Brian Sackinsky, 1995 Bowman #8

Hey, whaddaya know? The last time I featured former second round draft pick Brian Sackinsky on this blog, I said it would be a long while before he made his way back onto these digital pages. As it turns out, that was a week shy of ten years ago. Two moves, one marriage, one child, and one pandemic ago. It was also three postseason trips ago for the O's. If I could travel a decade back in time and tell my 27-year-old self  what the future would bring, that last item may have seemed even more implausible than the rest. I would also probably try to warn that young guy about one or two things that were coming in 2016.

Brian Sackinsky, 1995 Upper Deck Minors #134

It's been over three months since I went to settlement and officially became a homeowner, and I am finally moving into my very own house this coming Saturday. Naturally, with all that time to prepare, I'm still scrambling at the last minute. I have trim to paint, a basement to clean, oodles of personal effects to pack, friends to beg for help in moving, and a full-time job to squeeze in there somewhere. So what I'm saying is that lengthy, thoughtful blog entries from yours truly this week will be as rare as mentions of Brian Sackinsky, the Orioles' second-round draft pick in 1992.

It will be a long while before this guy makes it back onto the blog, so I'll throw him a bone. He had pitched at Stanford University, meaning that the O's went with Cardinal players with each of their first two picks that year (the first, of course, was phenom outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds). Unlike his teammate Hammonds, Sackinsky had a slow journey to the majors, receiving his callup to Baltimore in his fifth pro season. The righty made three mop-up relief appearances in April of 1996 and returned to the minors, where he would stay until his career quietly ended two years later. In his brief stay in Charm City, Brian did strike out that season's A.L. MVP, Juan Gonzalez. It might not be much, but 16 of the 29 other players drafted in the second round in 1992 never even made it to the big leagues, so there you go.