Miami Marlins: Top three first round MLB draft picks

Florida Marlins 1997 World Series players, from left, Darren Daulton, Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson and Bobby Bonilla congratulate each other after receiving their World Series championship rings during a ceromony held 05 April at Pro Player Stadium in Miami, Florida. The Marlins beat the Cleveland Indians in the best-of-seven series to win the 1997 World Series. AFP PHOTO/Rhona WISE (Photo by RHONA WISE / AFP) (Photo by RHONA WISE/AFP via Getty Images) /

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(Photo by RHONA WISE / AFP) (Photo credit should read RHONA WISE/AFP via Getty Images) /

Charles Johnson: Pick 28, 1992 MLB Draft

Charles Johnson wasn’t just a first-round pick for the Miami Marlins: he was the first player drafted in franchise history.

So it’s only fitting that Johnson makes this list of elite first-rounders. That said, it’s a spot he unquestionably earned during his Marlins tenure. Plenty of fans on social media will regularly throw out Ivan Rodriguez as the best catcher in Marlins history. And if you ax the world Marlins from that previous sentence, they’d be on to something.

Otherwise, Ichiro and Trevor Hoffman get to be some of the best Miami Marlins of all time too. C.J. was a three-time Gold Glove winner as a Marlin and heck, even his fourth came in a 1998 season that he played the first month of in Miami before being traded for Hall of Famer Mike Piazza.

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Marlins fans- let’s just pretend that story ended there with Piazza.

Johnson was the rock of the team since arriving, for real, in 1995. He earned MVP votes in 1997 for his excellent play en route to the franchise’s first World Series title and delivered many a clutch hit during the Series itself. And again, the man won a Gold Glove every year he was Miami’s starting catcher.

Talk about first-round return on investment.

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