Throwback Thursday: Trenton 2009

My first visit to the Yankees AA farm club in Trenton, New Jersey came six summers ago, in July 2009. Looking back, I wondered how many of the players in that game eventually found their way to the majors. OK, first let's check our matchup: it's the Yankees affiliate, the Trenton Thunder versus the Harrisburg Senators, the Nationals' Eastern League outpost. We're two levels away from the majors.
With six-plus seasons in between, just four of the 20 players who were on this board on July 30, 2009 made the since majors. Trenton's pair were bona fide prospects: shortstop Eduardo Nunez, who's now with Minnesota, and teammate Jesus Montero, who hasn't lived up to his advance billing since being swapped to Seattle for Michael Pineda at the end of 2012.
Freddy Bynum, the Harrisburg shortstop, was back in the minors after playing parts of the previous four seasons (2005-'08) as a big league reserve. And Joel Guzman's 24 games in the majors (split between the Dodgers and Rays) were also in his rear view mirror.
Clearly, there are no Trouts, Harpers or Altuves here. While occasionally flashing talent, none of these four ever approached star -- or even regular -- status on the major league level. Sure, it's a small sample... one minor league game, on one night. And the one thing this absolutely shows is that nothing is guaranteed -- even the most heavily touted prospects remain suspects until proven otherwise.