Before there was Bobby Hill, there was Chad Meyers. The Cubs' second baseman of the future, in 1998. He was fast, and he knew how to draw a walk. He had leadoff hitter written all over him.

Meyers was the Cubs' 5th round draft pick in 1996 out of Creighton. In 1997, at low-A Rockford, Meyers hit .301/.404/.410 while stealing 54 bases. In 1998, Meyers was hitting .323/.427/.446 at high-A Daytona before being called up to double-A West Tenn. He struggled to hit for any kind of power at West Tenn, but still posted a .393 OBA. He started 1999 at West Tenn again, where he hit .290/.364/.424 before being promoted to Iowa, where he scorched Triple-A pitching for just over a month, hitting .354/.448/.451.

You see the pattern. Good average, the ability to draw a walk, and just enough power, to go along with his 30-40 stolen bases per year. Exactly what you want out of your second baseman/leadoff hitter.

And with the Cubs having a disappointing year in 1999 under manager Jim Riggleman and only Mickey Morandini standing in his way, Meyers got his shot over the final month of the season (along with Jose Nieves at shortstop, who just had Jose Hernandez standing in his way). And then what should have happened didn't. What should have happened was that Meyers continued the success he had had as a professional up to that point and staked a claim to the starting second base job for the big league club. Instead, over 43 games, Meyers failed to hit and failed to get on base, posting .232/.292/.296 numbers in 156 plate appearances. Despite being just 23, that was the last real chance Meyers got as a big league starter.

In 2000, the Cubs signed and gave the second base and leadoff job to Don Baylor favorite Eric Young (whose 103 OPS+ and 54-for-61 in stolen bases in 2000 was likely better than anything Meyers would have been able to do). Meyers saw very little big league action in both 2000 and 2001 with Young at second, and he didn't do much in that limited action. His time as the Cubs' future second baseman had passed.

In the offseason before 2002, Meyers signed with the Oakland A's as a free agent. At the time, I thought he might get a legitimate shot to play at least a good supporting role off the bench with an organization that valued OBA so much. Instead, Meyers failed to make the team out of spring training, only played 18 games with Oakland's triple-A team in Sacremento, and ended up in the Cardinals' minor league system. In both 2001 and 2002 Meyers continued to get on base at a .380+ clip in triple-A.

In 2003, Meyers played for Seattle's triple-A team in Tacoma, hitting .300/.361/.401 and stealing 37 bases. He got a call-up in September for Seattle, getting into 9 games but getting only 1 at-bat.

Last year, Meyers played in Mexico for much of the summer before signing with the Tigers in August. He played for the Tigers' double-A team in Erie, hitting .313/.395/.582 in 34 games. Meyers is back in Mexico this year.

Meyers has spent most of his professional career in the minor leagues. In 886 career minor league games, Meyers has hit .289/.382/.400 and stolen 332 bases. His only real major league playing time occurred when he was 23.

It's a strange baseball world where Jose Macias can make $800,000 in a year and Chad Meyers is playing in Mexico. There's nothing Macias can do that Meyers can't (while Meyers has primarily been a second baseman, he can also play the outfield), and there are a couple of important things that Meyers can do better. Like not make outs. And steal bases.

Meyers is still just 29-years-old. There is still time for a team to realize his value as a versatile bench player. The Cubs found Joe Borowski in Mexico. Perhaps they can re-find Chad Meyers.