For a number of reasons, the MLB draft occurs each year with much less fanfare than the NFL or NBA versions. Baseball’s amateur draft takes place in the middle of the MLB season. Widely unknown college and high school players are selected, and most take a few years to even reach The Show. The draft wasn’t even televised until 2007, and even then it was held at 2 p.m. ET — not exactly primetime.
Despite its relative anonymity, there’s no debate about the draft’s importance. While diamonds in the rough crop up every year, having a high pick is extremely valuable, and the top selections often go on to MLB stardom. With this in mind, PointAfter — part of the Graphiq network — ranked the top 10 No. 1 picks in MLB draft history.
We relied largely on Wins Above Replacement to sort each player, though we also took career accolades and championship track records into account. In order to more properly weigh active players who haven’t amassed a full career’s worth of WAR, we sorted the list based on WAR per 162 games for position players and WAR per 200 innings pitched for pitchers.
Active players currently in the prime of their careers benefited from this ranking, as they don’t yet have their average WAR per season weighed down by their decline years. For this reason, the WAR per 162 games played and WAR per 200 innings pitched are used as guidelines rather than hard-and-fast rules. In addition, former players must have accumulated at least 10.0 career WAR to be eligible. This keeps former players who didn’t last long in the Majors from being ranked ahead of those who stayed on the field for a long period of time.
In all, there are eight Most Valuable Player Awards, one Cy Young Award and 68 All-Star appearances among the 10 best No. 1 picks of all time — not a bad trophy case.
Note: All stats for active players include games played through June 1, 2016. Players who have yet to appear in the Major Leagues were not included.
#10. SP Stephen Strasburg
Career WAR: 17.0
WAR per 200 innings: 4.0
Year drafted: 2009
Team: Washington Nationals
School: San Diego State University
Accolades: All-Star (2012), NL strikeout leader (2014), Silver Slugger Award (2012)
Few college pitchers have had as much hype as Strasburg did when he finished his career at San Diego State. His four-year, $15.1 million contract he signed with the Nationals after getting drafted was by far the most lucrative for a draft pick.
Strasburg has dealt with injuries throughout his career, most notably undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2010, but has been dominant when healthy. The Nationals signed him to a seven-year, $175 million contract extension during the 2016 season.
#9. 1B Adrian Gonzalez
Career WAR: 42.7
WAR per 162 games: 4.1
Year drafted: 2000
Team: Florida Marlins
School: Eastlake High Schol (Chula Vista, CA)
Accolades: Five-time All-Star (2008-11, 2015), two-time Silver Slugger Award (2011, 2014), four-time Gold Glove Award (2008-09, 2011, 2014)
Three years after being drafted, Gonzalez was traded to the Texas Rangers and made his big league debut with the team in 2004. He was traded again following the 2005 season and finally broke through with the San Diego Padres, hitting 161 home runs in five seasons. Gonzalez signed with the Boston Red Sox prior to the 2011 season and was traded to the Dodgers in 2012.
#8. RF Darryl Strawberry
Career WAR: 42.0
WAR per 162 games: 4.3
Year drafted: 1980
Team: New York Mets
School: Crenshaw High School (Los Angeles, CA)
Accolades: Four-time World Series champion (1986, 1996, 1998, 1999), eight-time All-Star (1984-91), NL Rookie of the Year (1983), two-time Silver Slugger Award (1988, 1990), NL home run leader (1988)
Though he often clashed with teammates and dealt with drug issues during his career, there’s no denying how supremely talented and productive Strawberry was during his career. He hit 39 home runs and stole 36 bases in 1987 and was one of the most dominant players of his era.
Strawberry is a legend in New York, winning a World Series with the Mets in 1986 and then three more with the Yankees in 1996, 1998 and 1999. He finished his career as the Mets’ all-time leader in home runs with 252.
#7. SP David Price
Career WAR: 29.1
WAR per 200 innings: 3.9
Year drafted: 2007
Team: Tampa Bay Devil Rays
School: Vanderbilt University
Accolades: AL Cy Young Award (2012), five-time All-Star (2010-12, 2014, 2015), two-time AL ERA leader (2012, 2015), MLB strikeout leader (2014)
Price made his big league debut for the Devil Rays in 2008 and became a key member of the team’s bullpen during its run to the World Series that season. By 2010 he was one of the best starting pitchers in the league, and he helped lead Tampa Bay to the postseason in 2010, 2011 and 2013.
Price was traded twice — first to the Tigers, then to the Blue Jays — before signing a seven-year, $217 million deal with the Red Sox prior to the 2016 season.
#6. OF Josh Hamilton
Career WAR: 28.1
WAR per 162 games: 4.4
Year drafted: 1999
Team: Tampa Bay Devil Rays
School: Athens Drive High School (Raleigh, NC)
Accolades: AL MVP (2010), five-time All-Star (2008-12), AL batting champion (2010), three-time Silver Slugger Award (2008, 2010, 2012)
By now, Hamilton’s reclamation story is well known. He fell deep into drug addiction during his minor league career, failed multiple drug tests and was out of baseball for almost three years. After sobering up, he returned to action with the Cincinnati Reds and became a star with the Texas Rangers, winning the 2010 AL MVP Award and helping lead the franchise to back-to-back World Series appearances in 2010 and 2011.
Hamilton signed with the Los Angeles Angels prior to the 2013 season and has dealt with injuries ever since. His best days are almost certainly behind him, but his peak years were something to behold.
#5. OF Bryce Harper
Career WAR: 21.6
WAR per 162 games: 6.2
Year drafted: 2010
Team: Washington Nationals
School: College of Southern Nevada
Accolades: NL MVP (2015), three-time All-Star (2012, 2013, 2015), Silver Slugger Award (2015), NL Rookie of the Year (2012), NL home run co-leader (2015), NL Hank Aaron Award (2015)
Slotting Harper at No. 5 feels simultaneously too high and too low. On the one hand, ranking a 23-year-old ahead of players with storied careers sounds ludicrous. On the other hand, it’s not as ludicrous as what Harper has accomplished this early in his big-league career.
The 2015 unanimous NL MVP has been compared to nearly every all-time great hitter, and he should continue to put up huge numbers for years to come.
#4. C/1B Joe Mauer
Career WAR: 49.5
WAR per 162 games: 5.3
Year drafted: 2001
Team: Minnesota Twins
School: Cretin High School (St. Paul, MN)
Accolades: AL MVP (2009), six-time All-Star (2006, 2008-10, 2012, 2013), three-time AL batting champion (2006, 2008, 2009), three-time Silver Slugger Award (2006, 2008-10, 2013), three-time Gold Glove Award (2008-10)
The Twins struck gold by having the No. 1 overall pick the year Mauer was the consensus top player available. A Minnesotan born and bred, Mauer has lived up to the prodigy label that followed him during his accomplished high school career. He won three AL batting titles by age 26 — becoming the first catcher to win even one batting title — and was the AL MVP in 2009.
His contract runs through 2018, when Mauer will be 35 years old, so unless he’s traded, he’ll likely spend his entire career in a Twins uniform.
#3. CF Ken Griffey Jr.
Career WAR: 83.6
WAR per 162 games: 5.1
Year drafted: 1987
Team: Seattle Mariners
School: Archbishop Moeller High School (Cincinnati, OH)
Accolades: Baseball Hall of Fame (2016), AL MVP (1997), 13-time All-Star (1990-2000, 2004, 2007), seven-time Silver Slugger Award (1991, 1993, 1994, 1996-99), 10-time Gold Glove Award (1990-99), four-time AL home run leader (1994, 1997-99), All-Star Game MVP (1992), NL Comeback Player of the Year (2005)
Wait, Junior at No. 3? We’ve entered rarified air now. The sweet-swinging lefty was perhaps the most popular player of his era, and were it not for injuries that plagued him during his 30s, he might have made a run at the all-time home run record.
Despite missing significant time, Griffey’s résumé is nearly unparalleled. He’s currently the only No. 1 overall pick to be elected to the Hall of Fame, though he’ll likely be joined by our next selection very soon.
#2. 3B/LF Chipper Jones
Career WAR: 85.0
WAR per 162 games: 5.5
Year drafted: 1990
Team: Atlanta Braves
School: The Bolles School (Jacksonville, FL)
Accolades: World Series champion (1995), NL MVP (1999), eight-time All-Star (1996-98, 2000, 2001, 2008, 2011, 2012), NL batting champion (2008), two-time Silver Slugger Award (1999, 2000)
Though he trails in most counting stats, Jones edges out Griffey in career WAR and WAR per 162 games. More importantly, he spent his entire career in a Braves uniform and brought home a World Series title in 1995. He’s arguably the best switch hitter ever and is a lock to be inducted to the Hall of Fame when he’s eligible in 2017.
#1. SS/3B Alex Rodriguez
Career WAR: 118.6
WAR per 162 games: 7.0
Year drafted: 1993
Team: Seattle Mariners
School: Westminster Christian School (Miami, FL)
Accolades: World Series champion (2009), three-time AL MVP (2003, 2005, 2007), 14-time All-Star (1996-98, 2000-08, 2010, 2011), 10-time Silver Slugger Award (1996, 1998-2003, 2005, 2007, 2008), two-time Gold Glove Award (2002, 2003), five-time AL home run leader (2001-03, 2005, 2007), AL batting champion (1996), four-time AL Hank Aaron Award (2001-03, 2007)
And to think that, for six seasons from 1994-199, Griffey and A-Rod were on the same team. Though his name will always be associated with baseball’s era of performance enhancing drugs, there’s no denying just how much Rodriguez pulverized opposing pitchers throughout his career.
He was the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs, reaching the mark at age 32, and notched his 3,000th career hit on June 19, 2015. Whether or not he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame or is shunned like other dopers remains to be seen, but A-Rod’s status as one of the most dominant hitters in the game’s history is undisputed.