Looking back at the Twins' 2005 draft: Drew Thompson's dream faded quickly

Drew Thompson thought his destiny was to play in the major leagues. When you're the son of a two-time major league All-Star, the seed gets planted in the mind before those little infant hands can palm a baseball.

Thompson wanted to follow the footsteps of his father, Robby, but ultimately fell short of the dream, like many prospects did in the 2005 Twins draft class.

"I'm not by any means a selfish person, but I'd be lying if I told you it didn't make it any harder to accept the fact that I'm not able to play when you go to the bar and get some food and all your buddies are on television," Thompson said.

Approximately 1,500 players will be taken this week in Major League Baseball's draft. Odds are, the dreams that are starting won't end with stardom.

Out of the 54 players selected by the Twins 10 years ago, only eight became major leaguers. Thompson, 28, walked away from the game because of injuries, and the former middle infielder, like the majority in that class, had to find another occupation once those clubhouse doors closed for good.

"I don't follow baseball like I used to, and I don't go to games like I used to," Thompson said. "It's just not a part of my life anymore, which is crazy. I never thought it would come to that."

Thompson was one of 23 players the Twins signed from their 2005 class. The West Palm Beach, Fla., native signed out of Jupiter (Fla.) High School as the 80th overall pick for $475,000, but his career never got beyond Class A and ended after seven years because of a lingering back injury.

Eight of the top 12 players taken in the 2005 draft have been All-Stars — No. 1 Justin Upton, No. 2 Alex Gordon, No. 4 Ryan Zimmerman, No. 5 Ryan Braun, No. 6 Ricky Romero, No. 7 Troy Tulowitzki, No. 11 Andrew McCutcheon and No. 12 Jay Bruce. Mike Pelfrey, taken ninth overall by the Mets, has been one of the Twins' top pitchers this season.

Of the Twins' top five picks, only pitchers Matt Garza, who plays for the Brewers, and Kevin Slowey, who retired last week, cracked the big leagues.

Thompson grew up around baseball with his father, Robby, spending 11 seasons in the majors with the Giants.

Drew Thompson spent his summers in the Bay Area and served as a Giants bat boy, taking ground balls during batting practice and hanging out in the Candlestick Park clubhouse with his father and his teammates.

"Baseball was what I felt, and even still feel, I was kind of born to do," Thompson said.

It was his last at-bat in the minors. Thompson tore a tendon in his big toe during his final home run swing and needed surgery. He had permanent nerve damage in his leg and chose to retire rather than fight through it and possibly need a walking cane at age 30.

"I'd get texts, which crushed me, telling me that someone else was sent up or he's watching a game and it'd say, 'All I ever wanted to be was like you, following your footsteps and support the family like you did,' " said Robby Thompson, who now works for the Cleveland Indians as a special assistant to the general manager.

Drew Thompson played 289 games in rookie or Class A leagues, hitting .242 with 12 home runs and a .951 fielding percentage.

There's a very low draft success rate for baseball teams. Mike Radcliff, the Twins' vice president of player personnel who was the scouting director for the organization during the 2005 draft, said MLB teams miss about 93 percent of the time. A successful draft consists, on average, of producing just over two major league players per draft class, he said.

The Twins called up four of the 23 signed prospects: Garza, Slowey and pitchers Brian Duensing and Alex Burnett. Only Duensing remains in the organization 10 years later.

Thompson went through what he described a mild depression during the latter stage of his career. He skipped college for this dream and had to start from scratch figuring out what he wanted to do in life.

After a few failed endeavors, Thompson opened up Rock Steady Juice Joint & Acai Bar in his hometown of Jupiter in March. He hired his younger brother, Tyler, and some of his close friends.

Thompson wasn't one of the fortunate few to play in the big leagues, but the lessons he has learned from the journey have applied to his new career. Thompson has tasted the fruit blossoming after baseball. And it's pretty sweet.

"As much as I would love to be in a game and on television right now, there's more to life than baseball," Thompson said. "Start a new adventure, a new path and do your best with that."