By Blaidd Drwg
I was reading an article on a high school pitcher, who could potentially be the #1 overall pick in the 2012 draft. The article pointed out that there has never been a high school right handed pitcher taken #1 overall – there have been left handed high schoolers and right handed college pitcher taken in that spot.
I went over to baseball-reference.com to look at the #1 overall picks through the 47 drafts and learned some interesting stuff:
- Only 2 high school pitchers have been taken #1 overall – David Clyde in 1973 an Brien Taylor in 1991. Clyde was rushed to the majors, hurt his arm and ended up with a career 18-33 record. Brien Taylor got into a bar fight in the minors, hurt his arm and never played in the majors.
- No second baseman has ever been taken #1 overall – the only position that has never been selected in that spot. Heck, of all the guys taken at #1, the leader in appearances at 2B is Jeff King who appeared at 2B in 121 of his 1201 career games.
- There have been more SS drafted #1 overall (8) than the other infield positions combined (7 – 4 at 3b at 3 at 1B)
- There have also been more catchers drafted #1 overall (5) than 1B or 3B.
Note: The catcher and shortstop thing make sense – the majority of guys drafted at those 2 positions were high school players, and those tend to be the positions where the best athletes play in high school.
- As of writing this post, there are no members of the Baseball Hall of Fame that were drafted #1 overall. There are only 3 players who were drafted #1 overall that look like sure-fire hall of famers, and two of them drafted by the same team – Ken Griffey Jr and Alex Rodriguez (Chipper Jones being the third).
- There are 6 players drafted #1 overall that have never played in a MLB game, 4 of whom are still active. Granted 3 of them were drafted in the last 4 years, but all but one of the six (Gerrit Cole) was drafted out of high school.
- The Mets and Padres have had the most #1 overall selections with 5. There are 8 teams that have never had the #1 overall selection – Red Sox, Blue Jays, Rockies, Cardinals, Giants, Dodgers, Indians and Reds. In case you were wondering, the Yankees have had the number #1 overall twice.
- Arizona State University has produced 3 top picks – Rick Monday in 1965, Floyd Bannister in 1976 and Bob Horner in 1978. No other college has ever produced more than 1 overall #1 pick.
- Danny Goodwin managed to get taken #1 overall twice – in 1971 by the White Sox out of high school (he didn’t sign and went to college instead) and in 1975 by the Angels out of college. Despite that distinction, he is tied for the worst career WAR for the top pick in the draft at -1.4 with Matt Anderson (for players who appeared in a MLB game).
FlatbreadGarden 