Ricky Jordan (1988, first base, ROY voting: 8th)
Jordan was drafted in the first round out of high school of the 1983 Amateur Draft. After five seasons in the Phillies minor league system, Jordan made his Major League debut on July 17, 1988. He got off to a fast start, going 1-for-2 with a home run in his first game. Jordan continued to hit well, finishing with a .308 average over 69 games with 15 doubles, 11 home runs and 43 RBI. His performance was enough to finish 8th in the Rookie of the Year vote.
The following season, Jordan set career highs in most major statistical categories. He hit .285 with 22 doubles, 12 home runs and 75 RBI. In 1990, Jordan was limited to 324 at-bats, but still maintained his gap power, hitting 21 doubles.
Jordan continued to thrive in a platoon the next two seasons, hitting .272 with 21 doubles and nine home runs in 301 at-bats in 1991 and .304 with 19 doubles in 276 at-bats in 1992. For the 1993 NL Championship team, Jordan’s playtime time went down, but still hit .289 with five home runs in 159 at-bats. In his last season in Philadelphia in 1994, Jordan hit .282 with 14 doubles and eight home runs in 220 at-bats.
He played in just 42 minor league games in the Angels and Mariners organizations in 1995 and 1996 and hit .250 in 28 at-bats for the Mariners. Jordan retired in 1997 after hitting .314 in 52 games at AA in the Pirates organization.
Jordan retired with a .281 average, 51 home runs, 304 RBI and 592 hits.