Wil Myers has one of those odd baseball career facts that slips past most people. He won Rookie of the Year and was still traded almost immediately, before he ever had the chance to truly settle in with the team that brought him up. Kansas City Royals drafted him, developed him, watched him explode through the minors, called him to the majors, and then dealt him in a blockbuster trade for James Shields. Myers never got the chance to be the long term face of the Rays, yet he still walked away with the 2013 Rookie of the Year award and went on to become a cornerstone player in San Diego.
It is unusual enough to win Rookie of the Year. It is even more unusual to be moved that quickly. And it is rarer still to go on and build a long, respected career after being traded like a finished product instead of a prospect. Myers story is a quiet reminder that baseball careers rarely follow a clean, scripted path and that sometimes the detour becomes the career.
