The 5 best first overall MLB draft picks
1980—OF Darryl Strawberry, Crenshaw HS, Los Angeles, California)
Drafted by: New York Mets
Signing bonus: $152,500
MLB career: 1983-1999 (Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Yankees)
Baseball-Reference WAR: 42.0
FanGraphs WAR: 38.4
1583 G, 6326 PA, 1401 H, 898 R, 335 HR, 1000 RBI, 221 SB, .259/.357/.505
Darryl Strawberry is the fifth-best player ever taken with the first overall pick. He was chosen by the Mets in 1980, which was not a particularly impressive year for first round picks. Strawberry towers over the other 25 first round picks in value that year, with 42.0 WAR (Baseball-Reference). The next-best player in the round was Kelly Gruber (16.4). Seven 1980 first-rounders never made the major leagues, including three of the first five picks.
As a junior in high school, Strawberry played with Chris Brown, who was a senior. Brown would be drafted in the second round of the 1979 draft and play six years in the major leagues. In the Los Angeles city championship game, Strawberry and Brown faced a team from Granada Hills that had future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway. Elway started the game playing third base, but moved to the pitcher’s mound and shut down Crenshaw to win the city championship.
Strawberry’s senior year at Crenshaw was full of hope and hype. He was featured in Sports Illustrated as one of the top amateur talents in the game and his tall, thin body and beautiful swing was compared to Ted Williams. After the Mets took him with the first overall pick, they sent him to play for the Kingsport Mets in the Appalachian League. Many of the players in the league were two or three years older than the 18-year-old Strawberry, including future big leaguer and Kingsport teammate Lloyd McClendon.
After holding his own in the Appalachian League, Strawberry moved up to Class-A Lynchburg in 1981. He played that season with Billy Beane, who had been a compensation pick taken with the 23rd choice in the 1st round by the Mets the same year they drafted Strawberry. Beane’s story has been told in the book Moneyball, which was later made into a movie starring Brad Pitt.
The 1982 season saw Strawberry come into his own as a minor league player. He hit 34 home runs and had 97 RBI for the Double-A Jackson Mets. He started the 1983 season with the Tidewater Tides, but a .333/.465/.596 batting line in his first 16 games earned him a quick promotion to the Mets. He hit 26 home runs in 122 games for the Mets and was named NL Rookie of the Year. It was a quick start to a fast-rising career.
Strawberry was an all-star in each of his next seven seasons with the Mets. He never hit fewer than 26 home runs in a season for them and twice hit 39 long balls. In three of his final four seasons in Queens, he finished in the top six in NL MVP voting. He’s still the franchise leader in home runs, with 252. When he was on his game, his sweet swing was a thing of beauty.
The Mets granted free agency to Strawberry after the 1990 season and he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had one good year in L.A. before his career went off the rails. Drug abuse was a big part of his downfall. After averaging 31 homers and 92 RBI in 139 games per season from 1983-1991, Strawberry averaged just 7 homers and 21 RBI in 42 games per season over his final eight years in the big leagues.
Despite the way his career petered out, Darryl Strawberry was a very good major league player. The Mets got the best years of Strawberry and he was a very worthy first overall pick.