when many people thought he’d still be one of the best pitchers in the big leagues, and he’s now pitching coach at the University of Michigan.

When I was doing my series on Scott Kazmir, I couldn’t help but compare Matt White’s story to the story of Kazmir. It’s poetic justice that Scott Kazmir was acquired the year after White played his final professional game. The two encapsulated the 12 year existence of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays prior to 2008. Matt White, like the young Devil Rays, had potential but with mishandled by the ownership group and the results were disastrous. Kazmir was the beacon that showed the potential was finally starting to come into fruition, but just as he struggled adjusting when his velocity began to waver, the Devil Rays simply could not make the next step as a franchise even as their core developed. 2008 was the passing of the torch from Kazmir to Evan Longoria and the current Rays who have made the leap and made the Tampa Bay Rays into one of the best teams in baseball and arguably the most efficiently-run franchise in sports.

Matt White is still there. When you look at the largest bonuses in Rays history, Matt White is still number one at 10.2 million dollars. He is almost the anti-Ray at this point. Essentially, he was the quintessential Devil Ray. The Rays run their team like a true business now. They have stopped being sentimental except in the rarest of cases and have allowed their greats to leave without second thoughts. The Rays are a franchise that has stopped depending on individual prospects and has stockpiled talents knowing that while some of them will pan out, many of them won’t. The Rays take nothing for granted anymore. White retired in 2006, just as the new ownership group led by Stu Sternberg was coming in. Matt White was the wake-up call.

How should we look back at Matt White’s career? He failed. There’s no two ways about that. But he wasn’t simply a failure. He was a tragedy. However, he was the tragedy that needed to happen for the Tampa Bay Rays franchise to move forward. When you see Matt White’s name, you should smile. He helped incite the change that has made the Tampa Bay Rays the great franchise they are today.