Where Are These Former All-Stars?

Think back to 2015-2016. Remember the big names. Do you know where some of them are today? Not many people do. You may not even remember these people at all. Here are 4 former MLB All Stars who seemingly disappeared in the prime of their career.

Matt Harvey

Matt Harvey aka The Dark Knight of Gotham. Was a huge factor in the Mets 2015 World Series run. He dominated with the Mets from 2013-2015 including being an All star in 2013 finishing 4th in Cy Young voting. However Harvey’s dominance came to an abrupt stop in the 2016 season. After finishing the 2015 season with a 13-8 record with a 2.71 ERA Harvey would be terrible the following season he went 4-10 with a 4.86 ERA. The Mets gave Harvey another chance in 2017 but this year was even worse. Harvey would go 5-7 with a 6.70 ERA in only 18 starts. Matt Harvey was falling off. Matt Harvey would only make 8 appearances, 4 of them starts in the 2018 season going 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA. And on May 8th 2018 the Mets would say goodbye to Harvey and trade him to Cincinnati. For the rest of the 2018 season Matt would make 24 appearances with the Reds all starts and go 7-7 with a 4.50 ERA. Was Matt getting back into shape? Harvey would enter free agency after the 2018 season where he would sign with the Los Angeles Angels. Harvey would only start 12 games going 3-5 with a 7.09 ERA. The Angles would release Harvey where he would not play another game in the 2019 Season. After the 2019 Season Harvey would sign with the Royals but this was his worst season of his career making 7 appearances 4 of them starts going 0-3 with a 11.57 ERA. Now Harvey is entering the 2021 season with the Baltimore Orioles where he is most likely staying in the bullpen this season. Harvey is a free agent in 2022 and I predict that will be the end of Matt Harvey’s career.

Josh Hamilton

Josh Hamilton was one of the best players with the Texas Rangers carrying the team to the World Series in 2010 and 2011. He never won them a ring but he was one of the best players in baseball at the time including winning AL MVP in 2010. But whatever happened to him. We went to hearing his name every day and all of a sudden he disappeared. Hamilton from the start was always in trouble from when he went #1 overall in the 1999 draft selected by the Rays. Tampa would later release him after he was found to have a drug addiction. Hamilton was never heard from until the 2007 Rule 5 draft where he was selected by the Cubs who were picking for the Reds. He would play in the 2007 season with the Reds in 90 games where he would play 90 games hitting 18 home runs in 337 PA. The Reds would then trade Hamilton to the Rangers at the end of the season. Hamilton had turned his life around. With the Rangers he would be an all star from 2008-2012 winning many awards. However between these years Hamilton was still getting in trouble, he was just hiding it. Slowly evidence of him doing troubling actions came out. Then in 2012 Hamilton relapsed on alcohol. It only got worse for Josh, and in the 2013 season Hamilton would go to the Angles. Josh was on a $125 million dollar contract. This was a nightmare for the Angels as he would not exceed the expectations in the two years he was with LA. In 2015 The Angels would trade Hamilton back to Texas where the same year Hamilton would relapse off drugs. His career had fallen apart. Hamilton would not play another game for the rest of his career after the 2015 season. Despite all the trouble Hamilton would be inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame seemingly with a happy family. However until recently Hamilton admitted that in late 2019 he had committed child abuse. Hamilton would not go to jail as he paid the bond and since these allegations it’s been the last we have heard of Josh Hamilton.

José Bautista

If you don’t know who José Bautista is, are you even an MLB fan? Bautista is mostly known for his iconic homerun and bat flip in game 5 of the 2015 ALDS. However to Toronto fans and many avid stat keepers Bautista was way more than that. Bautista has been in the majors since 2004 but never made his presence known until 2010 when he broke out. Bautista would make the all star game and in that season alone he would hit 54 home runs and knock in 124 RBIs. Bautista would continue to be an all star for the next 5 years following the 2010 season. After the 2010 season Bautista's home runs and RBIs slowly dropped. That was until the 2015 season where he would hit 40 home runs and 114 RBI along with his iconic homerun. The Bluejays would lose a heartbreaker in the NLCS to the Royals, but Bautista had his best season since 2011. Sadly this would not continue for Bautista in 2016 as he would have his worst season in the past 6 years, with only 22 home runs and 69 RBIs. This would also be the first year since 2010 where Bautista would not make the All Star game. Bautista would do just about the same in the 2017 season and Bautista would part ways with the Blue Jays after this season. Bautista would then go to the Braves the first few months of the 2018 season then go to the Mets and then finish the season with Philadelphia. He would only hit 13 home runs that season. Since then Bautista has yet to play another baseball game since 2018.

Jordan Zimmermann

Jordan Zimmermann was always a known player since he was drafted. He was supposed to be one of the next best pitchers. Zimmermann has always been a known player in the MLB but the last few years people wonder what happened to him. Most people remember Zimmermann for his time with the Nats. Zimmermann was dominant going to the all star game in 2013 and 2014. His best years were from 2011 to 2015. Then the Detroit Tigers signed Zimmermann on a 5 Year 110 Million dollar contract. Many Tiger fans we’re excited to see Zimmermann perform with Verlander, but Zimmerman got worse every season giving the Tigers a 110 million dollar mistake. Zimmerman's first season with Detroit ended with a 9-7 record and a 4.87 ERA. This would later drop all the way to the 2019 season where he would go 1-13 with 6.91 ERA, yikes. Zimmerman would only make 3 appearances in 2020 with no losses or wins but had a 7.94 ERA. Zimmerman's contract had finally ended and the Tigers mistake had ended. Zimmerman now is on the brewer with a minor league deal.

In conclusion it’s very hard to be good your entire career in baseball. Few have ever done it. The only two players as of now who have been dominant their entire career are Zack Grenkie and Clayton Kershaw, maybe a few others but they are the most noticeable. That proves that baseball is one of the hardest sports. Everyone struggles as they get older, few beat the odds but they may never be a player like Tom Brady in baseball. It’s a very demanding sport where every game is different in so many ways. eventually players will figure out how to conquer you. These players show how hard the sport of baseball is.