It's probably not a good sign for your prospect status when a blogger is looking you up on Baseball Reference a decade after the fact to figure out how far you went in the minors. Ryan Finan was a tall (6'5") corner infielder whom the Orioles drafted out of Lamar University in Texas. He was a 21st-round pick in 2004, and it may comfort him to know that nobody else from that round ever cracked the major leagues. This includes such bright lights as high school shortstop Raymond Honey and Bethune Cookman College pitcher Mumba Rivera. Anyhow, Ryan stuck around in the O's farm system for five years, batting .270/.370/.430 with 46 homers and 259 RBI. Despite those strong on-base skills, he was out of baseball after putting up a .257/.347/.406 line with 11 home runs and 54 RBI with the AA Bowie Baysox in 2008. At 26, he was a bit old for his level, but other players have stuck around the minors far longer with lesser results. Maybe Finan was realistic about his chances of reaching the big leagues, and chose to pursue another line of work rather than continuing to grind away in the Eastern League. He wouldn't be the first.
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