MLB Draft: Ranking the stars from the 2007 class

1. David Price — LHP

41.7 WAR

Well isn’t that nice, the first pick from the 2007 MLB Draft (by the Rays) is currently the leader in career WAR from the ’07 class (barely). Although with Price turning 35-years-old in August and over 2,000 innings on that left arm, his reign as the best from his class may not last very long.

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As we all know, Price was involved in the unfortunate trading away of star outfielder Mookie Betts, as both were sent to the LA Dodgers in exchange for outfielder Alex Verdugo, shortstop Jeter Downs, and catcher Connor Wong. Price was expected to be a contributor in LA’s starting rotation, but exactly how much was unknown given the Dodgers’ incredible pitching depth.

Regardless, Price has had an impressive run thus far, featuring a 7-year peak that included six seasons of at least 30 starts and an average of 4.8 WAR per season from 2010-16.

With a three-year average of just over 2 WAR with the Red Sox since 2017, and a ZiPS projection not much higher than that for this season, we’ve most likely witnessed the conclusion of the Price era. With Freeman and Stanton still chipping away, plus several other players on down the list that still have plenty of solid seasons ahead of them, Price may be lucky to stay inside the top-5 of his class by the time it’s all said and done.

Here’s the complete top-10 from the 2007 class:

2007 MLB Draft Career WAR Leaders