Milwaukee Brewers: 5 former prospects from the 2000s lost to history

Jose Capellan

Remember when the Milwaukee Brewers sent Danny Kolb to the Atlanta Braves during the 2004/05 off season? They received top prospect Jose Capellan in return, and he was rated as the 25th best prospect in baseball by Baseball America in 2005.

Capellan had the pedigree, the look, the size, and the stuff to become the next great Dominican right-hander.

Capellan had already experienced a cup of coffee with the Braves, but started the 2005 season in Triple-A. He logged 90 2/3 innings with the Nashville Sounds, and posted a 3.87 ERA with 76 strikeouts and 42 walks before earning a late season call up.

Capellan made 17 appearances in relief for the Brewers, and managed a 2.87 ERA with 14 strikeouts and five walks in 15 2/3 innings.

He spent the majority of the 2006 campaign with the Milwaukee Brewers, and logged a 4.40 ERA in 61 relief appearances. He struck out 58, walked 31, and was tagged for 11 homers.

This is where his Brewers career went sideways. In 2007 Capellan was placed on the ‘restricted list’ due to a ‘poor attitude’. What happened was he refused to go back to Nashville, and the Brewers couldn’t work out an acceptable trade. He was restricted for about two months until the Brewers dealt him to the Detroit Tigers for 26-year old lefty Chris Cody.

Capellan bounced around for a few years before finding himself out of baseball after the 2010 season. He suffered an unexpected heart attack in 2015, and passed away at the age of 34.