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A Foot In The Box

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The best player from each MLB draft class

September 20, 2017 Peter Elliott
Ken-Griffey-tdp.jpg

This may put me in a very small minority of humans, but I love analyzing MLB draft Wikipedia pages. Take 2012, for instance. Carlos Correa went number one, Addison Russell went 11th, and Corey Seager went 19th. Which player would you rather have for the next decade? Would the Astros take Seager if they could do it over again? 

Let's do another. 2000. Adrian Gonzalez went first overall to the Marlins. UCLA second baseman Chase Utley went 15th to Phillies. Adam Wainwright was drafted 29th by the Braves. Throw in late round picks like Yadier Molina, Grady Sizemore, and Cliff Lee. What order would they get picked in today? So much to analyze.

Because I like MLB drafts so much, here is a list I made of the best player from each draft class since the first in 1965. This list only includes players that signed.

YearNamePickWAR
1965Nolan Ryan22681.8
1966Reggie Jackson273.8
1967Ted Simmons1050.1
1968Thurmon Munson445.9
1969Bert Blyleven5595.3
1970Rick Reuschel6770
1971Mike Schmidt30106.5
1972Gary Carter5369.9
1973Robin Yount377
1974Dale Murphy546.2
1975Lou Whitaker9974.9
1976Rickey Henderson96110.8
1977Ozzie Smith8676.5
1978Cal Ripken Jr.4895.5
1979Orel Hershiser44056.8
1980Darryl Strawberry142
1981Tony Gwynn5868.8
1982David Wells3053.6
1983Roger Clemenes19140.3
1984Greg Maddux31106.9
1985Barry Bonds6162.4
1986Kevin Brown468.3
1987Ken Griffey Jr.183.6
1988Mike Piazza139059.4
1989Jeff Bagwell11079.6
1990Chipper Jones185
1991Manny Ramirez1369.2
1992Derek Jeter671.8
1993Alex Rogriguez1117.7
1994Javier Vazquez14046
1995Roy Halladay1764.7
1996Roy Oswalt68450.2
1997Lance Berkman1651.7
1998CC Sabathia2061.2
1999Albert Pujols40299.5
2000Chase Utley1565.3
2001Joe Mauer253.3
2002Zack Greinke661.2
2003Ian Kinsler49655.1
2004Justin Verlander255.7
2005Ryan Braun545.9
2006Clayton Kershaw759.1
2007Josh Donaldson4836.9
2008Buster Posey537.4
2009Mike Trout2554.5
2010Chris Sale1336.8
2011Mookie Betts17223.5
2012Carlos Correa115.1
2013Kris Bryant219.3
2014Trea Turner136.6
2015Alex Bregman25.3
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