San Francisco Giants
Best – Buster Posey, First Round, 2008 – The 5th selection in the draft, Posey made his major league debut the season the season after he was drafted, and in 2010, he was the Rookie Of The Year and led the Giants to a World Series championship. He missed most of 2011 due to injury, but he’s still had 3 All-Star selections and won an MVP in his 5 full seasons in the league.
Worst – Emmanuel Burriss, First Round, 2006 – Coming out of Kent State, Burriss was expected to be a nearly major league ready player, and he showed he was, making an impact on the 2008 team. The issue is that he’s never hit anywhere near as well as he did in that half-season in 2008, struggling to make contact and be successful on the basepaths ever since. He’s now on his 4th organization.
Cleveland Indians
Best – Jason Kipnis, Second Round, 2009 – Kipnis moved quickly as a 2nd round pick to the majors, playing quite a bit in 2011 and full time in 2012. He’s been a vital part of Cleveland’s lineup ever since, hitting near the top of the lineup and providing a blend of power and speed.
Worst – Beau Mills, First Round, 2007 – A big (6’3, 220) lefty-swinging corner infielder coming out of college, the Indians projected Mills to be a power hitting solution for them in short order, and in 2008, he hit 21 home runs in the minors and looked to be on the way to just that. However, that was the point at which Mills stalled, and after 2012, at 25 years old, he was done with professional baseball.
Seattle Mariners
Best – Doug Fister, Seventh Round, 2006 – Fister was one of the rare guys who was selected 3 times in the draft, going in the 49th round in 2003, then the 6th round in 2005, so the Mariners getting him in the 7th was great for their organization, and the 6’8 lefty moved up to the major leagues for 10 starts in the 2009 season. Since then, he’s been a very successful starter, much more than any 7th rounder should be certainly.
Worst – Jeff Clement, First Round, 2005 – The 3rd overall selection in the 2005 draft, Clement moved quickly to the major leagues, but he never could hit at the big league level in spite of multiple opportunities with three organizations. He was out of baseball before he was 30 after the 2013 season.
Miami Marlins
Best – Giancarlo Stanton, Second Round, 2007 – The biggest raw power in the big leagues, arguably, was drafted in the 2nd round, and he moved quickly up to the majors out of high school, topping 30 home runs 3 times, in spite of injury issues plaguing his career.
Worst – Kyle Skipworth, First Round, 2008 – Picked 6th overall out of high school, Skipworth was expected to take some time to work to the big leagues. However, his defense was mediocre behind the plate, and his bat was never great, as he’s got a .214/.279/.384 minor league line overall, though he’s still getting opportunities.
New York Mets
Best – David Wright, First Round, 2001 – Selected 38th overall out of high school, Wright moved quickly for a HS kid, getting to the big leagues for a large chunk of the 2004 season. In his first full season in 2005, he hit .306/.388/.523 and finished in the top 20 in MVP voting. He’s been the backbone of the Mets ever since.
Worst – Billy Traber, First Round, 2000 – Selected 16th overall out of Loyola Marymount, Traber moved quickly up to AAA in his first minor league season. He was traded in the offseason that season, and he was with 6 organizations in 10 years before being released in 2010 from the minor leagues.
Next: Nationals, Orioles, Padres, Phillies, Pirates