4. Pittsburgh Pirates
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
The Pirates also passed on Kershaw. With them, Kershaw could have given the club its first Cy Young award winner since Doug Drabek claimed such fame in 1990.
Instead, the Pirates drafted yet another pitcher taken before Kershaw in 2006. RHP Brad Lincoln appeared in 22 games for the Pirates from 2010-12. He did nothing special, starting 10 games and bringing down the club with a 4.78 ERA. The Pirates traded him to the Blue Jays halfway through the 2012 season and he now will begin a second stint with the Pirates after signing a minor league contract with the team in November of 2014.
In 2006, the Pirates had a pretty detestable rotation. It was headlined by Zach Duke (10-15, 4.47) and Ian Snell (14-10, 4.74). The entire rotation’s ERA ranked 21st in all of MLB by the end of the season, so missing out on Kershaw and drafting a bust like Lincoln was a substantial setback for the organization.
In fact, the only starting pitcher to be named an All-Star as a Pirate who was drafted and developed by their organization since the 2006 MLB draft was Duke, who in 2009 played in the Midsummer Classic. It’s tough to be able to tell why why, though. His first half equated to an 8-8 record with a 3.29 ERA before eventually imploding in the second half and going onto lead the NL in losses with 16.