Worst First? Miami Marlins Biggest First Round Mistakes

5. Brett Sinkbeil

Picked 19th overall in 2006, Brett Sinkbeil is a six-foot-two, 210 lb. right-handed pitcher from Tulsa, OK. In his final collegiate season with the Missouri State University Bears, he was 5-1 with a 2.45 ERA over 11 starts, with 75 K’s and only 45 hits allowed in 69 2/3 innings.

In the same calendar year as his selection, Sinkbeil also made stops for the Marlins with their Short-season-A Jamestown Jammers in the NYPL (2-0, 1.23 ERA in five starts) and with the Single-A Greensboro Grasshoppers in the SAL (1-1, 4.99 ERA in eight starts). On the literal fast-track, Sinkbeil spent 2007 with the High-A Jupiter Hammerheads in the Florida State League, where he was 6-4 with a 3.42 ERA in 14 rotational starts.

Sinkbeil kept rising in 2008, although his performance was not on par with what he had accomplished in the past. With the Carolina Mudcats in the Double-A Southern League, he was 5-9 with a 5.02 ERA in 26 starts, with a 1.56 WHIP and only 66 K’s in 143 1/3 innings.

Up to the Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs in 2009 in the Pacific Coast League, Sinkbeil went 2-8 with a 6.07 ERA in 47 game, 39 of them out of the bullpen. His WHIP was an unsightly 1.81 in 83 frames.

Despite all that and a subsequent ERA of 5.71 with the Zephyrs in 2010, Sinkbeil was finally called up to join the Marlins for a short look in mid-September. Two innings of work at the major league level would see him give up three runs on five walks and two hits. Sinkbeil appeared at two levels for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011, but hasn’t appeared professionally at any level since then.