MLB Draft: The Top Number One Picks All-Time
Chipper Jones (above) is one of 51 players chosen first in the annual MLB Draft. How does he rank among the best taken first?
Congratulations to Mickey Moniak on being the first player selected in the 2016 MLB Draft.
The Philadelphia Phillies will groom him to be a doubles-hitting slick fielding center fielder over the next few years. In turn, Moniak will arrive in Philly with a healthy bank account and all the pressure in the world.
Never easy being the first pick in any sport, baseball is unique given most draft picks take anywhere from two-to-four years from their selection until they arrive in the Majors under a cloud of expectations and media pressures. With the bonus of now being the face of a franchise rebuilding in a city known for harsh fans, the window of patience will not be open long.
Still, Moniak joins a select group of 51 players considered the best prospect on the board. Out of San Diego’s La Costa Canyon High School, he will likely forego a college career at UCLA to ride the busses of minor league life. He can be comforted in knowing every player except two, Steven Chilcott and Brien Taylor, in his shoes before has either made the Majors or will soon.
In his peer group, two are Hall of Fame players and three more have careers worthy of Cooperstown. A potential enshrinement rate of nearly 10 percent says most teams make a solid choice with the top spot. Yes, there are players such as Shawn Abner or Danny Goodwin—selected twice at the top spot in 1971 and 1975—who do not pan out, but the average career Wins Above Replacement for a number one pick is 21.2. Not too shabby.
Let’s take a look at the best, by WAR, to go at No. 1.
Next: Those Who Still Break Through
Before getting into the Top 10 at the moment, here is a brief look at four players now in Major League Baseball with a shot of cracking the list:
The Tampa Bay Devil Rays grabbed Vanderbilt’s David Price with the first pick in 2007. Now with the Boston Red Sox, Price won 82 games with Tampa over seven seasons along with the 2012 American League Cy Young Award. Price has finished second twice for the AL Cy and his career WAR of 29.3 is second-best for pitchers, only behind 1988 selection Andy Benes’ 31.7.
The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Justin Upton out of Chesapeake’s Great Bridge High School in 2005. In six seasons with Arizona, Upton made two National League All-Star teams and slugged for power. Now with the Detroit Tigers, the left fielder still features power and speed and owns a career WAR of 24.6. That is good enough for 17th on the list
With the honor, or the misfortune, of having the top pick in back-to-back years, the Washington Nationals turned their franchise around by drafting Stephen Strasburg with the first pick of 2009 and Bryce Harper in 2010.
Coming out of San Diego State, Strasburg debuted in 2009 with hoopla reserved for heads of state. After Tommy John surgery cut his 2010 season short, he developed into the pitcher the Nats drafted. A career 64-37 record with 1011 strikeouts earned him a contract extension of seven-years and $175 million. His career WAR of 17 should double as he hits his prime.
Out of the College of South Nevada, the Nats turned heads taking Harper. They guessed correctly on the emotional outfielder. Winning the NL Rookie of the Year in 2012 and the NL MVP in 2015, Harper crushes the ball gets on base and has a real chance of reaching the HOF. A three-time All-Star, this five-tool right fielder has taken the game by storm. With a career WAR of 21.8, it is hard to believe he is just 23.
Next: An Angel in the Outfield
Rick Monday
The National Football League decided in 1936 to hold a competitive balance draft, allowing teams who played poorly the year before the first chance to grab the best college talent. Major League Baseball, never known for their forward thinking, waited until 1965.
Until then, any team could sign any player at any point. Certain players, such as Sandy Koufax, had to be hidden on Major League rosters for a few years, but when the draft took effect the “Bonus Babies” disappeared.
Under the new system, the Kansas City Athletics had the honors and they drafted Rick Monday from Arizona State University. Rushed to the Majors at the end of the 1966 season, Monday would become a free-swinging mainstay in center through his six seasons with the Athletics.
Traded by Oakland in November, 1971 to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Ken Holtzman, Monday developed a power stroke. In 1976 not only did he hit a career-high 32 homers for the Cubs, but saved an American flag from burning in the outfield at Dodger Stadium. After the ’76 season, Chicago packed him in a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bill Buckner and Ivan Dejesus.
Missing Oakland’s championship run of the 70s, Monday played a key role for the Dodgers en route to three NL titles and the 1981 World Series. In a tied deciding Game 5 of the 1981 NLCS against the Montreal Expos, Monday took Steve Rogers deep to clinch the pennant in a game forever known as “Blue Monday.”
Playing in 1986 career games, his numbers do not stand out. With 1619 hits, 241 homers and just two All-Star teams, Cooperstown was never in the cards. Yet, he either started or played a key utility role for 19 seasons. A remarkable feat.
His career WAR of 33.1 is good enough for ninth all-time.
Next: Milwaukee's Catcher of Tomorrow
A show of hands if you remember it was the Florida Marlins who selected San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez out of Chula Vista High School with the first pick of the 2000 Draft.
Never appearing with the Marlins, Gonzalez and two others to the Rangers for Ugueth Urbina, a relief pitcher in 2003. As the Marlins won the World Series that year, the long-term effects of trading a future five-time All-Star does not sting as much.
Although it was Texas where he broke in, a trade to hometown San Diego made Gonzalez a household name. With the Padres he learned to hit for power, slugging 40 with half his games at Petco Park in 2009, and earned two Gold Gloves at first.
San Diego knew they would never afford keeping him as he hit free agency and shipped him up to Boston. For both the Red Sox and the quiet Gonzalez, it was a marriage made in hell. Although the offense held, the pressures of playing on the east coast bothered him. Somehow, Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and their contracts were wanted by the Dodgers in 2012.
Again, Gonzalez was happy. In 2014, he led the NL in RBI with 116 and remains a bedrock at first.
With eight top 20’s in MVP voting, two Silver Sluggers and now four Gold Gloves, Gonzalez is destined for the Hall of Fame. Sometime this year, he will top 300 career homers and the 2000-hit barrier should fall next. An Adjusted OPS+ of 134 and a WAR 42.4 bolsters his case.
Urbina, if you are wondering, left for Detroit via free agency after the 2003 season and was out of the Majors following 2005.
Next: A Minnesota Love Story
In a script straight out of Hollywood, the Minnesota Twins drafted hometown St. Paul hero Joe Mauer from Cretin-Derham High School with the number one pick of the 2001 Draft.
As with any love story, there may be a moment or two where the relationship is rocky, but for the Twins and Mauer, the last 13 seasons are full of happy endings.
Since breaking in with the Twins in 2004, Mauer has owned the Twin Cities. He is a hitting machine. With three batting titles, including a .365 mark in 2009 that saw him lead the AL in OBP and slugging percentage along with winning the MVP, he will go down as one of the best hitting catchers ever.
A solid defensive catcher, he won three Gold Gloves in a row between 2008-10. With a good arm, he threw out 33 percent of base stealers before numerous concussions forced him away from catching.
Beloved in Minnesota, his better days are behind him. Still, as a first baseman he remains a good hitter for average and is the face of the franchise.
Although there are three players above him on the list, Mauer could not have delivered more the Twins in his 13 years. His 49.4 WAR does not determine his value to Minnesota. His ability to perform everyday on a team lacking in the win department will make him a favorite for life.
Next: Forever a Kid
Ken Griffey Jr was born to be a baseball player.
Drafted by the Seattle Mariners straight out of Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School in 1987, Griffey’s power, speed and defense turned heads the moment he signed his contract.
He made the Mariners out of Spring Training in 1989 and never looked back. The franchise there was in trouble. Playing in the Kingdome, Seattle drew flies for crowds and sniffed nothing close to a playoff spot. Known as “The Kid,” Griffey finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, behind Orioles closer Gregg Olson and Kansas City Royals fireballer Tom Gordon, and never looked back.
The 1996 MVP, Griffey’s five home run performance in Seattle’s stunning comeback against the Yankees in the inaugural ALCS set the tone for what should have been plenty of postseason moments. Back-to-back 56 home run seasons followed, along with a loss to Baltimore in the 2007 ALDS. Eventually, Griffey grew homesick and was traded in 2000 to his hometown Reds.
In what should have been a match made in heaven, injuries took their toll instead. Only twice in nine years did he play in more than 140 games. Well on his way to rewriting the record book, he merely placed his name near the top, currently sixth in career homes with 630 and 15th in RBI at 1836.
When healthy, there was not a flyball he could not track down or keep in the yard. The 1995 team he carried earned Seattle a new ballpark, Safeco Field.
One of the greatest ever to lace a pair of spikes, his 83.6 WAR places him third for top picks.
Next: Always Chipper in Atlanta
When the Atlanta Braves selected Chipper Jones out of Jacksonville’s The Bolles School with the first pick of the 1990 Draft, no one knew how good the team was to be.
A laughingstock in the 1980s and another cellar finish in 1990, Atlanta went from worst-to-first in 1991 and stayed there over a decade.
By the time he became a full-time player in 1995—Jones drew a cup of coffee in 1993 before missing all of 1994 to injury—the Braves were in the middle of a dynasty and the young third baseman quickly became a cornerstone third baseman. For eight straight years, 1996 through 2003, Jones drove in more than 100 runs a season. He topped 30 homers five times and socked 45 in 1999, and failed to make the All-Star Game.
He ended up in eight Midsummer Classics, won the 1999 MVP, finished six times in the top 10 voting and earned a Silver Slugger. As the starting pitchers, such as Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz aged, Jones became the face of the franchise. Featured almost 100 times a year on WTBS, his popularity grew.
When the Mets and Braves tussled during the late 90s, Jones raised his game. Against New York in 245 games, he hit .309 and smashed 49 homers. The more the Shea Stadium faithful razzed him, the better he hit. By the end of his career, he named a child Shea out of respect for those battles.
Outside of 1994 Jones was durable, playing in 2499 games in 19 seasons. At 36, he won the batting crown in 2008 hitting .364. Never a threat to win a Gold Glove or steal a base after 2000, Jones retired after the 2012 as the best hitter in the Atlanta-era of Braves history.
His 85 WAR is second-best on the list and he will soon have a date with his admirers in Cooperstown.
Next: Seattle's Best Shortstop
Perhaps no modern player is as polarizing as Alex Rodriguez.
When the Seattle Mariners took Rodriguez from Miami’s Westminster Christian High School in the 1993 Draft, the shortstop was hyped as the next Ken Griffey.
Called up at 18 before the 1994 strike, ARod would become the everyday starter for Seattle in 1996. That year, he won the batting title at .365, hit 36 homers, drove in 123 and caused his baseball cards to soar in value.
After a sophomore slump in ’97, Rodriguez topped 40 homers a year the next three in Seattle before signing the largest free agent contract ever at the time with the Texas Rangers. Rodriguez pounded baseballs into submission in the hot Arlington air. In his three seasons with Texas, he slugged 156 homers and drew plenty of suspicion as a steroid user.
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Making $22 million a season, the Rangers could no longer afford Rodriguez and, after Bud Selig nixed a trade with the Boston Red Sox, Rodriguez replaced an injured Aaron Boone with the New York Yankees. With a personality to match the city, he continued to hit in the Bronx. Already a winner of one MVP award with Texas in 2003, he won two with New York. A 48 homer effort netted one in 2005 and his near Triple Crown, 54 homer effort, grabbed him a second with the Yankees in 2007.
Sometimes, the off-field behaviors overshadowed his abilities. Never beloved in New York by the fans or press, rumors reigned of fights with managers Joe Torre and Joe Girardi. A positive steroid test in 2014 caused a full-season suspension and a full-blown investigation into clinics in Miami.
Make no mistake, Rodriguez’s talents are not just a lab creation. With nearly 700 career home runs, a slugging percentage of .533 and 3098 hits, he is one of the all-time best.
Next: Cubs Give Almora a Long Look
With a career WAR of 118.7, he is the best player ever to go first in the MLB Draft.