Only in sports, and perhaps most notoriously in baseball, can a prospect be considered a bust at the tender age of 21. That label has seemingly stuck to New York Mets outfield prospect Fernando Martinez who -- along with suffering myriad injuries that have stunted his development -- underperformed (.176 average in 91 at bats) in a hasty call-up to the majors last year.

"In an ideal world we wanted him to spend all of last year in Triple-A and get at-bats," Mets general manager Omar Minaya said. "We put him in a situation where as a young man he was hitting in the fifth hole. I think he gained something from that experience. And really we didn't have a choice [but to call him up]. We were down to our fourth and fifth options."