Ben McDonald

Ben McDonald went from Baton Rouge prep star to baseball and basketball player at his hometown LSU. At 6-foot-7, McDonald used his leverage to dominate at the collegiate level. He twice led Skip Bertman's Tigers to the College World Series, and won the Golden Spikes Award after winning 14 games and fanning an SEC record 202 batters in 1989. The previous summer, he led Team USA to the gold medal at the Seoul Summer Olympics, pitching complete-game victories against Puerto Rico and Korea. He went on to be the first overall pick in the MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles and was the second player from the 1989 draft class to make the Majors. McDonald had an injury-plagued but effective career with Baltimore and Milwaukee, one that saw him finish with a 3.94 ERA, far better than the league average in an age when hitting dominated.