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I also think a lot of fan's sense of prospects changed in the internet age - both for good and bad.
The NYC newspapers and what passed for sports talk on other media back in the stone age, barely mentioned minor league ball or minor league players except to maybe tout some highly regarded "phenom" and even that has to go into quotes because because the information about him was as likely to be smokescreen planted by the club as it was an actual, unbiased opinion.
Now the information is out there for all to see an analyze, but so is either misinformation or just shoddy opinions from someone with more bandwidth than actual knowledge.
Looking at CF's lists above:
* Victor Diaz (mostly pre-internet era) -- the main 'buzz' on him is that he had won a batting title at AA or something. But he had few other skills to fall back on so if the BA wasn't up ...
* Justin Turner -- don't remember thinking of him as anything other than a utility player and certainly wasn't billed as such
* Jae Seo -- one of the earlier far-east players so there was some sort of mystique about all that. His problem was that he was strictly a fastball/change-up pitcher who lost some mph off the fastball after an injury and was only briefly what the team hoped because of the lack of difference between the two pitches.
* Dave Magadan (def pre-internet) -- I remember Kieth Hernandez saying that Magadan was going to be the #3 hitter after he (Keith) left NYM. But guys with little power, speed, or positional value to back it up have such a small margin for error. Nice career, just not a great one.
* Jenrry Mejia -- lots of hype coming up through the system but also real young so fans get impatient (constant problem with Caribbean players). Then TJ surgery has a way of throwing a wrench into the works.
* Carlos Gomez -- I already fessed up to blowing this one. I think a lot of people made the mistake of seeing the speed and trying to mold him into a slap-n-run hitter, Minnesota certainly did. I didn't see the defense either.
* Kevin Mitchell -- was tailing off in the 2nd half of his rookie '86 season, but rookie seasons will do that to a guy. But even counting on a bounce-back from that I don't know if anyone saw an MVP in the future.
* Jordany Valdespin -- his flair for the big moment obscured a lack of skills and discipline in some minds I'm sure. I personally never bought into him.
Just called up by Miami btw
* Dillon Gee -- I certainly think few saw the consistency and front of the rotation results that the last 12 months has produced. Now if he could only stay on the field
* Alex Escobar -- a classic case of how the internet age info fooled a lot of people. He burst onto the prospect radar after a terrific year as a teenager [u:3a2e19n0]in low-A ball[/u:3a2e19n0]. He then missed an entire season and never quite got back to the same level. Problem was, most folks never took off that 'Top Prospect' label with him even though it was several years old and only briefly accurate by the time he was called up.
* Jason Tyner -- I actually remember Peter Gammons lauding this pick. Not that he was predicting stardom or anything just that he thought it showed some ingenuity or something. Problem is, you can get away with being a Brett Butler type of hitter only if you can also play the ball-hawking CF[/i[ that Butler was at his best. Tyner, it turns out, was never either.
* Ike Davis -- looked good for a while and was out-performing most of the other 1st basemen taken in that year's 1st round.
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